The Avengers girls and Guns

[hal anderson]

Which avengers girl used a gun on villians the most,ny guess would be cathy as she does seem to use one a fair bit in the second series

[Timeless A-Peel]

That's a very good question. We spend so much time commenting on all the times Steed uses a gun (because of Patrick's insistance that he never did), that we sort of forget to pay attention to what the women were doing on the armoury front.

Cathy used a gun a fair bit in the second season, as you say. This was down to a creative decision for the character--a gun was supposed to be her way of defending herself originally. But they found it took too long and was too cumbersome to have her forever rummaging for her gun in her purse, and it was boring watching shoot people--not a whole lot in the way of variety. They tried the garter gun to make for quicker access and to spice things up a little, but the holster made Honor bow-legged, so they nixed that too and went for the judo instead. That kind of cut down on the gun reliance, though doesn't Cathy often pull a gun after she's defeated the baddie, just to hold him at bay until he could be put away?

I'm trying to think on the others now. I think Purdey may have been armed the least frequently. Other than Target and Last of the Cybernauts, she doesn't really seem to spend a lot of time shooting. Maybe because Gambit was always armed, and they didn't really think they needed both both of them running around armed. And then Purdey's fighting style was one of the series' trademarks, so they'd want to exploit that as much as possible.

I'm trying to recall how often Emma and Tara were armed. Not overly often, I don't think, though I may be wrong. I think as the series moved to film, and they were able to choreograph more elaborate fight scenes and use doubles, etc., that the reliance on the guns went down. After all, watching a fight is a lot more interesting than watching two people exchange gunfire from behind the furniture, which happened a fair bit in the Gale era. Honor did a great job with the fight scenes, but there were limits to what they could stage in the videotape era. They could have Steed do more little tricks with his brolly, too, whereas Gale-era Steed brandished guns several times. So it may be that Cathy was armed most often out of necessity.

[Dandy Forsdyke]

I've never really noticed myself. Thinking about it now, I think there were far more scenes of Emma and Tara pointing a gun at someone than actually using it. It's quite sexy to see a girl holding a gun, less sexy actually firing one, so there might be more scenes like that.

All that springs to mind about Gambit and Purdey using firearms was the annoying typically '70s cop show' way they held them with both hands. All we needed them to do was shout "Freeze!"

[Allard]

... It's quite sexy to see a girl holding a gun, ....

I quite agree and so does he:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQHLvgCWvcE.

[mousemeat]

That's a very good question. We spend so much time commenting on all the times Steed uses a gun (because of Patrick's insistance that he never did), that we sort of forget to pay attention to what the women were doing on the armoury front.

Cathy used a gun a fair bit in the second season, as you say. This was down to a creative decision for the character--a gun was supposed to be her way of defending herself originally. But they found it took too long and was too cumbersome to have her forever rummaging for her gun in her purse, and it was boring watching shoot people--not a whole lot in the way of variety. They tried the garter gun to make for quicker access and to spice things up a little, but the holster made Honor bow-legged, so they nixed that too and went for the judo instead. That kind of cut down on the gun reliance, though doesn't Cathy often pull a gun after she's defeated the baddie, just to hold him at bay until he could be put away?

I'm trying to think on the others now. I think Purdey may have been armed the least frequently. Other than Target and Last of the Cybernauts, she doesn't really seem to spend a lot of time shooting. Maybe because Gambit was always armed, and they didn't really think they needed both both of them running around armed. And then Purdey's fighting style was one of the series' trademarks, so they'd want to exploit that as much as possible.

I'm trying to recall how often Emma and Tara were armed. Not overly often, I don't think, though I may be wrong. I think as the series moved to film, and they were able to choreograph more elaborate fight scenes and use doubles, etc., that the reliance on the guns went down. After all, watching a fight is a lot more interesting than watching two people exchange gunfire from behind the furniture, which happened a fair bit in the Gale era. Honor did a great job with the fight scenes, but there were limits to what they could stage in the videotape era. They could have Steed do more little tricks with his brolly, too, whereas Gale-era Steed brandished guns several times. So it may be that Cathy was armed most often out of necessity.

good points about the use of guns...The show was set up, where sometimes, a hand gun wasn't needed or used...

[BitShifter]

Emma shot Father Christmas, but with a gun she pulled from Steed's boot, if I recall correctly. For some reason, I find the scene of her pulling his gun oddly intimate.

[Timeless A-Peel]

Emma shot Father Christmas, but with a gun she pulled from Steed's boot, if I recall correctly. For some reason, I find the scene of her pulling his gun oddly intimate.

The fact that she even knows where to look for it is a testament to how well they knew each other by that point. Why she even assumes Steed has one is always a bit puzzling to me--it's not as though he made a habit of it by that point. Maybe some of that psychic energy was rubbing off on her?

[Charlie Parker]

Didn't Tara use a machine gun in Homicide and Old Lace?

[kim]

Didn't Tara use a machine gun in Homicide and Old Lace?

Yep. She also used a gun in another episode, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

[Allard]

Just watched NOON DOOMSDAY last night, that's an episodes with a lot of shooting. It is somewhat justified by the pseudo western theme.