Product Details

• Actors: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, Linda Thorson, Ian Hendry
• Writers: Sydney Newman
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 30, 1998
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0767011058
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #381,407 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Epic" is a spooky Avengers installment in which Mrs. Peel is kidnapped by a mad director who holds her prisoner in a studio while filming The Destruction of Mrs. Peel. Series coproducer Brian Clemens wrote the inventive script, which finds poor Emma in a movie-cliché nightmare, being shot at in a Western saloon, in a World War I setting, and by Indians and Chicago gangsters. Clemens was also behind "The Superlative Seven," which features some familiar faces (Donald Sutherland, Brian Blessed, Charlotte Rampling) in an Agatha Christie-like tale of seven people brought to an island, where one of their numbers is killing off the others. The slightly conventional plot is spruced up by an international conspiracy element, a surprise ending, and the dramatic arrival of Emma Peel onto the island--by parachute! --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Between kung fu fights, international crises and sips of champagne, THE AVENGERS managed to do more than merely thrill us. The programme -- perhaps for the first time on television -- explored the very nature of cinema and the experience of entertainment. A thinker’s thriler, THE AVENGERS used the rare gift of self- effacement, while remaining one of the best shows in television. "Epic" First aired 1 April, 1967 Emma becomes the unwilling star of a personal cinematic nightmare called "The Destruction of Emma Peel." Well ahead of its time, as usual, this episode of THE AVENGERS introduces the horrific concept of "snuff films" to American audiences. Directed by James Hill, Written by Brian Clemens. "The Superlative Seven" First aired 8 April, 1967 Seven of the most formidable characters in the world (including Steed, of course) are brought together to test the mettle of a master assassin. Look for the young Donald Sutherland and Charlotte Rampling in this sendup of The Magnificent Seven. Directed by Sidney Hayers, Written by Brian Clemens.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Emma Takes A Screen Test - Steed Doubles Stunts, April 29, 2002

By 

Bruce Rux (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Avengers: Epic & Superlative Seven [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Epic" is a love-it-or-hate-it high-camp series entry. Nothing in it is there to make sense - it's all just great fun. Emma is stalked by mad film director Z. Z. Von Schnark (portrayed a la Otto Preminger), who kidnaps her to an abandoned movie studio to film his greatest epic: "The Death of Mrs. Peele." Von Schnark is only half the fun - two out of work actors fanatically devoted to the director play the supporting roles, Peter Wyngarde particularly shining when he keeps replaying the same scene in different costumes and accents. Emma refuses to take any of it seriously, even when tied to a buzz-saw, and mocks them throughout.

"The Superlative Seven" is a well-done, atmospheric high melodrama, benefiting from stellar performances - including appearances from very young up-and-comers Donald Sutherland and Charlotte Rampling - and gorgeous costumes, sets, and color. It's Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians," with Steed one of the invited isolated party victims. The episode has only one great flaw, and that is that the game is revealed in the opening scene, ruining a great deal of the suspense. But it performs quite well, and is enjoyable even when you're a step or two ahead of what's coming.

These two make a nice pair on one tape, the former being an Emma-minus-Steed episode, the latter a Steed-minus-Emma one. Oh, the other half of the dynamic duo make their appearances, all right, in each one, giving them the chance to be each other's backup/bailout. That's all just part of the fun.

3.0 out of 5 stars Superlative Seven retains mystery and spooky atmosphere, April 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Avengers: Epic & Superlative Seven [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Clemmens wrote his best script of 1967 when he penned superlative 7. According to Avengers Dossier it was a rewrite- he was running out of ideas. I enjoyed it when I saw it -ouch more than 30 years ago. It is a send up of Agatha Christie's Ten LIttle Indians mystery and the movie The magnificent 7. Usual charming opening teaser of Emma and Steed. Sadly, Diana Rigg then vanishes until the last 10 minutes. I didn't enjoy seeing it again half as much as I thought I would. This episode would have worked better for Diana Rigg if Emma had been the one on the island with a group of 6 men and the announcment that 1 of them was a killer. The 6 coffins was a nice touch! It has a good cast, atmospheric dark house on a deserted island with the door always open and leaves blowing in. Emmma's arrival on the island by parachute saves the episode for me and the day! Epic was dull and weird. Diana Rigg infuses an otherwise dull, dumb script with her wit. Bound to a table with a pendulum coming closer she quips "I am in danger of becoming a split personality." The ending is the best part of the story. Steed has rescued Emma from torture and death and they try to find a film to attend. She enthusiastically reads about a film that features "unbridled passion- that won awards." "It closed yesterday," she says sadly. "Unbridled passion," smiles Steed. "Let's stay home." Anyone naive enough to object to Steed kissing Emma in the film and their attraction to one another must have missed every innuendo in the show. I wasn't that naive even when I was an innocent teenager. I never mistook Steed and Mrs. Peel for a boy scout and a girl guide!

Clemmens should have switched his cliches and had Steed trapped in Murdersville or Epic and Emma rescue him. It would have been a change.