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03-25-2005, 09:09 AM
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#1 of 20 
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Local Time: 05:26 AM
Local Date: 10-07-2008
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The Avengers: any advice which season is the best?
I want to buy some of The Avengers season box sets but I don' t know which years is the best...Some say Emma Peel other say Diana Riggs? Let me know...
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03-25-2005, 09:14 AM
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#2 of 20
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Member
Location: Chicago, IL
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Luc, Emma Peel was played by Diana Rigg. 
Personally, I'd recommend any of the Emma Peel sets, and if you can splurge for the boxset with all her episodes, that's the way to go. You'll get both the B/W (which I think are some of the best) and color eps.
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03-25-2005, 09:20 AM
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#3 of 20
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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Steven,
Excuse my ignorance... Now, I know That Emma Peel is the name of the character... ... I used to watch it in French...It was called: ¨Chapeau melon et botte de cuir¨.
Do you know if any specialized channel still have it running? |
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03-25-2005, 01:02 PM
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#4 of 20
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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BBCAmerica was showing it along with the Saint and Prisoner but then they replaced Prisoner with Persuaders, all 4 great series. Get the Emma Peel Megaset, last I checked bestprices had the best price on it but that was more than a yearago. The Megaset has her complete run and it is far cheaper than the individual volumes. After that look before and after it if you like. You will still have Steed but the lead actress changes. They are fine too but the Peel years were the show at its peak.
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03-25-2005, 01:02 PM
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#5 of 20
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Member
Location: Vancouver Island
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Luc, I rented a bunch of these disks recently from late in season 5, around episode 125 with Diana Rigg, and they were very good. I must admit though, I haven't seen a lot of the non-Diana Rigg episodes. Some of the earlier ones don't even exist I beleive.
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03-25-2005, 02:22 PM
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#6 of 20
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Join Date: Mar 2001
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The two Diana Rigg (Emma Peel) seasons are the quintessential Avengers episodes. Start with those and then decide if the older Honor Blackman or later Linda Thorson episodes are worth adding.
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03-25-2005, 05:30 PM
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#7 of 20
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The B&W Emma Peel episodes are quite good and are probably better written than the color episodes, which are also good, in a swingin' 60s way. The colors on those episodes are very vibrant (like many shows from the 60s that were showcasing colors for the first time).
The Complete Emma Peel box set is the way to go if you want to splurge.
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03-25-2005, 06:40 PM
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#8 of 20
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Join Date: Jan 2005
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The B & W and color Emma Peel episodes are equally well-written and entertaining. Although Honor Blackman was a better actress and cooler than Ms. Rigg, her episodes suffered because not only because they were originally videotaped and filmed kinescopes were made from the tapes, but they were talky. To keep up with the kind of product the fans wanted to see by the mid 1960s, The Avengers got further away from the serious espionage of the previous years, and mostly took on a fantasy / sci-fi bent when it went to film the minute Rigg joined the series. It was also much easier to portray believable action on film than on tape in a staged environment.
After Diana left, Linda Thorson was just awful as Tara King, although during the final season the editing and set design are both superior to the previous seasons. She was even worse in the 1980s sitcom Marblehead Manor!
The New Avengers from the 1970s brought back Patrick McNee as John Steed with 2 new partners instead of just one: Purdey (played by Joanna Lumley) and Mike Gambit. It's also out on DVD and VHS and worth checking out. Two Avengers regulars from the earlier series return in guest appearances: Diana Rigg makes a cameo as Mrs. Peel when Steed phones her, but judging by her hair and youthful appearance it looked to me like unused footage from the previous decade. Ian Hendry comes back some 15 years later....but in a completely different role as an old acquaintance of Steed's who is out for revenge.
Although the newer series was shot in Great Britain for most of its 2 seasons, several of the episodes were also filmed in Canada.
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03-25-2005, 11:52 PM
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#9 of 20
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Member
Location: Dallas, TX
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I'm a big "New Avengers" fan. I admit that I'm a "reverse" fan of this since I don't have any of the original Avengers series on DVD. I love the New Avengers and have both season's sets. I've been thinking of getting that Avengers megaset lately...still "on the fence". OT: I did get the "Secret Agent" megaset with Patrick McGoohan and I love that one. Sounds like I'd like the original Avengers set as well
- Jeff Willis (Mainly a late 50's - mid-90's TV/DVD Collector)
"Combat! A Selmur Production"
"Two American scientists are lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages during the first experiments on America's greatest and most secret project...THE TIME TUNNEL! Tony Newman and Doug Phillips now tumble helplessly toward a new, fantastic adventure...somewhere along the infinite corridors of Time."
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03-26-2005, 02:52 AM
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#10 of 20
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The Diana Rigg episodes are by far the best (incidentally, 'Emma Peel' is a pun on 'M appeal' or 'man appeal' - a popular 60s piece of slang). Although the episodes appear quaint in hindsight, at the time they were extremely daring. Bear in mind that in the 60s nice girls didn't kick twenty colours of the proverbial out of opponents and they most certainly didn't wear fetishistic leather outfits. Pretentious as it sounds, the Emma Peel episodes were part of the vanguard of the sexual revolution.
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