Customer Reviews

The Avengers '62 - Complete Set

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fans of "The Avengers" have been drooling over the teasingly impending release of this set for a few years now. A&E did a good job of releasing all the episodes of "The Avengers" from 1963 onward (including the mid-'70s series, "The New Avengers"), but there was the one major omission; how "The Avengers" began.

Unfortunately (as all "Avengers" afficianados know), the bulk of the first series from 1961, starring Ian Hendry as Dr David Keel, was destroyed / erased, as was the common practise back in those days. For years, the only complete "Avengers" episode from the Hendry series was "The Frighteners". A&E Home Video have finally brought to us all the existing footage from Hendry's tenure, as well as the episodes following Hendry's departure, featuring Jon Rollason as Dr Martin King. While these were essentially "Dr Keel" scripts with a recast, there were two most interesting things about the 2nd series of "The Avengers"; 1) John Steed (always deftly played by Patrick Macnee) became the lead character, emerging from Hendry's shadow, and 2) Honor Blackman arrived, and in doing so, changed the course of women in TV forever.

For the casual fans of the series, Dame Diana Rigg's performance as Mrs Emma Peel is universally recognised as the "look" of "The Avengers", along with Macnee's bowler, brolly, and custom-made suits & boots. What is not generally known to the uninitiated is that Honor Blackman's portrayal of Mrs Catherine (Cathy) Gale set up the rest of the world for the strong female leading role. Often clad in leather catsuits, Mrs Gale was easily John Steed's equal, and quite often his superior. The scripts, like the ones featuring Dr King, were still written for a man, but they weren't retooled at all for a typical early-'60s female role; Mrs Gale was often the one to rescue Steed from the jaws of danger. Quite refreshing and definitely groundbreaking for its time.

This series is also quite different from the Steed & Mrs Peel era, in that the characters are differently defined. Steed is much darker, often shady, menacing, even sinister from time to time, and quite frequently just plain dangerous. While some of that persona survived into the 1965 series (some of the early Mrs Peel scripts were retools from Blackman's tenure before she left the series in 1964 to play "Pussy Galore" in the 007 blockbuster, "Goldfinger"), it wasn't very long until the dapper gentleman-spy-with-a-twinkle-in-his-eye we've all come to know and love was cemented. Steed & Mrs Gale bickered a good deal of the time, and it's apparent that, while she enjoyed the dangerous situations Steed put her in, she had little tolerance for Steed's devious manipulations of her, and voiced her disapproval. The one thing that was established early on that survived all the incarnations of "The Avengers" is that Steed & Mrs Gale are equals, regardless of gender. Again, very groundbreaking for its time.

So a big "thank you" to A&E Home Video for finally completing "The Avengers" legacy on video. Do yourself a favour and watch these episodes!

This is the final release from A&E of the classic British TV series The Avengers, bringing to a close the episodes from season 2, dating all the way back to 1962. For all the fans of The Avengers familiar with the Emma Peel and Tara King eras of the show, these early episodes featuring Cathy Gale and Venus Smith may come as something of a disappointment. In fact, fans of the later shows may find it hard to believe that they are even part of the same TV series!

After the initial run of 26 episodes featuring Doctor David Keel and his cohort John Steed had aired in the UK in 1961/62, the producers of the program opted to bring Steed to the forefront of the action and give him a number of different "assistants," the intention being that Dr. Keel would be one of these. However, Ian Hendry decided not to continue in the role. Thus, for season two, 26 further episodes were made and broadcast in 1962/63 featuring Steed abetted by Martin King, Venus Smith or Cathy Gale. Dr. King was in fact a temporary character to get the show back in production after a strike had shut down the studios and he's simply a renamed and re-cast version of Dr. Keel. Watching his episodes, it's something of a relief that he was such a temporary character! Mrs. Gale turned out to be the most popular and successful foil for the suave agent, and the other characters did not return after this season. Unlike the later Peel/King stories which were all made on film, these studio based TV shows are much more reliant on dialogue and plot than visual elements, and can be somewhat heavy going as a result.

In fairly typical TV production style of the day, the sets are extremely small and sparse; the direction a little slap-hazard; Camera work wobbly; Sound is extremely poor; and the acting is variable to say the least. Patrick Macnee can barely get through an episode without some kind of blunder, but with no budget for editing or re-shooting, all the actor's fluffs and goofs stayed in. Steed's character is far less suave and sophisticated then he became later during his familiar role alongside Mrs. Peel. His bowler hat is only occasionally used and the smart three-piece suit `look' is only intermittent. He appears rather callous and calculating in many stories and the dashing debonair Steed of later years is only sometimes visible. His relationship with Mrs. Gale (who he often calls "Cathy") in particular is at first downright hostile with very little warmth between the two. He seems to get along much better with Miss Venus Smith, a night club singer who he engages at various gigs to act as his eyes and ears. Venus is a very odd character, and played strangely, but enthusiastically by Julie Stevens. On her two outings on these discs, she seems much older and more sophisticated than her later four appearances in the 1963 set. There she looks about 12, sings like she's 40, and dresses like anything in between. She also seems extremely na?ve and it's hard to imagine why Steed engages her to help him at all. The far more intelligent and elegant Mrs. Gale does eventually warm up to Steed, and in the later seasons where she is the exclusive companion to him, their relationship develops nicely and they become much warmer and closer to each other.

The quality of the DVD's is not too disappointing, even accounting for the age of the material and the production values mentioned above. It certainly appears that A&E have made more of an effort to re-master the original tapes then they did with the later Gale stories, but the flaws, jumps, scratches and sound blips on the master tapes are too numerous to mention. Possibly the biggest problem is sound, which at times can be inaudible. One error worthy of note is in the packaging itself. The sleeves state that "Traitor in Zebra" appears on disc 4, when it actually is included on disc 3. Perhaps making this set more of a collectors item as future re-issues may correct the problem. The on screen menus and titles are done very well indeed.

As a big fan of the series, I wouldn't even consider not having these episodes in my collection, and they're certainly very special and sign post the way to later glory. But if you're looking for the wacky camp humor and the tele-fantasy of the Emma Peel

I have been waiting on this release,of Honor Blackman's first season as Cathy Gale or Doctor Catherine Gale,to gave her proper title in "The Avengers" for a while now,so thanks A&E for releasing the first fourteen episodes of this second season of this classic show.
Sadly,of the first season pairing,of Patrick Macnee and Ian Hendry as John Steed and Dr.David Keel only two complete episodes survive(one of which is the recently rediscovered "Girl On The Trapeze" which doesn't feature Steed)and the first reel of the first episode "Hot Snow" out of the 26 episodes made.
Honor Blackman replaced Ian Hendry after he decided to move on to movies and Honor is excellent as the cool,highly intelligent Cathy Gale who really liberated women on television by showing herself to be as equally intelligent and capable as Steed and the fact,Cathy could protect herself by throwing a man over her shoulder and fight back,sent the ratings threw the roof and without Honor's great success,there would have been no Emma Peel,Tara King,Purdey and several other strong woman characters in the Bond films,Honor of course going on to be Pussygalore in "Goldfinger".
Honor Blackman's first filmed episode was "Death Dispatch"
and she was told after it,not to smile as much and be cooler and indeed,in "Death Dispatch",Steed and Cathy are more like Emma Peel and Steed would later be,Cathy doesn't do any fighting in that story but it comes in right after that.
What I like about Cathy Gale is,that unlike the "Avengers"ladies that follow,she really can give Steed a telling off when he deserves it and Steed is a lot more darker and manipulates people a lot more(especially poor Venus Smith,) than he would do with Emma Peel etc.
Cathy really cares about people,in her first screened story "Mr.Teddy Bear" when a young man is killed,she gets very angry at Steed as she feels the young man was used as bait to get at the villian of the piece,at the cost of his life.
I remember being very annoyed at a TV channel in the 90s,it did a feature on "The Avengers"and although it showed a clip of Cathy Gale in the trailer,all the other clips were of Emma Peel and Tara King,Cathy Gale is terrific and athough the pairing of Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee is the best remembered of "The Avengers",the pairing of Honor Blackman and Patrick Macnee was heaven sent too!
Steed has two other co-Avengers in the 2nd season,Dr.Martin King,Jon Rollason who features in just three episodes,made before Honor Blackman started work and it was just a stop gap between Ian Hendry and Honor Blackman.
The Rollason stories are actually very good although Rollason is very quietly spoken and several rewinds on the DVD are required to pick up his dialogue,the best one of his stories is "Mission To Montreal"where he develops a crush on an actress Carla Berotti,a great performance by Patricia English,who is near to hysterics the whole episode.
There's not a great rapport between King and Steed but in fairness to Jon Rollason,the writers were using scripts leftover from the first season and the fact Jon Rollason isn't in the opening credits of his stories,shows his time was meant to be brief on the show.
Venus Smith played by Julie Stevens is the third co-Avenger in this second season and her character was created before Ian Hendry was leaving the show and had he stayed on,he would have alternated with Venus Smith.
I really like Julie Stevens potrayal,Venus is very likeable but so naive,and not as sophisticated as Cathy and is in the mould of the helpless female but she does hit one of the villians' in a painful spot in "The Removal Men".
Venus'singing is really good and brings a touch of glamour to the show,in a defferent way to Cathy Gale,she only features in two episodes of this disc and did another four in this season and then that was it,as Julie Stevens left the show to have a baby,it would have been nice to see Venus appear in a later story but it didn't happen.
Partick Macnee really made "The Avengers" as we all know,he brings great style,he can be menacing when required in these early stories and yet,always has a twinkle in his eye at the right time too!
Bring on the other 12 episodes of season 2 very soon,please!

BEWARE: SPOILERS CONTAINED HEREIN

"The Avengers" began in 1961 as a little-known British televison program, broadcast weekly and made cheeply on videotape. Based off a failed earlier series, "Police Surgeon" (1959), it's original main character was Dr. David Keel, played by Ian Hendry, who carried his basic character from "Police Surgeon" over to the new series. Accompanying him was the co-star of the previous series, Ingrid Hafner, who played Nurse Carol Wilson. While Nurse Carol would appear in a number of epsidoes (most notably in "Girl on the Trapeze"), for this first season Keel usually worked with a shady, cold, and manipulative agent named... John Steed (Patrick MacNee.)

Hendry left the series to pursue film work after the first season, and most of those episodes that had been made throughout 1961 were wiped (that is, erased, a common practice at the time that allowed costly videotape to be reused.) Hence, the material available in this collection, "Avengers '62", is 1/2 of the first completely preserved season of "The Avengers."*

The first fourteen episodes of season two see MacNee's returning Steed coupled with various alternating partners: Dr. Martin King, a hastily arranged substitute for Dr. Keel, played by Jon Rollason and featuring in productions of three left over season 1 scripts; jazz singer Venus Smith (Julie Stevens),a somewhat enticing but naive and impressionable young woman more suited to her chosen profession to the several espionage incidents she gets mixed up in courtesy of Steed. And finally, Mrs. Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman, a widowed anthropologist Steed employs as a professional partner. Mrs. Gale is intelligent, sharp as knitting needles, lethal with a Judo kick, and an all-around easy match for Steed, in spite of being a specimen of the perceived Fairer Sex. Of all Steed's rotating partners in this batch of episodes, Mrs. Gale would be the longest-lived--remaininf until 1964-- and by far the most liked and remembered; Dr. King's character quietly exited the series following his three episodes featured here, while Venus Smith featured intermitently until the conclusion of this season in 1963 (see "The Avengers '63" sets.)

In general, the episodes on this collection are far "grittier" and more rooted in reality and traditional espionage than the more far-fetched, and sci-fi dabbling Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and Tara King (Linda Thorson) series. They have their decided merits, however. Not only are they interesting to own purely from a historical viewpoint, but there are some fine yarns among them. And, perhaps most importantly, this set avenges Jon Rollason's Dr. King. His only three episodes are featured here, and all are strong plots in their own right:

. "The Sell-Out" is pure espionage, as there is a traitor to the government on the loose, and the higher-ups suspect it is either Steed or another agent he has been working with. The plot takes many twists and turns before the traitor is revealed. Dr. King gets to take down a villain at one point, and Steed does the unexpected: opens fire on the traitor (who does threaten Dr. King's life to be fair.) Here Rollason's character is shown as a likeable everyman, who does not particularly want to get entangled in his acquaintance's government work, but finds himself drafted in on a number of occasions. One can't help but look on him with empathy. He's no Mrs. Peel (obviously) but he is a likeable guy.
. "Dead on Course" is the last episode and one of the highlights of the set. Strongly in the vein of later episodes, the evil doers are disguised as... pious nuns. Even though the brief fight choreography is lacking, it is a strong suspense piece with a great storyline.
."Mission to Montreal" sees Steed and King on the open seas, attempting to retrieve a micro-film from the luggage of a traveling tempermental film star before it is delievered to the enemy agents her husband works for. This was the first Dr. King episode to be screened, while the actress playing the film star is left go virtually balistic in a few scenes that portray a nervous disorder, the eccentric enemy agents are played very-well, and the whole thing comes off quite memorable with a nice bit of action at the end, and the added benefit of an attempt on King's life somewhere in the middle of the fray.

I would rate "Dead on Course" as the best King episode, and one of the very best on the set.

Venus, as previously stated, appears in episodes available on the 1963 set, so her episodes here are not as significant to the show's history. Nonetheless, she is an oft-forgotten character and Stevens, it can hardly be denied, plays the part quite well. Her musical numbers seem to be mainly a product of the writers and directors trying to take up timme, but they're good performances if not good songs.

"The Decapod" introduces Venus quite awkwardly, showing Steed a great deal more cold and manipulative than later on. Still it's a good story, largely well-acted, and the Decapod is a cool name for a wrestler, as well as for the character who ends up being the villain (not who you may at first think.) Sometimes, one is inclinded to think that the episode would have worked better with Mrs. Gale (see below) accompanying Steed, but it comes together in the end. The wrestling and the odd uniforms set the right tone, and the suspense is well-done, with thanks to director Peter Hammond.

Her other episode is "The Removal Men." If ever there were a perfect title for an episode of this series, here it is. The Men in question are actually members of a gang of assasins Steed is to infiltrate for information. Of course, things are complicated when Steed is suddenly assigned a job by the Removal Men, and Venus Smith turns up at a nightclub being run by one of the Men. Without giving too much away, a nice touch is a shoot-out at the end, with Steed using a gun yet again, something that would never occur in later episodes. It is not actually a bad plot-line, though it requires attention to the dialogue, and patience due to the fairly leisurely progression of the action.

Overall, Venus is my least favorite of Steed's assistance, and my least favorite regular of the entire series. She'd be a lot better if the writers would allow her to have a clue what's going on, but... maybe she'll grow on me when I get to watching the 1963 episodes that feature her. She's not inherently unsympathetic, just... oblivious. A sharp contrast to later, argubly superior "Avengers" women. There IS a funny moment in "Removal Men" where Venus gets to knee one of the villains in the groin, and I give the character points for that one.

Mrs. Gale features in a majority of the episodes:

."Mr. Teddy Bear" is her introduction; it is also low on action, high on suspense, and... Steed is shown brandishing a gun again. It's an Emma Peel-esque story in which the formidible Mrs. Gale is pivotal to a an operation to lure in a assasain known as Teddy Bear. Not bad, not one of the best.
."Propellant 23" is a favorite of mine. It features a young Jeffrey Palmer, known well in the UK, in the role of one of the villains and uses the original device of a vial of valuable rocket fuel to propell the action. The suspense is rendered thanks to the main plotline of Steed and Mrs. Gale battling enemy agents to get the vial first. There is a great scene where Gale takes down a large and intimidating enemy agent during a search for the vial. She is also vital to allowing Steed to regain control of the rocket fuel after Jeffries' character pulls a gun. It's a pretty good ending, though the rest of the episode is even better. There's even a sequence in a women's lingerie section, in which banter forshadows what is to come with Steed and Mrs. Peel. Definitely a recomended episode.
. "Bullseye" is great all-around, with a weapon smuggling ring being crushed at the same time as a murderer is being caught. This episode exemplifies the virtues of the earlier episodes: lots of suspense, more realistic plots, and more espionage.

."The Big Thinker" is dull, but "The Mauritius Penny" is great, even if the ending is brief. There's some nice action, but the villainous just announces that her organization's plans are postponed (huh?)
."Death on the Rocks" is fun with Steed and Cathy posing as husband and wife to stop a band of diamond smugglers. At the same time, I think "Death of a Great Dane", similar to the '67 Emma Peel episode "50,000 Pound Breakfast", is the superior episode with a lot of excitment and a satisfying ending.

On all the episodes, the acting among supporting casts varies (ham acting is occasionally an issue), the photography is low budget, with odd (but not unenjoyable) shots reflecting the limitations of sets, and plenty of grainy, dull stock footage inserted, particularly in "Death Dispatch", which is said to take place in Jamaica. But, as discussed earlier, the stories and screenwriting are generally strong, the episodes well-directed as far as suspense, excitment, and action go, and the principles play their parts well. Technically, picture quality reflects the fourty-five years or so the prints have been in the vaults, and the sound quality may require the volume to be turned up at times to hear all of the often vital dialogue.

Overall, the materal is strong, but it is the historical value that really gets this DVD collection five stars from me. As a massive fan of the Peel and King years (and a moderate viewer of "The New Avengers"), this is *great* to have. 5/5

*The only material that predates this set known to be in existence are two full eps. of the '61 season ("The Frighteners" and "Girl on the Trapeze", which doesn't feature Steed), and the first fifteen minutes or thereabouts of the first EVER episode, "Hot Snow". The part of this episode preserved features only Dr. Keel and goes up to the point where his fiannce is killed by hereoine smugglers. The remainder of the episode would have shown Steed meeting Keel and the two banding together, each with their own motivaion, to bring down the smugglers. These episodes are on the bonus disc that comes with the Special Edition of the Emma Peel Megaset. The disc is also sold seperately. This material is definitely worth owning if you are a big fan of the series.

On another issue, Steed is more manipulative of others in these earlier episodes. My personal feeling is that Mrs. Gale "mellowed" him a good bit!

Pls note that the 5 stars has been mostly given for the rarity of the issue of the material on these DVDs. Back in these early days of television, shows were videotaped and the tapes were then wiped to tape further shows. Obviously, there was no belief that the original recording of these tapes should be kept for prosperity as no household had a tape or recording machine. Hence why I rate this release so highly. These truly are a find!

Thru the release of this DVD box set, we are able to view the seed of what blossomed into a cult series. Honor Blackman was unique amongst the Avengers girls. Her relationship with Steed is different from the femme fatales he was later to engage with in fighting crime. Unlike later female partners, Honor often berated Steed for endangering her in certain situations. Steed himself was a bit more roguish and not as smooth as his later incarnations thru the 60's and 70's. However, pls note that Honor does not appear in all the episodes.

However, first timers to the Avengers canon should realise that this is very much a diamond in the rough. Production values and sets are basic, rehearsals kept to a minimum therefore mistakes/line fluffs etc occur often and the fighting choreography is fairly poor. However, it's through this rawness that you can see the quality of material which would later be polished into the cult series it became and still is.

This is one of those moments when you can apply the adage - "Nostalgia at it's best".

Unlike the other Cathy Gale DVD sets, this one presents all the year's episodes in strict order(which is a bit of a no-brainer, seeing as only 2 and 1/3 of the 1st season's eps exist). Also unlike the other sets, the 1962 episodes were NOT digitally remastered, meaning that you will see some visual imperfections, aside from the technical ones that existed in these eps from the beginning. The stories themselves are very good(But require quite a bit of viewer patience);"Mr. Teddy Bear" in particular stands right alongside the best of the Mrs. Peel stories. Grit your teeth during Venus Smith's interminable singing and Martin King's sleep-inducing character and you'll be OK.

Well, if you've made it through the other reviews here, then you already have a fair idea of what to expect. My personal opinion of these early era episodes of the Avengers is that they are in most ways far superiour to the later episodes after the show went to "color". When the show was re-geared towards us American Folk around 65' and the show went to color, something happened...someone apparently started dribbling "cheeze whiz" all over the scripts. To me, the stories and even the production values were much higher in the earlier episodes when the show was taken a little more seriously by a primarily British audience.

Honor Blackman's character Cathy Gale was (as has already been stated by others here) really the very first strong female character to grace TV...this woman kicked some -serious- butt! Even if you are familiar with the character of Cathy Gale, this particular season is well worth looking into as it also featured other "Steed sidekicks" such as Venus Smith and Dr. King...characters that even many Avengers fans had never heard of!

In any incarnation, this was a great show and I seriously doubt there will ever be another quite like it. Part of that greatness I would have to attribute to Patrick McKnee's character of John Steed and to Patrick himself for being willing to work with strong and often dominant woman at a time when that sort of thing was virtually unheard of. If you like the "corn ball" antics of the later episodes then this DVD set may not be for you, but if you enjoy the more serious side of the Avengers, this season is a must have!

This is a lengthy and detailed review, chiefly targeted at Avenger-philes but it will be equally informative for anyone who wishes to know what *The Avengers* television series was all about, at least during its genesis.

The show was essentially a 1960s mod-type version of weekly British spy thrillers, running in one-hour television slots, and just a little on the garish side in terms of plots. Few Americans found out about *The Avengers* prior to 1965, (the program's first season on American television.) That's when the producers spruced up the clunky jazzy soundtrack (as well as the budget) and that's additionally when we pretty much began our vicarious love affair with a youthful and sexy Diana Rigg as *Mrs. Peel*, able assistant to the program's long-term star, Patrick Macnee, (a man with a distinctive voice remarkably similar to that of Michael Caine), in his role as John Steed.

Here you get 14 black-and-white episodes (the entire second season) of early-period Avengers action, four separately-packaged discs [Volumes 1-4, 12 hours, 8 minutes total], all produced by Leonard White. Some of the episodes are a bit draggy and soap opera-ish at times, and occasionally even muffled a bit due mostly to age, but all make for worthwhile viewing. Various writers and directors contributed to the overall project during 1962 and I have them all listed herein along with the entire credited cast for each episode.

Steed had three very different sidekicks during the 1962 season, the most prevalent being Honor Blackman, and all three reappeared in 1963 as well:

-- Honor Blackman as Mrs. Catherine "Cathy" Gale
-- Jon Rollason as Dr. Martin King
-- Julie Stevens as Miss Venus Smith

There is one small glitch in the packaging and on the disc printing: *Traitor in Zebra* is on disc 3 and not disc 4 as listed. The menus on the respective discs display correctly. I have rated each of these episodes on a 1-10 scale, 10 being the best:

VOLUME ONE

*Mr. Teddy Bear* [8.0, Blackman] -- The most difficult targets are grist for Mr. Teddy Bear's mill -- and he commands appropriately top prices for his services. Cathy hires him to snuff Steed in an effort to learn his identity! Mr. Teddy Bear is clearly Steed's most shrewd adversary of the season and perhaps for all time. Blackman's role is an especially active one and she does a terrific job, benefitting largely from a strong script. Teleplay by Martin Woodhouse; Directed by Richmond Harding, and co-starring: Douglas Muir, Bernard Goldman, Tim Brinton, Kenneth Keeling, John Horsley, John Buddock, Michael Robbins, Michael Collins, and Sarah Maxwell.

*Propellant 23* [7.0, Blackman] -- A panicked man disrupts an airline flight to Marseilles when he receives a coded message which he interprets as a death threat. The pilot thinks he's just an old fruitcake until he's actually poisoned at the airport just after debarking. Then the man's possessions come up missing from the airport security office and the search is on by agents of multiple governments. This is a fun episode, on the lighter side, due in part to a gendarme who lifts a bottle of "hair restorer" from the dead man's briefcase for a fellow officer who's growing bald. Teleplay by Jon Manchip White; Directed by Jonathan Alwyn, and co-starring: Geoffrey Palmer, Justine Lord, Catherine Woodville, Ralph Nossek, Barry Wilsher, John Crocker, Trader Faulkner, John Dearth, Frederick Schiller, Nicholas Courtney, Michael Beint, John Gill, Graham Ashley, and Deanna Schenderey.

*The Decapod* [6.5, Stevens] -- The President of an Eastern European nation, a womanizer of the First Water, keeps losing staff members... to an assassin! The Decapod is a masked, caped killer, fairly ridiculous in appearance but with lots of brawn. Steed taps Venus on the shoulder for some help in protecting the Balkan President but this amorous playboy quickly becomes more than she can handle. This is sort of a goofy entry but fun in places. Unfortunately, Stevens' vocals against the cheesy jazz tunes badly date the episode. Teleplay by Eric Paice; Directed by Don Leaver, and co-starring: Paul Stassino, Philip Madoc, Wolfe Morris, Lynn Furlong, Raymond Adamson, Harvey Ashby, Pamela Conway, Stanley M. Ayers, Douglas Robinson, Valentine Musetti, Valerie Stanton, and The Dave Lee Trio.

*Bullseye* [6.5, Blackman] -- Cathy gets involved as a corporate shareholder in an arms corporation suspected of smuggling guns illegally into Africa. But her investigations soon cause her to be a prime suspect in the murder of a company magnate. The suspense builds as time gets short as the smugglers prepare to flee with weapons stolen from the factory. Teleplay by Eric Paice; Directed by Peter Hammond, and co-starring Ronald Radd, Charles Carson, Judy Parfitt, Felix Deebank, Mitzi Rogers, Robin Wentworth, Fred Ferris, Bernard Kay, Laurie Leigh, John Frawley, and Graeme Bruce.

VOLUME TWO

*Mission to Montreal* [8.5, Rollason] -- A neurotic actress possesses a secret microfilm -- when her stand-in is murdered she flees to Montreal on a passenger ship. Dr. Martin King suddenly appears on the ship in her regular physician's stead and Steed comes on board as a steward. Enemy agents and assassins are everywhere. This one is truly a superb tale of shipboard intrigue and it shares much in common with a terrific old Sherlock Holmes entry, Sherlock Holmes in Pursuit To Algiers. This one is a complex yet very comprehensible spy versus spy yarn. Teleplay by Lester Powell; Directed by Don Leaver, and co-starring: Patricia English, Iris Russell, Mark Eden, Gillian Muir, Harold Berens, Alan Curtiss, John Bennett, Gerald Sim, Eric McCaine, Allan Casley, John Frawley, Malcolm Taylor, Terence Woodfield, Leslie Pitt, Pamela Ann Davy, William Buck, Angela Thorne, Peter MacKriel, and William Swan.

*The Removal Men* [6.0, Stevens] -- A closely-knit gang of professional killers knock off high-end victims only. Steed goes to great effort to infiltrate them so that he can gather evidence and shut down the operation before more important targets are offed; however, Venus inadvertently gums up Steed's agenda. Again, Julie Stevens (as Venus) and The Dave Lee Trio egregiously date yet another episode here with their beat generation jazz motifs -- even though Stevens is a competent singer it's still all pretty unbearable. Teleplay by Roger Marshall and Jeremy Scott; Directed by Don Leaver, and co-starring Edwin Richfield, Reed de Rouen, Patricia Denys, George Roderick, Douglas Muir, Hira Talfrey, Edina Ronay, Donald Tandy, Ivor Dean, Hugo de Vernier, George Little, and The Dave Lee Trio.

*The Maritius Penny* [8.5, Blackman] -- An auction house for stamp collectors is a front for a Fascist group which is plotting to overthrow the British government. Macnee and Blackman exploit this superior script with equally strong performances. This episode exhibits the clear fingerprints of the great Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock (Story 92) writer (along with many other memorable *Dr. Who* episodes), Terrance Dicks. It's a strong script punctuated with shrewd sub-plots. Here's an episode you can sink your teeth into! Teleplay by Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks; Directed by Richmond Harding, and co-starring Alfred Burke, David Langton, Richard Vernon, Sylva Langova, Edward Jewesbury, Harry Shacklock, Philip Guard, Alan Rolfe, Grace Arnold, Edward Higgins, Delia Corrie, Raymond Hodge, Edwin Brown, Anthony Blackshaw, Theodore Wilhelm, and Anthony Rogers.

VOLUME THREE:

*Death of A Great Dane* [5.0, Blackman] -- [The audio is a bit muffled on this episode at the start but it soon clears up]. This tale opens in a pet cemetery where a hermit-ish millionaire's K-9 was to be interred. Meanwhile, a man has crashed his car and his stomach was found to be engorged with diamonds... all of which belonged to the selfsame dog-owning millionaire. Steed goes in undercover for a closer look but murder intervenes before he gains control of the situation - pretty dull. This episode was re-made many years later as *The 50,000-Pound Breakfast* and turned out far superior to its predecessor. Teleplay by Roger Marshall and Jeremy Scott; Directed by Peter Hammond, and co-starring Frederick Jaeger, Leslie French, John Laurie, Clare Kelly, Dennis Edwards, Anthony Baird, Billy Milton, Eric Elliott, Roger Maxwell, Herbert Nelson, Michael Moyer, Frank Peters, Kevin Barry and, Junia and Heidi (the dogs.)

*The Sell-Out* [6.0, Rollason] -- International negotiations are being disrupted by saboteurs and assassins. Steed works with his bureau chief and Dr. King to ferret out a traitor within their organization -- Steed doesn't realize that he too is suspected. The dignitary under protection sees little need for the escalated security making Steed's work even more difficult. The easygoing and pragmatic Dr. Martin provides a good foil to Steed's unending sense of urgency. A so-so episode that suffers somewhat from a general lack of action. Teleplay by Anthony Terpiloff and Brandon Brady; Directed by Don Leaver, and co-starring: Frank Gatliff, Carleton Hobbs, Arthur Hewlett, Gillian Muir, Anne Godley, Michael Mellinger, Richard Klee, Storm Durr, Cyril Renison, Anthony Blackshaw, and Ray Browne.

*Death on the Rocks* [6.5, Blackman] -- When individual highly regulated diamond dealers fail to play ball with a coercive hustler, their family members get snuffed. Steed poses as a dealer to uncover the plot, unbeknownst to the regulatory agent. Cathy Gale comes on board as Steed's wife, a role within a role which she doesn't precisely savor. Blackman doesn't have a huge chunk of script here but it is one of her better performances. Teleplay by Eric Paice; Directed by Jonathan Alwyn, and co-starring: Meier Tzelniker, Gerald Cross, Ellen McIntosh, Naomi Chance, Hamilton Dyce, David Sumner, Richard Clarke, Toni Gilpin, Douglas Robinson, Annette Kerr, Haydn Ward, Jack Grossman, and Vincent Charles.

*Traitor in Zebra* [9.5, Blackman] -- (The title doesn't show up on the case or the disc but it does appear on the disc menu - it's supposed to be on Volume 4.) A British Naval radar tracking system is being jammed by enemy agents. A young Naval officer has been framed as the traitor who supposedly fed information to enemy agents but Steed, brought in as a Naval psychiatrist to examine the suspected junior officer, believes in his innocence. Cathy Gale is placed within the radar lab staff as a researcher to feed inside information to Steed. Then a series of local murders is clearly linked to the sabotage. This is a rock-solid story with spot-on casting. The atmosphere of the officers' lounge and the local pub respectively serves to launch this terrific entry as the best episode of the entire season -- the Director deserves notable kudos. Teleplay by John Gilbert; Directed by Richmond Harding, and co-starring John Sharp, Richard Leech, Noel Coleman, Jack Stewart, Ian Shand, William Gaunt, June Murphy, Kathy Wild, Danvers Walker, Richard Pescud, and Michael Browning.

VOLUME FOUR

*The Big Thinker* [6.5, Blackman] -- A super-computer is sabotaged and a boisterous young genius (played by Anthony Booth who grossly over-dramatizes his every movement) is immediately suspected of the jamming of the works. Of course, murder ensues. Cathy Gale sports a heinous hairdo in this one... sort of a greasy-looking bouffant crowned with a cow-pattie; however, she is somewhat redeemed when a female adversary emerges with an even more egregious mop! The conclusion is rather anti-climactic, probably attributable to the Director. Teleplay by Martin Woodhouse; Directed by Kim Mills, and co-starring Clive Baxter, Tenniel Evans, Allan McClelland, Penelope Lee, Walter Hudd, David Garth, Marina Martin, Ray Browne, and Anthony Booth.

*Death Dispatch* [6.5, Blackman] -- A British Embassy agent carrying routine dispatches is murdered in Jamaica. Steed stands in as a decoy courier and Cathy Gale serves as his cover. A ruthless Chilean fascist is behind the scheme to pull off a quick government coup. Cathy's new hairstyle is slightly better than it was in the previous episode but still, it's hardly her best look. On the positive side, her attire is pure `60s art. Teleplay by Leonard Fincham; Directed by Jonathan Alwyn, co-starring David Cargill, Valerie Sarruf, Douglas Muir, Gerald Harper, Hedger Wallace, Michael Forrest, Maria Andipa, Alan Mason, Geoff L'Cise, Arthur Griffiths, Bernice Rassin, and Jerry Jardin.

*Dead on Course* [7.5, Rollason] -- Aircraft are being electronically baited into crashing on the Irish coast. Steed is sent in to determine the motive and to collar the guilty parties for these heinous acts of apparent terrorism. Dr. King is called in by Steed to examine the corpses, all of which are transported to a local Catholic Convent... but it's soon discovered that one person has survived the crash! As the plot becomes ever more diaphanous, the Convent and its staff seem ever more suspicious. A dandy episode! Teleplay by Eric Paice; Directed by Richmond Harding, and co-starring John McLaren, Liam Gaffney, Donal Donnelly, Peggy Marshall, Elisabeth Murray, Janet Hargreaves, Nigel Arkwright, Bruce Boa, Margo Jenkins, Trevor Reid, Edward Kelsey, Molly Maureen, Denis Cleary, and Wilfred Grove.

Quite honestly, if you are new to *The Avengers*, I would recommend that you first watch Avengers '67 - Set 1, Vols. 1 & 2 because, that way, you get the color episodes which still star Diana Rigg (she departed in '68.) There's little question that Rigg was the most popular of Steed's sidekicks but I have enjoyed them all for the duration of the series, including the chirpy, giggling, and often incompetent Venus Smith (Julie Stevens.)

Highly recommended to fans of *The Avengers* or to those who simply enjoy older British television shows.

This Pre Emma Peel Avengers is in many ways superior although the Emma Peel set gets more attention,. The is more understated with and Honor Blackman is really a better actress than Diana Rigg

The aura of this season is a straight spy, crime-FBI (or should I say MI5 and Scotland Yard) type operation. There is none of the mild science fiction - fantasy type aura of the black and white Mrs. Peel series or the subtle satire. Also the villains are straight forward evil people without any of the amusing eccentricities of the later seasons.

Cathy is much more intelligent than Mrs Peel and also much higher social class. Cathy gets herself out of trouble with quick thinking and minimal physical violence as opposed to Emma's excessive physical violence. There are plenty of shootouts in spite of Macnee later appearing on television and video tapes claiming that Steed never carried a gun.

That said, it is up there with Secret Agent Man.