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The Best of The Original Avengers

The Best of The Original Avengers

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

Features:
  • Color
  • Box set


Description:

Only those with a Diana Rigg bias would complain that of the six episodes included in this collection, only two feature the ravishing Mrs. Emma Peel, the second and most popularly known partner of gentleman spy John Steed (Patrick Macnee). But they do rank among her finest hours. In "Death at Bargain Prices," Emma goes undercover at a department store, prompting Steed's classic line, "I asked where to find you and was told, 'Our Mrs. Peel is in ladies' underwear.' I rattled up the stairs three at a time." In "Too Many Christmas Trees," Emma, the girl of our dreams, comforts a distressed Steed, whose nightmares are coming true. The Cathy Gale (Honor "Pussy Galore" Blackman) and Tara King (the unfortunate Linda Thorson) episodes pale by comparison, but, as Macnee offers in a newly filmed introduction, they represent what is best about this cult classic British series: "Tradition; humanity; character; sexuality; bizarre comic strip action; witty tongue-in-cheek humor." "Mr. Teddy Bear," which launched the series' second season, also marks Cathy's debut as Steed's partner. "Don't Look Behind You," a psychological thriller, was later remade with Emma Peel as "The Joker." Winning the award for most outrageous episode title is "Look (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers." This love-it-or-hate-it Tara King episode, in which music hall clowns really slay their audience, features a memorable appearance by a pre-Monty Python John Cleese. Thorson's own finest hour may be "All Done with Mirrors," in which she, saddled with a bumbling sidekick, must clear Steed of charges of treason. While more Mrs. Peel is needed, this set will thrill old fans and new collectors looking to enhance or start an Avengers library. --Donald Liebenson
© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates