The A & E era

[mousemeat]

when A & E made the deal to release the series..on VHS tape..it was a big event of sorts...as prior to that happening, the other VHS releases were those god awful pirate VHS releases..and later..A & E put the series out on DVD....one of the problems initially , DVD's were simply mastered from the VHS masters...instead of doing a complete re mastering for the discs...my question being..were the A & E releases available for sale in the UK, etc?
or did another company licensed the material from Studio Canal, etc

of course in the States, it was a big event..and lucky buyers of the VHS seasons, would send in some proof of purchase tabs, and received some Avengers posters, etc...I also seem to remember a series of trading cards, came out around that same time frame...

[Frankymole]

For the UK videotape releases, I only remember the Kult TV releases from Contender, there were some Lumiere ones before that, and then it went onto DVD with Contender again, before the Canal+ sets.
I'm not even sure if every episode came out on VHS in the UK, for the pre-Emma ones. And even the DVDs took ages to release anything before season 3, I had to get Cathy's first season from France in the "telephone box" set.

[mousemeat]

For the UK videotape releases, I only remember the Kult TV releases from Contender, there were some Lumiere ones before that, and then it went onto DVD with Contender again, before the Canal+ sets.
I'm not even sure if every episode came out on VHS in the UK, for the pre-Emma ones. And even the DVDs took ages to release anything before season 3, I had to get Cathy's first season from France in the "telephone box" set.

that makes sense...in terms of what was issued overseas, etc..in the states, Emma material was first issued..every episode VHS...with the popularity of the Emma area, A & E started putting out the Mrs. Gale episodes..which by the way, was the first time, many of us, got to see the Honor Blackman episodes..and she was a acquired taste, so to speak....as she was much 'different' than Emma Peel...as I mentioned earlier, the DVD's here in the States, were simply VHS transfers...and the Tara King episodes, were not mastered well at all...the source material was in poor conditional, or at least the ones they used..since those infamous episodes (Tara) came out, her 33 episode run has been remastered, looking much better..and in blue ray...

sadly, U.S. Blue-Ray of the show, are virtually impossible to find...but the UK etc, are out in the global market place..

[Frankymole]

There were some annoying cuts on the UK VHS tapes, but fairly minor (topping and tailing scenes), not like the broadcast reruns on UK television in the 70s and 80s which had entire scenes missing sometimes (cut to fit in more adverts, or a shorter transmission slot than the 1960s first showings). The picture quality was often not great, fairly unrestored prints, and I don't know about The Avengers but other shows like The Prisoner often used 16mm prints, instead of the 35mm original format, presumably they thought that with the lower resolution of VHS we would not notice!

[CCrawford]

I remember in 1990 when A&E ran the series--including my first look at the Cathy Gale episodes--and I taped every episode on VHS. I hadn't seen any episodes since the 1980's when CBS ran the colour episodes late at night, so I was thrilled to have the series available to watch anytime, the hell with the lousy quality.

I remember being frustrated when they started with the colour Emma Peel episodes and the Cathy Gale episodes ran last.

Sadly, I just last week finally got rid of my A&E DVD sets, because they were taking up shelf space and I now have both the StudioCanal and Imprint blu-ray sets and can't imagine a scenario where I would ever go back to the DVD sets.

[Allard]

Despite all its flaws, the A&E VHS/DVD set designs are still amongst my favourites and I think their design will keep aging well.

[AgentCooper]

I remember in 1990 when A&E ran the series--including my first look at the Cathy Gale episodes--and I taped every episode on VHS. I hadn't seen any episodes since the 1980's when CBS ran the colour episodes late at night, so I was thrilled to have the series available to watch anytime, the hell with the lousy quality.

I remember being frustrated when they started with the colour Emma Peel episodes and the Cathy Gale episodes ran last.

Sadly, I just last week finally got rid of my A&E DVD sets, because they were taking up shelf space and I now have both the StudioCanal and Imprint blu-ray sets and can't imagine a scenario where I would ever go back to the DVD sets.

Same - the A&E repeats in the early '90s were how I first watched the show as a kid, and was also how I was able to see The Prisoner for the first time, too, when that aired a year or two later. Getting to watch The Avengers every single day was such a treat, and I'd even wake up early on the weekends when it would air early on a Saturday and/or Sunday to watch it then too.

[mousemeat]

I remember in 1990 when A&E ran the series--including my first look at the Cathy Gale episodes--and I taped every episode on VHS. I hadn't seen any episodes since the 1980's when CBS ran the colour episodes late at night, so I was thrilled to have the series available to watch anytime, the hell with the lousy quality.

I remember being frustrated when they started with the colour Emma Peel episodes and the Cathy Gale episodes ran last.

Sadly, I just last week finally got rid of my A&E DVD sets, because they were taking up shelf space and I now have both the StudioCanal and Imprint blu-ray sets and can't imagine a scenario where I would ever go back to the DVD sets.

Same - the A&E repeats in the early '90s were how I first watched the show as a kid, and was also how I was able to see The Prisoner for the first time, too, when that aired a year or two later. Getting to watch The Avengers every single day was such a treat, and I'd even wake up early on the weekends when it would air early on a Saturday and/or Sunday to watch it then too.

well...there's no doubting, that the initial A & E VHS releases, help introduce the series, to a new generation of fans, and help older viewers like myself to re visit...Of course, I remember watching the show on U.S. ABC, and dug it as a kid....if anything, those VHS tapes allowed me to see other episodes, and discover the Honor Blackman era
and I was happy that they went to DVD.......trouble being, it was a straight transfer from the VHS tapes..as they should have remastered for DVD.....sadly, there's no real American blu ray issue....unless one finds a ALL REGION issue, or springs for a Player that plays other regions....I still have some of my VHS tapes...and can play's on one of my VHS machines that I keep around...but the main reason I still have 'em, is the tape boxes...sorta cool art on my shelf...lol