Discuss, review and rate From Venus with Love, production completed November 1966.
Teleplay by Philip Levene
Directed by Robert Day
5.04 - From Venus with Love
-
anti-clockwise
- Mission... Highly Improbable!
- Posts: 1678
- Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 2:34 pm
-
Frankymole
- You Have Just Been Posting (a lot)
- Posts: 6528
- Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:33 am
- Location: Carmadoc Research Establishment
- Has thanked: 323 times
- Been thanked: 251 times
The first colour episode manages to be intriguing and a bit scary. Reminiscent of some of the best season 4 black-and-white stories. Great cast. Season 5 is off to a fine start!
8/10 (or three bowlers out of four.)
Here's my Avengers Forever review:
http://www.theavengers.tv/forever/peel2-1vr.htm#3
So what on earth (or off it) was that all about? I've seen this episode more than any other, more by accident than design. I keep changing my views on it, so it is ripe for "re-view"; sometimes it seems rather plodding, other times a spooky thriller that has some real gems of scenes and dialogue. I won't repeat the previous reviews (which I agree with). I'll just add a few positive and negative observations of my own:
Plus:
+ Diana Rigg as Emma is just as sparkling in this as in any monochrome episode. Nice to see her whizzing about the countryside, although the scene in the barn at the deserted farm features a gloriously bad wig for her double as she watches the "sphere" depart.
+ The astronomy is not bad; instead of the daftness of "Man-Eater of Surrey Green" and its "whole areas of vegetation" on the moon, the speculation that Venusians are likely to be composed of hot gas fits in well with what we know of that world's crushing, infernal atmosphere. The idea that the deaths are caused by aliens is quite unnerving and works well.
+ Accurate prediction of the uses of lasers: e.g. for eye-surgery. Though are they really used in dentistry? [Yes. — DKS]
+ Some very nice visual effects: lasers, explosions, all done convincingly. And a wandering white sphere killing people (filmed the same month that "the Prisoner" began filming - synchronicity!).
+ Philip Locke, no longer playing dull "heavies" but instead a gloriously nutty scientist.
+ the other bit-parts, all played eccentrically but seriously. And who didn't think Venus was a villainess?
Minus:
- Emma is overcome too easily and doesn't take part in the final fight, but it gives Steed a chance to shine (literally, using a laser-reflecting mirror).
- Some overly-minimalist sets, including Emma's redesigned apartment. Some of them don't quite work (such as the "night sky" backdrops). More scenes set at night than usual, required because of the astronomers' working hours, do give this story an unusual atmosphere.
- Steed's really ugly plastic doppelganger. Could it be any more unlike him? I chuckle when Philip Locke does a double-take at it, fizzing away. He recovers well and acts as if he expects Steed to be alive, but it was a huge error to go and check the corpse (I assume that is why he entered the room?).
Finally, does anyone know who played Martin, Trimble's assistant who fights Emma, and why he wasn't credited? [Probably Billy Cornelius. No idea why he wasn't credited, but minimalist credits were SOP in the 60s. — DKS]
Overall Rating: Three out of four bowlers.
8/10 (or three bowlers out of four.)
Here's my Avengers Forever review:
http://www.theavengers.tv/forever/peel2-1vr.htm#3
So what on earth (or off it) was that all about? I've seen this episode more than any other, more by accident than design. I keep changing my views on it, so it is ripe for "re-view"; sometimes it seems rather plodding, other times a spooky thriller that has some real gems of scenes and dialogue. I won't repeat the previous reviews (which I agree with). I'll just add a few positive and negative observations of my own:
Plus:
+ Diana Rigg as Emma is just as sparkling in this as in any monochrome episode. Nice to see her whizzing about the countryside, although the scene in the barn at the deserted farm features a gloriously bad wig for her double as she watches the "sphere" depart.
+ The astronomy is not bad; instead of the daftness of "Man-Eater of Surrey Green" and its "whole areas of vegetation" on the moon, the speculation that Venusians are likely to be composed of hot gas fits in well with what we know of that world's crushing, infernal atmosphere. The idea that the deaths are caused by aliens is quite unnerving and works well.
+ Accurate prediction of the uses of lasers: e.g. for eye-surgery. Though are they really used in dentistry? [Yes. — DKS]
+ Some very nice visual effects: lasers, explosions, all done convincingly. And a wandering white sphere killing people (filmed the same month that "the Prisoner" began filming - synchronicity!).
+ Philip Locke, no longer playing dull "heavies" but instead a gloriously nutty scientist.
+ the other bit-parts, all played eccentrically but seriously. And who didn't think Venus was a villainess?
Minus:
- Emma is overcome too easily and doesn't take part in the final fight, but it gives Steed a chance to shine (literally, using a laser-reflecting mirror).
- Some overly-minimalist sets, including Emma's redesigned apartment. Some of them don't quite work (such as the "night sky" backdrops). More scenes set at night than usual, required because of the astronomers' working hours, do give this story an unusual atmosphere.
- Steed's really ugly plastic doppelganger. Could it be any more unlike him? I chuckle when Philip Locke does a double-take at it, fizzing away. He recovers well and acts as if he expects Steed to be alive, but it was a huge error to go and check the corpse (I assume that is why he entered the room?).
Finally, does anyone know who played Martin, Trimble's assistant who fights Emma, and why he wasn't credited? [Probably Billy Cornelius. No idea why he wasn't credited, but minimalist credits were SOP in the 60s. — DKS]
Overall Rating: Three out of four bowlers.
Last watched: "Mandrake"
-
anti-clockwise
- Mission... Highly Improbable!
- Posts: 1678
- Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 2:34 pm
-
anti-clockwise
- Mission... Highly Improbable!
- Posts: 1678
- Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 2:34 pm
delete
Last edited by anti-clockwise on Fri Sep 20, 2013 2:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
"He likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise."
-
cyberrich
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1380
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:21 am
- Location: Midlands, U.K.
- Has thanked: 4 times
- Been thanked: 21 times
The very first original Avengers episode I saw when Channel 4 repeated them in 1982. I remember being surprised it was in colour! I also remember being surprised by how brilliant it was. I'd loved TNA which was more my era, but the originals were something else! This episode is an absolute classic. 10 out of 10! Rich.
-
Frankymole
- You Have Just Been Posting (a lot)
- Posts: 6528
- Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:33 am
- Location: Carmadoc Research Establishment
- Has thanked: 323 times
- Been thanked: 251 times
Incidentally, I take issue with series 5 being described in the topic header as "Emma's glory days" and series 4 as her "formative year".
The black and white Emma episodes are much more mature and less formulaic and repetitive (or to put it less politely, series 5 is "dumbed down" for some reason compared to 4. Dian Rigg also seems more tired, and the direction is less fresh and inventive).
Series 4 was the "glory days", for both Emma's era and The Avengers as a whole.
The black and white Emma episodes are much more mature and less formulaic and repetitive (or to put it less politely, series 5 is "dumbed down" for some reason compared to 4. Dian Rigg also seems more tired, and the direction is less fresh and inventive).
Series 4 was the "glory days", for both Emma's era and The Avengers as a whole.
Last watched: "Mandrake"
-
Lhbizness