The Avengers question (60's series)

Sorry to repeat myself here but...

Anyone know why The Avengers typically had as many 26 episodes per season, way more than what most British sitcoms and dramas have per year?

 

Mrs. Peel

 

I enjoyed seeing Diana Rigg and her daughter on the Detectorists.

 

I was aware of the Avengers as a kid, but never saw it (my parents probably wouldn't let me). I got the Emma Peel set and watched the first two episodes. While I enjoyed the first episode, I hated the second episode with the kiddie train ride, I just thought it was horrible and did not watch ay more. I recently started watching again and got completely hooked. It is really great entertainment and the combination of Diana Rigg and Patrick McNee is brilliant.

Diana Rigg is not only sexy as hell, but has an irresistible smile.

 

And she's very convincing in her fight scenes as well. In fact the Diana Rigg episodes are the only ones I like both B&W and color versions. The Linda Thorson ones after Rigg left just got too goofy for me especially in Thorson's fight scenes.

I have to watch Avengers at 4AM on the KCWX San Antonio, TX channel. This is where my sleep disorder comes in handy.

I'ld like posters I could hang on my wall of some of the stills of Rigg in this version of the opening credits...

 

Unpeel.

 

Pretty much given up hope of the Linda Thorson set coming back to print for North America, and never got the New Avengers set when it was available. (Never really watched that, but I'm on a Joanna Lumley kick now.)

At least I got my old copy of The Prisoner set back.

 

What a beautiful woman Diana Rigg was then.... also on Her Majesties Secret Service.

 

I just discovered that THE AVENGERS (Seasons 4, 5, 6) are all available on Amazon Prime Video, all in some kind of High Definition. 4 and 5 are the Mrs. Peel episodes, 6 is the Linda Thorson episodes.

I never bought the S5 Blu-ray set due to the audio issues, and these audio issues are in evidence on the S5 episodes on Amazon. Just for kicks I copied a section of audio from an episode and then copied the same section from my old A&E DVDs. Putting them both in Audacity, I could easily see that the timing of the soundtrack on Amazon matches the timing speed of the DVDs. But in putting the Amazon episode sound in the left channel and then the DVD sound in the right channel, you can clearly hear the difference in pitch. The music track plays in two different keys when you do that, and everyone's voice pitches don't match either. But it keeps pace. Whoever did that mastering surely botched it. I won't be buying S5 in that condition, but I might try streaming an episode or two since I have Amazon Prime.

I've not done anything with S4 or S6 yet, so I don't know what's going on there. A quick look at the black & white video looked really good.

I was referred to earlier in this thread (and never noticed), but yes, it was me who put up the video of the start of an AVENGERS episode on the CBS LATE MOVIE. I found that on an old VHS and thought it would be interesting to those who never witnessed that run.

 

I always suspected that the PAL audio from the Region B DVDs was used by mistake for the US Season 5 Blu-ray, and someone synced the AVC video to the audio.

As others have said, the UK Blu-rays are excellent. Probably worth buying a region-free player on eBay. You could also rip them to a hard drive using software to defeat the copy protection and region flags.

 

Last evening I had a chance to check the audio and video on some Season 4 and Season 6 episodes on Amazon Prime Video. It sounds proper and normal to me. Only Season 5 is chipmunk-y. Video looks pretty good all around. Love high-def black & white.

 

It's just a terrible way to preserve the Legacy of "The Avengers" tv program...by now we could have a Boxset worldwide from Studio Canal without video/audio issues Restored...just look at Restored Monty Python Season boxset coming from Network in U.K. by end of the year!

Mr. Steed & Mrs. Peel deserve better!

 

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Diana Rigg was Ok but not a match for my first celebrity crush, another spy girl :

 

My Ten Favorite Emma Peel Episodes:

01) Dial A Deadly Number
02) Castle De'ath
03) A Touch Of Brimstone
04) The House That Jack Built
05) Dead Man's Treasure
06) Death At Bargain Prices
07) Who's Who????
08) Mission: Highly Improbable
09) The Town of No Return
10) Too Many Christmas Trees

 

Good list. I would have to add "Death's Door" as a favorite too.

 

Any month would do!

 

I've always thought Castle De-ath would make a great movie. I'd like to see Diana in tartan in color.

Too Many Christmas Trees borrowed from a great old British movie, but you may have already known that

 

That's a good one too. I also like "The Cybernauts" and "The Hour That Never Was."

 

The title of 'The Avengers' relates to the original first season that starred Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel and Patrick Macnee as John Steed




the first episode 'Hot Snow' when Keel's fiance is shot dead when Keel himself is the target of a drug gang assassin Keel sets out to 'Avenge' her death....and is joined by mysterious agent John Steed who is also after the gang - they team up as 'The Avengers' and in the second episode 'Brought To Book' written by Brian Clemens the duo go after the drug gang's leader

initially the duo are depicted in raincoats ! - Steed wears a car coat and a flat cap...but into the first season run he dons a bowler and carrys an umbrella...

from a very straight crime show opening the first season began to get more unusual with episodes such as 'Tunnel of Fear' - re-discovered recently - and the final first season episode 'Dragonsfield' had a science backdrop to it

an equity strike delayed the second season

Ian Hendry left after the first season and Patrick Macnee as Steed became the star of the show from season two where Dr. Keel's character is initially replaced for three episodes by Dr. Martin King played by Jon Rollason - then two female co-Avengers alternated partnering Steed....

Honor Blackman's Catherine Gale plus Venus Smith played by Julie Stevens who was a nightclub singer not a tough 'Avenger Girl' type character as such

Honor Blackman as Catherine 'Cathy' Gale proved the most popular character and she became Steed's full time co-Avenger partner from season three

The Avengers had a series of departing 'co-Avenger' partners, Ian Hendry, Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg - each of whom left to do Cinema roles - leaving Patrick Macnee as the backbone of the show with a fresh partner every few seasons that kept the show moving with the times in the swinging sixties

 

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Patrick Macnee was introduced to a younger generation as Count Iblis in Battlestar Galactica (and Fred Astaire was Starbuck's father).