Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

jquartemont If I had never seen an episode of the original Avengers, with Blackman, Rigg, or Thorson, I would have appreciated this series more. While the cast did its best to sustain the action and interest of the scripts, I was just caught up in comparing the episodes to the original series. There was an expectation of Steed participating more in fight scenes, and the continuity seemed as though the writers were struggling to keep up with the actors. To be honest, I can't blame them for trying to resurrect the fans from the original series, but it just didn't work, as evidenced by the fact that it lasted one season. Watching Steed labor through this series reminded me of Gen. Macarthur when he said, 'Old soldiers never die, they just fade away!'

ShadeGrenade It saddened me to hear Patrick Macnee in a recent television interview dismissing 'The New Avengers' as 'awful'. I hate to disagree with the great man, but I thought it a cracking show, and a worthy successor to the original. Five years after 'The Avengers' ended, Macnee was reunited with Linda Thorson for a French television commercial for champagne. It led to finance being found for a brand new series. Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell knew the show had to move with the times. It would have been foolish pretending it was still the '60's. The '70's flavour of 'The New Avengers' is what die-hard fans most object to. But it is a different '70's to the one most of us remember. This is 'Avengerland' '70's style. Joanna Lumley's high-kicking 'Purdey' was easily the best 'Avengers' girl since Diana Rigg's 'Mrs.Peel'. Her haircut caused a sensation at the time. Former 'Upstairs, Downstairs' star Gareth Hunt was brought on board to play 'Mike Gambit', a Bondish action man. He was good in the role, and one hopes that had a third season been made his character would have been developed. Gambit fancied Purdey ( and who can blame him? ) but she chose to stay clear of an out-and-out affair with him.Steed became more of a 'Mother' figure, but even so was still recognisably the star of the show. 'Dead Men Are Dangerous' shined a light on his mysterious past, reintroducing an old enemy from his Eton days.Brian Clemens, Terence Feely and Dennis Spooner wrote some fine scripts. 'Target', 'Dirtier By The Dozen', 'Sleeper', 'Last Of The Cybernauts?' and 'Angels Of Death' are on my list of all-time favourite 'Avengers' episodes. When the first episode ( 'The Eagle's Nest' ) went out, Peter Phillips, television critic of 'The Sun', tore the new show to shreds, and invited readers to send in their views. Four out of the five letters printed the following week agreed with him. The one dissenting letter said: "I found 'The New Avengers' a refreshing change from sickening violence of the sort to be found in such shows as 'The Sweeney'". The correspondent was bang on the money. Public tastes had changed, this was the era of 'Starsky & Hutch' and 'Kojak'. Furthermore, I.T.V. sabotaged its chances of success by denying it a network slot ( though they allocated one to the horrendous 'Charlie's Angels'. Funny old world, isn't it? ).Some of the later episodes, such as 'K Is For Kill' and 'Complex' were filmed abroad, and while noticeably different in quality to those shot in England, managed to be stylish and entertaining.After two seasons, it disappeared for good. A 'Sunday People' article in 1979 claimed that a U.S. network had agreed to fund a third series, provoking the amusing image of Steed in stetson and six-guns, but sadly it turned out to be another false dawn.Whatever the show's faults, it was marvellous to have Pat Macnee back as Steed - even if only for a short time. There have been far worse 'comeback' series, check out 'C15: The New Professionals' if you do not believe me.

mccabed The box set of New Avengers '76 (season one) has the following episodes: The Eagle's Nest, The Midas Touch, House of Cards, The Last of the Cybernauts...?, To Catch a Rat, Cat Amongst the Pigeons, Target!, Faces, The Tale of the Big Why, Three Handed Game, Sleeper, Gnaws, and Dirtier By the Dozen. A favorite of mine when new, I now give this rejuvenated Avengers series four stars out of five. I have heard Patrick MacNee did not like the way Steed takes a back seat in the new format, but I like the team's new balance. Steed has matured into a team leader with two young field operatives, Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt) and Purdey (Joanna Lumley, later of Absolutely Fabulous). Wild plots and flirtatious banter abound as the three save the world every week, with high style, good looks, and great wardrobes.Sound and picture quality are fine, although clearly not remastered. Extras are minimal: three "production stills" per episode.There was a second season, cofinanced by France and Canada, with episodes in those countries as well as the UK. When that box set comes out, I will buy it.

Dave Matthews Neo-nazis maquerading as Trappist Monks, killer robots, a man carrying every deadly disease yet remaining immune, a shooting range that fires back, a machine that steals minds, government ministers programmed to self-destruct, a deadly Russian computer disguised as the Canadian National Security building!! Yes the Avengers were back in a big way. Well, they would have been were it not for terrible scheduling in the UK and the anti-violence lobby in the USA...The New Avengers was a laudable attempt to recapture past glories with plots as offbeat as its classic 1960s ancestor. With many of the original crew, higher production values and a determination to make the stories even pacier, The New Avengers couldn't fail... could it?Patrick Macnee was back as suave top agent John Steed and old fans eagerly anticipated the return of their favourite female partner, Diana Rigg's Emma Peel. However it was not to be - the actress having made it clear she had had quite enough of the show a decade previously. The Avengers without Mrs Peel?! Surely it could never work...?In her place came Joanna Lumley as the tough, resourceful, witty, beautiful and ultra-feminine Purdey. Easily a worthy successor to Emma.... though most old fans would never admit it!In an unexpected move, a third member of the team was introduced. As Patrick Macnee was now that much older, the producers understandably felt a younger man was required to carry out much of Steed's "heavy duty" work. Gareth Hunt, relatively new to acting at the time, was introduced as tough but quiet ex-Para Mike Gambit. The presence of the third character has probably caused more debate than any other element of The New Avengers!In some ways the use of a three players put paid to any believable sexual tension between the characters. Clearly Steed was too old for Purdey and, unfortunately, the humorous sexual subtlety he had shared with previous co-stars was replaced by rather obvious, belaboured innuendo between Gambit and Purdey.Perhaps the biggest fault of the series in terms of the characterisations was that previously Steed had known he didn't have to worry about his partners when they went into battle. With the new series, although Purdey was portrayed as being independent and deadly as her predecessors, Steed always seemed to feel he needed to protect her.Nevertheless all three actors clearly shared a marvellous bond of friendship working together and handled their roles with conviction, invention and style... though, of course, never taking themselves too seriously!As this was the 1970s, it was felt the action scenes needed to be toughened up and the knockabout fun of the original show was replaced with deadly jousts - particularly when Gambit was involved. Nevertheless Purdey's lethal fighting style (essentially based on the French 'Panache' technique) imbued many of her own fight scenes with a good dose of humour. Unfortunately this tougher nature would later prove to be a handicap to American sales.Either way it has to be said that the action scenes were superbly staged - particularly with its use of crafty camera angles and clipped editing - and, twenty-five years on, we have still to see a British show surpass it in this area. And all credit to Lumley and Hunt who insisted on handling much of their own tremendous stuntwork. (Indeed the original show's use of stunt doubles was often embarrassingly obvious!)With excellent storylines and good exposure in the UK media, the first season did very well, despite ITV's inability to find the programme a proper networked slot.However The New Avengers was ultimately doomed. Part-financed by French company IDTV ("A load of crooks" as producer Brian Clemens described them), promised money never appeared and a Canadian company was brought in to prop up the production. Somewhat inevitably this led to demands for several episodes to be filmed in Canada. At this point Brian Clemens found himself virtually forced to hand over the series to a Canadian team who promptly demonstrated they didn't have a clue about what The Avengers was about. After just twenty-six episodes the show was brought to a halt. And when American broadcasters deemed the programme too violent to be screened in a primetime slot, clearly the series would be gone for good.Looking back now, although The New Avengers will never be seen as an outright improvement over its forebear, it largely succeeded in its own right. In many ways, though, it was a victim of its times, particularly that of the British economy and the appalling fashions of the day. Although it undeniably had some poor episodes, when The New Avengers was good (as it often was), it was GREAT! Play that funky music, white boy!