Keel v. Gambit Poll

[Frankymole]

Maybe my opinion of Dr. Keel would go up even more if they gave him a better wardrobe.

Like the one Ian Hendry remembered being locked inside, in the TV Times Special?

[Frankymole]

I understand why he was difficult to accept as a character--he threw off the "Steed and a girl" formula. What I don't get is why he seems to have gone down fairly well in 1976/77, and by the eighties everyone seemed to have a hate-on for both the character and TNA. It seems like a pretty rapid about-face. Or were all the publications just biased?

Some reasons:

Virtually no-one remembered Dr Keel (and Martin King even less), or that "The Avengers" were originally solely men.

In the early 80s, there was nostalgia for the 60s, but it was hard to get to see the 1960s series - impossible until Channel 4, really. So people who hungered for a dose of Steed and Emma resented that the series had once been brought back but in a different, new form not "more of the same".

Things calmed down in the video age when you could watch whichever pairing/trio/Avengers-show-format took your fancy without being disgruntled that you were watching a "monkeyed about with" retread. Which TNA never was - it was its own show, just as much as the King and Cathy eras are.

It's hard to remember a time when past TV remained in the archive, never to be accessed; it made one resent more modern stuff.

[Dandy Forsdyke]

"I'm a bit lost - can you point the way back to Avengerland?"

[Timeless A-Peel]

I understand why he was difficult to accept as a character--he threw off the "Steed and a girl" formula. What I don't get is why he seems to have gone down fairly well in 1976/77, and by the eighties everyone seemed to have a hate-on for both the character and TNA. It seems like a pretty rapid about-face. Or were all the publications just biased?

Some reasons:

Virtually no-one remembered Dr Keel (and Martin King even less), or that "The Avengers" were originally solely men.

In the early 80s, there was nostalgia for the 60s, but it was hard to get to see the 1960s series - impossible until Channel 4, really. So people who hungered for a dose of Steed and Emma resented that the series had once been brought back but in a different, new form not "more of the same".

Things calmed down in the video age when you could watch whichever pairing/trio/Avengers-show-format took your fancy without being disgruntled that you were watching a "monkeyed about with" retread. Which TNA never was - it was its own show, just as much as the King and Cathy eras are.

It's hard to remember a time when past TV remained in the archive, never to be accessed; it made one resent more modern stuff.

That's a pretty good explanation, lots of good points there. Of course there were videos in the mid-nineties, and TNA was still taking a lot of abuse by 1998/99 when I was getting into it. But I can see where the resentment toward a remake would come from. I'm just happy it's gotten a reevaluation.

I'm not touching the wardrobe joke. I can think of too many wrong ways to interpret that.

[Frankymole]

Yes, I was really heartened that the recent reruns of TNA on BBC Four have had such a great response, on the other shows' forums that I frequent (Dr Who etc) people loved the TNA episodes and they were seeing them for the first time.

It's especially good since they followed hot on the heels of Season 5 repeats, so the standard was seen as just as good as Emma Peel's most 'popular' episodes (the color ones), though I wish they'd give the B&W ones another run - they've been seen less often though they did show them about 2005/06.

What I'd love most (apart from a run of the Tara King season, to which the BBC seem allergic) is TNA with an Optyimum-style remastering to pristine film print standards... though I already prefer to watch TNA than S5 when I want some Avengering.

[Timeless A-Peel]

Yes, I was really heartened that the recent reruns of TNA on BBC Four have had such a great response, on the other shows' forums that I frequent (Dr Who etc) people loved the TNA episodes and they were seeing them for the first time.

It's especially good since they followed hot on the heels of Season 5 repeats, so the standard was seen as just as good as Emma Peel's most 'popular' episodes (the color ones), though I wish they'd give the B&W ones another run - they've been seen less often though they did show them about 2005/06.

What I'd love most (apart from a run of the Tara King season, to which the BBC seem allergic) is TNA with an Optyimum-style remastering to pristine film print standards... though I already prefer to watch TNA than S5 when I want some Avengering.

I know--I was really happy to hear all the nice things people has to say during the BBC4 run, but if they followed Emma and did that well, that makes me even happier. I'd love a remastering, too. Optimum did release the last TNA set, but I don't know how much work they did on them. TNA's been my go-to season for awhile now, too, though I haven't watched much Avengers in general the last few years, just to give it a break. I'm using the new sets as a reason to watch it from the beginning. I haven't seen season 5 in years simply because it was the only season I had for quite awhile when I started out, and I watched those episodes umpteen times. When we get to that set I'll finally see them in production order. But I suspect I'll probably dip into TNA before then. I just keep going back to it. It must be Gambit.

[The Gaslight Ghoul]

I liked Dr Keel from what we have left of him and I've always liked Ian Hendry but Gambit's the boy for me.

[Charlie Parker]

Much as I like Gambit, I'm going to have to go with the good Doctor on this one.

[Mike Gambit]

Not sure I could vote for myself, but I did anyway. Will I be seriously reprimanded?? Banned?? Fired from The Department even?? lol

[Dandy Forsdyke]

Let's face it, we know you're the real Mike Gambit. Gambit would vote for himself too!