Which Avengers characters deserved a spin off series

anti-clockwise · Post by **anti-clockwise** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:44 pm

Oh I haven't seen Julie Stevens commentary either. Will have to take a look. Odd to have a name Venus.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:48 pm

anti-clockwise wrote:Oh I haven't seen Julie Stevens commentary either. Will have to take a look. Odd to have a name Venus.

Maybe her mother was into astrology?

anti-clockwise · Post by **anti-clockwise** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 1:00 pm

Timeless A-Peel wrote:
anti-clockwise wrote:Oh I haven't seen Julie Stevens commentary either. Will have to take a look. Odd to have a name Venus.
Maybe her mother was into astrology?

Could be. Plus a male writer or two.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 1:02 pm

anti-clockwise wrote:
Timeless A-Peel wrote:
anti-clockwise wrote:Oh I haven't seen Julie Stevens commentary either. Will have to take a look. Odd to have a name Venus.
Maybe her mother was into astrology?
Could be. Plus a male writer or two.

They had Venus Brown later on in season five as well.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 1:47 pm

It also gets very contrived, trying to find a situation that would require Steed to use a night club singer as his aide. "The Decapod" has him virtually pimping her out as a call girl to a foreign diplomat, and "Chorus of Frogs" has her on a cruising yacht. Stuff like "Box of Tricks" at least has her in an entertainment venue, however tedious the resulting situation.

I was quite glad when they ditched the old scripts / situations (which sadly meant the enjoyably acerbic Dr Keel substitute, Martin King, had to go as well) and just concentrated on Cathy who was more than capable of giving Steed lip for being so cavalier about his partners' safety. Sadly Venus didn't even talk a good fight!

Julie Stevens is marvellous, though. Lovely person and does some great acting. It's just the character and her effect on the plots that I don't like

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:29 pm

Frankymole wrote:It also gets very contrived, trying to find a situation that would require Steed to use a night club singer as his aide. "The Decapod" has him virtually pimping her out as a call girl to a foreign diplomat, and "Chorus of Frogs" has her on a cruising yacht. Stuff like "Box of Tricks" at least has her in an entertainment venue, however tedious the resulting situation.

I was quite glad when they ditched the old scripts / situations (which sadly meant the enjoyably acerbic Dr Keel substitute, Martin King, had to go as well) and just concentrated on Cathy who was more than capable of giving Steed lip for being so cavalier about his partners' safety. Sadly Venus didn't even talk a good fight!

Julie Stevens is marvellous, though. Lovely person and does some great acting. It's just the character and her effect on the plots that I don't like

Yeah, it does get a bit hard to accept that Steed has that many assignments all conveniently set in seedy nightclubs (maybe he asked for them special?

).

I think part of the reason I like having the Venus and Dr. King episodes in the mix for season 2 is that it breaks up the tension of the Steed/Cathy dynamic into manageable chunks. When we get to season 3, I miss the Venus/Dr. King "relief valve" to break up all the squabbling.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:45 pm

That's very true.

Though I (like Steed, it seems) find squabbling an aphrodisiac. Who was it (long-time married actor) who said recently that the reason his marriage had lasted so long was that he and his wife agreed on absolutely nothing?

Anyway, it's a shame that many new viewers see them in production order rather than broadcast order. Even I, rabid Jon Rollason/Martin King fan that I am, don't want to blow all the fun in one go...

anti-clockwise · Post by **anti-clockwise** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:04 pm

How do we know the broadcast order? Just curious but how many episodes was Venus in? For some reason I recall 3 but i'm not sure and too lazy to go to my boxset.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:42 pm

Frankymole wrote:It also gets very contrived, trying to find a situation that would require Steed to use a night club singer as his aide. "The Decapod" has him virtually pimping her out as a call girl to a foreign diplomat, and "Chorus of Frogs" has her on a cruising yacht. Stuff like "Box of Tricks" at least has her in an entertainment venue, however tedious the resulting situation.

I was quite glad when they ditched the old scripts / situations (which sadly meant the enjoyably acerbic Dr Keel substitute, Martin King, had to go as well) and just concentrated on Cathy who was more than capable of giving Steed lip for being so cavalier about his partners' safety. Sadly Venus didn't even talk a good fight!

Julie Stevens is marvellous, though. Lovely person and does some great acting. It's just the character and her effect on the plots that I don't like

the problem was the way the character was set up..and perceived...the scripts, at times were lacking in certain respects...but the program evolved...

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:06 pm

Frankymole wrote:That's very true.

Though I (like Steed, it seems) find squabbling an aphrodisiac. Who was it (long-time married actor) who said recently that the reason his marriage had lasted so long was that he and his wife agreed on absolutely nothing?

Anyway, it's a shame that many new viewers see them in production order rather than broadcast order. Even I, rabid Jon Rollason/Martin King fan that I am, don't want to blow all the fun in one go...

Some squabbling can be (see Remington Steele), but with Steed and Cathy I often get the uncomfortable feeling that Steed's this close to losing it completely and backhanding her. The great thing about Cathy is that she'd whack him right back (and often does), but I find it makes for unpleasant viewing. Either that or it just gets on my nerves and I start to wonder why Cathy doesn't just walk out already. Which she does. I'm just amazed it took that long.

I do wish all the Dr. King's weren't front-loaded as well. It makes it feel more like a mini-season at the start of the season, separate from the rest. Actually, to bring this back on-topic, I would've liked a Dr. King mini-series, maybe showing where he was pre-Steed and how he got mixed up in it all. Did he know Dr. Keel? Did Keel give Steed King's name? Is he actually Tara's second cousin? Inquiring minds want to know.

anti-clockwise wrote:How do we know the broadcast order? Just curious but how many episodes was Venus in? For some reason I recall 3 but i'm not sure and too lazy to go to my boxset.

Venus had six episodes; Dr. King had three. Broadcast orders can be found via TV listings and studio documentation and the like from the time, though the actual order they were shown in often varied by region and country.