The wonderful wonderful black and white period of The Avengers ends with some of its weaker episodes, then the colour episodes come along and remind you how good even the weakest episodes of the black and white era were. Or to look at it another way, the first half of series 4 was so amazingly good it was impossible to follow. Also, if memory serves, there are several better colour episodes than those I’ve watched this month, so there’s something to look forward to in July. And even among this weak batch there have been some good episodes, and one great one. But there’s no denying a trend in the show towards taking itself less seriously, and often self-conscious silliness is substituted for thrills and adventure. Inevitably, this impacts on the central relationship between the characters who, instead of being incredibly cool and capable best friends in tricky situations, become increasingly arch and tirelessly sardonic.
In July, as well as diving deeper into the colour era, I will travel back to series 1 for a listen to another 4 episodes that were lost, but which Big Finish have recreated on audio. Listening to the first 4 to be released, in January, I compared them to the existing remnants of series 1. Now I’ll be listening while watching what the show had evolved into over six years… and it has come a long way from its origins!
This month I watched 15 episodes: the last 10 episodes of series 4; and the first 5 episodes of series 5.
From series 4 I watched:
- The Girl From Auntie
- The Thirteenth Hole
- Quick Quick Slow Death
- The Danger Makers
- A Touch of Brimstone
- What The Butler Saw
- The House That Jack Built
- A Sense of History
- How to Succeed…At Murder
- Honey for the Prince
From series 5 I watched:
- From Venus With Love
- The Fear Merchants
- Escape in Time
- The See-Through Man
- The Bird Who Knew Too Much
Pick of June: Indubitably A Touch Of Brimstone – an absolutely classic, one of the show’s very best episodes.
Episodes remaining: 52 (8.7 per month)
