The New Avengers - ITV4

mrs_emma_peel · Post by **mrs_emma_peel** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:38 pm

The New Avengers
The Eagle's Nest
Series 1 ... Episode 1
ITV4 ... Tuesday 12th February 2013 ... 11.35-12.40pm

Investigating the murder of agent Stannard, the team uncover a plot by Nazis to form a new Third Reich, complete with a resurrected Adolf Hitler.

Patrick Macnee, Joanna Lumley, Gareth Hunt, Peter Cushing, Derek Farr, Frank Gatliff, Sydney Bromley
Director: Desmond Davis

The New Avengers Series 1 begins a run starting today/tomorrow on ITV4.
Emma

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:57 pm

Thanks, Emma. I was deliberating making a new thread for The New Avengers on ITV4. You've done it so I don't have to.

I probably won't tune in, but if just one person takes an interest and starts buying the episodes it will be all worthwhile - edits and all.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:55 am

Here's what I wrote on the Eagle's Nest review thread, but it belongs here really:

It's recorded, and I'm just editing-out the adverts prior to putting it on DVD to compare on my computer. However, I've just had a shock. It looks a lot clearer, more stable, and colour-balanced - with better contrast too - than the Contender DVDs. Could it have been, whisper it, remastered?

It's still early days, and we haven't had episode 2 yet, but if they all look like this and are unedited then I'll be chucking my DVD sets away.

I don't know what the Optimum TNA release looked like, but from what I heard it wasn't a huge leap beyond anything we'd had before. It'd be nice if the ones sold to ITV4 for broadcast were spruced-up versions.

I might do some screengrab comparisons for here, especially if they show an episode that's known to be particularly poor quality on DVD.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:41 am

Here's an initial screengrab from the first episode, it's the title sequence.

Top is the Contender DVD, bottom is the ITV4 version (hence the faint DOG ident in the corner).

The contrast on the ITV4 one is higher leading to a slightly bleached-out look on light areas (shirt collar), and there is less grain indicating some kind of noise reduction.

However, colours are brighter, and there is less "dirt and sparkle" imperfection on the film (Steed's bowler, and next to Steed's brolly).

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:09 am

Here are couple from later in the episode:

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... allet1.jpg

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... rally1.jpg

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:45 am

Here are links to a few more live grabs from my simultaneous watch, subject matter mostly chosen for Timeless.

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/1.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/2.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/3.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/4.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/5.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/6.jpg

It does look like Canal (or ITV4, but less likely them) have boosted the colour and the contrast. The titles may have been cleaned up - Eagle's Nest is a fairly good-looking episode anyway, so it will require future watching to see if the others have been restored. I do recall one that wobbled all over the place like a film gate was faulty in the transfer - maybe it was this, even. This one wobbled a bit around the 44/45-minute mark, more so on the Contender DVD. The fact both do, but the ITV4 one a bit less, implies it may be on one of the early masters (perhaps even the first edited master) but that Canal have tried to reduce it.

It's possible there is slightly too much noise-reduction, to get rid of grain but it also loses skin texture (any artefacts are from my computer's photofiltre screengrab and conversion to jpeg; they look okay on a TV set). However the daytime scenes - the blue skies on the island in the boat scenes, Purdey's sparkly dress in the night-time scene at Steed's window - these do look like a layer of murk has been removed. Pending a proper Canal+ restoration, I could live with these. I don't know how they compare with the BBC Four reruns a few years back.

I'm watching/comparing now and Gambit's fight and the young monk's suicide are unedited, which bodes well at least for the first run.

I had forgotten how many good moments there were in this, especially for Gambit. Brown-Fitch: "Big F." Mike: "It suits you!" And so many classic Avengers veterans - Frank Gatliff, Cushing, Farr, the sweet old bat who was Mother's bloodthirsty auntie in "Homicide and Old Lace"...

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:27 am

Good news. I've finished watching, and it's unedited. One down, 12 to go.

Bad news - it's had a truckload of Noise Reduction. You can really see it in the detail of the castle brickwork and the woods (and Macnee's face!), during the Colonel Bogey tag scene (last pic). Here's some more Gambit'n'Purdey goodness:

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/7.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/8.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/9.jpg

However, I think the murkier Contender prints would've made this look utterly sh!te for ITV4, so the brighter but less detailed current transmission versions may be a good thing for the series' popularity.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:38 am

Frankymole wrote:http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/5.jpg

Is that the Post Office Tower in the distance? Or are you just pleased to see me?

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:00 pm

Frankymole wrote:Here are links to a few more live grabs from my simultaneous watch, subject matter mostly chosen for Timeless.

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/1.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/2.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/3.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/4.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/5.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/6.jpg

It does look like Canal (or ITV4, but less likely them) have boosted the colour and the contrast. The titles may have been cleaned up - Eagle's Nest is a fairly good-looking episode anyway, so it will require future watching to see if the others have been restored. I do recall one that wobbled all over the place like a film gate was faulty in the transfer - maybe it was this, even. This one wobbled a bit around the 44/45-minute mark, more so on the Contender DVD. The fact both do, but the ITV4 one a bit less, implies it may be on one of the early masters (perhaps even the first edited master) but that Canal have tried to reduce it.

It's possible there is slightly too much noise-reduction, to get rid of grain but it also loses skin texture (any artefacts are from my computer's photofiltre screengrab and conversion to jpeg; they look okay on a TV set). However the daytime scenes - the blue skies on the island in the boat scenes, Purdey's sparkly dress in the night-time scene at Steed's window - these do look like a layer of murk has been removed. Pending a proper Canal+ restoration, I could live with these. I don't know how they compare with the BBC Four reruns a few years back.

I'm watching/comparing now and Gambit's fight and the young monk's suicide are unedited, which bodes well at least for the first run.

I had forgotten how many good moments there were in this, especially for Gambit. Brown-Fitch: "Big F." Mike: "It suits you!" And so many classic Avengers veterans - Frank Gatliff, Cushing, Farr, the sweet old bat who was Mother's bloodthirsty auntie in "Homicide and Old Lace"...

Thanks for doing all those comparisons, Franky!

(And also for the choice of subject matter--however did you guess?

)

I confess I don't know loads about restoration and the like, but the ITV version definitely does look brighter and clearer. I can see how it's come at the expense of some detail, but I think I'd go for bright and less detail than murky and more, and the casual viewer just getting into the show would probably agree. (It also has a nice side-effect of making everyone look healthier. Look how fresh-faced (almost baby-faced) Gareth and Joanna look, as though they've actually had a chance to sleep and eat in the past week, although Gareth was pulling double duty at the National at that point, so he really has no right to look that well-rested

). Have they just run the Contender prints through a few filtres, or do you think they're actually working off different prints and they've run it through some filtres?

Speed Six · Post by **Speed Six** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:31 pm

Frankymole wrote:
Frankymole wrote:http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww15 ... mole/5.jpg
Is that the Post Office Tower in the distance? Or are you just pleased to see me?

Um... I think it's just brickwork seen through a gap in an upper set of curtains !