recently watched

where recently = late spring and onwards; I have far too many half-finished drafts that have been sitting long enough that I couldn’t finish them properly without rewatching but hate to delete the parts I wrote. These are mostly the impressions that were left and not thoughts at the time.

Monster Drive Party, Tomoyasu Hotei, 2005 tour — a very intense performance, but it did not translate well to DVD (or at least wasn’t what I want out of a tour DVD); dark and murky; uneven camera (I hate to say too much Hotei (and I wouldn’t have bought this if I didn’t like him), but would have liked to see more of the band in general, and specifically the left side, which was under-represented).

Aurora Madturn, LOSALIOS — solo project of Tatsuya Nakamura (中村達也, drums, ex-Blankey Jet City); core band was Tokie (bass, unkie and support) and Takashi Kato (カトタカシ, 加藤隆志, guitar, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra); some songs featured Asuka Kaneko (金子飛鳥, violin) and/or Masami Tsuchiya (土屋昌巳, guitar, ja.wikipedia). I love this (music and performance and all), but it’s probably not for everyone. The music is instrumental and occasionally a bit repetitive and/or formulaic; the performance is not the most exciting as everyone stays in their own spot on stage (involved and interested and intent on their playing, just not moving around much). The focus is on Nakamura; Tokie and Kato are playing as much to him and each other as to the audience, and when the others appear, they are off to the sides. Mixed in with the performances are some backstage clips and other random footage. (From this, Ghost Club and Three Dog Night are on youtube)

The Avengers ‘66 v1 — a bit much of dated race portrayals; native savages in one (though somewhat poking at that stereotype) and even in black and white, a white person in a dark wig + makeup does not really look Chinese or African. The “Chinese” woman’s wig was particularly obvious and the “African” woman made me think of Hawaii; she was wearing a strapless dress with a large floral pattern and a big flower in her hair. Oddly, most of the men in both episodes seemed to be somewhere near the proper ethnicity for their parts. None of the roles were very large; the “Chinese” woman was only in the beginning of her episode and there was a Chinese man with a small speaking part later, and one of the African men had a brief role as exposition-man (I don’t think the “African” woman spoke; if she did, it wasn’t more than a line or two). Other than the racial issues, these episodes were standard Avengers fare: there is a dust that kills all plants and birds it comes in contact with, and there are carphones and hunting and Mrs. Peel being chased by someone on a horse and generally kicking ass; disappearing physicists, and one reappeared and suddenly hated his Chinese wife, and there is weirdness within a hotel; and one that starts with a man shot by a “native” arrow outside of London and an odd sickness caused by a cult and affecting men who had served in an African colony and drums in the distance that were plot, not soundtrack.

The Avengers ‘66 v2 — I don’t think I took notes and have since returned it; I wasn’t impressed with these episodes. One had Mrs. Peel kidnapped at the beginning, with her substitute acting as Steed’s sidekick throughout the episode, so there was not enough of Mrs. Peel to interest me in this episode. One involved shenanigans at a golf course and was bland. One started with a dead man in a pram and ended up at a dance school and involved a shoemaker and a tattooist.

The Legend of the Shadowless Sword — a Korean attempt at a wuxia-style movie; pretty but extremely predictable. Vaguely historical, set in 927 A.D. The capital of Balhae fell to Georan; the Georans have been killing off all of the royal family of Balhae, but realize they could use one as a public-relations prop; the resistance is also looking for last member of the royal family and find him first (barely); most of the movie is them fleeing and her trying to convince him to be king (and at first, him running away from her because he doesn’t want to be king). A bit gory: geysers of blood, exploding bodies, limbs flying everywhere; visibly and audibly breaking bones were what made me start fast-forwarding through any fight scenes with large groups, though. (movie on wikipedia and imdb; Balhae on wikipedia)

Wonder Woman, Season 1, DVD 3

The 70s TV series starring Lynda Carter as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman; Diana is in the Navy but works for Military Intelligence as the secretary to Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner). This was one of my favorite shows when I was little, and I know it’s dangerous to watch things that were once loved because they often do not hold up well, but I rented it anyway. I realize that its major function was to show off a scantily-clad Lynda Carter, but a little thought in the scriptwriting would have been nice; it takes a lot for mindless action to break my suspension of disbelief, but this consistently succeeded. Broken suspension of disbelief leads to nitpicking everything instead of just watching and enjoying, unfortunately (though nitpicking can be fun). It’s weird what is acceptable (maybe with eye-rolling) and what made me go “that’s not right” and want to rant. Some of this was noticed while watching, but thinking about it is making me notice more random details.

I did like this well enough and will eventually rent more. I think my biggest problems overall are the stupidity of the Nazis and the complete lack of security anywhere; it seemed anyone could get into any sort of military installation or secret base or hideout or safe house without any problems. Implausible plots and the issues with the superhero/secret identity can be attributed to the comic book origins and can be accepted as long as they are somewhat internally consistent, but the lack of common sense and basic security precautions on both sides is what is most likely to break my suspension of disbelief. I am very glad they didn’t really have the characters using some approximation of the appropriate accents, though there did occasionally seem to be traces of accents; I’d rather have the Germans speaking normal American English than bad attempts at German accents.

There are three episodes on this disc (6-8); I think the discs in the original set had content on both sides (the menu says turn the disc over for episodes 8-10), so this is probably the first side of the second disc, but it’s the third in Netflix’s version. It is subtitled in English, French, and Spanish; the English subtitles are true subtitles (not closed-captioning converted into subtitles) occasionally have people’s titles instead of their full names (i.e., someone says Major Trevor, and the subtitles only have Major) and occasionally drop names completely. There are no extras on this particular disc; the extras menu says check other discs for extras.

—The Episodes—

6. “The Feminine Mystique, Part II” — and I don’t remember part one at all; it’s been months and I’m not entirely sure that I watched all of it then. The main plot involves an experimental aircraft that the Nazis want, with a subplot of Diana’s younger sister Drusilla (Debra Winger) trying to convince Diana that she needs to go home. Of course, Drusilla also has the ability to spin around (and clearly got dizzy while spinning) and change into a patriotic costume, and of course, the Nazis can’t tell the difference, so of course she gets kidnapped and accidentally reveals the location of Paradise Island to the Nazis. They are interested in the bracelets and want the raw material (Feminum); they manage to take over the island and force the girls (none of them look over 20) to mine the Feminum by threatening the queen. The queen only had one guard most of the time; it seems if she was superpowered like the rest that she could have rescued herself, but it would have been a much shorter show. Diana and Drusilla eventually save the day there and identify the double agent in the army.

   This episode mostly caused eyerolling: if one assumes the Nazis are incredibly stupid, everything else follows more-or-less logically. I do wonder where the inhabitants of Paradise Island are getting their polyester/spandex/rayon from, though.

7. “Wonder Woman vs. Gargantua” — A Nazi deserter is being interrogated; the Nazis want him back and have a plan involving a trained gorilla (who is also trained to hate Wonder Woman and attack her on sight). I don’t know what it says about me that the trained gorilla didn’t cause me to do anything but roll my eyes (even when they broke his programming and retrained him in a matter of hours), but the hotel/safe house that might as well have had a flashing neon sign saying “Deserter Here” hurt my brain. It was implied that the hotel’s location was a secret, but there were big “Keep Out” signs and army men and razor wire everywhere. Also, he was apparently the only person there; a shot of the outside at night revealed one lit room. I found it very hard to believe that the extremely paranoid deserter would have been in the room at night with the curtains open, the light on, and his back to the window while reading; he was on the fourth floor, but I would think he might be worried about snipers. Wonder Woman and Diana Prince also gave almost the exact same speech about cruelty to animals in front of the exact same people, and no one noticed. Despite her desire to be kind to the gorilla, she dropped the raised-in-captivity Gargantua off in the middle of Africa without a second thought; from the way she was talking earlier, I thought she would take him to Paradise Island, where they live in harmony with animals, but no.

8. “The Pluto File” — a professor has discovered how to create and prevent earthquakes; a mercenary (The Falcon) wants that information and plans to use it. He is also carrying and spreading the bubonic plague, but is not yet showing symptoms himself. I watched this a couple of days after the last, so I wasn’t quite as nitpicky while watching. There was one scene that should have been extremely awkward for Diana: Diana visits the professor in the hospital after the file was stolen; she notices the Falcon aiming a gun at the professor, changes (in front of the window!), blocks the bullets, leaps out the window (completely breaking it), and chases the Falcon, but he had a getaway car waiting. There was a guard outside; he ought to have heard some of that and come into the room to see what was happening and noticed Wonder Woman and the lack of Diana (or at least the broken window and lack of anyone else in the room), but apparently did not. The Falcon’s goal was apparently to cause an earthquake at an experimental nuclear reactor and cause it to blow up, taking Washington with it. Wonder Woman apparently knows physics.

Wonder Woman on imdb and wikipedia

The Avengers ‘65, vol. 4

Even more adventures of secret agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and his sidekick Mrs. Emma Peel (Diana Rigg). Episodes range from straightforward murder mysteries to cases involving national security to cases involving weird events (which may or may not overlap with the others). In these episodes, one straightforward murder-mystery (with extra crazy guy); delusions of grandeur with random weirdness; spies and foreign agents; and really weird and surreal. These episodes didn’t really stick in my head. I took notes while watching them a week or two ago and don’t really remember them now; my notes make no sense.

Previously: vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3

–The Episodes–

• Dial a Deadly Number

  The plot: Six company chairmen died in less than a year; the companies were not then taken over. Steed acts as a trust fund representative and visits the relevant bank to discuss investments; Mrs. Peel visits the funeral home to get the latest victim’s effects, and discovers that he had a beeper (was wearing it in the pocket over his heart) but it ended up missing. Steed discusses put options (a way to make money with dropping shares?) with another broker with insinuations and flirts with the secretary and discovers the name of someone who is miraculously making money with put options.

  Random Thoughts: This episode was kind of boring. The murderer and the motive were obvious from the beginning; Mrs. Peel wasn’t in this one much, so there was a lack of banter; and there were no weird elements to make up for her lack. There was an attack by motorcycles, a wine-tasting duel, and a random crazy guy, though. It all seemed straightforward until the appearance of the crazy guy (the sudden appearance of his craziness, anyway). Mrs. Peel was taking a refresher course in applied medicine and was captured once. This episode did not actually require any suspension of disbelief; I don’t know if the murder method was actually feasable, but it seemed plausible.

• Man-Eater of Surrey Green

  The Plot: Missing horticulturalists; Mrs. Peel was friends with the latest missing person. They talk to her fiancé/coworker, who has to chair a meeting of horticulturalists when the chairman cannot (his first missed meeting in ten years). Steed visits the chairman as a representative of the Green Preservation society; his favorite plant is the venus flytrap, and he claimed to be collecting horticulturalists for a project involving a new flowering shrub; however, there is brainwashing and an oil derrick in the background, even though there is no oil in Surrey. They find a dead astronaut (died in space), and War Dept. gets involved (spacecraft collided with a plant).

  Random Thoughts: This episode more than makes up for the lack of weirdness in the last one. Steed is growing roses, which tells Mrs. Peel what the case involves. Mrs. Peel was taking calls at Steed’s place, and was the driver when they went to investigate. The special effects for the plant growing were lousy. Shotguns were the weapon of choice. Mrs Peel was captured and controlled and fights Steed. At one point, it is mentioned that recent photographs show evidence of whole areas of vegitation on Mars or the Moon. The episode also features a crazy old lady expert, Zombie Horticulturalists, and Man-Eating Mind-Controlling Sentient Plants from Space!! (blocked by hearing aids!) I had a technology issue with this; I didn’t realize until late in the episode that the earplugs with wires to a pocket was a hearing aid; I think I assumed he had a radio or something and was confused when he mentioned turning it down.

• Two’s a Crowd

  The Plot: Col. Psev wants to infiltrate the Western Defense conference. No one has ever seen him, but they know his tastes (model airplanes, particular and unusual types of cigars and liquers) and his associates. Steed is participating in the conference, and has a watchdog for some reason. Psev and his associates are staying at a random embassy, and the overanxious ambassador is annoying; he tries too hard and is ineffective and made an otherwise interesting episode hard to watch.

  Random Thoughts: Starts off ominously with a plane carrying a bomb; the bomb is released and lands in a punchbowl (it’s only a model) with a message: “Arriving at 12 o’clock. Psev”. I was surprised to see that Mrs. Peel actually rang Steed’s doorbell. Randomly, there was a fashion show for secret agent clothes. Surprisingly, the bad guys actually know about Mrs. Peel’s existence. There was stupid use of a house phone leading to Mrs. Peel being captured, and another instance by one of the embassy staff. I did not expect Psev’s identity (should have paid more attention), though I did expect the other twist at the end.

• Too Many Christmas Trees

  The Plot: secrets are leaking out; the only possible suspects are Steed and Frederick Marshall, an old friend. Steed is having nightmares, walking through fake snow and abstract Christmas trees, finds a pile of presents, including a picture of himself, sees an evil Father Christmas, and in the most recent dream, sees the other guy dead. Mrs. Peel visits, and Steed finds out that Marshall died the previous night. There are four people with a table and pictures of Marshall which are removed to show Steed. One of the people involved is having second thoughts. Mrs. Peel is invited to a house party where the people involved are, and is induced to invite Steed; there are more weird dreams and a Dickensian costume party.

  Random Thoughts: bad fake snow (probably intentionally, a dream sequence with 60s abstract trees and with ominous music; I expected Mrs. Peel’s body, but it was some random guy’s). Mrs. Peel used Steed’s doorbell again. Someone called Mrs. Peel “Emma” which then caused Steed to go flirt with a random woman. Mrs. Peel writes articles on psychoanalysis (that are very good for the lay public). At the Dickensian costume party Christmas Eve, she is Oliver Twist (all the other women are in period dresses; Steed is someone who gets executed in A Tale of Two Cities) Mrs. Peel’s hat was knocked off and her hair was perfect underneath, of course. I don’t know why there was there a room of funhouse mirrors; the climactic fight scene was there.

official site for this release
The Avengers Forever
The Nitpicker’s Guide to the Avengers
another fansite

The Avengers ‘65, vol. 3

Even more adventures of secret agent John Steed and his sidekick Mrs. Peel (vol. 1, vol. 2); there’s not much to say about it that I hadn’t said before (witty banter and occasional innuendo, Diana Rigg in a catsuit (usually in the fight scene), plot of random importance and coherency). I do wonder why they continue to use their real names when investigating, though. I wish these had subtitles; sometimes the accents are hard to understand.

—The Episodes—

• The Murder Market

  The plot: Eleven murders in six months, no clues, anyone with a motive is “conveniently elsewhere at the time”, looks organized, all had been photographed recently. The photographer only does commercial work, but does portraits for a marriage bureau. They investigate and discover that all were clients of the bureau (and all but one were single); Steed sends Mrs. Peel to attempt to warn the next victim, but she was too late and was seen by the murderer. Both Steed and Mrs. Peel become clients of the bureau; Steed gets a date (who is extremely interested in his financial situation), while Mrs. Peel is unfortunately recognized by the murderer. It turns out that the club offers quid pro quo murders (person A will inherit money when B dies, C will inherit money when D dies, so A kills D and C kills B); Steed’s first assignment is to kill Mrs. Peel. The plot in this episode was unusually plausible and coherent, and I was surprised by the mastermind.

  Random observations: Mrs. Peel wanders in to Steeds apartment without knocking and makes herself at home. Apparently, they could show artistic rear nudity (a painting in the matchmaker’s office of Adam and Eve; she has her arms over her chest and a figleaf lower, he is next to her, turned around), even though the Scottish guy’s briefs were scandalous. Mrs. Peel is randomly sitting on Steed’s couch playing a tuba while Steed is practicing golf inside (and of course, hits the ball into the tuba). She was also doing ballet-type exercises at one point. Nobody was kidnapped or tied up in this episode.
   

• A Surfeit of H₂O

  The plot: It’s back to the more bizarre plots: it starts off with a guy drowning in a thunderstorm; someone is writing letters to the editor about ark-building (and is actually building one), and the dead guy’s brother (Eli) goes on about the dead one having fallen into sin and about the recent torrential rains (very leaky roof, gives Mrs. Peel an umbrella inside). Eli blames the death on a factory (aka the Den of Iniquity) that makes some sort of alcoholic beverages nearby (specifically, their large vats of water). The town is rural (the dead guy was a poacher setting out snares), but the factory has lots of tubes and vials and random equipment. Mrs. Peel is posing as a newspaper reporter trying to find out more information about the death; Steed is impersonating a wine dealer in order to get into the factory. Since there is strange weather, Mrs. Peel has some knowledge of meteorology (though the writers didn’t) and runs some tests in the field where the guy died (conveniently in view of the factory windows) and finds that it is excessively humid, so they called in a meteorological expert (also, there’s a stationary cloud). They attract the attention of the factory, and the expert dies and Mrs. Peel is abducted at gunpoint and placed in the press the factory uses so they can attempt to squeeze information out of her.

  Random observations: 67.8% humidity is apparently only found in the jungles of Brazil or Equatorial Africa (if they’re having constant torrential rains, I’m surprised it’s not higher). I don’t believe they left the expert in the field alone when they knew there was someone malicious around! I like the way people who drowned in the rainstorms leave body-shaped puddles behind (and wonder why the first guy’s boots were left behind as well). Mrs. Peel is the driver in this episode. The receptionist at the factory gives Steed the best crazy look as he goes off and describes wine in excessively florid terms (berries gathered by maidens, the tang of honey, etc.); she is Not Impressed by his “charm” (though I think he’s aiming for obnoxious and stupid attempting to be charming rather than actually charming). Despite their claims of impenetrable security, the factory is ridiculously easy to break into, but Steed and Jonah (the ark-builder) LEFT THE TRAP DOOR OPEN (though the receptionist would have noticed Mrs. Peel missing immediately, even without the trap door being open; I don’t know why she walked into the empty lab in the first place, but she was walking towards the trap door and looking down at it before she could see it)!. Steed is supposed to be a PROFESSIONAL!! Everyone has a different accent. All fight scenes should have someone yelling “Alleluia! The Flood is Coming!” in the background. I thought that was Lionel from As Time Goes By (Geoffrey Palmer) as Smythe, and it was! I adore this show, but I was completely unable to suspend belief enough to enjoy this episode (and apparently I’m the only person on the internet who didn’t like it).
   

• The Hour that Never Was

  The plot: This episode was a bit different from the rest. The isolation of the recently-abandoned airbase with Steed wandering around alone trying to figure out what was going on was kind of creepy. I took notes as I was watching and don’t feel like editing them down to a reasonable length, and I’m fairly sure I misidentified some characters as I was watching; I was confused at the time, though it made sense at the end (the actions, at least). It starts off with a dog running and Steed swerving to avoid it and hitting a tree; he and Mrs. Peel are going to a military camp nearby (a party for an RAF base being decommissioned). They arrive, and everything’s set up for the party, but no one’s around; everything looks abandoned in the middle of actions…there’s a car at a gas pump with gas running everywhere; the inviter’s electric razor is running; there is smoke coming from the kitchen. Eventually, they see someone running across a runway; that person is shot (the milkman, apparently; they also found a pile of milk bottles to be delivered or picked up). While investigating in the direction of the shooter, they find an unconscious rabbit. There’s a weird noise occasionally, and after one instance, the milkman’s body vanishes; Mrs. Peel finds the milk truck with the body on it. There is an extremely annoying noise, which causes Mrs. Peel to go fuzzy and Steed to fall down a hill and stagger into a fallout shelter. Steed eventually finds a bum who has been living off of the dustbins of airbases all his working life who eventually mentions that the clocks stopped striking at 11. The dog Steed almost hit comes back and apparently belongs to the guard at the gate; Steed goes to check the guardhouse at the gate and is knocked out by the gate falling and ends up back at his car without Mrs. Peel. He makes it back and the party’s in full swing; Mrs. Peel apparently called an hour before and said she couldn’t make it. Steed steps out for a breath of air and sees the dog; it leads him to the tramp’s body. The milk truck drives by with the milkman’s body in the back (maybe there were two milkmen all along; one is driving) (Mrs. Peel was last seen near the milk truck). I’m really confused; apparently the body in the back was the cooks; the milkman delivered it to the cook house; when Steed looked in, he was decorating the cake. The milkman visits the medical centre and picks up two more bodies and another man who tells him to hurry up so they can get them back before they wake up. Steed finds Mrs. Peel tied up in the medical centre; she apparently passed out earlier. She identifies a random drug as a tool for brainwashing; they deduce that someone drugged the camp and set the clocks back so no one would notice they’d lost an hour. That doesn’t explain the dead fish reviving, though (or how they knew where Steed’s car was). Apparently the dentist discovered the sound of the drill could induce a hypnotic state; he broadcast the sound and brainwashed the men so that he could auction them (30 preconditioned brains) off to the highest bidder. The fight scene includes Steed and the dentist and laughing gas. There was, of course, no explanation of why the milkman was helping (a cut of the proceeds, presumably) or who the other guy was.

  Random observations: This is a different sort of episode; there are no other characters until halfway through, and a good chunk of it is Steed wandering around the empty base. Mrs. Peel’s outfit at the beginning is odd; a light-colored jacket with two-toned sleeves (and a matching sleeveless shirt underneath) with a dark band around the chest and pockets on the band (the outfit). I like the way Mrs. Peel’s other shoes are conveniently located in the front seat of the car. Running out onto a runway to check on the person who’s just been shot without knowing anything about the shooter is probably not the best idea. Steed doesn’t seem to think it’s odd that all the clocks say its 11 o’clock; he does show frustration, though (throws a glass at a wall) and spends a lot of the episode angry. An open truck is probably not the best choice for carrying bodies around. Diana Rigg’s wardrobe and shoes had their own credits in this episode (the only one on this disc with that sort of credit).
   

official site for this release
The Avengers Forever
The Nitpicker’s Guide to the Avengers
another fansite

The Avengers ‘65, vol. 2

This is the further adventures of secret agent John Steed and his sidekick Emma Peel. I do adore this show, even though the plots are a bit repetitive and there are plot holes everywhere. I am somewhat surprised that anyone’s plans work at all; everyone makes stupid mistakes on all sides. Steed in particular is fond of making phone calls in places where he can be overheard (either insecure location or on a house phone in the bad guy’s territory). Mrs. Peel is not the best sneaker (leaves doors open). The bad guys need to read the Evil Overlord List; they tend to want to gloat when they have Steed and/or Mrs. Peel in their hands.

Steed is good in a fight, and excellent at schmoozing with the men and flirting with the women; Mrs. Peel is not bad in a fight, and is clearly the brains of the operation and has many useful skills (whatever skills are necessary for the episode), though she does have to be rescued often.

The lack of explanation and/or resolution is a bit annoying (why are these people doing this? what did they do about the atom bomb?), but the point of the show is the banter and action and Diana Rigg in a catsuit or other skin-tight outfit, not the plot.

 

—The Episodes—

• Death at Bargain Prices

  The plot in this was bland: a grandiose plan to take over the country. An agent is found dead in an alley; the only clue is a department store receipt from the previous day, which was Sunday and the store was closed. Mrs. Peel gets a job at the store, and ends up working in women’s underwear her first day and in toys the second (wearing the catsuit with space-age boots; there’s a Dalek on the wall with the model planes and other toys). Most of the action takes place in the store, with a little in Mrs. Peel’s apartment; she has the niftiest peephole (an eyeball with lid, though anyone outside would know when she looks through it). While at home, she is writing a paper on thermodynamics for some reason.

  The plot in the episode involves a grandiose plan to take over the country by someone who never read the evil overlord list (three men with guns might not be a match for two people who keep showing up where they don’t belong; telling them your plan might be a bad idea). The previous owner of the store lives on the top floor with the discontinued lines; he rambles on about the good old days and how everything is disposable these days. There was a computer system with lots of blinking lights and switches and things (which Mrs. Peel was familiar with). Her fighting style was karate-ish, and she did shoot someone in the shoulder. She did get kidnapped (tied up and wrapped in a carpet) by three armed men. Steed received a black eye early in the episode, and got to hit someone over the head with his bowler. There were all sorts of weapon-ish things around (garden implements) that no one used in the fight scenes; Mrs Peel should close doors behind her when sneaking around.

   

• Castle De’ath

  The fishing industry in Scotland is having problems; there are no fish nearby, and so the fishing fleets must fish farther out, in competition with others. A frogman who was investigating was found dead near Castle De’ath in Scotland. Steed is posing as historian John ‘Jock’ MacSteed, who wants to write about the 13th laird, Black Jamie, who was a traitor. Mrs. Peel is posing as an agent of an organization devoted to advising castle-owners who intend to open their castle to the public how to attract tourists, which causes some conflict between the laird and his cousin Angus. Mrs. Peel wanders through the dungeon, doesn’t close the door behind herself, gets knocked out early in the episode, and is locked in the dungeon (unharmed, slept on the rack). There is an attempt to crush Steed in his bed; the breakfast conversation the next day was interesting. Mrs. Peel can pick locks, use a crossbow, and sketch decently.

  …I did not need to see that much of Steed (he went diving wearing a speedo-type suit and was captured); he ends up chained to the wall in his clothes. Sadly, he rescues himself, gets captured again and held at gunpoint, and eventually escapes. Mrs. Peel gets knocked out AGAIN. Angus wears white briefs under his kilt. They actually used the weapons on the wall this time. Mrs. Peel shot someone with the crossbow (implied killed!). I think this episode has the highest death count so far. I’m not sure why anyone was messing with the fish in the first place, though.

   

• The Master Minds

Sir Clive Todd is shot while attempting to steal documents, and has amnesia. Mrs. Peel acts as his nurse, and is not a morning person, and there is a gratuitous pan down her skin-tight outfit when she removes her coat. There is also a Mensa-type organization (RANSACK, IQ 145+); Mrs. Peel completes the entry paperwork for herself and Steed, and is hired as a secretary there (and provides answers to Steed; even with the answers, he scores less than 100!). RANSACK members are staying at a school near a military base, with tests and meetings and exercise and hypnosis to plan and execute the bad guy’s plot.

This episode actually has a decent plot, though there is no reason why the bad guys are plotting beyond generic trying to gain power.

vol. 1
The Avengers Forever
The Nitpicker’s Guide to the Avengers
another fansite

The Avengers ‘65, vol. 1

Secret Agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and his sidekick Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) investigate random events affecting national security, and banter wittily as they investigate and kick ass. I’m not sure who the enemy is supposed to be, but they are doing a good job at keeping them at bay. I’ve seen and enjoyed episodes here and there, and finally remembered to add it to my Netflix queue. There are two seasons before this one; this is the first season with Diana Rigg as Emma Peel.

1. The Town of No Return

Steed and Mrs. Peel are sent to investigate a town where four agents have vanished; they are not particularly welcome; the inn is not ready for customers; their fellow train passenger (the blacksmith’s brother) ends up dead; there are not as many people around as there should be. Strings are pulled to get Mrs. Peel assigned to teach at the local school; however, the school is randomly on holiday, and there are no signs of children anywhere. At one point, Steed beats people up with his bowler. Mrs. Peel is attacked while speaking to someone she thought was trustworthy and ends up tied to a saddle (she was holding her own until more armed men showed up).

2. The Gravediggers

The early warning system’s radar is blacking out in a particular region; using random leaps of logic, Steed determines that the town where the radar expert is buried is the place to start investigating (more specifically, the railway hospital — he sends Mrs. Peel to be a nurse trainee there). Mrs. Peel shows some knowledge of electronics; Steed looks confusedly at the components they find, while she identifies them. She pulls a gun on the matron, ties her up, and replaces her in the operating room (apparently competently) to see what is going on, but is discovered (the matron gets loose; she is armed; also present are the security guard, the doctor, and a couple of other people) and tied to the railroad tracks (with appropriate music). I did wonder why the bad guys didn’t shoot anyone at the end, but they were trying to avoid notice (why they tied Mrs. Peel to the train tracks so that the crazy train-guy would be blamed instead of killing her somehow in the hospital).

3. The Cybernauts

This episode had karate-fighting robots; it doesn’t need anything else. It is 60s science fiction: A Japanese firm has invented a replacement for the transistor that will allow smaller circuits and electronic devices; representatives of firms showing interest end up dead via karate blows. There is eventually, a man who believes that computers will rule the world (why do these people never realize that if man is fallible, computers programmed by man will also be fallible?). Lots of buttons and blinking lights and 60s robots, and some interesting Japanese pronunciation at the karate dojo. Once again, Mrs. Peel has some knowledge of a random field (karate/judo), and did not get kidnapped and tied up this time.

This is entertaining fluff, but does require turning the brain off. I’m trying not to analyze the plot too much; on the other hand, nitpicking can be fun (I should not try to write it up while watching it; I now have a list of plotholes from the last episode). I like the overall 60s style and the banter and the competent, kick-ass woman (even if she does need rescuing often) and the general secret agent genre. According to wikipedia, the show did not have much of a budget in the early seasons, and it occasionally shows (some of the effects are cheesy, though being in black and white helps; some of the fight scenes are not convincing at all). My only real complaint is the lack of subtitles or closed-captioning, but I didn’t expect them.