Avengers on the Radio

anti-clockwise · Post by **anti-clockwise** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 5:07 pm

Rhonda wrote:...
anti-clockwise wrote:I agree the radio version is in many ways more suspenseful or at least very different than the visual. But I thought that the dialogue was exactly the same as the show.
There are definitely differences as the scene with Helen being taken and pushed out of the train has no dialogue in the TV episode. It's very good drama in both!

Interesting. So they really took a creative license with the radio show.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:10 pm

anti-clockwise wrote:
Rhonda wrote:...
anti-clockwise wrote:I agree the radio version is in many ways more suspenseful or at least very different than the visual. But I thought that the dialogue was exactly the same as the show.
There are definitely differences as the scene with Helen being taken and pushed out of the train has no dialogue in the TV episode. It's very good drama in both!
Interesting. So they really took a creative license with the radio show.

or a 'different direction' so to speak.....evolution ?

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 10:12 am

Just learned that John Wright, the kind gent who donated the Avengers radio series recordings to myself and Alys in 2002, passed away some years back. I've just put together a little tribute to him at The Avengers Declassified.

http://declassified.theavengers.tv/radi ... wright.htm

Rhonda · Post by **Rhonda** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 2:13 pm

I've only admiration for John Wright in knowing about these radio serials, and making and keeping his recordings; a good tribute, Alan.

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:09 am

Thanks, Ron.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:43 pm

One of the comments on this article says:

"Pat starred in an English radio version of "The Avengers" before it came to TV. I still listen to them on some of the old time radio shows on the net. I think I'll see if I can find one now. I like Bond but I love John Steed. RIP Mr. Macnee. Watching you made some of my days brighter."

Does anyone know more of this? Were some TV episodes' soundtracks adapted for radio broadcast?

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 8:01 am

Certainly never heard of a radio version starring Patrick Macnee. At a guess, this is a misremembrance, and Ms Snyder is confusing Macnee's Steed with Donald Monat's.

Lhbizness · Post by **Lhbizness** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:29 pm

I have been listening to these - not a huge fan, I admit, but I prefer them to other radio adaptations. I do think they manage to make the Steed/Peel dynamic a lot more like Steed/Tara. He's far more in control and she's not as clever. Monat seems to have taken the style and not added any substance - I can't agree with the others on here that he's made Steed his own or that his interpretation is in any way comparable to Patrick's. Though I guess it is making it his own by making Steed so very supercilious and superior. Appleby's Emma titters far too often.

So, I'm afraid I must disagree: you don't just need the scripts, you need Patrick and Diana. Monat and Appleby are definitely not Steed and Mrs. Peel.

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:01 pm

Donald and Diane are not Patrick and Diana, but to me they are every bit as much Steed and Mrs Peel.

In many cases, particularly in adaptations of colour era episodes, I find the radio adaptations more enjoyable than the television originals.

I agree that Mrs Peel isn't as strong a character in the radio series, and I think this shows what Diana Rigg brought to the role.

However, I think that it should be taken into account that these radio adaptations had more in common with the videotaped era of the original show - in that they were put together on a skimpy budget and produced at speed.

Considering this, it's a testament to the actors and production staff that they remain so entertaining (to me at least) more than forty years later.

Lhbizness · Post by **Lhbizness** » Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:07 pm

Having listened to more of it, I have very mixed feelings about the radio series. I enjoy some of their dialogue additions that make certain things more explicit than the show. I enjoy some of the small alterations that they've made, and their attempts to be true to the spirit of the show. I find Monat's Steed to be overwhelmingly supercilious and self-important, even occasionally creepy (it's all in the voice, not in the dialogue itself) and some of the changes make Emma less intelligent and less independent. She's made into a sidekick, not a character in her own right. I'm sure this appeals to some - it doesn't appeal to me, unfortunately. Those changes seem to take away something fundamental in their characters.

I do appreciate how well-produced they are, considering everything, but I'm not certain what that has to do with the characterizations?

I've enjoyed these enough to continue to listen to them, but not enough to feel that they're in any way equal to the original show.