Book - The Avengers Dossier(1998)

[Rhonda]

I'm half way through this book and it's worth reading. As the authors say, a book just full of dry facts, especially when it's about a programme as good as The Avengers would be a little boring; so it's good that the authors give their opinions on the show. The grammar is a little inaccurate (so is mine!). They also didn't check some of their recollections maybe; Cathy tells Steed "Cook it and see!" in the Man With two Shadows (not "Cook it and find out"). That said, there are a lot of interesting facts in it; here are just a few disconnected notes I made :

I learnt that in episode 2 "Brought To Book", there was a narrator (Philip Stone) to give a recap of 'Hot Snow'. There are only a few episodes with narrators (e.g. K is for Kill part 2 with Patrick Macnee and Who's Who? are two others), so that was one more to remember. I liked the mentioning of the live episodes (Square Root Of Evil, Nightmare, Crescent Moon, Girl On The Trapeze, Diamond Cut Diamond, The Radioactive Man and Ashes Of Roses). There were also two which went out on the same day as recording (School For Traitors, and The White Dwarf), which might be as live. So Girl On The Trapeze is a sort of special one in being an existing live one, but ironically doesn't have Steed in it of course. The Decapod in the top five for one of the Seasons!; that really made me smile as it's one of my favourites. I'm not so sure about the 'reality of wrestling' being a 60's concern though! Some of their other top fives are not what I expected though (Two's A Crowd). Good to be reminded that 'Don't Look Behind You' is Patrick Macnees favourite episode. I love it too. Another thing that the book says is how in Dressed To Kill the characters real names are mentioned although in the credits it's their party names. I never noticed that before (if it's right). I didn't agree with their criticism of Brian Clemens contribution to the B/W Emma Peel series however (p130); I think he is central. There is very little Champagne until later in the show really and it was a bit odd to give a Champagne listing for each episode when it usually turned out to be some other drink or nothing! I liked the bit about how the show was encouraging young people to stay in and follow it because it was the coolest thing on TV. It's also a good point about Mother actually being quite a serious (but also excentric) character; it's certainly something to think about, but I'm not sure that is quite how he comes across. I had lots of more thoughts that I didn't write down but basically this is a good book that has a real personal fan feel.

[Alan]

I have to be honest. It's an awful book which contains many factual errors. Absolutely bloody riddled with them.

If you want a truthful picture of the Series 1 episodes, I can of course recommend my own website!

http://declassified.theavengers.tv/keel_main.htm

[Rhonda]

I have to be honest. It's an awful book which contains many factual errors. Absolutely bloody riddled with them.

If you want a truthful picture of the Series 1 episodes, I can of course recommend my own website!

http://declassified.theavengers.tv/keel_main.htm

I'll not take everything in the book as fact then! Love your website and will be looking into all its new Series 1 info.

[Dandy Forsdyke]

Threads here and here.

Links provided only that you might find them interesting to read, Ron. Nothing else.

[Timeless A-Peel]

I have to be honest. It's an awful book which contains many factual errors. Absolutely bloody riddled with them.

If you want a truthful picture of the Series 1 episodes, I can of course recommend my own website!

http://declassified.theavengers.tv/keel_main.htm

I'm with you, Alan. I've posted elsewhere about the book, so I shan't reiterate, but I will second the recommendation to read about the Keels on Alan's site. Season one has never been so well-served. I'm working my way through the section, and I'm learning so much. I've never felt more in touch with the series' early days than I have reading it. The only downside is that it shows just how much great stuff we've lost.

[Frankymole]

Some of their other top fives are not what I expected though (Two's A Crowd).

I was quite annoyed that some of the important points made in the essays were based on fallacies. A major one was that Steed's "Gordon Webster" persona in "Two's A Crowd" demonstrated class snobbery since he pretended to be a Spitfire pilot but was "only a cashier". This misapprehension of the authors seems based on them not realising that being "cashiered out" of a service means to be sacked on disciplinary grounds, and thus was perfectly in keeping with the role and the class that Steed was imitating. And also there's nothing "only" about being a cashier

It usually applies to officers of high rank: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashiering

Loads of pages of my copy feature pencil corrections, back when I gave a cuss.

[Rhonda]

Threads here and here.

Links provided only that you might find them interesting to read, Ron. Nothing else.

Thanks, I forgot to check the 'Merchandise' section (where this thread belongs!).

I also like reading what the working titles (The Light Fantastic for From Venus With Love) were, and about stories might have been made based on submitted scripts (Woodhouse's 'Rip Van Winkle') etc. Also their story behind the writers name Bryan Sherriff on 'A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station'. Yes I find new things on nearly every page in the dossier book. I think they know a great deal about the show (even if they made a few slip ups). I wonder if corrections could be suggested?

[Dandy Forsdyke]

For factual errors read the book bloopers section on Avengers Forever.

[Alan]

I think they know a great deal about the show (even if they made a few slip ups). I wonder if corrections could be suggested?

I think they knew bugger all about the series, to be honest. There's nothing original in there that they couldn't have gleaned from David's site, and probably did.

[Rodders]

A bit harsh, I think. It contains lots of factual errors, sure, but it offers critical opinion making it rare in itself and many of its opinions on the show's qualities are intelligent. There is a lack of non-factual Avengers material out there and this is an exception.