tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post5353990032852201795..comments2024-01-10T00:07:48.304+00:00Comments on Cathode Ray Tube: THE AVENGERS - The Complete Series 3 / ReviewFrank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-3822564559791123622010-02-11T23:42:09.867+00:002010-02-11T23:42:09.867+00:00I'll have to agree to disagree on a lot of you...I'll have to agree to disagree on a lot of your points. I'm sorry but for 1964 a woman wearing leather, a garter gun and in one episode stripped down to her bra and panties in front of Steed pretty much counts as a sexually confident and liberated woman in my book. Cathy has always been described as liberated and emancipated and there is definitely a frisson between her and Steed throughout the series. Besides, to be sexually liberated doesn't just mean the freedom to have sex, it's also about Cathy's confidence and strength in resisting Steed's approaches too!<br /><br />And there is plenty of champagne drinking in the Cathy Gale episodes, perhaps not as much as in the Emma episodes but it is there is decent quantities. There are at least eight episodes, according to The Avengers Dossier, where Cathy and Steed knock back the champers. And the rest of the time they're knocking back wine, beer, brandy and whisky. That's conspicuous consumption in my book.<br /><br />Series 3 certainly has its fantastical elements and there is very much a divorce from the realistic here. These episodes certainly don't match the realism of Series 1 or 2 and the majority are full of very eccentric schemes, characters and plots a million miles away from the 1962 episodes. I think its more whimsical than fantastical. The out and out fantastical came later. <br /><br />Series 3 is, on the whole, a confident, reasonably consistent set of episodes. There are some clunkers but there are also many that still thoroughly entertain with their wit and charm.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-74906242511761245552010-02-11T13:57:08.158+00:002010-02-11T13:57:08.158+00:00Hello, again,
Very nice discussion of The Avenger...Hello, again,<br /><br />Very nice discussion of The Avengers and the development of the series. I do think at times you confused Cathy with Emma, however; Cathy was not acted as "sexually liberated". Steed of course, was, but Cathy was a widow and actually was very prim and proper in that regard. There is an innuendo at the end of "The Man With Two Shadows", when in the tag scene we apparently learn that Cathy has seen Steed's body so could identify him--was sex involved. Their laughter intimates it, but we see Cathy rebuffing sexual connection with Steed throughout the whole series, and not being open for that with any other man. <br /><br />Also, the Steed and Cathy series did not include or end with them drinking a lot of champagne; that burgeoned again when Emma came along. <br /><br />Last, the Cathy series did not yet really indulge in the fantastical sci fi type shows the Emma series created--such as cybernauts, radio power, lasers, and such. The episodes were still much more driven in reality, but were just starting to take flight that way. <br /><br />A few of the shows in that Series are profoundly dull--Second Sight is one episode I never feel the need to plod through again. But, episodes like "Man With Two Shadows" when Steed has to kill "himself" and is notably disturbed by it, was terrific. So we are still uneven in production and writing. But, I am also biased--the less Steed there is in a show, the less I am interested in it! ;-)<br /><br />Thanks for your continued analyses on my all-time favorite show of all, which is surviving quite well nearly 50 years later! <br /><br />MonaMonanoreply@blogger.com