Customer Reviews

Avengers '67: Set 4 [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

there was Mrs Gale and Venus Smith.

These seven episodes of pre-Mrs Peel Avengers episodes. The series was originally meant to be a more serious spy adventure series about two agents Dr. Keel and a much less debonair John Steed. The second series (season to Americans) focused more on Steed, eliminating the Dr. and teaming him with Venus Smith and Cathy Gale among others. Cathy Gale, an accomplished, educated, self confident woman with considerable martial arts training is very much Steed's equal despite being an 'amateur' agent. She has very much in common with Emma Peel although her relationship with Steed, at least in the earliest episodes, is quite antagonistic and quite lacking the playful banter that would characterize the Steed/Peel exchanges. Venus Smith is a very young (perhaps 20) nightclub singer who has no apparent secret agent skills or qualifications other than her admiration for Steed. In many ways, her youth, inexperience, enthusiasm and adoration of Steed, she is a forerunner of Tara King.

The stories include: "White Dwarf" - an sci-fi sort of tale about the possible end of the world; "Man in the Mirror" - suspicious suicide and the living dead; "Conspiracy of Silence" - undercover at the circus to stop a Mafia drug ring;"A Chorus of Frogs" - deep sea murder and foreign agents; "Six Hands Across A Table" - corrupt businessmen attempt to control British shipbuilding; "Killerwhale" - smuggling in the boxing world; "Brief for Murder" - corrupt lawyers use every means to free their clients.

"Man in the Mirror" and "A Chorus of Frogs" feature Venus Smith, (and 'showcase' her singing), the rest pair Steed with Cathy Gale. These are very low budget productions, completely lacking in the polish that appears in later years. The stories are all in black and white, with rather sparse sets. Camera work is jerky, sound quality uneven giving the whole thing a feeling of being shot live (which it was not) even to the point of leaving in obvious errors, like forgotten or wrong lines.

So why get these dvds? For Avenger fans it is interesting to see the beginnings of their favorite secret agent, John Steed, to see him before he developed his lighthearted, polished sophistication. Cathy and Venus are the forerunners of Emma Peel and Tara King and paired with Steed face not the campy eccentrics of the later series but instead more gritty serious villians. In the later series the emphasis was on the flashy visuals, the campy comedy punctuated by adventure here the reverse is the case, the spy adventure is at times sprinkled with bits of comic relief.

Oh to have been an adult in the 60's! Diana Rigg in color as Emma Peel is a beauty to be reckoned with. Okay - aside from the hokey self-defense techniques with which Emma dispatches her antagonists with (how sad that we have grown accustomed to the real thing that anything less disappoints us - see the Matrix), Diana Rigg is unquestionably the prettiest secret agent to have graced the Small Screen (aside from perhaps Agent 99?).

This box-set of The Avengers was a treasure to find, as I grew up remembering the black and white TV series. A&E has done a wonderful job in compiling and arranging these tapes in collections that make sense, chronologically as well as "historically". Although I must admit that I am spoiled by the kind of theatrics and special effects that present more of a "believable" suspension of disbelief, these videotapes provide more than just tongue-in-cheek humor. It is also comical to view them as an historical comment as to what TV viewers found "racy" or "tough". Bring Steed & Mrs. Peel back! We need classy characters who know how to bring down the bad guys!

Enjoy these tapes...

Peace out.

A great series and a great set. Personally I find Steed looks to old to play this part, but he's great for it. In the beginning he didn't look old, but in this set he looks like 70. It is still a classic set. This set includes: The 50,000 Pounds Breakfast, Dead Man's Treasure, You Have Just Been Murdered, The Positive-Negative Man, Murdersville, Mission Highly Improbable, and The Forget-Me-Knot. I don't like Tara King at all, but at least it has Macnee and Rigg in it. They are my favorite Avengers team.

The wittiest script of the 7 is "Positive Negative Man." Scientists formerly associated with Project 90 are being murdered. Notable because Steed shows jealousy. Mrs. Peel ostensibly stumbles, her arm going around the neck of a young scientist. "Sorry, I don't usually fall for strangers." When he and his cohort leave Steed explodes. "To plumb the depths of utter banality with I don't usually fall for strangers!" he snaps. He is reassured by her laughter and observation " It was corny ... but I wanted to get a sample of the makeup he was wearing on his collar- odd, greasy makeup." "Good girl," Steed approves. An abducted MRs. Peel about to be rescued by Steed, "Steed I am sending out 40,000 volts of electricity!" "I attribute that to your magnetic personality!" The tag scene is fun. Steed has become magnetized to his car. "Tell me," teases Emma, "Are you AC or DC?" To Emma's dismay her efforts to rescue him cause her to become physically stuck to Steed. "No use fighting it MRs. Peel, we're inseparable!" As were Rigg and McNeee as a duo.

This is the best of the four A&E complilations. "Murdersville" is excellent -- a solo episode for Mrs. Peel. The "Forget-Me-Knot" episode is intriguing, in part because it shows how substantially the series will change in the next season. Tara, frankly, isn't bad in this episode, but the whole "Mother" bit is entirely unnecessary. I'm looking forward to the black-and-white Mrs. Peel episodes being released.

Go here (to the DVD versions) to see my full reviews of these great episodes:

The Avengers '67 - Set 4, Vols. 7 & 8

Forget the VHS tapes -- buy the DVDs! They are MUCH clearer and sharper.

This was the best DVD set that I ever bought! This set is a must-have for true Avengers fans. The picture is crisp and this will be a part of your collection forever.

These episodes are considered the beginning of the Avengers to most fans of the show today. These are probably the best episodes with the Cathy Gale character. As she is forced to become deeply involved in criminal organizations undercover with the direction of Steed. Each episode has a theme of a murderous criminal minds, and it is not truly apparent who is behind it all until the end.

This dvd set is a better bargain than most of the Cathy Gale era with 7 instead of 6 episodes. However, 2 of them are with the spunky Venus Smith instead of Gale.

Agian my biggest complaint of these A & E dvds is the lack of special features. It comes only with production stills. Still at least we can get to see episodes of a classic series that was not orginally aired in the US at the time they were made.

Shocking! Positively shocking! No, I am not referring to the comment that Sean Connery made after he electrocuted an undesirable in his bathtub at the beginning of "Goldfinger." No, I am referring to "THE AVENGERS" episode, "The Positive-Negative Man" in this set. I am also referring to the episode, "The Forget-Me-Knot" where Mrs. Emma Peel portrayed by the exquisite Diana Rigg departs from the series and is replaced by Tara King in the person of the lovely Linda Thorson. Shocking! That episode has something to do about introducing memory loss on some unsuspecting chap or something. I seem to have forgotten. Now where was I? Oh yes, poor Patrick Macnee! I don't think that debonair John Steed will ever recover from all these different female partners or should I say work associates! I mean going up and down stairs, forgetting one's umbrella and all that! Really! Good show all around!