The Avengers
The Avengers
TV-Y7 | 07 January 1961 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • Reviews
    IslandGuru

    Who payed the critics

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    Hadrina

    The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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    Ariella Broughton

    It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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    Frances Chung

    Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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    bugsmoran29

    John Steed, with his bowler and umbrella, reminded me of great deal of Raymond Barry in "Bat Masterson," with his cane and bowler. Both men were debonair, intelligent and dangerous when pushed. Unfortunately, Bat didn't have a Cathy, Emma or a Tara to assist him. Patrick Macnee' John Steed was the epitome of 'British cool' during the Swinging sixties. Emma Peel (Dame Dianna Riggs) was priceless as Steed's karate- savvy companion. I watched this classic television program back in the Sixties and to a boy growing up in rural Wisconsin there seemed no more of a mod-magical world than the city along the Thames. The avengers was "Batman," "James Bond" and The Beatles all rolled into one.

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    Master Cultist

    The Avengers started life as a fairly ordinary mystery series, with the main character being Dr. Keel. However, with the introduction of Honor Blackman in series 2 the format changed somewhat, with the focus now on John Steed, and his relationships with his leading ladies. The series also began to become more adventurous, dealing increasingly with the weird and the surreal, particularly in the later years with Diana Rigg and Linda Thorson.Personal preference is that the Rigg years were the best the show ever produced, although I also enjoy the Linda Thorson shows. As a result, I have to own up and say that the first three seasons are not taken into consideration when giving this rating and review as my knowledge of them is insufficient.Overall, a great show that has really stood the test of time. Well worth a look.

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    bribabylk

    I loved this show as a kid, but never got to see any of the Honor Blackman eps, and am going through them now, three at time, via rented DVDs from Blockbuster Online. A lot of the criticism leveled at these early eps is true, but there's also a lot to like. The most frustrating thing about them is the poor sound; this combined with the accents, unfamiliar idioms and fast-paced delivery causes me to have to rewind certain scenes three or four times in order to determine what the heck they're saying. Also, the fight choreography would greatly improve over subsequent seasons; take "The Grandeur that was Rome" for example. Ugh! However, the writing tends to be a little more literate and the tone more dramatic; there's more genuine emotion. In contrast to what other posters have noted, I find the supporting characters in those early eps to often be more well-developed than the leads! I loved the speech given by Mrs. Turner toward the end of "Mandrake"; a woman's life has rarely been more wittily and succinctly summarized. The characterization in "Second Sight" is very good as well. What's also interesting is that the show was freer to be a bit more racy in those early eps than when they were being produced with an eye for the American market. There was a lot more innuendo-laden dialogue; it seems like there was an illicit tryst going on in the background of almost every plot, and there was a great deal more skin. Steed even strips down to his tighty-whities in one episode! Emma Peel will always be my favorite of Steed's partners, of course, and I have a lot of affection for daffy, Steed-infatuated Tara, with her signature action-somersault move, but the real Avengers aficionado shouldn't cheat him or herself by passing up the Cathy Gale shows. Clumsy fighting but great words. And even though I've read that they're of dubious quality, I'd also be curious to see the season two eps, in which Martin King, Venus Smith and Cathy rotated as Steed's partners. How intriguing! As a kid watching the Diana Rigg / Linda Thorson shows on cable in the early 70's, I never would have guessed the Avengers had such a rich, deep history.

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    schappe1

    Honor Blackman then left the show to play Pussy Galore, (what name!) in Goldfinger. The producers decided to retool it. They not only got a new actress but they made several other decisions that impacted the nature of the show. They wanted to market it to America so they shot it on film. This allowed for outdoor shooting and most of the scenes in the 1965-66 monochrome series take place out of doors. It also allowed for more frequent cuts. This increased the pace of the show dramatically and allowed stunt men to turn the fight scenes into choreographed works of art. And the music became much more a part of the show with Laurie Johnson's driving upbeat theme becoming one of TV's classics. After striking out with Elizabeth Shepard, a new actress, Diana Rigg, was hired from the Royal Shakespeare Company. I think she was a huge improvement over the dower, inexpressive Honor Blackman. Rigg had a light comic touch that was both charming and appropriate to the lighter stories that were being done. The headlines of the early 60's and the James Bond movies had brought on a public demand for shows that were about global threats and incorporated science fiction. Now, instead of halting the smuggling of perfume, the Avengers were going to save the world, or at least the British Empire. There was also the new infatuation with all things British on American Television. The show became a comic spoof of people's image of England, full of pompous aristocrats, old soldiers, butlers, nannies, etc. As MacNee has said, from this point the program was mostly a comedy, although it retained enough drama to it to tether it to earth, as in the classics `Too Many Christmas Trees' and `The House that Jack Built'. Towards the end, however an air of silliness crept into the program with shows like `The Girl From Auntie' and `Honey for the Prince', (both of which feature the gorgeous Rigg wearing less than she does in the more famous `A Touch of Brimstone'). Then came the color Rigg series of 1967-68, the first to be shown simultaneously on American TV, (and the first time I saw the show). Now there was an emphasis on `Swinging London' and Carnaby Street fashions. Rigg wore more clothes and more and more outrageous ones. There was a greater tendency to shoot indoors in sets that could be as outlandish as Rigg's clothes. There were fewer episodes that had real dramatic content to them. It was more and more a romp, although this series contains what I think is the best-ever Avengers episode, `Death's Door'. Then Rigg left and they brought in the lovely and charming Thorson. The show now became a total comedy, closer to `Get Smart' than `The Man from Uncle'. It was so lightweight it threatened to float away. And when the 1968-69 season was over, it did, to live on in re-runs that have never ended. They brought it back a decade later, as `The New Avengers', this time heavily influenced by the popularity of `Starsky and Hutch'. MacNee was now the mentor to a couple of younger operatives in a much more violent show. It was gone after a year.The final incarnation of what began as `Police Surgeon' was the horrible 1998 film version, which tried to turn the series into Star Wars, fully copying several scenes from that film series. It featured the charmless Ralph Fiennes as Steed, (why not Hugh Grant!?!). Uma Thurman should have made an excellent Ms. Peel but somehow she looked like a teenager. Sean Connery agreed to play the villain but must have wondered why he did so.The failure of the film presumably ends the saga, leaving us with the tapes and DVDs of the old series to remember it by. I think the 1965-66 season is the really classic period of the Avengers, especially about the first 20 episodes. The second Rigg series and the Thorson series are also very entertaining. The Blackman shows are really a different show, but good in their own way. Maybe someday we can see the Hendry shows. The revival attempts since the heyday were best forgotten.

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