2.07 - Mr Teddy Bear

[Frankymole]

It would certainly give them a new audience, and I'd take a look. No-one would do it as a labour of love though, it would take forever!

yes, but with today's software, etc, it wouldn't be as time consuming, as in the past..biggest stumbling block is probably cost..



but it could translate into renewed interest...especially with new fans..

myself, I would also take a look...

Yes, I agree, and with advances in AI soon it will be child's play to colorize an episode, perhaps in minutes. It's not quite there yet - there were some almost real-time colorization apps used on some monochrome shows I've seen but they gave very haphazard and murky results, mostly shades of brown. But it will come. They're already good at detecting faces and doing flesh tones. I'd be intrigued to see the results, anyway. That Cathy Gale clip was certainly "easy on the eye" (and I don't just mean Honor's beauty).

[mousemeat]

It would certainly give them a new audience, and I'd take a look. No-one would do it as a labour of love though, it would take forever!

yes, but with today's software, etc, it wouldn't be as time consuming, as in the past..biggest stumbling block is probably cost..



but it could translate into renewed interest...especially with new fans..

myself, I would also take a look...

Yes, I agree, and with advances in AI soon it will be child's play to colorize an episode, perhaps in minutes. It's not quite there yet - there were some almost real-time colorization apps used on some monochrome shows I've seen but they gave very haphazard and murky results, mostly shades of brown. But it will come. They're already good at detecting faces and doing flesh tones. I'd be intrigued to see the results, anyway. That Cathy Gale clip was certainly "easy on the eye" (and I don't just mean Honor's beauty).

true....early versions of colorization were at best, hapless attempts of cultural revisionism ...Remember when Ted Turner, who owned Turner classic movies and TNT, etc at the time, had done a few b/w films...they looked ghastly...and the out cry from film buffs and viewers, was loud and clear...NO , NO, and No..

since then, there have been later attempts..and it is getting better...I recently was a Ray Harryhausen sci-fi film from what ? 1957, originally released in Black and white...that film was Earth VS the Flying Saucers...and I saw it many times as a kid......I saw a colorized version on blu ray...and it actually looks darn good...yet, I still prefer the b/w version..go figure..

I understand there is a colorized version of The THING from another world, RKO -1951....and I've been told, it looks great.....I sure hope so. there is nothing worst than screwing up a film...and again, camera angles, lighting, tones, etc..totally different in b/w. than in color...hopefully, the computer program, takes that into consideration.

[Frankymole]

Yes I remember some of those early attempts. I think I saw a version of A Christmas Carol that wasn't great. And the Laurel and Hardy ones were terrible.

The Thing From Another World has a wonderful spooky almost "film noir" atmosphere, like some episodes of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone, and I really wouldn't enjoy seeing them in colour. Things with a more whimsical flavour work better in colour. I expect the Cathy Gales would be good, though for some reason I want the monochrome Emma Peel ones to stay monochrome., despite being more "far out" Is that just sentimentality? I'm not sure. There is great use of shade and shadow which I don't think would work as well in colour. When The Avengers went into colour they changed the way it was shot, with a much softer use of contrast.

[dissolute]

You can tell it's automated with spot colour applied by things like the green corners and halo in the opening titles.

[mousemeat]

Yes I remember some of those early attempts. I think I saw a version of A Christmas Carol that wasn't great. And the Laurel and Hardy ones were terrible.

The Thing From Another World has a wonderful spooky almost "film noir" atmosphere, like some episodes of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone, and I really wouldn't enjoy seeing them in colour. Things with a more whimsical flavour work better in colour. I expect the Cathy Gales would be good, though for some reason I want the monochrome Emma Peel ones to stay monochrome., despite being more "far out" Is that just sentimentality? I'm not sure. There is great use of shade and shadow which I don't think would work as well in colour. When The Avengers went into colour they changed the way it was shot, with a much softer use of contrast.

I couldn't have stated it, any better...Certain films, simply need to stay in b/w or monochrome. period.

[Ian Wegg]

Up until now my interest in The Avengers has been from the Peel era onwards because these are the episodes I first saw. My parents had told me about the Cathy Gale episodes but I had been too young to watch the programme when it first came on so, to me, they belonged to a different generation. I have subsequently only seen a few of the videotaped series but now they are all on Britbox I've decided to go through them in order. It will make a change to watch new Avengers episodes without the element of nostalgia.

I'm going in broadcast order so this is the first. A few random thoughts:

I viewed this immediately after watching the film "The Assassination Beaureu" and the parallel with the basic premise is obvious. As this episode was made well before the movie, and even a year before the book was published, that must be a coincidence. A good solid story anyway.

I was impressed by the sets. A great deal of work must have gone into building so many.

I noticed Steed mentioned his car was a Rolls. I'll look forward to seeing this in future episodes. I enjoyed the brief clips of the MGA and what I thought was a BSA motorcycle.

Very much enjoyed it. I will wait until I've seen a few more before I start giving my ratings.

[Frankymole]

Yes, I think Steed is also mentioned as having a Rolls Royce in the first series. Though, for logistical and budget reasons, we hear about it more often than we see it. As Piers' site says (for the episode Tunnel of Fear) "Steed drives a 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I Standard Saloon, chassis number SYB104, in Shell Grey over Tudor Grey, number plate WYD 550. This car also appeared in “A Stitch in Time” and “The Cracksman”. It’s quite likely it was used in other episodes of series 1 as Steed is often referred to in the scripts as driving a Rolls-Royce."

In the Tara era he often drove a vintage Rolls but this one is fairly modern, for 1961; of course all Rollses are small-c classics really Patrick Macnee felt a Rolls was too ostentatious for Steed and a Bentley was much more fitting to his character (even though Patrick hated trying to drive them).

[Frankymole]

The boys have a good response to this episode!:

[Frankymole]

Hooray, Medusa Cascade has started uploading her season 2 reactions (you will have to go to YouTube to watch it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkEQ-WC-FA