Not really the big finish I was looking for - from the title I was hoping for a real Fall Out style psychedelic freakout. There is however one similarity to that final episode of The Prisoner...
The teaser shows us a girl wandering barefoot across a snowy field before collapsing. We later learn that she was thrown out of a train - I must say she doesn't show any signs of rough handling. Shown a photo of recently deceased Jonathan Jupp (John 'Number Two in A Change of Mind' Sharp making his third appearance), she remembers his shocking emergence from a coffin in the guard's van to attack her.
Investigating duties are split three ways, with one Captain Cordell taking on some of the work while Steed drives comedy funeral director Bagpipes Happychap (! - Roy Kinnear in his fourth appearance) to distraction by repeatedly forcing him to have coffins dug up, starting with Jupp's, which proves to be empty. The physical similarity of Sharp and Kinnear is quite a good red herring at this point.
Cordell and Steed discover that the missing corpses are actually alive and well, and being attended to by ladies in a sort of Star Trek-style underground paradise. Menacingly camp travel agent Shaw (George Innes, who has the unusual distinction of having appeared in The Bill, Hill Street Blues and Cagney & Lacey) is running the getaway scheme, and fake fakir Fulton 'Dr Quinn' Mackay (third appearance; here bearing a disturbing resemblance to Kenneth Williams' Khasi of Khalabar) provides the simulated death-like state necessary for the deception.
Unfortunately, Cordell and Steed have to take the trip underground themselves in order learn this; Cordell doesn't make it out alive, but with Tara's help Steed does, and a big fight later they're able to handcuff and lead out of the grave in a long line all the villains and fugitives, to the final dismay of Mr Happychap.
One thing that is truly bizarre about this episode is the closing gag, which sees Steed and Tara accidentally blasted into space in the former's kit-built rocket. 'Mother' is taken aback by this turn of events, but thoughtfully addresses the camera to assure us that they'll be back.
Also seen: Michael Balfour, who's the very English-looking cowboy killed by the Kid in Living In Harmony.
Previously seen: Sally Nesbitt from The Joker.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Naive Avengersthon - 137. Take-over
Now this is a good one, a real thriller with lots of tension. The teaser shows us Fenton Greville (Tom 'Vorshak' Adams) and his henchman killing a man apparently by remote control. (dissolute.com.au suggests that the victim is played by Michael Craze).
Steed's set for a country weekend with his friend Bill Bassett (Michael 'Lord Melbury' Gwynn) and his wife, and invites Tara to join them if she has time: but before he arrives, the Bassetts have unexpected guests in the shape of Greville and his associates, including the lovely Circe. Crazy name, crazy girl as we soon find out. The Bassetts and their butler (John 'Sid' Comer) are subjected to surgery at Circe's hands which leaves them susceptible to Greville's remote killing device.
Steed innocently arrives in this awkward situation, and although his friends have been ordered on pain of death not to tell him what's going on, he soon susses out that something's wrong. This is one of Steed's best episodes - he's outnumbered by three dangerous men and one insane woman, and constantly has to improvise plans, especially when they try to kill him during a shooting expedition. He escapes but is injured: luckily Tara duly turns up at this point to give him a breathing space, and with one final ingenious move by Steed the villains are overpowered, and prevented from carrying out the long-range assassination for which, we're told, the Bassetts' house made an ideal base.
Greville is one of the best villains in the show so far. He's cultured, well-mannered and utterly sadistic, clearly getting a big kick out of dominating Bassett. He also can't bear to lose, which causes him to make some foolish decisions in his battle of wits with Steed. The way in which he and his friends bluff their way into the house and take it over is just great.
His associates aren't bad either, particularly Garfield 'Haskins' Morgan. The bit where he insults the Bassetts for having stale coffee underlines his unpleasantness better than any amount of violence would. Circe is quite frightening - there have been a number of mad young women in the show, but none of the others had scalpels and anaesthetic.
I got really involved in this - at the point where Tara and Mrs Bassett first get the drop on Greville, I found myself yelling 'Go on, shoot him!'
Probably the best episode of anything Terry Nation ever wrote.
Steed's set for a country weekend with his friend Bill Bassett (Michael 'Lord Melbury' Gwynn) and his wife, and invites Tara to join them if she has time: but before he arrives, the Bassetts have unexpected guests in the shape of Greville and his associates, including the lovely Circe. Crazy name, crazy girl as we soon find out. The Bassetts and their butler (John 'Sid' Comer) are subjected to surgery at Circe's hands which leaves them susceptible to Greville's remote killing device.
Steed innocently arrives in this awkward situation, and although his friends have been ordered on pain of death not to tell him what's going on, he soon susses out that something's wrong. This is one of Steed's best episodes - he's outnumbered by three dangerous men and one insane woman, and constantly has to improvise plans, especially when they try to kill him during a shooting expedition. He escapes but is injured: luckily Tara duly turns up at this point to give him a breathing space, and with one final ingenious move by Steed the villains are overpowered, and prevented from carrying out the long-range assassination for which, we're told, the Bassetts' house made an ideal base.
Greville is one of the best villains in the show so far. He's cultured, well-mannered and utterly sadistic, clearly getting a big kick out of dominating Bassett. He also can't bear to lose, which causes him to make some foolish decisions in his battle of wits with Steed. The way in which he and his friends bluff their way into the house and take it over is just great.
His associates aren't bad either, particularly Garfield 'Haskins' Morgan. The bit where he insults the Bassetts for having stale coffee underlines his unpleasantness better than any amount of violence would. Circe is quite frightening - there have been a number of mad young women in the show, but none of the others had scalpels and anaesthetic.
I got really involved in this - at the point where Tara and Mrs Bassett first get the drop on Greville, I found myself yelling 'Go on, shoot him!'
Probably the best episode of anything Terry Nation ever wrote.
Naive Avengersthon - 136. Requiem
Now this is more like it. Steed leaves for a secret location to protect vital witness Miranda (Angela 'Carry On' Douglas) - and Tara is captured by the villains (including Denis Shaw, who's the shopkeeper in The Prisoner) and plunged into another drugged nightmare. When she escapes, she's caught in an explosion at Steed's flat and comes to to see 'Mother''s body being carried away on a stretcher.
She's taken to hospital by Dr Wells (the Bill Clinton-like John 'Agrippa/Dr Spencer Quist' Paul) and Major Firth (John Cairney). Firth is frantic to discover Steed's location because, he tells Tara, a miniature bomb has been placed in Steed's gold pencil, which could detonate at any moment.
Tara recalls that Steed once spoke to her about the secret location, and the poor girl has to do all she can to remember the location. Firth and Wells take her to 'Mother''s funeral and Steed's bombed-out flat in an effort to help her recall.
But she gradually realises that things aren't all that they seem, and that Firth may want to know Steed's whereabouts for quite a different reason. The cracks in the facade are subtly conveyed, particularly by Cairney and Paul, who are very plausible but somehow don't seem quite right. And there's one scene where Shaw and his confederate pass through the shot - our attention isn't drawn to them but their presence there shows us that something is up.
There's also some excellent false tension in Steed and Miranda's scenes. She's comically beating him at a variety of strategy games while we, if we've fallen for the deception, are tensely waiting for the booby-trapped pencil to explode.
Tara escapes and saves the day, helped by 'Mother' cleverly setting up a false secret location for the villains to find from Tara's memory clues.
A great episode - it's not only exciting, we really feel for poor Tara who's quite devastated by the funeral and her apparent injuries. And the deception is excellently done.
Previously and also seen: John 'Ralph in The Visitation' Baker from You Have Just Been Murdered.
Previously seen: Harvey Ashby in his third appearance.
She's taken to hospital by Dr Wells (the Bill Clinton-like John 'Agrippa/Dr Spencer Quist' Paul) and Major Firth (John Cairney). Firth is frantic to discover Steed's location because, he tells Tara, a miniature bomb has been placed in Steed's gold pencil, which could detonate at any moment.
Tara recalls that Steed once spoke to her about the secret location, and the poor girl has to do all she can to remember the location. Firth and Wells take her to 'Mother''s funeral and Steed's bombed-out flat in an effort to help her recall.
But she gradually realises that things aren't all that they seem, and that Firth may want to know Steed's whereabouts for quite a different reason. The cracks in the facade are subtly conveyed, particularly by Cairney and Paul, who are very plausible but somehow don't seem quite right. And there's one scene where Shaw and his confederate pass through the shot - our attention isn't drawn to them but their presence there shows us that something is up.
There's also some excellent false tension in Steed and Miranda's scenes. She's comically beating him at a variety of strategy games while we, if we've fallen for the deception, are tensely waiting for the booby-trapped pencil to explode.
Tara escapes and saves the day, helped by 'Mother' cleverly setting up a false secret location for the villains to find from Tara's memory clues.
A great episode - it's not only exciting, we really feel for poor Tara who's quite devastated by the funeral and her apparent injuries. And the deception is excellently done.
Previously and also seen: John 'Ralph in The Visitation' Baker from You Have Just Been Murdered.
Previously seen: Harvey Ashby in his third appearance.
Naive Avengersthon - 135. Homicide And Old Lace
'So it's come to this, an Avengers clip show.' What a shame that Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks should return to write such a half-arsed episode.
There's some initial excitement when two old ladies appear to be preparing to assassinate 'Mother' - and Rhonda gets to do a two-handed lightning pistol draw - but we're not here for action, these are his aunts and this is a framing device for a story about how Steed and Tara took on Intercrime, who appear to have expanded considerably since the story of the same name.
What enjoyment there is is in the tricks with form, and self-references to running out of plot and 'the big fight'. There's a good freeze frame and resume at one point when the aunts interrupt the story.
The reuse of clips from other stories isn't very satisfying, that always just feels like they can't be bothered.
Note how the fake phone call from the Prime Minister's office turns up again in Hulke's Green Death.
Donald 'Beyus' Pickering from The Winged Avenger as Cartwright. His face would fit more in one of the older BW stories, he seems out of place in this.
Tara wears a fantastic pair of boots in this story, they're probably the best ones seen in the show.
Rhonda nearly gets to speak in the closing gag, but sadly we're disappointed.
I suppose I liked the idea that the government has fake versions of all Britain's art treasures in storage, so that if the originals are removed for safety in wartime, public morale will be kept up. But I feel like this episode is a fake version of an Avengers story. Not one I shall remember with pleasure. It's no Girl Who Was Death.
Previously and also seen: Bryan 'Alf Roberts' Mosley from The Gravediggers.
Also seen: Edward 'War Chief' Brayshaw, Kristopher 'Fu Peng' Kum, Stephen 'Petrov in The War Games' Hubay, Gertan 'Ola/King Pengvin/Washy time!' Klauber, Kevork 'Rudkin in Wheel In Space' Malikyan.
Previously seen: Mary Merrall from The Girl From Auntie, Gerald Harper in his third appearance, Ann[e] Rutter from Super Secret Cypher Snatch.
There's some initial excitement when two old ladies appear to be preparing to assassinate 'Mother' - and Rhonda gets to do a two-handed lightning pistol draw - but we're not here for action, these are his aunts and this is a framing device for a story about how Steed and Tara took on Intercrime, who appear to have expanded considerably since the story of the same name.
What enjoyment there is is in the tricks with form, and self-references to running out of plot and 'the big fight'. There's a good freeze frame and resume at one point when the aunts interrupt the story.
The reuse of clips from other stories isn't very satisfying, that always just feels like they can't be bothered.
Note how the fake phone call from the Prime Minister's office turns up again in Hulke's Green Death.
Donald 'Beyus' Pickering from The Winged Avenger as Cartwright. His face would fit more in one of the older BW stories, he seems out of place in this.
Tara wears a fantastic pair of boots in this story, they're probably the best ones seen in the show.
Rhonda nearly gets to speak in the closing gag, but sadly we're disappointed.
I suppose I liked the idea that the government has fake versions of all Britain's art treasures in storage, so that if the originals are removed for safety in wartime, public morale will be kept up. But I feel like this episode is a fake version of an Avengers story. Not one I shall remember with pleasure. It's no Girl Who Was Death.
Previously and also seen: Bryan 'Alf Roberts' Mosley from The Gravediggers.
Also seen: Edward 'War Chief' Brayshaw, Kristopher 'Fu Peng' Kum, Stephen 'Petrov in The War Games' Hubay, Gertan 'Ola/King Pengvin/Washy time!' Klauber, Kevork 'Rudkin in Wheel In Space' Malikyan.
Previously seen: Mary Merrall from The Girl From Auntie, Gerald Harper in his third appearance, Ann[e] Rutter from Super Secret Cypher Snatch.
Naive Avengersthon - 134. Thingumajig
Lurking death in the tunnels - this must be a Terry Nation script. Quite a suspenseful one too, with archaeologists being zapped to death in a cave system under a church, and mysterious tracks being left behind. Steed and companion of the week Inge (Dora Reisser, who I kept hoping was Caroline John doing an accent) excellently find a crashed van in a quarry; inside is an open crate marked Extreme Danger with two now empty compartments.
So far so good, and we're pretty uneasy about what the threat (both threats) might actually be. But when we do see them, they're just small oblong black boxes, whirring painfully as they lurch across the floor. This is such a let-down that we can't really care much about Iain 'Garron' Cuthbertson's plot to distribute thousands of the boxes and drain the whole country's electricity supply.
Tara has some rubbish comedy scenes with Willoughby Goddard (all the way from The Frighteners), and has to deal with the second box which Steed has, perhaps rather irresponsibly, sent to her house. Some tension does creep into this scene, but I'm still wondering what they were thinking with the box design.
A disappointing episode. The buildup is good, but it writes cheques the reveal can't cash.
Previously and also seen: Edward 'Prof Kettlewell' Burnham returning from The Fear Merchants. Vernon 'Chief Scientist' Dobtcheff in his third appearance. John 'Doc Morrissey' Horsley as the doctor, returning from Mr Teddy Bear where he also played a doctor.
Previously seen: Jeremy 'sitcoms' Lloyd returning From Venus With Love, Hugh Manning in his third appearance, Russell Waters from Castle DeAth, John Moore from The Hidden Tiger and Harry Shacklock in his third appearance.
So far so good, and we're pretty uneasy about what the threat (both threats) might actually be. But when we do see them, they're just small oblong black boxes, whirring painfully as they lurch across the floor. This is such a let-down that we can't really care much about Iain 'Garron' Cuthbertson's plot to distribute thousands of the boxes and drain the whole country's electricity supply.
Tara has some rubbish comedy scenes with Willoughby Goddard (all the way from The Frighteners), and has to deal with the second box which Steed has, perhaps rather irresponsibly, sent to her house. Some tension does creep into this scene, but I'm still wondering what they were thinking with the box design.
A disappointing episode. The buildup is good, but it writes cheques the reveal can't cash.
Previously and also seen: Edward 'Prof Kettlewell' Burnham returning from The Fear Merchants. Vernon 'Chief Scientist' Dobtcheff in his third appearance. John 'Doc Morrissey' Horsley as the doctor, returning from Mr Teddy Bear where he also played a doctor.
Previously seen: Jeremy 'sitcoms' Lloyd returning From Venus With Love, Hugh Manning in his third appearance, Russell Waters from Castle DeAth, John Moore from The Hidden Tiger and Harry Shacklock in his third appearance.
Naive Avengersthon - 133. Pandora
A really creepy, Sapphire-and-Steel-esque episode. Tara's turn to have her head messed about with, as she apparently wakes up in 1915 to find Rupert (Julian Glover in his fourth appearance) insisting that her name is Pandora, and that she has to marry 'Gregory'.
Rupert is superbly unpleasant. There's a very effective scene where he keeps telling his accomplice 'You're raising your voice'. It doesn't look like a threat when written out, but the way he says it, it gives the impression of massive suppressed violence. As does the way he slices a block of cheese during another scene.
Notice the Mrs Gale and Mrs Peel files in the cabinet. Also the authentic George V stamp and wavy line cancels on the envelope Tara finds on the doormat.
Tara's red car gets burnt out, but we see it again in at least one later episode.
The 'Pandora' seen in the teaser is supposed to be a stuffed dummy, but I took it to be a woman with a bandaged face, so I kept expecting her to turn up in the attic or a locked room, and was disappointed when she didn't.
The reveal at the end is fantastic, one of the best in the show so far. And of course the viewer feels satisfied that Rupert has brought about his own downfall.
Previously and also seen: John Laurie in his fourth appearance, Reginald 'Smithers in Planet of Giants' Barratt, Geoffrey 'radio comedy' Whitehead returning from Trojan Horse.
Previously seen: Peter Madden from Room Without A View.
Rupert is superbly unpleasant. There's a very effective scene where he keeps telling his accomplice 'You're raising your voice'. It doesn't look like a threat when written out, but the way he says it, it gives the impression of massive suppressed violence. As does the way he slices a block of cheese during another scene.
Notice the Mrs Gale and Mrs Peel files in the cabinet. Also the authentic George V stamp and wavy line cancels on the envelope Tara finds on the doormat.
Tara's red car gets burnt out, but we see it again in at least one later episode.
The 'Pandora' seen in the teaser is supposed to be a stuffed dummy, but I took it to be a woman with a bandaged face, so I kept expecting her to turn up in the attic or a locked room, and was disappointed when she didn't.
The reveal at the end is fantastic, one of the best in the show so far. And of course the viewer feels satisfied that Rupert has brought about his own downfall.
Previously and also seen: John Laurie in his fourth appearance, Reginald 'Smithers in Planet of Giants' Barratt, Geoffrey 'radio comedy' Whitehead returning from Trojan Horse.
Previously seen: Peter Madden from Room Without A View.
Naive Avengersthon - 132. Who Was That Man I Saw You With?
There's a clever pair of parallel 'suspicion' plots in this one - Tara is tasked with breaching the defences of the War Room as a test of security, and at the same time the elegant Dangerfield (Alan 'Temmosus' Wheatley) is setting up a web of circumstantial evidence to make her look like a traitor.
The second plot, however, requires 'Mother' and Steed to be uncharacteristically obtuse. Tara has to demonstrate the framing technique on Steed himself before he'll believe her.
Steed's exclamation of 'What a lovely suit!' before he starts beating up Dangerfield in the finale is predictable, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Previously and also seen: Aimee 'Dona Arana' Delamain from November Five. Ralph 'Balaton in The Pirate Planet' Michael
Also seen: William 'Mailer' Marlowe.
Previously seen: Alan Browning returning from Intercrime, Alan Macnaught[ao]n from Town Of No Return, Richard Owens from The £50,000 Breakfast.
The second plot, however, requires 'Mother' and Steed to be uncharacteristically obtuse. Tara has to demonstrate the framing technique on Steed himself before he'll believe her.
Steed's exclamation of 'What a lovely suit!' before he starts beating up Dangerfield in the finale is predictable, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Previously and also seen: Aimee 'Dona Arana' Delamain from November Five. Ralph 'Balaton in The Pirate Planet' Michael
Also seen: William 'Mailer' Marlowe.
Previously seen: Alan Browning returning from Intercrime, Alan Macnaught[ao]n from Town Of No Return, Richard Owens from The £50,000 Breakfast.