The WORST Episode

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:41 pm

We all have our favorites....Now think about the WORST one..

from each era, and the all time clunker..

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:55 am

For me, the worst of the Gale era (and of the whole show in general) is "The Grandeur That Was Rome". A guaranteed cure for insomnia, and idiotic to boot.

My least favourite Rigg episode (monochrome era) is probably "Room Without A View" but to be honest, they're all near-perfect and this one has some great performances and ideas. It's just a little flatter on rewatching when one knows the "twist" of where the Chinese prison is...

"Murdersville" is my current candidate for worst Emma Peel (colour era) - as well as the nasty overtones of sadism, bullying, and casual anjoyment of murder, Emma behaves like an idiot in this (running OUT of a wood into grassland to avoid a helicopter??). Plus the pacing is way off and the direction lackadaisical.

Tara - "Homicide and Old Lace", I suppose, or if it is discounted (due to being a clip show born of deperation) then "Invasion of the Earthmen" really clunks, and is more "Scooby Doo" than "The Avengers".

New Avengers - "Forward Base"; another idiotic script, and totally lacking in pace or excitement for me, I'm afraid. The show had totally run out of steam, and even the attempted humour falls flat. This may be due to being made by a Canadian crew that neither knew nor cared about The Avengers...

Strange Young Man · Post by **Strange Young Man** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:19 am

Homicide and Old Lace for me. If TNA is included it might be Gnaws or Trap.

As an aside I think Murdersville and Forward Base are in the top half of their respective seasons.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:47 am

I actually really like Forward Base. I think it's great fun.

The absolute worst Emma has to be A Touch of Brimstone. It's the only Avengers episode I truly "hate." When it's not jumping up and down trying too hard to be "kinky Avengers" it's mind-numbingly dull. It bought a lot of publicity, but it doesn't deserve any of the accolades it's earned. If it didn't share disc space with What the Butler Saw I'd happily throw the DVD away.

Worst colour Emma is The 50,000 Breakfast. Also pretty dull. The whole financial plot is convoluted, and the mastermind's motive makes me roll my eyes. But at least it's not Brimstone.

Worst TNA is definitely The Gladiators, which has some pretty dull bits itself. I also cringe at the horrible folky Canadian stereotypes. Unintentional hilarity provided by the break-in attempt at Canadian intelligence. "We will set them back 30 years!" Sadly I think we managed that all on our own. (But I can honestly see us having an open day).

I honestly liked the Taras as a whole, but Invasion of the Earthmen is pretty bad. Bad wig for Tara, bad fake spiders, bad set design. Although Steed running the survival course is pretty entertaining.

Ironically, The Grandeur that was Rome was my first ever Gale, and I nearly gave up on the era right then and there. I've only watched most of the Gales once, and there are quite a few gems, but there are also chunks of the era that I find pretty boring as well. Brief for Murder is exceptionally talky, even for one of the "live" episodes, and I seem to remember Immortal Clay being pretty darn dry as well. I'd have to rewatch the seasons to get anymore specific than that.

Artanis · Post by **Artanis** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:24 am

I already mentioned in another thread that I think the worst episode is "Gnaws." It was a dull plot and even the ending was bad.

However, I haven't seen "The Gladiators" yet.

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:58 am

Haven't we already had this thread?

Post by **Allard** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:46 am

Well Immortal Clay has something pathetic about it. And the Secrets Broker was a bit of a dud. The Peel monochrome I least enjoyed was Death at Bargain Prices. Murdersville is an uninteresting Peel colour. For the Tara King era The Invasion of Earthmen is a disaster, but not nearly as despicable as Look, Stop Me... which must be the absolute low for the whole Avengers series. Even John Garforth's stories are better.

moorlock2003 · Post by **moorlock2003** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:31 pm

Nitpicking is not my idea of a good time, but I will comment on some of the so-called "worst" mentioned here. "Brief for Murder" is excellent. Just to see Cathy Gale in that short black wig makes this one watchable. I don't think there is a bad one among the early episodes, although I have to admit I wasn't too enthralled with "Girl On A Trapeze", but then that one didn't even have Macnee in it. Even the ones with Jon Rollason (who mumbled his lines even more than Ian Hendry did) are really good. Of the Emma episodes "Murdersville" is a bit sadistic, yes, but I love the scene where Emma is forced to call Steed on the phone and pretends they have children. Plus it has the touching scene where Emma discovers her friend Paul has been killed. If I had to pick a "least favorite" Emma episode, it would be "Mission: Highly Improbable". If that was the direction the show was going in with Rigg, it's just as well that she left. Least favorite Tara episode is the one everyone dislikes, "Homicide and Old Lace", but even that is useful, since it contains scenes from the John Bryce-produced unaired episode "The Great Great Britain Crime". The New Avengers I can't comment on, as I am not familiar enough with them. I love Joanna Lumley as Purdey but can't quite deal with The Avengers transplanted into the '70s.

cyberrich · Post by **cyberrich** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:49 pm

Interesting choices for worst episodes. Surely Homicide and old lace is the worst ever. I can't believe people would single out Brimstone or Murdersville as the worst though, as these are classics! My worst;
Cathy- Six hands across a table (quite dull)
Emma b/w-Girl from Auntie (silly, but not bad for the worst, as there were no bad ones in season 4)
Emma colour-£50,000 breakfast (the only dull Emma)
Tara-Homicide(Have guns will haggle was also pretty bad)
TNA-The Gladiators.
Thankfully there were at least 20 classics for every so-so episode. That's why The Avengers is the best TV show ever!

waldotyson · Post by **waldotyson** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:59 pm

WORST colour Emmas: The Joker and Who's who. The joker is a joke of an episode because it's so darn boring. There's no action in it for me. Who's who is a real stinker because Steed and Emma are no longer Steed and Emma and it's just a stupid concept- it's like watching a circus or something.

WORST b&w Emma: Touch of Brimstone. This episode completely tanks because of the absurdity of the hellfire club and the fact that they dress my beloved Emma up like a whore. Absolute filth!