Customer Reviews

Secret Agent AKA Danger Man Megaset

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4 star:		(3)
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What was golden about "Secret Agent" in 1965 remains golden: it tackles the familiar spy-story themes---duty, honor, country; loyalty, brotherhood, betrayal---with a theatrical style, with romanticism, wit, and grace, often with deep human feeling. In 1965, when the moral norms in television and movies were starting to go to hell in a handbasket and the spy genre was characterized by the comic-book vulgarity of the James Bond films and the moral pessimism of John Le Carre, the strong moral tone and absence of promiscuity in "Secret Agent" were remarkable. That turned out to be a deliberate device, at the personal insistence of the star. Certain of the writers and directors seemed to recognize the possibilities and seize on them, deftly exploiting their star's unique characteristics to create some fascinating, unforgettable television.

With this reissue of the complete '65-'66 series on DVD---and now that things in the culture have gotten a lot darker---my own thanks go to Patrick McGoohan for that particular moment in his career: for the glowing, graceful Cold Warrior he made of John Drake; for his insistence on a principled approach to the character; for the enduring mystery of personality he brought to a small-screen hero.

Can't go to the theater? Watch McGoohan, with his strange quality of aggressive shyness, in a repertory of amusing impersonations: the tipsy playboy, the wheeler-dealer businessman, the shy schoolteacher, the crisp colonial officer, the langorous beachcomber, the insolent artist, the veddy English butler, the flirtatious German encyclopedia salesman, the supercilious physician ("It's Bailey-Carpenter---ehm---there's a hyphen"). The darkness of "The Prisoner" and 35 years of villain roles haven't dimmed the glow of this princely performance, or the image of the decent, thoughtful man behind it, who seemed to care so genuinely about his influence on the television audience.

Faulkner said, "The artist's duty is to lift up men's hearts and help them endure." The people who worked on this series did their duty.

So spend your money. This is great stuff.
M.E.M.

I just bought the megaset, after having rented several of the Dangerman discs in the past. The show is top notch, my cup of tea, one of my favorite actors and shows, 5 Amazon stars all the way. I grew up on the Prisoner first as a very young lad on CBS (I really remember ROVER as a 4 year old!) and than as a teen watching every episode as it aired weekly on the local PBS, finally I bought that A&E set about 5 or so years ago and watched it with my family. Well the show is first rate, better than the 30 minute first season which I also have.

The packaging though from A&E is only 3 stars in my opinion. First, its big and bulky. This is because A&E sold mini sets of this show and didnt repackage it for the megaset, I believe that they are selling the size since its a substantial price, but for those of us who are buying TV shows in quantity, this is a disadvantage for shelf space. Second, The episodes are in the American airing order. I was watching disc 1 episode 1 in the set and after I watched it I went to an episode guide online and that is actually the 8th episode to be aired in the UK. I strongly suggest you watch this in the UK (original) air order as a lot of elements are brought out to set up the show that are not explained as well when you start on the 8th episode.

The first episode originaly shown ever was Yesterdays Enemies, I think it may be the best episode I have seen of this show (after watching 20 or so episodes). We meet Drake's boss the Admiral (great hard nose character), we also see Drake go to Lebanon and get rebuffed by the British Embassy when he asks for help, these are elements that define the show and need to be explained early on, like in the FIRST EPISODE! Later in that first episode we see Drake question his superiors motives, I had watched this episode before but I had no idea it was the first one aired and it's very important to set up the rest of the series. Who is Drake, who is he working for, what are his and his agencies limitations? Start at this episode and not The Battle Of The Camera's (which is only an average episode, I think it was shown first in America because it has a "gaget", a machine gun killing in the intro, and doesn't raise Drake's questioning his superiors like Yesterdays Enemies did). I guess after watching Yesterdays Enemies it wont matter so much what order they are in but I am sticking to the UK air date schedule.

I just finished the first 3 episodes Yesterdays Enemies, The Professionals, and Colony Three. I think those three are the high water mark of the show, all top notch. To see those three which were in the original order you have to watch 3 different DVD's, so definetly 3 stars for the packaging. Other critism's, no closed captioning, and the sound level is low, I'm not looking for Dolby Digital here but I had to turn my systems volume up higher than normal (pretty high). The print quality was average, I saw some print errors on the video which is a shame. I looked on UK web sights and surprisingly they are not selling a complete Dangerman set, so America is ahead when it comes to this show.

A couple of last comments. The Prisoner was a major show in my life, if you are a Prisoner fan also see Colony Three! Watching the episode Colony Three (The third episode that aired) brought chills up my back, if this was a movie where we didn't know if Drake would survive, I would rank it up with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, maybe better. The Colony is also very similiar to "The Village" from Prisoner fame. Not to give too much away but the grief he gets from his boss the Admiral at the end is a wonderful touch of great writing.

Despite my comments on the packaging, I'm very happy I finally got this set, the show is great and even watching episodes I've seen before is still very entertaining because I missed a lot in prior viewings. Here is the order I will be viewing these in case you want to see them in UK order as well (from epguides-dangerman page):

Series 1964 60 min

40. 2- 1 048 13 Oct 64 Yesterday's Enemies
41. 2- 2 043 20 Oct 64 The Professionals
42. 2- 3 049 27 Oct 64 Colony Three
43. 2- 4 047 3 Nov 64 The Galloping Major
44. 2- 5 042 10 Nov 64 Fair Exchange
45. 2- 6 040 17 Nov 64 Fish on the Hook
46. 2- 7 044 24 Nov 64 The Colonel's Daughter
47. 2- 8 051 1 Dec 64 The Battle of the Cameras
48. 2- 9 052 8 Dec 64 No Marks for Servility
49. 2-10 050 15 Dec 64 A Man to be Trusted
50. 2-11 041 22 Dec 64 Don't Nail Him Yet
51. 2-12 054 29 Dec 64 A Date with Doris
52. 2-13 046 5 Jan 65 That's Two of Us Sorry
53. 2-14 055 12 Jan 65 Such Men Are Dangerous
54. 2-15 056 19 Jan 65 Whatever Happened to George Foster?
55. 2-16 057 2 Feb 65 A Room in the Basement
56. 2-17 058 9 Feb 65 The Affair at Castelevara
57. 2-18 053 16 Feb 65 The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
58. 2-19 045 23 Feb 65 It's Up to the Lady
59. 2-20 059 2 Mar 65 Have a Glass of Wine
60. 2-21 060 9 Mar 65 The Mirror's New
61. 2-22 061 16 Mar 65 Parallel Lines Sometimes Meet

3rd Series 1965

62. 3- 1 062 23 Sep 65 You Are Not in Any Trouble, Are You?
63. 3- 2 067 30 Sep 65 The Black Book
64. 3- 3 066 7 Oct 65 A Very Dangerous Game
65. 3- 4 065 14 Oct 65 Sting in the Tail
66. 3- 5 069 21 Oct 65 English Lady Takes Lodgers
67. 3- 6 070 28 Oct 65 Loyalty Always Pays
68. 3- 7 064 4 Nov 65 The Mercenaries
69. 3- 8 068 11 Nov 65 Judgement Day
70. 3- 9 063 18 Nov 65 The Outcast
71. 3-10 071 2 Dec 65 Are You Going to be More Permanent?
72. 3-11 072 9 Dec 65 To Our Best Friend
73. 3-12 073 16 Dec 65 The Man on the Beach
74. 3-13 075 23 Dec 65 Say It with Flowers
75. 3-14 074 30 Dec 65 The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
76. 3-15 076 6 Jan 66 Someone is Liable to Get Hurt
77. 3-16 077 13 Jan 66 Dangerous Secret
78. 3-17 078 20 Jan 66 I Can Only Offer You Sherry
79. 3-18 079 27 Jan 66 The Hunting Party
80. 3-19 080 10 Mar 66 Two Birds with One Bullet
81. 3-20 081 17 Mar 66 I am Afraid You Have the Wrong Number
82. 3-21 082 24 Mar 66 The Man With the Foot
83. 3-22 083 31 Mar 66 The Paper Chase
84. 3-23 084 7 Apr 66 Not So Jolly Roger

Series 1968 colour

85. 4- 1 085 5 Jan 68 Koroshi (1)
86. 4- 2 086 12 Jan 68 Shinda Shima (2)

First off--I wanted to let everyone know that the first season of "DANGER MAN" (all 39 half-hour episodes filmed in 1961) is now available on DVD at www.deepdiscountdvd.com. Type in "danger man" then hit 'search by title'(this item is NOT available on Amazon; that is why i mentioned it!). This 13 disc megaset contains all 47 HOUR-LONG episodes filmed in 1965-66. This is a fantastic show with the great actor Patrick McGoohan and great stories too! I am so glad to see all of these classic TV shows coming out on DVD. As far as i'm concerned, today's television is mostly crap. They don't have the actors, the stories, or the decency that the old shows had. The talent just isn't there in these new shows. When trying this show also try "THE AVENGERS" and "THE SAINT". You'll love every minute!

I watched these shows on Saturday afternoons in the late 60s when I was a smug and angry adolescent. My dad, with whom I had very little in common otherwise, and I would come in from yard work, get a cool drink, and enjoy the smart and stylish show together. They were absorbing; for years I wondered why so little television could match the excellence of these. And though I have never seen them since, they, and the brilliant harpsichord theme song, remain etched in my mind.

So, nearly 40 years later, I bought them as a gift for my dad, now that we have more in common. And heard him, much to my surprise, complain.

Not because of the content. No, we watched the first three episodes last night, two wonderful, one not-so-good (wish they'd kept ALL American actresses away.) Suave, witty, well-photographed, and plotted expertly. No, he could not decipher what was being said. In the shows we watched, we had French, Romanian, and German accents, and his hearing has deteriorated to where he could not understand the dialogue. AND SUBTITLES ARE NOT AVAILABLE! (nor is much else in the DVD menu--nothing extra at all.....)

I would think a goodly chunk of their potential audience is my dad's age and has my dad's ears. Why oh why, on a set this expensive, did they not include the option of captions?

So, if the intended viewers of this show have any hearing loss, be warned. These will be incomprehensible.

I discovered this series on KTEH 54-San Jose, a local PBS station, and I was astounded by the quality of the acting and of the writing. The dialogue is simply outstanding and far outpaces anything you will see on primetime tv today featuring the work of many well-known directors like Peter Yates (Bullitt), who are well-respected in the UK and abroad.

I think John Drake is the epitome of cool--examine the icy interchange between Darren Nesbitt and McGoohan in "Sting in the Tail" for example--you will be riveted to the screen. Supporting cast include reliable, stock actors from the ITC stable and some notable British film stars like John Fraser, Bernard Lee, (M from the James Bond films) and Finlay Currie.

Personally, I never grow tired watching these expertly written episodes over and over again--a product of Great Britain's when it still had something resembling an empire. The strength in Secret Agent lies in the scripts, characterization of the lead (McGoohan), and the gritty realism portrayed. In fact, McGoohan directed several of the episodes including "The Paper Chase" which has some whimsical, if not humorous, elements to it--I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say Drake's means of eluding the bad guys in this installment is a go-kart!

Drake is not infalliable and does not always win the day: watch the episode "Judgment Day" and see why. Personally, these hour long episodes are far superior than the 30 minute "Danger Man" episodes that were produced a few years before.

Secret Agent is played seriously--not like the candy coated sci fi James Bond "espionage entertainments" served up by Brosnan and Co. ridiculously replete with cars that fly or laden with machine guns and death rays. No, here is an agent that, although an expert marksman, refuses to use a gun, but instead relies on his wits to get the job done.

Take my word for it, Secret Agent Mega set is the ticket to hours of viewing pleasure and an interesting window into Cold War politics and intrigue--Enjoy!

This megaset is well worth the price. Each episode in original broadcast order, crystal clear uncut in glorious black and white, except for the final two episodes of course. Relive the excitement along with excellent characterizations over 47 episodes. Includes the original U.S. opening Secret Agent Man them.

US vs UK and boxed-set confusion:

The very good first half-hour series, called "Danger Man" when broadcast in both the US and UK, is now available in the US in NTSC format in a 5-DVD set under the title "Danger Man - The Complete First Season."

The superb later one-hour series, called "Danger Man" when broadcast in the UK and "Secret Agent" when broadcast in the US, is sold here under the title "Danger Man AKA Secret Agent" on 13 DVDs. (5 of the previously-released 6 subsets have 2 DVDs, one has 3 DVDs.)

The way the publishers have confused all this -- "Someone Is Liable to Get Hurt."

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Now for the actual shows:

"You're Not in Any Trouble, Are You?"

In both the half-hour and the one-hour shows, he is an intelligence agency troubleshooter who is sent in to do "the messy jobs" (as he narrates in the half-hour intro.)

In the half-hour shows he assumed a transatlantic accent and is sometimes referred to as being from the US or NATO. The opening shot is of the US Capitol dome. In the one-hour shows he is from "M9" and there are regular shots of the dome of St Peter's.

When the one-hour shows were run on US network TV, a short theme and intro were added for the US market. Different title -"Secret Agent" in the US; "Danger Man" in the UK. The add-on has a twirling gun, a gloved hand (not Drake's) firing three shots, and the Johnny Rivers song - all ending with a gunshot sound. More gunplay than in the actual episodes!

The DVDs are of the UK version. The US theme and intro are included as a separate track at the end of each DVD. The music under the closing credits of each episode is the UK harpsichord theme rather than Johnny Rivers.

The half-hour shows are also very good. They don't have the plot complexity (most of the one-hour shows have a very realistic major setback or other plot twist at the half-way point) or the plot depth (the half-hour shows are nearly 100% action and suspense; McGoohan and the excellent guest stars have more time for characterization in the one-hour shows.)

And, of course, it is the later one-hour shows that bring out Drake's moral concerns and rebelliousness about his work.

The half-hour shows and the one-hour shows are beautifully plotted, written, acted, and filmed.

The half-hour shows are very satisfying and will give you a lift. I have to admit that some of the one-hour shows, being more realistic, can be a bit of a downer.

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Connection with "The Prisoner"

"I am not a number - I am a free man!"

I personally do not like the next series - the nightmarish "The Prisoner." Most episodes have poor plots, little character development, no foreign locations, few guest stars, no humor, uninteresting costumes, the midget butler, that silly teeter-totter, the overdrawn villains, and the horrible weather balloon. (The killer robot failed - the balloon was a last-minute fix.)

The reason that he is not called "John Drake" is that Ralph Smart, creator and producer of "Danger Man" and "Secret Agent" would allow use of the character. (Just like Bob Denver can appear wearing the costume but cannot bill himself as "Gilligan")

The reason the episodes are so uneven is that at the last minute, McGoohan had to come up with ten more episodes than the seven he had originally planned - in order to sell the show to American TV. His budget was not appreciably increased to pay for the additional filming and it shows.

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In conclusion:

"No Marks for Servility"

Anyhow, get this set and the "Danger Man - The Complete First Season" set as well. Then you know the whole story.

Danger Man is the 1965-6 series starring Patrick McGoohan better known for his subsequent series "The Prisoner". This is top notch stylish British secret agent cold war intrigue, and John Drake is the more realistic version of James Bond. Some episodes involve rescuing fellow agents from the East, some from Latin
America, and some have a pre-Prisoner aspect to them, such as the one where the whole show is his dream. Towers over anything currently on TV, this is a true '60s classic.

Known in the States as Secret Agent Man, Danger Man - with just a few misfire episodes, is for me, the best television in history. Better at what it does than what Seinfeld did for its genre, better even, than the BBC's The Office. 'The Best.' The stonking, pound-for-pound champion of television. Better still, than its successor, The Prisoner.

Despite what has dated, what is stunning about Danger Man is what has not. In a sense, it's sickeningly depressing, because the plot concerns are eerily of the moment. Right wing takeovers, identity theft, internment camps, Geneva and Rome endings for unlucky agents ... and a majority of episodes concerning the Middle East, which- either through huge coincidence or prescience, relate to Iraq, Israel and Lebanon! There is even a slightly anti-Israeli cautionary tale - how likely is that, today or any day? (No turncoat is John Drake; there is a touching episode or three when Drake doesn't cut any slack to those who have sold out their country, whatever their sad stories.)

Despite rumors, Patrick McGoohan was apparently never in British Intelligence. A little boxing, stage acting and chicken farming, yes; spying, no. McGoohan certainly fits the perception of the professional spy: Incredibly handsome, tall, and tough - but separate that image - also, humane, free of racial prejudiced and pro-women. Drake uses brain and brawn- he throws a good right hander, for example, though his pathetically slow running, is thankfully, kept to a minimum. (For a real laugh, dig Sean Connery running in You Only Live Twice. These spy cats ain't sprinters.)

As has been noted countless times, it's rather remarkable, that the program's standard of writing -in an average episode, as high as a good film - was maintained, week in, week out. Rare duff episodes aside, Danger Man is that rare show with consistently great and novel writing. Many episodes demand repeated viewing.

The Danger man formula included fine photography. There are exotic exteriors - McGoohan who incidentally, co-wrote several of the better episodes, let his camera people fly around the world and film whatever they liked. The interiors were filmed - I believe at Shepperton and with a few conspicuous exceptions, (some 'beaches' set in the Caribbean are dire) the interiors are HIGHLY convincing. Thus, the exterior shots of the Alps are followed by cuts to Switzerland- at- Shepperton, if you will; just marvelous; though the lighting of course, never matched.

In most episodes, Drake meets his masters for assignments in a variety of London locales. Brilliant. Are our own security services this smart? The wonderful harpsichord tune, an inevitable shot of a jet plane landing God knows where and we know: 'Here comes Drake, the brainy detective to once again, prevail with his wits - with a little help from dem fists!'

The foresight is creepy. McGoohan, who must be a peacenik, seems, from almost 40 years ago, to warn us across the chasm of time, of the dangers of a society under constant surveillance, plagued by right-wing lunatics, both harassed and sold out. A society with an uncertain future. Using his masterful Shakespearian voice (he was voted tops on the stage in 60') a fairly good range and some specialties - drunks are particularly good; McGoohan and company are very formulaic per 1960's norm - but what a wonderful brew they've concocted.

The guest stars are, almost without exception, excellent and diverse. So good that when a well-known British character actor is doing the world's worst Scottish accent; somehow, the plot flows on. The terrible attempts at a burr are in fact, an unadvertised, campy bonus. Surprises abound from a talented cast of stars - in many cases, easily eclipsing the performances of name actors from the big screen.

In the final analysis, it is Drake, Pat McGoohan and the writers, himself included, which make this the best show in the short history of TV. Patriot and lover of Britain to the end, handy man with gadgets, hater of guns and promiscuous sex, these are part of the appeal. But it is the palpable sense of doubled standards worrying Drake that is the real star shower: 'How bad is the East,' and, 'Does the murder' (yes, murder) 'that our side gets up to ... is it justified in a war on, among other things, terror and is the price sustainable?'

The best episode is a pure fantasy rather than a espionage or political thriller. It is a tale of identity theft involving perfect plastic surgery - impossible in 1964, yet today's news. That episode, 'Slay It With Flowers,' with its dazzling guest stars - foremost, young Rachel Herbert with a stellar turn as the innkeeper's daughter, is probably the best that television will ever be A plot torn from today's headlines ... fine acting, palpable danger, and above all John Drake's creed that people who don't deserve to get hurt, do.

But not if he can help it. And help he does.

Dangerman is here!

I recently bought this Mega Set, hoping that it would be as good as I remembered it to be. Sometimes when you look at shows years later, somehow they are not quite as good. Once I started watching Secret Agent Man, I found I was just as enthralled with the show as I was before. I would highly recommend this Mega set.