Written by Brian Clemens
Directed by Ray Austin
1.07 - Target!
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OnlineFrankymole
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My review:
http://www.theavengers.tv/forever/newave-6vr.htm#4
A sunny and fun story, suffused with genuine Avengers charm. It's a crying shame the great Frederick Jaeger was rained off and only appears in one scene. It's a corker, though, with Purdey demonstrating her reflexes by catching his pencil, behind her, with her boot.
The Avenged?: A whole stack of agents, amongst others. Bruce Purchase in his British indoor "Amazon jungle" calls to mind the eccentricities of the monochrome Peel era. Lovely stuff. Bradshaw's horror, as Gambit unknowingly prepares to kill him, is a great moment too.
Diabolical Masterminds?: Robert Beatty shows up mainly so that there's someone for Draker to kill: Keith Barron is fine as this soft-spoken, always-calm developer of the "killing machine." Deep Roy is magic as the murderous Kloekoe, especially in the tricycle scene and the blowpipe—leading to the way Gambit kills him (blowing his ice-dart back down his blowpipe!). All three work well together and it is refreshing not to see hordes of expendable henchmen.
The Avengers?: One of the best for our dynamic trio, especially Purdey's ambition to beat Steed's perfect "100%, three times in a row" score. Purdey's full attempt on the range is great fun. Gambit is very good in this, no smugness at all.
Umbrella, Charm and a Bowler Hat?: I love the Avenger mannequins (especially the "Steed" who repeatedly doffs his hat to victors on the range).
Bizarre?: The curare is administered in bullets or darts made of ice, yet they do not melt in Draker's room-temperature office. The dummies do look and move too much like people in masks sometimes, but in the post-Cybernaut age maybe animatronics has indeed moved on that much. It also makes them suitably unnerving.
The enforced under-use of Frederick Jaeger is recompensed with other fun telefantasy faces (John Paul of Doomwatch, plus Robert Beatty, Bruce Purchase and Deep Roy—important players in episodes of Doctor Who and Blakes 7 among other shows). It's well-directed, Ray Austin employing some great technical camerawork such as the curare-affected blurred vision, rather than relying on action set-pieces. And the police box is a nice touch.
On Target? (Score:) Four-bowler fun! (10/10)
http://www.theavengers.tv/forever/newave-6vr.htm#4
A sunny and fun story, suffused with genuine Avengers charm. It's a crying shame the great Frederick Jaeger was rained off and only appears in one scene. It's a corker, though, with Purdey demonstrating her reflexes by catching his pencil, behind her, with her boot.
The Avenged?: A whole stack of agents, amongst others. Bruce Purchase in his British indoor "Amazon jungle" calls to mind the eccentricities of the monochrome Peel era. Lovely stuff. Bradshaw's horror, as Gambit unknowingly prepares to kill him, is a great moment too.
Diabolical Masterminds?: Robert Beatty shows up mainly so that there's someone for Draker to kill: Keith Barron is fine as this soft-spoken, always-calm developer of the "killing machine." Deep Roy is magic as the murderous Kloekoe, especially in the tricycle scene and the blowpipe—leading to the way Gambit kills him (blowing his ice-dart back down his blowpipe!). All three work well together and it is refreshing not to see hordes of expendable henchmen.
The Avengers?: One of the best for our dynamic trio, especially Purdey's ambition to beat Steed's perfect "100%, three times in a row" score. Purdey's full attempt on the range is great fun. Gambit is very good in this, no smugness at all.
Umbrella, Charm and a Bowler Hat?: I love the Avenger mannequins (especially the "Steed" who repeatedly doffs his hat to victors on the range).
Bizarre?: The curare is administered in bullets or darts made of ice, yet they do not melt in Draker's room-temperature office. The dummies do look and move too much like people in masks sometimes, but in the post-Cybernaut age maybe animatronics has indeed moved on that much. It also makes them suitably unnerving.
The enforced under-use of Frederick Jaeger is recompensed with other fun telefantasy faces (John Paul of Doomwatch, plus Robert Beatty, Bruce Purchase and Deep Roy—important players in episodes of Doctor Who and Blakes 7 among other shows). It's well-directed, Ray Austin employing some great technical camerawork such as the curare-affected blurred vision, rather than relying on action set-pieces. And the police box is a nice touch.
On Target? (Score:) Four-bowler fun! (10/10)
Last watched: "Mandrake"
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anti-clockwise
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Yes. 10/10. One of the best of TNA. The scenes that are the best are Purdey doing target practice. Love the touches of graffiti here written about Purdey.
Then of course one of the best Gambit scenes. I loved him crashing through the glass door and knowing that was really Gareth doing the stunt. I hear he was very proud of that stunt as he should have been. And then Gareth blowing the poison dart back at the enemy through the doorway was hilarious and quite effective.
And the antidote being in Steed's bowler was quite Avengerish.
Then of course one of the best Gambit scenes. I loved him crashing through the glass door and knowing that was really Gareth doing the stunt. I hear he was very proud of that stunt as he should have been. And then Gareth blowing the poison dart back at the enemy through the doorway was hilarious and quite effective.
And the antidote being in Steed's bowler was quite Avengerish.
"He likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise."
Purdey's high flick in her chestnut boots is a rather neat trickanti-clockwise wrote:Yes. 10/10. One of the best of TNA. The scenes that are the best are Purdey doing target practice. Love the touches of graffiti here written about Purdey.
Then of course one of the best Gambit scenes. I loved him crashing through the glass door and knowing that was really Gareth doing the stunt. I hear he was very proud of that stunt as he should have been. And then Gareth blowing the poison dart back at the enemy through the doorway was hilarious and quite effective.
And the antidote being in Steed's bowler was quite Avengerish.
Looks as if she jumped clean out of them to climb up the drainpipe... -
Lhbizness
Another one I did not like on initial viewing and have since warmed to. The villains are top drawer, and their plot actually quite clever (though I'm unclear as to how it would actually be marketed, which is the whole point of the enterprise.) Each of the Avengers is used fairly well across the board, and I like all the little touches involving Steed's legend in the service. The final sequence is, of course, brilliant - as someone who adores Steed, I was pleased to see him fighting the curare all the way, given that it has killed younger and fitter men. I think he's a little underused throughout the episode, but not by much.
My reservation about Gambit's reaction to Purdey's possible demise I've mentioned elsewhere and I still have mixed feelings about it. But otherwise, a very enjoyable episode and one of the few that feels like it could have been a "proper" Avengers plot.
My reservation about Gambit's reaction to Purdey's possible demise I've mentioned elsewhere and I still have mixed feelings about it. But otherwise, a very enjoyable episode and one of the few that feels like it could have been a "proper" Avengers plot.
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OnlineFrankymole
- You Have Just Been Posting (a lot)
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As well as Robert Beatty, Bruce Purchase and Deep Roy, all famous telefantasy figures in everything from "Quatermass" to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", I should've mentioned Roy Boyd as the doomed Bradshaw. He played a victim of "The Hand of Fear" in Dr Who, and the fabulous hero/villain "Zukan" in Blakes 7 (with pink hair). His death scene here is one of the best Avengers deaths (with plenty of Karma), and one of Gambit's best character scenes too.
The Avengers finally got to demolish a telefantasy rival too, by blowing up Peter Cushing's "Dr Who" TARDIS. Great stuff in the episode that has the most Dr Who actors ever.
The Avengers finally got to demolish a telefantasy rival too, by blowing up Peter Cushing's "Dr Who" TARDIS. Great stuff in the episode that has the most Dr Who actors ever.
Last watched: "Mandrake"
