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Post by matthewsee on Mar 15, 2018 13:41:40 GMT
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Post by matthewsee on Mar 18, 2018 13:21:42 GMT
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Post by matthewsee on Apr 7, 2018 10:14:04 GMT
Radio series Train of Events Episode 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXEAT2bBSEThis is the radio version of the TV episode A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station. This is literally about a train as the case leads Steed and Emma on a train. Quite an intriguing beginning to this ride. |
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Post by matthewsee on Apr 14, 2018 4:50:29 GMT
Radio series Train of Events Episode 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKrxgyIvzGgFunny when Emma tells Steed the trouble he will get with his cleaning lady after killing an assassin in which Emma says that he was the groom on the train. This leads to a revealing information and that in turn will lead to another trip on the train. |
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Post by matthewsee on Apr 23, 2018 5:45:04 GMT
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Post by matthewsee on Apr 26, 2018 3:13:45 GMT
Radio series Train of Events Episode 6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwu1dlu18tAGood conclusion with the assassination thwarted on the train. Funny at the end with Steed and Emma reading a sign that is safer travelling in trains. |
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Post by matthewsee on Dec 4, 2018 3:15:53 GMT
One For the Mortuary (Big Finish):
This is the Big Finish remake of One For The Mortuary.
One For The Mortuary is 1.13 of the TV series but it is here where Big Finish has diverged from the running order of the TV series as it is presented as the fourth episode in its remake of first season episodes.
One For The Mortuary is a very intriguing and thrilling as Steed places Keel in the midst of an international conspiracy involving a medical formula.
A very well handling of the episode including the part given by Yvette a woman that Keel meets and played by Francesca Hunt.
The original episode was written by Brian Clemens and his son Sam plays Wilson in the Big Finish remake.
There is an accompanied interview with Sam Clemens.
Interesting interview including Sam revealing that when his father created CI5: The New Professionals that one of the characters Chris Keel was named after David Keel from The Avengers.
Curiously enough I watched CI5: The New Professionals shortly after that revelation about this series.
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Post by matthewsee on Jan 31, 2020 6:39:43 GMT
Kill the King (Big Finish):
Big Finish remake of the TV episode of the same name.
The TV episode is the 22nd of the series while the Big Finish remake is its 13th overall and the opener in Vol. 4 of The Lost Episodes set.
Sadly Vol. 4 was released on June 30 2015 just five days after the death of Patrick Macnee.
Kill The King was written by James Mitchell who wold later create Callan.
With it being written by Mitchell, Avengers Declassified noted the similarity of the interaction between Steed and One-Ten with that of Callan and Hunter.
Even with Kill The King predating Callan, it does retrospectively feels more suited for Callan than it does for The Avengers.
This is due to how it addresses the episode title not to mention the said king came across as truly detestable.
I would not say that Kill The King is necessarily bad but I would have been able to appreciate it better had it been under the Callan instead of The Avengers banner.
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Post by matthewsee on Feb 12, 2020 5:47:53 GMT
A Change of Bait (Big Finish):
Big Finish remake of the TV episode of the same name.
The TV episode is the penultimate episode of the first season while the Big Finish remake is the 14th overall and the second episode in Vol. 4 of The Lost Episodes set.
The original episode would turn out to be the swansong for Ian Hendry as Keel as he did not appear in the season finale Dragonsfield.
Thankfully the Big Finish remake is not the last for Anthony Howell as Keel.
On second listen this is rather enjoyment which all got started with a con over a shipment of bananas.
Good on how this got resolved which had Steed and Keel being locked up in a cupboard along the way.
Also in another scene the number of times the word brother was said.
Didn't noticed it until I read it at Avengers Declassified that nobody dies in A Change of Bait.
This was due to the original episode being transmitted on December 23 1961 and it reflects on the festive season.
So A Change of Bait is rather a good deathless episode.
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Post by matthewsee on Aug 27, 2020 23:39:48 GMT
Girl on the Trapeze (Big Finish):
Big Finish remake of the TV episode of the same name.
The TV episode is the 6th episode of the series while the Big Finish remake is the 18th overall and the second episode in Vol. 5 of The Lost Episodes set.
The original episode was written by Dennis Spooner while the Big Finish adaptation is by Rae Leaver.
Despite being under The Lost Episodes banner this is a remake of an episode that exists.
It was not just missing episodes but every episode of the first season remade by Big Finish, therefore providing a completeness to it.
This episode featured only Keel with Steed being absent.
This is a fascinating episode which involved a circus and Keel witnessing an apparent suicide.
However not everything is as it seems leading Keel and Carol to the circus to investigate this mystery.
Extremely good Keel only episode as Keel handled this episode very well without Steed.
In fact Steed's name wasn't even mentioned demonstrating how well Keel is on his own.
After all Keel was the original lead character of The Avengers and Girl on the Trapeze emphasise this fact very well.
Funny the coded message Keel gave here, the only one he could think of at the time.
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Post by matthewsee on Jan 9, 2021 5:22:41 GMT
Tunnel of Fear (Big Finish):
Big Finish remake of the TV episode of the same name.
The TV episode is the 20th episode of the series while the Big Finish remake is the 23rd overall and the third and final episode in Vol. 6 of The Lost Episodes set.
The original episode was written by John Kruse while the Big Finish adaptation is by John Dorney.
The original episode was indeed lost when the Big Finish adaptation was made and it before the original episode was recovered in 2016.
I saw the original episode prior to listening to the Big Finish adaptation and even knowing this I was still surprised the Big Finish adaptation had a significant number of differences with the original episode.
As Dorney explains in the accompanying Big Finish interviews he had to worked what was little that known about the episode. Incidentally I have yet to see his interview on the original DVD where he talks about the said differences.
Among the differences I found with the Big Finish adaptation included how Harry Black escaped from prison, how Steed got involved in this, what One-Ten's plans for his evening were and has a different dancing girl.
The only dancing girl that had a name in the original episode is Rosie while the only dancing that had a name in the Big Finish adaptation is Carla.
Even notwithstanding different names Rosie and Carla don't feel like the same characters and Carla is much more pleasant than Rosie.
Even given that the original episode was still lost at the time, the Big Finish adaptation is superb to listen to.
Having seen the original episode before listening to its Big Finish counterpart, I actually found the latter to be much more enjoyable.
After listening to Big Finish Tunnel of Fear listened to the interviews with the adapters of the Vol. 6 set with Rae Leaver (The Frighteners), Ian Potter (Death on the Slipway) and Dorney.
As I said before Dorney had to worked what little info he had in adapting Tunnel of Fear.
Of the three these adaptations at the time, The Frighteners was the only one adapted from an existing episode.
Leaver says that only did she see the original episode but also listen to it without seeing the visuals.
For Potter's part in adapting Death on the Slipway he drew inspiration in seeing episodes of Callan as the creator of Callan, James Mitchell also wrote Death on the Slipway.
Fascinating on hearing on the process in adapting each of the said three episodes.
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Post by matthewsee on Jan 29, 2021 2:41:25 GMT
Return to Castle De'ath:
Return to Castle De'ath is the first Big Finish adaptation of The Avengers comic strip stories published in Diana magazine in 1966 and featuring Steed and Peel.
Adapted by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris and the original writer(s) were uncredited on the comic strips and therefore unknown.
This marked Emma Peel's Big Finish debut.
In place of the now late Diana Rigg (who was alive at the time), Big Finish cast Olivia Poulet as Emma Peel.
Before her casting as Mrs Peel, Poulet played another Emma in The Thick of It between 2007 and 2012.
As Emma Peel, Poulet is paired alongside Julian Wadham's John Steed which he first started playing in the Lost Episodes set.
In fact Wadham wasn't done with the Lost Episodes when he finally appeared alongside Emma Peel.
Return to Castle De'ath is the first episode in The Comic Strip Adaptations Volume 01: Steed & Mrs Peel released in April 2016 coming before the release of the last two volumes of Lost Episodes.
As it says in the story title this has Steed and Peel returning to Castle De'ath which was the setting of their earlier TV episode Castle De'ath, only this time every guest character is new.
They are there to protect a visiting prince who is the target of an assassination.
The prince is hardly pleasant especially how he reacted when one of his bodyguards got killed by the assassin.
Despite an unpleasant prince this makes an enthralling story with the protection given to him by Steed and Peel culminating in the assassin being flushed out.
Quite surprising when this assassin got revealed.
I read up on the original comic strip story in which the reviewer wasn't impressed by it.
This makes the Big Finish adaptation all the more fascinating and remarkable.
It was a brilliant story to mark Emma Peel's Big Finish debut.
Finally I have to say this about the theme music.
Prior to this I have gotten used to hearing the original theme music on the Lost Episodes so when I heard the theme music that started in the Peel era it felt immensely satisfying to hear its Big Finish debut.
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Post by matthewsee on Mar 4, 2021 7:37:04 GMT
The Golden Dresses:
The Golden Dresses is the penultimate episode of The Comic Strips Adaptions Vol. 1 from Big Finish.
Adapted by Paul Magrs.
Prior work for Big Finish and since The Golden Dresses, Magrs has written for Doctor Who and Iris Wildthyme, a Doctor Who character which he has created including in her own series for Big Finish.
To date, The Golden Dresses remains Magrs' only work for Big Finish that has nothing to do with Doctor Who.
Although not for Big Finish, Magrs had written a thinly disguised Doctor Who-Avengers crossover in his Doctor Who novel Verdigris in which he wrote that Doctor Who companion Jo Grant was friends with someone named Tara, a secret agent.
Tara's surname isn't revealed in the Doctor Who novel but was clearly meant to be Tara King from The Avengers.
Tara King is not in The Golden Dresses but instead it is with Emma Peel with John Steed.
The Golden Dresses are not just gold in their appearance but also has an hypnotic influence on their wearer.
The Golden Dresses has been worn by wives of influential men holding prestigious positions.
Just after wearing these dresses, the women's husbands suddenly goes missing.
Steed and Peel investigate this by posing as such a couple.
Fascinating how this all ensues leading to the climax at a boat.
It felt somewhat amusing that in the midst of the story getting to its conclusion, Emma uses threads from her golden dress to make a golden lasso. Was the original unidentified writers thinking of Wonder Woman when they wrote that.
Funny epilogue by how Peel reacted to what Steed was wearing.
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