Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost Pur-fect, 9 May 2007
Ace crime fighter and protector of the realm, John Steed, returns with two new all-action assistants - Mike Gambit and Purdey, and an awesome new car - a beefed-up Broadspeed Jaguar V12 coupé, in British racing green of course.
The New Avengers are an impressive trio - original Avenger Patrick Macnee reprises his role as the dapper and dashing John Steed with his trademark brolly and bowler, Gareth Hunt (who sadly died in March 2007) is the pistol-packing, wise-cracking action man, Mike Gambit and (my personal favourite) Joanna Lovely (sorry, I mean Lumley) is the sexy, karate-kicking super woman, Purdey - she knows how to make a fine herb omelette and field strip an automatic pistol in a matter of seconds (these are the two main qualities I've always looked for in a woman)!
All the three leads are extremely good in their roles but, for me, Joanna really stands out. Not only is she incredibly gorgeous, and looks good from every camera angle, she is also a very fine actress with a remarkable CV. Prior to starring in The New Avengers she was a Bond girl (in On Her Majesty's Secret Service), a Hammer Horror heroine (she played Jessica Van Helsing in The Satanic Rites Of Dracula a.k.a. Count Dracula And His Vampire Bride) and appeared in Coronation Street and the classic sit-com Steptoe & Son. She has also starred in another cult 1970s TV series - Sapphire & Steel, has made numerous films and is unforgettable as the champagne-drinking party girl Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous.
The Avengers and The New Avengers creator Brian Clemens was also associated with Hammer Horror through the films Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter and Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde and it is good to see some Hammer Horror actors and actresses making guest appearances in this show - look out for Peter Cushing, John Carson, John Forbes-Robertson, Jon Finch, Melissa Stribling and Caroline Munro to name a few.
Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) briefly appears in `K Is For Kill, Part One - The Tiger Awakes' and Only Fools And Horses fans will be able to spot `Boycie' (in the `Dirtier By The Dozen' episode) and `Marlene' (in the `Medium Rare' episode). Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw, the two stars of The Professionals (also created by Brian Clemens), appear in the `Obsession' episode but this time they are on the wrong side of the law. By the way, in the `Medium Rare' episode, there is a character called George Cowley- this was also the name of Bodie & Doyle's boss in The Professionals!
This is a very entertaining DVD set. I remember watching all of these episodes when they were first shown on television and it is marvellous to own them on DVD and be able to watch them again. My favourite episode is probably `Sleeper' - I love the scene where Purdey has to pretend to be a fashion dummy in a shop window to avoid being caught by two pursuers and her pyjama bottoms keep falling down!
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60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The New Avengers DVD Set , 17 Nov 2006
Seven years after being blasted into space with the lovely Tara King(Linda Thorson)John Steed(Patrick Macnee)returns to fight enemy agents and mad masterminds,now joined by the beautiful high kicking Purdey(Joanna Lumley)and the charming but tough Mike Gambit(Gareth Hunt)
I really enjoyed this show as it was my introduction to the world of "The Avengers" with Joanna Lumley,to me in the same league as Mrs Emma Peel(Diana Rigg)with her wit,elagance and the ablity to defend herself.
The rapport between Purdey and Gambit is spot on,Steed does take more of a back seat but becomes more into the action in the 2nd season.
"Return of The Cybernauts" to me is one of the best stories,Steed meeting again the dreaded Robots,he and Mrs Peel meet twice in the 60s,the fight between Purdey and and a Cybernized Kane,one of the classics of the series.
To me its a shame that Steed stopped driving around in his classic cars,in "New Avengers" he drives around in a Jag,to me,this lost a lot of the charm of the character.
The trio meet Nazi alive and well in Scotland,a man who can control birds by music and a man whose mere touch can cause death.
The three actors work so well together,in a nice nod to its past we see Steed ringing Mrs Peel(using old footage of Diana Rigg)to discuss an old case,even Macnee's orginal Avenger,Ian Hendry makes a guest appeatrance in "To Catch A Rat",it would have been nice if he'd returned in his old role as Dr.David Keel though.
If you haven't seen this show,give it a go,Joannna Lumley is great as
Purdey,ok its not as good as "The Avengers" but it came pretty close.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not classic Avengers, but a decent enough 70s action series, 19 Nov 2008
During the shooting of the last season of The New Avengers, Patrick McNee ran into Peter O'Toole, who asked him what he was doing. "I'm doing The New Avengers" "Patrick, you're always doing The Avengers." Each episode beginning with a pre-title cliffhanger and a strident martial variation of his original theme music by uncredited co-producer Laurie Johnson, the show itself is nowhere near as bad as its reputation - the trouble is, it's nowhere near as good as the original series, even in its Tara King days. What's missing most of all is not just the straight-faced whimsy and the innocent kinkiness but the playful banter between Steed and his female partner, be it Cathy Gale, Tara King or Emma Peel. Indeed, rather than a double act, he cuts a more paternal (or should that be Maternal?) figure with two young pretenders handling the fighting and the banter in the form of Joanna Lumley's Purdey and Gareth Hunt's Gambit, (probably British television's first working class Jewish action hero).
The plots are generally a little more grounded in the first season, which translates as more ordinary, with the unnamed foreign power now openly Russia this time round and the violence somewhat more serious - fewer blasé reactions to exotically murdered corpses this time round - even if the fight choreography was a lot less impressive. Steed even found himself picking up a gun in a couple of episodes in the second season despite McNee's well-known intense aversion to them. Nor is the series especially nostalgic: it may have launched with a plot to revive Hitler from cryogenic suspended animation in a Scottish castle run by monks, but many of the plots revolve around schemes hatched at the height of the Cold War that the classic episodes treated so frivolously finally coming home to roost or around characters from the past obsessing over old grievances presumably incurred around the time of the show's glory days coming back to haunt the main characters. Rather than fending off the threat of reality or consequences with witty banter, Steed occasionally cuts a more serious, sombre figure, not quite taking everything cheerfully in his stride and not necessarily meaning it when he does. Despite the distinctive dress sense and the steel bowler, there's the distinct feeling that the producers have decided it was high time he had finally grown up, even if only a little.
As if to underline the more serious approach, the show's original leading man Ian Hendry turns up in as a guest star in one episode in a quite different role, and a rather unfortunately autobiographical one at that as a down-and-out alcoholic former spy trying to get back into the game and failing miserably. Sadly, with all but one of the first season's episodes lost, this now stands as 50% of Hendry's surviving legacy in the series his one-time sidekick inherited and made his own.
Taken as an Avengers series, the first season isn't flattered by the comparison, though as a 70s action thriller series it's more than passable fare. Things went wrong with the visibly underfunded second season. By then the show seemed to be reverting to its roots in the worst way, becoming a rather tired, run of the mill spy series at times. With producers Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens busily developing what would become The Professionals, the series almost turns into a blueprint for that, with Steed assuming the Gordon Jackson role and Purdey and Gambit the Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins roles (indeed, Collins and Shaw actually co-star in one episode, Obsession). Gambit had given up his attempts to get Purdey into bed and resigned himself to being more comic relief than action man. The writing is often lazy, relying on huge suspension of disbelief to overlook gaping plot holes like security men not bothering to check bell towers when looking for an assassin or McNee and co taking a car with a vital palm print by the most roundabout route to a police station to give the bad guys ample opportunities to destroy it.
It's also the one where the co-producers started demanding their pound of flesh, with three episodes being shot in France (though the French co-producers only came up with the money for two) and the last four being shot on the cheap in Canada under the title The New Avengers in Canada. The most reviled of the series, these at least did show a return to the odd moment of surrealism, with Complex offering a fully-automated building that doubles as an assassin (an idea it sadly makes little of and which Philip Kerr lifted for his novel Gridiron) and Forward Base delighting in a corner of Lake Ontario that dries up and floods in the blink of an eye.
Still, even that season had its moments - Dead Men Are Dangerous sees Steed targeted by Clive Revill's terminally ill old school friend who always came second to you-know-who in every sporting and spying endeavour, and it deserves points for cheek for using a bit of stock footage from The Winged Avenger and A Touch of Venus to add Emma Peel to the beginning of another episode, K is For Kill.
As per most Avengers DVDs, this Optimum reissue of both series is almost extras-free - just an audio commentary with Brian Clemens and Gareth Hunt on two episodes. While not quite as bad as some reports, the transfers aren't particularly good: it's obvious that the old video release masters have been used with no effort at restoration, with wildly varying results that veer from acceptable (as long as your TV screen isn't too big) to not that good. Probably one for the completists.
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