What was The Avengers like in the seasons prior to 1965? They pale by comparison to the glory years of 1965 - 1967.
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In my last post, I talked about the Avengers during their "glory years" of 1965 -1967 when the series came to American TV and featured that marvelous chemistry between the characters of Steed and Mrs. Peel. In fact, I've liked the series so much that I'm probably going to buy the entire 17-disc megaset featuring all 51 episodes from 1965 - 1967. However, I wanted to find out what the series was like in the earlier years of 1961-1964 and rented a disc set containing the first few episodes from 1963.
In a nutshell: I didn't like it.
Why? At least five reasons:
- Technically, these pre-1965 episodes are completely inferior. They are grainy, have poor lighting, and were clearly shot with lower production values and budgets. They are so bad that they have a feel almost like old B&W movies done in the 1930s. If you've ever watched an old Laurel & Hardy film, you get about the same level of technical sophistication here. It stuck me as at least 30 years behind state-of-the-art for the early 60s. The 1965-67 versions shown on US TV (ABC network) were done on film at ABC's insistence and the quality definitely shows. Watching this 1963 version I felt like I was watching something that was not 2 years older than 1965, but 30 years older. Yes, they were that poor technically.
- The acting was just bad all the way around - worthy of daytime soaps with the amount of overacting I saw.
- Steed's character in particular has a number of nuances that made him quite different...he gets flustered, appears to be an almost bungling sort of side-kick to the strong character of Cathy Gale (played by Honor Blackman), and seems to be a little too eager to romance her. It's a totally different, and far less appealing dynamic than what we later come to love in the Mrs. Peel years with Peel playing coy but not superior to the character of Steed. Here we find a well-dressed Steed as usual, but not quite as suave, debonair, and never-ruffled as we have come to expect from the Mrs. Peel years. In short, I don't like the old Steed very well, and I really don't care for Cathy Gale. I also didn't care for the fact that Gale smoked in the series. Her voice even sounds smokey. Yes, I know that Rigg is a voracious smoker, but her voice didn't belie that in the series and her character of Mrs. Peel didn't smoke. She was just somehow more wholesome and appealing than the Cathy Gale persona given by Blackman. My two cents worth.
- The mystique isn't there. I can't quite describe what it was about the 65-67 series in terms of set design and overall mood that gave such a wonderful quirkiness and mystere, but it is almost totally absent here. These just felt like old, not-particularly-good soap operas with bad stunts, bad acting, and inferior production values.
- The audio quality is poor, tying in with the overall poor production values noted in item #1 above. The audio fades of music, sound effects, dialog, and the overall mix is just poor - often abrupt and unnatural. Again, it feels like something made in the '30s - not the 1960s.
I decided to get the first 1963 disc set to satisfy my curiosity as to what The Avengers was like before Diana Rigg's Mrs. Peel made the series so special and gave it that wonderful chemistry with Steed. In my opinion, I missed nothing by skipping these pre-1965 episodes. I'm glad I only rented this DVD rather than purchased it. I couldn't even bring myself to watch the other 2 episodes on the DVD. I just sent it back to Blockbuster after watching a single episode.
If, like me, you are curious about what the series was like in "the early days" I suggest you rent rather than buy. If you like them - fine. You can find the disc sets on Amazon, eBay, and elsewhere. But if you are like me, simply nothing can compare to the 1965-1967 series which - in my mind - is the REAL Avengers that I've known and loved since my teenage years in the 1970s. As for me, I plan to purchase Avengers DVDs, but will limit my spending to the 1965-1967 megaset offered by A&E.
Again, I realize that hard-core Avengers fans will probably be compelled to check out every episode. However, consider my review here as an alternative viewpoint and instead of offering a glowing review I'm giving a caution that you rent before you buy. You may just thank me for allowing you to save your money for the truly great 65-67 years instead.
