The New Avengers Season 2 Eps 11-13

 

A bitty episode that only gains traction in the final ten minutes, `The Gladiators` sees our team once again in Canada this time on the trail of a KGB agent called Karl Sminsky who may be behind the disappearance of a number of Western operatives. Played with stoic Russian determination by Louis Zorick, Minsky is super trained in disciplined martial arts to the point that he can stop bullets with his hands. Yes, it’s one of those slightly tedious training based plots in which a group of bulky muscle men are put through rigorous tests to find the best. These sequences are almost comically straight faced as the assembled beefy blokes are clearly not actors. They alternate with the Avengers chasing about somewhat randomly for clues allowing us to take in the Canadian scenary. Add to this the preposterous idea that a top secret security organisation would have an open day (even Steed questions the logic of this) and you have a storyline that neither engages nor convinces. 

The New Avengers Season 2 Eps 5 - 7

 

A health farm that is killing people is the premise of `Angels of Death`, the title pertaining to the staff of attractive models who work there yet are also handy with guns and karate. After a number of senior officials die of natural causes, Steed and co are looking for a link between them. Amusingly the victims we see are all with Steed when they pop their clogs so technically he is a link but the viewer knows they’ve recently had a spell at a health farm., Here they are subjected to hallucinogenic injections, a hectic disco session with the girls and spiked drinks followed by a spell in a maze. Though they seem fine the following day any sight of the maze map triggers a fatal reaction as it gives them the ultimate stress.

The New Avengers Season 1 Eps 1- 3

As many writers have previously identified The Avengers takes place in a parallel Britain, a place that is composed of cliches, often referred to as Avengerland. It is populated by larger than life characters and our three heroes are vaguely sketched people who seem to get by on a combination of confidence, sparkle and innuendo. The action is more realistic car crashes, punch ups and lots of death whereas the storylines are fantastical and over the top, a mixture of James Bond, Doctor Who and Quatermass. They do love their professors and secret laboratories! The presentation is filmic, brilliantly directed and has that grainy look which marks it out as very Seventies. 

It does have something of an identity crisis as it is never quite clear what sort of series it wants to be. A continuation of the classic Sixties original? A more modern espionage thriller? A fantasy series? A typical car chase driven adventure series? Different episodes have aspects of these and it doesn’t always work but when it does it’s very good indeed. There were two seasons first shown in 1976 and 1977. While the quality and tone of the show varied one thing doesn’t change- every episode has a what we now refer to as a cold open which freeze frames just as someone is falling and after the title credits resumes at that moment.