56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Early adventures for Steed, December 16, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Avengers '63, Set 1 (DVD)
For all the fans of The Avengers familiar with the Emma Peel/Tara King era 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 Police Surgeon 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." 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. Mrs. Gale turned out to be the most popular and successful foil for the suave agent, and the other characters did not return after season two. 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.
A&E is releasing these stories in a somewhat confusing order, and has started with season three. The first two sets released, Avengers 64 1 & 2, feature the LAST six episodes of season three. Next comes Avengers 63 sets 1 & 2 which comprises of the first half of the season. Next up in the release order is 63 sets 3 & 4 which precede 1 & 2 in running order and in fact feature the last seven stories from season two, plus the first from season three. Confused? Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, since thankfully there's no real reason to watch the stories in chronological order anyway.
What is interesting is the development of the production standards. 63 sets 3 & 4, featuring the latter stories from season two, are far more rudimentary in terms of production quality. The sets are extremely small and sparse; The direction very slap-hazard; Camera work shoddy; Sound is extremely poor; and the acting is negligible. With no budget for editing or reshooting, 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, and the relationship with Mrs. Gale 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. She looks about 12, sings like she's forty, and dresses like anything in between. She also seems extremely naïve 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 season three stories where she is the exclusive companion to him, their relationship develops nicely and they become much warmer and closer to each other.
The production values on season three are also much better than the earlier episodes. The sets became larger and more elaborate. The direction, lighting and sound improved greatly and the acting was much less wooden. Some editing was clearly allowed on these later stories, whereas the earlier ones clearly were broadcast as if they were live. There's a terrific blunder in "Six hands across a table," where Cathy is called "Ros" in one scene, and both actors realize the mistake, but keep going.
The quality of the DVD's is somewhat disappointing, even accounting for the age of the material and the production values mentioned above. It may not be the case, but it certainly appears that A&E have made no attempt whatsoever to re-master the original tapes, and the flaws, jumps, scratches and sound blips are too numerous to mention. Virtually every episode on 63 sets 3 & 4 are hampered by picture and sound flaws and defects. Things do improve for 63 1 & 2 and 64 1 & 2, but the quality is still disappointing. Mind you, it appears they have done nothing to clean up the Tara King episodes either!
As a big fan of the series, I wouldn't even consider not having these episodes in my collection, but if you're looking for the wacky camp humor and the tele-fantasy of the Peel/King eras, these stories may not be for you.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than '64, not as good as '65 and the rest, September 25, 2000
This review is from: The Avengers '63, Set 1 (DVD)
When A&E began to make available the almost legendary Cathy Gale episodes instead of the Tara King ones (for which I had voted), I found myself somewhat disappointed with them. The pace at which many of the episodes were performed during that 1964 season was often very slow before Honor Blackman went off to join James Bond and Diana Rigg became the pin-up queen of the world of undercover agents.
The six episodes of the <Avengers '63, Set 1> (AEE 70076) are considerably more interesting, if just a bit more difficult to hear due to slightly fuzzier sound and more primitive microphone techniques. And while in the '64 set A&E had let an intrusive fly get between the original tapes and the DVD copy, we have here in the last episode of this set some pretty bad "flag waving" at the top of the screen that should have been dealt with before release.
But as far as the programs themselves are concerned, things are a lot brighter. "The Undertakers" is a look ahead to the very last Avengers episode in which rich men are allowed to "die" and stay underground until the heat dies down. Here they seem to be brought to a rest home of sorts until the 5-year suicide clause in their insurance lapses. "Man With Two Shadows" pre-echoes "They Keep Killing Steed" from 1968; while "The Nutshell" has Steed a prime suspect just as he was going to be in "Who Was That Man I Saw You With?" in 1969. (Very different plots, but pretty much the same basic concept.)
There is much ado about selling and buying stocks in "Death of a Batman" (not a caped crusader, but a sort of valet to British officers) and about British politics (you must know what a backbench man is) in "November Five." "The Gilded Cage" is notable for the only role given in this series to a black actor until "Have Guns, Will Haggle" 4 years later.
There is seldom the sparks-go-flying chemistry between Gale and Steed as there was going to be between Peel and Steed; and the horrible percussion that inevitably accompanies the fights do not make them any more exciting--but at least we know that doubles are not being used and it was shot "live" after all. Further, Johnny Dankworth's music is somewhat repetitious and unimaginative; the scores by Laurie Johnson for the Rigg series will be witty and appropriate.
Still, it is not fair to judge this set by what was to come. So where I gave the '64 set four stars, I should but am not permitted to give this one 4 1/2. Therefore I will deduct a point for that flag waving and recommend this one as jolly good fun.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Honor Blackman, August 18, 2003
By A Customer
I own all 4 VHS sets with Honor Blackman. As a yuppy with only the knowledge of Mrs. Peel replayed over and over, it was hard to accept another partner for Steed. But the more I watch Mrs. Gayle, the more I like her. Mrs. Gayle is more real, and more of an adversary to the foe than Mrs. Peel. Mrs. Gayle fights men and wins. Mrs. Gayle isn't put in "cat-fights" with other women. Sometimes the show seems to have been taped live, but it's fun to catch the mistakes and how they worked around them. You can tell they're not in the correct order in the sets. If you can figure out the order they were aired, you should try to watch them in order. You can't watch just one.
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