Rating: 
Summary: Historic and most entertaining
Review: It is so very good to be able to see the "old" <Avengers> with Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, not only for its own sake but as an historic document (so to speak) and as a foreshadowing of the greater things to come the very next season when Diana Rigg continued to make television history as Blackman's replacement. First the negatives. These are "live," studio-bound productions in which lines are flubbed, jailers have all sorts of trouble opening the doors to cells, gun shots do not convince, and fights are obviously tame to prevent injury in these days before films, stunt-doubles, and retakes. Now and then the sound gets fainter as characters move away from the mikes, now and then the film jumps just a bit, and in at least two sequences a pesky fly seems to have been caught by whatever process was being used to reproduce the original image onto tape/DVD. Neither positive nor negative but merely interesting is that Steed has not picked up his ultra-refined characteristics by way of wardrobe, umbrella (until the last episodes), and steel-coated bowler hat. His relationship with Cathy varies from amused tolerance on her part to such manifestations of her annoyance as throwing things at him. She takes things a lot more seriously than Emma will. In fact, there is little of that Avengers banter we so enjoy in the later episodes and consequently not so much of that chemistry between the two. In one surprising moment that Emma would never tolerate, Cathy asks Steed what he wants from the army stores, and he replies, "Nothing you would be willing to issue." Here she gives him a "you bet your life" smile. (Emma would have killed him, I think.) There are three episodes on each DVD and twelve in all in this '64 series. Set II starts off well with a sci-fi "Build a Better Mousetrap," pre-echoing many plots to follow. "The Outside-in Man" has a good twist ending and a "Man from UNCLE" place to meet the Top Man. "The Charmers" is the best so far, humorous, having a good plot and the wonderful Warren Mitchell who would twice play the same bumbling Russian agent in the Rigg episodes; and in fact it was remade as "The Correct Way to Kill" with several interesting changes. "Concerto" has the soon-to-be overdone plot of someone trying to ruin East-West relations. "Esprit de Corps" also has a predictable plot but given some broad humor by funny man Roy Kinnear, who plays his scenes with Steed quite well. "Lobster Quadrille" ends the series on a not very glorious note; but it does finish with Cathy going off on vacation, refusing to take on an assignment there, and Steed phoning a female replacement. I believe they knew by that time that Blackman was leaving the series. Please watch these without the foresight of what is to come and try to keep a 1964 frame of mind when this was the hottest stuff on the telly and a female character never had it so good before Cathy Gale blew into town.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing; waste of $$$
Review: Perhaps I was foolish to think I'd be seeing the same quality episodes as the black & white versions with Diana Rigg. Well, actually, I was foolish, because these Avengers episodes are nothing like the ones we "fans" know and love. The quality of the picture is poor -- dark, for one thing, and when someone moves, there is a blur until they resettle into their pose. this gets quite annoying since the actors move about a lot, though rather stiffly, as if overrehearsed. You can see the camera continually refocusing in order to focus on the actors as they travel about. Everything is done in limited sound stages, in sets that are bare and hokey. The stories are also hokey, if you can understand them -- not that they aren't simple and clear but the sound quality can be quite poor, so I've even had the volume turned to max but still cannot make out everything that is being said. The acting, too, is way overdone. Imagine a Steed so jovial that he's annoying, and an Honor Blackman/Mrs. Gale so stern that she's, well, grim and uninteresting. Stick to the Rigg series if you want entertainment!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing; waste of $$$
Review: Perhaps I was foolish to think I'd be seeing the same quality episodes as the black & white versions with Diana Rigg. Well, actually, I was foolish, because these Avengers episodes are nothing like the ones we "fans" know and love. The quality of the picture is poor -- dark, for one thing, and when someone moves, there is a blur until they resettle into their pose. this gets quite annoying since the actors move about a lot, though rather stiffly, as if overrehearsed. You can see the camera continually refocusing in order to focus on the actors as they travel about. Everything is done in limited sound stages, in sets that are bare and hokey. The stories are also hokey, if you can understand them -- not that they aren't simple and clear but the sound quality can be quite poor, so I've even had the volume turned to max but still cannot make out everything that is being said. The acting, too, is way overdone. Imagine a Steed so jovial that he's annoying, and an Honor Blackman/Mrs. Gale so stern that she's, well, grim and uninteresting. Stick to the Rigg series if you want entertainment!
Rating: 
Summary: For completists only!
Review: The picture quality is very dark and the sound is bad. This bears such little resemblance to the series that was to follow in almost every way. But even judging it by its own merits the primitive production values let down the material. Honor Blackman is very good as Steed's partner. A filmed series with Macnee and Blackman really would have been something, but this is unfortunately for completists only.
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