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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Avengers - Season 6 in TV
Dec 11, 2020
The Avengers' final season is an infuriatingly inconsistent mixture of a couple of brilliant episodes, quite a few ones which just about pass muster, many which have clearly been cobbled together in a hurry as a contractual obligation, and a handful which are just plain dreadful. Linda Thorson, Diana Rigg's replacement as Patrick Macnee's co-star, tends to get a lot of stick, but it's not her fault the producers were fired, replaced, and then re-hired midway through the production of the season - hence the mish-mash of approaches. The relentless deadlines of the American networks the show was now being made for probably didn't help much.
It still mostly looks excellent, and Patrick Macnee is always good value, but coming after the peerless Emma Peel seasons it can't help but seem like a show which has visibly lost its way. As noted, there are some terrific individual episodes here, but you definitely have to know where to look for them.
It still mostly looks excellent, and Patrick Macnee is always good value, but coming after the peerless Emma Peel seasons it can't help but seem like a show which has visibly lost its way. As noted, there are some terrific individual episodes here, but you definitely have to know where to look for them.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Avengers in TV
Mar 4, 2018 (Updated Mar 4, 2018)
Iconic British cult adventure series. Very few shows change as much as The Avengers did over its seven season run; what started off as a gritty thriller about Ian Hendry's crime-busting doctor gradually transformed first into virtual science fiction (the Diana Rigg episodes feature mind-swapping machines, killer robots and a brain-controlling alien plant) and then a much more whimsical fantasy show for its final year or so.
Many of the early episodes are quite hard work now, but the two seasons where Macnee is paired with Diana Rigg are classic TV, and the sometimes-maligned final season with Linda Thorson also contains many neglected gems (the episode with the murderous clowns, for instance). Even when the show is not quite firing on all cylinders, there is always Patrick Macnee's inimitable performance as Steed to enjoy.
Many of the early episodes are quite hard work now, but the two seasons where Macnee is paired with Diana Rigg are classic TV, and the sometimes-maligned final season with Linda Thorson also contains many neglected gems (the episode with the murderous clowns, for instance). Even when the show is not quite firing on all cylinders, there is always Patrick Macnee's inimitable performance as Steed to enjoy.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Avengers - Season 1 in TV
May 20, 2021
Only three episodes of this first season are believed to exist, so it's hard to speak with great authority as to its quality - but the ones we have are brisk, efficient thrillers, as good as the videotaped Honor Blackman episodes (and possibly more coherent). This is 60-year-old TV so the production can be primitive in places, but much of the acting holds up.
Again, judging solely from the three surviving episodes, the arc of the season seems to go from fairly 'straight' stories (Girl on a Trapeze doesn't feature Steed at all) towards the kind of tongue-in-cheek, off-beat material the series is best remembered for (Tunnel of Fear is rather more extravagant, with more of a focus on Steed as an entertaining eccentric). You can almost see the producers figuring out the potential of Patrick Macnee, not that Hendry isn't completely reliable. Not the show in its iconic form, but you can see how it started heading that way very early.
Again, judging solely from the three surviving episodes, the arc of the season seems to go from fairly 'straight' stories (Girl on a Trapeze doesn't feature Steed at all) towards the kind of tongue-in-cheek, off-beat material the series is best remembered for (Tunnel of Fear is rather more extravagant, with more of a focus on Steed as an entertaining eccentric). You can almost see the producers figuring out the potential of Patrick Macnee, not that Hendry isn't completely reliable. Not the show in its iconic form, but you can see how it started heading that way very early.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Avengers - Season 2 in TV
May 19, 2020
The second season of The Avengers is a show going through a transformation following the departure of its original star. The results are understandably a bit uneven sometimes, with episodes made in a range of styles - some are very ambitious globe-trotting spy capers, others more routine detective stories, while a few approach a more recognisably quirky and whimsical Avengers style. Production values are equally variable and often primitive: there are many technical mistakes and actors sometimes appear in multiple roles.
The three Dr Keel episodes are easily the dullest; the ones with singer Venus Smith are better but still often clumsy and slowed down by musical interludes; you can tell that the producers very quickly realised that Mrs Gale was the character with real potential. All the best episodes feature Honor Blackman and you can see the chemistry between her and Patrick Macnee growing from episode to episode. Not quite yet a classic TV series, but on the way.
The three Dr Keel episodes are easily the dullest; the ones with singer Venus Smith are better but still often clumsy and slowed down by musical interludes; you can tell that the producers very quickly realised that Mrs Gale was the character with real potential. All the best episodes feature Honor Blackman and you can see the chemistry between her and Patrick Macnee growing from episode to episode. Not quite yet a classic TV series, but on the way.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The New Avengers in TV
Mar 5, 2018
Polyester-era sequel to The Avengers has an ostensibly more serious approach than the parent show - 'a straight show with comic undertones, rather than a spoof with serious overtones' was how Brian Clemens compared the two. Somehow the same magic isn't quite there - it's customary to blame Gareth Hunt as Gambit for being a spare wheel, but it's not Hunt's fault that he isn't Patrick Macnee. You could also argue that the stories are often formulaic and repetitive, but then so were the ones in the original series too. Some of the shows filmed abroad - 'The New Avengers in Canada!' - are definitely a mistake, though.
The worst episodes are dull, but the best ones are at least within spitting distance of the original series and have some of the same kind of offbeat charm - an automated shooting range (where the targets fire back) is infiltrated by enemy agents to lethal effect, a chemical spill causes sewer wildlife to grow to giant size, a enormous knock-out gas bomb is dropped on the centre of London. Still very watchable in a campy sort of way.
The worst episodes are dull, but the best ones are at least within spitting distance of the original series and have some of the same kind of offbeat charm - an automated shooting range (where the targets fire back) is infiltrated by enemy agents to lethal effect, a chemical spill causes sewer wildlife to grow to giant size, a enormous knock-out gas bomb is dropped on the centre of London. Still very watchable in a campy sort of way.