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Amazon.co.uk Review
1967 was a good year for the Avengers: The Definitive Dossier, Files 5 and 6 contains six classic episodes in which Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg get to flirt with stylish decadence as John Steed and Mrs Emma Peel.
As they are at pains to point out at the end of one episode, their adventures often start with the mysterious death of an agent, and their involvement usually means at least one more death along the way--one of them gets tied up and the other has to engage in some perfunctory martial arts to save them. Yet none of this is important--it is the charm that matters, and the fact that the show was so aware of its own clichés is part of that charm. Another factor was the parade of British character actors in minor roles. Here Peter Cushing is a silkily vengeful villain, John Laurie a railway enthusiast and, in a body-switching episode, Freddie Jones and Patricia Haines are Steed and Emma themselves.
The plots involve killer robots, engineered premonition in nightmares and hypnotic regression to childhood; the touches of surreal are part of The Avengers style blended with 60s fashions and loopy plots to create something effectively original and hugely influential.
On the DVD: the DVDs are presented in a standard 4:3 television visual aspect with good mono sound for their date. As with other releases in this series, the special features consist of short biographies, a picture gallery and a "Follow the Hat" feature (modelled on the "White Rabbit" from The Matrix) in which Patrick McNee introduces each episode and interesting facts about cast and designers are flashed onto the screen.--Roz Kaveney
DVD Description
DVD Special Features:
Follow the Hat information feature
Picture Galleries
Biographies
Trailer
Picture format: 4:3, colour, PAL
Sound: Mono
Language: English, French
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 48 people found the following review helpful
This is the third smashing box set of "The Avengers" first colour season. And I have to say it's a great one. Sound quality is good considering this series were made more than three decennia ago. But the episode "Return of the Cybernauts" features some nasty distortion (probably a Dolby digital encoding error). Picture quality is good. Picture is sharp and colours are bright. The extras include a wonderful picture gallery. But I still find the "Follow That Hat" feature a little disappointing. All in all this is a worthy addition to your collection!
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station" is a nice homage to train mysteries such as Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes". The plot maybe thin but this episode is quite enjoyable with a good eccentric John Laurie (the man living in a signal box, dreaming to have his own station). This episode features the great line by Emma Peel: "Diddly-dah, diddly-dum, twiddly-dum, twiddly, twiddly, twiddly, dah, blinkety-blink, blinkety-blink, chaddily-dum, chaddily-dah, boopity-boop." Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about: Go see this one!
In "Something Nasty In The Nursery" an ordinary ball (baby bouncer) becomes of weapon, a nanny in a motorized wheelchair is wielding a machine gun and a jack-in-the-box contains a pistol. Sounds like fun? I certainly think so!
"The Joker" is one of my all time favourites. Although a remake of the Cathy Gale episode "Don't Look Behind You" this one deserves top marks. It's a great Emma Peel episode that will especially please those who are fans of (there he is again) Hitchcock's "Psycho". Emma is lured to the home of a bridge expert, which is of course very remote, only to find herself caught in a trap set by a voyeuristic spy. The very strange young woman called Ola as well as the great music make great contributions to the eerie atmosphere of this fabulous episode. The "Joker Theme" really is an excellent piece of underscoring.
"Who's Who???" is very funny. Emma and Steed switch bodies with two assassins that intend to finish off all agents from the "floral network". Hilarious indeed!
"Return of the Cybernauts" is not really my cup of tea. I never cared much for the cybernauts anyway. The only "cybernaut" is really like "Lt. Cmdr. Data" (Star Trek The Next Generation). This episode is still not all that bad. The interaction between Steed and Mrs. Peel makes this one really worth viewing. Steed is actually jealous. An example:
Steed: "You like Beresford, don't you?"
Emma: "What's to dislike about him?"
Steed: "I'm sure I can find something if I try hard enough."
"Death's Door" is a great episode. One of the most memorable scenes is Steed trapped behind a shooting target. He disables the villain in a way only an "Avenger" can, by "shooting" him in a most peculiar way. This episode has a brilliant plot which is somewhat similar to the plot of "Too Many Christmas Trees": "When a delegation arrives at a hall for a crucial conference, the key attendant inexplicably turns tail and runs at the last minute. Worse, after he is killed in an automobile accident that he foresaw, his replacement begins to have similar premonitions". This is absolutely an excellent episode.
I can hardly wait for the next box set to be released late February this year.
Edwin Meijster, an Avengers fan from The Netherlands.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I love this dvd, and the service was second to none. The series is as good now as when I first watched it as a kid brilliant.
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