The Avengers '68, Set 3

Rating:
Summary: Steed Goes in for the Kill - Tara Takes a Spill
Review: For those staunch Emma Peel fans, you can rejoice, for the infamous episode "Killer" is in your hands, featuring the undeniably Emma Peel-ish Lady Diana Forbes. But for those other unbiased viewers, you'll be happy to know that there's only one sour apple in the bunch. So settle down and take these six doses of Tara, and judge for yourself; adorably wacky or embarassingly inept?

First, we have the indelibly charming "The Interrogators", and then the humorous "The Rotters", and of course the detestable "Invasion of the Earthmen". "The Interrogators" is perhaps the definitive Tara King episode, in which agents run trough a special interrogation course, and then find all their contacts have been murdered. So many plusses for this one! First of all, we have the great Charles Crichton directing (his last episode, sadly), a terrific script, and an exorbant amount of batty boffins, with lots of cute touches such as Izzy Pound and his Incredible Marching Sound, which, for me, takes the cake. This is one of my favorite Tara episodes, featuring the ever-menacing Christopher Lee as villianous Colonel Mannering. A truly brilliant episode in every respect! Next we have "The Rotters", in which experts on forestry are being murdered for knowing too much about dry-rot. I can't find much to say, but it smacks with classic Avengers touches, such as a delightful pair of villianous, a good dose of wit, and plenty of eccentrics. Last there's "Invasion of the Earthmen", in which Tara and Steed invetigate at a Space Academy, training astronauts with aspirations of conquering space. This one's a dud thanks to its shakey production history. It was half finished with producer John Bryce at the helm, before he was sacked, then additional scenes were filmed and the result presents a fascinating premise, but it's just so very dull. I reccomend you pass on this one, unless you feel you can really stomach it.

On the second disk, there's the fan favorite "Killer", the haunting "The Morning After", and the straightforward but well-executed "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues". "Killer" seems to work much better for the Tara-haters, as Tara is off on holiday and she's replaced with leggy Lady Forbes, in which agents are all turning up dead, gift-wrapped, clean as a whistle, and dumped in a graveyard. The Forbes character seemed quite wooden to me, while the episode was still good, I would have much preferred Tara. Good all-round production, though. "The Morning After" also excludes Tara, as she spends the episode asleep, and Steed, handcuffed to a criminal, searches a deserted town. This episode is extremely haunting and memorable for it's somber and sweeping atmosphere. Much like "The Town of No Return", it's quite eerie. Last we have "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues", in which aristocrats are being implicated as murderers thanks too some extremely damning evidence, courtesy of a very clever killer with a weakness for art. This episode is quite good. While rather bland, there really isn't much at fault, and features an extremely harrowing climax well worth the price of admission.

This set is definitely worth your money, and all the episodes, except one, are good. It's worth the price for "The Interrogators" alone. So don't hesitate, Tara won't bite.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT VIEWING
Review: I JUST GOT THIS DVD AND IT IS GREAT.
THE STORIES ARE AS FOLLOWS.

THE INTERROGATORS-STEED AND TARA VS AN EVIL MASTERMIND KILLING AGENTS INFORMERS WILL TARA SPILL THE BEANS..

THE ROTTERS- STEED AND TARA INVESTIGATE A VERY BAD CASE OF DRY ROT...

INVASION OF THE EARTHMEN- STEED AND TARA ARE HUNTED THROUGH A BIZZARE SCHOOL FULL OF PITS,KILLERS AND DEADLY TUNNELLS.

KILLER-TARA TAKES A HOLIDAY AND STEED GETS A NEW ASSISTANT WHO CAN MORE THAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF.

THE MORNING AFTER- STEED AND A MAN HE IS TRYING TO PUT INTO CUSTODY MUST TEAM UP TO SAVE A DESERTED TOWN...AND TARA IS PUT TOO SLEEP!!

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE COUNTLESS CLUES- STEEDS FREINDS ARE BEING FRAMED FOR MURDER SOON IT IS STEEDS TURN ..THE VICTIM A INCAPACITATED TARA..

I LIKED THESE ONES ALL ARE VERY INTERESTING BUY THIS NOW.

Rating:
Summary: ...and Steed's Mother makes three!
Review: The final season of the original Avengers finally comes to DVD & VHS in region one. "The Forget me knot," the debut episode of Ms. Tara King played by Linda Thorson, was released back in 1998, but only now is the entire series seeing the light of day - and it's been well worth the wait.

There are many of course who do not rate these last adventures featuring the debonair John Steed as Britain's top government agent as highly as what had gone before, and it's easy to see why. Steed's pairing originally with Mrs Gale (Honor Blackman) and later Mrs Peel (Diana Rigg) had been an excellent match for his skills. With Mrs Peel leaving the show, the producers, Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell followed suit and John Bryce was brought back to the programme, following his stint producing the early Mrs Gale episodes.

The first thing Bryce did was to cast his girlfriend, twenty one year old Canadian Linda Thorson as Steed's new assistant, Miss Tara King. In order to complete the delivery of episodes to the US market, production was fairly rushed, and what came out of it was deemed substandard. Bryce was sacked and Fennell and Clemens brought back to rescue the production. Clemens was particularly unhappy about Linda Thorson's role, but it was too late in the day to do anything about it. They set about filming the initial block of 8 episodes (extended to 9), rehashing two of the abandoned Bryce episodes, and bringing back Mrs Peel for the one-off story "The forget me knot" to introduce the new character of Tara (although this "debut" was actually filmed third). Once these episodes were ready, they set about producing the final batch of 24.

There is a very significant shift in the character of Tara King between these two production blocks as Thorson began to gain confidence in the part. Also added as a regular into the later stories is Steed & Tara's boss, "Mother," played by Patrick Newell. Thorson's inexperience and the naivety of the character are often cited as the reason the show was cancelled after these episodes were transmitted. Personally, I think the inclusion of the very annoying "Mother" to be a far more valid reason. But it's all a matter of taste.

The stories are included on the discs in the order they were first transmitted in the UK. I would strongly recommend viewing them in PRODUCTION ORDER (easy to track on any Avengers website). There are several reasons for this. It's easier to warm to Miss King as you follow her character development. It also makes more sense to understand her constant hair changes and costume. She started as a blonde, moved to a be-wigged brunette, and only in the latter 24 episodes did we see Thorson's own hair. We can also see how the actress started in "slimmed down mode" (on the orders of the TV station) but regained her lost weight as the series moved along. The character also started out as a complete "spy" trainee, but by the second production block, had become one of the most experienced agents in Mother's department. I also enjoyed seeing the rehashed sets from episode to episode too. All these nuances are lost by following the stories strictly in disc order, and indeed the characterisation of the leads is actually confusing if you simply watch the shows in disc order.

As for the discs themselves, sadly A&E have once again neglected to include any extras at all. All there is are a few still photos, although it has to be said that the menus are at least very well done. The picture quality is certainly very sharp, but there are definitely flaws due to sparkle and dirt. Sadly, "You'll catch your death" has been transferred incorrectly, and the picture strobes and jumps throughout. Clearly no-one at A&E was paying much attention to the remastering process.

Clemens believes this batch of episodes to be the best of the entire run of The Avengers. He has stated that everything came together right in terms of production and scripts. I can't say I agree entirely. They are certainly as enjoyable as anything else, but the total fantasy nature of the stories and the weakness of Tara and Mother characters combine to take the edge away when compared to the earlier Peel episodes. Regardless, it's all camp and wacky fun and I still highly recommend this collection to any fan of the series as there is plenty here to enjoy.