1.04 - The Last of the Cybernauts..??

[shaunodan]

If Emma Peel did turn up in The New Avengers, I wonder how she and Purdey would have got along ?

[Spaceship Dispatcher]

Despite the fact that this episode ties in directly with the original series' continuity, Last of the Cybernauts doesn't really work for me. There's some good scenes between the regulars, but the plot is very weak and depends too much on impausable actions and motives. It was interesting to see Robert Gillespie (Terry Nation's Survivors) and David Horovitch (BBC Miss Marple), although sadly Frank Goff is an initially intelligent character who becomes a complete fool when the writer wanted a death in the script. The revenge theme is not substantial enough imo and leaves the episode falling short.

[shaunodan]

I like the Purdey Gambit interaction very much...that smile of Purdey's when Gambit asks her to leave because he isn't wearing anything Purdey and the look she gives Gambit over teasing her about Emma Peel Gambit seems to know how to push Purdey's buttons ...certainly she doesn't seem to welcome his tut tut about Emma and seems to get quite pugnacious...almost as if she had dealings with Emma before

[Lhbizness]

As one of the few TNA episodes to reference the original series very directly, I wanted a lot from this one.

The Good: Starts off well with a genuinely creepy villain and his acolytes, including the recalcitrant doctor who eventually assists him. Some nice rapport between the trifecta, and Steed especially has some great moments in his quiet investigation of the Cybernauts. There are some good references to the original series, and a number of scenes that recall the two previous Cybernaut episodes.

The Bad: Like Spaceship Dispatcher, I thought the revenge theme was strained. There's certainly no tension there for the audience, who don't really feel much of anything for Kane (unlike, say, Paul Beresford, who mixes the evil with charm). It bowls me over how very long it takes our heroes to figure this one out, especially with Steed's previous knowledge. Far too much time is spent dwelling on Kane and his eventually tiresome histrionics than actually moving the plot along. I also continue to be amazed that people keep thinking they can actually fight the Cybernauts, when they demonstrably cannot. I've said before that I find the Gambit/Purdey rapport tiresome at times, and nowhere more so than here. But really this is an episode with a lot of filler and a villain who won't shut up. (I'm also a bit bothered at how often The Avengers uses people with visible physical deformity or injury to indicate "evilness" or perversity. It's an old trope, but a tiring one.)

My biggest problem with this episode, though, is more of a sense of underlying hostility about the original series. The references don't quite come off, and there are a number of scenes that don't make much sense: Purdey's inexplicable annoyance at the mention of "Emma Peel," Steed leaving both his partners out of the loop for much of the episode, the desire of the villain to resurrect an old nemesis purely for...what? Revenge, but why this revenge? I feel like the episode is almost a forced acknowledgement of the original series, to a degree that the writing comes off as strained, desperate to make some sort of connection between the NEW Avengers and the old ones but with a tacit dislike of mentioning the older series. For whatever reason, Macnee/Steed seems most out of place here, as though the renewal of the Cybernauts means a remembrance of a past he felt more in tune with.

[shaunodan]

Purdey's inexplicable annoyance at the mention of "Emma Peel " Why Purdey should be annoyed one wonders Does Purdey, or Gambit for that matter, know something we don't Any thoughts on Purdey's response

[Avengerholic]

An enjoyable enough episode, although it pales significantly to it's two predecessors. I suppose they had to try and do something different, but the villain Kane doesn't really work for me, and the redesigned Cybernauts seem far less menacing than the originals ! I'd loved to have seen four or five of the metal giants storming a Ministry establishment rather than the usual lone Cybernaut stalking its prey, seen that twice before !

[Mona]

This is a fun episode all along. We learn of Purdey's slight jealousy of Mrs. Peel, and that Emma is off topic with Steed. Purdey is realizing she cannot win the heart of Steed as she wishes, and as Mrs. Peel did.

I always love how someone has a horrible accident in TV/movie and then they just magically appear in the next scene and no one knows about them. That was the case in the idiotically bad James Bond film "Skyfall," where James is shot, falls hundreds of feet and then next we know is being a beach bum alcoholic. ANYONE know what hospital he was in for months, recovering from his injuries? Like a hospital MI6 could have tracked him down in? So stupid.

So, with Kane, burned so badly, wasn't he in a hospital burn unit for quite a long time, getting multiple surgeries? I mean, you don't recover from terrible burns lying around on your friend's sofa.

However, aside from that, it's quite an enjoyable episode.

I love the cybernauts, so that's a good start. Another episode with them in TNA works for me.

I was super upset at the stupidity of Steed, which we really, if ever, see portrayed in episodes in the cybernaut confrontation scene. Yes, he pushes the woman into the locker "saving her life" (although her shrieking would certainly alert anyone, including a cybernaut, to her hiding place). Then, he stands right by the paused cybernaut, as he did in the first episode, and once again allows his head to be used as a punching bag for a metal hand. I hate that. I bet Macnee hated that. Why didn't the writer or director hate that? Irritating! I have re-arranged the entire scene in my head to make it make more Steed sense, but it is nice that Steed's shirt is unbuttoned when Purdey and Gambit help him get off the floor.

Steed's cunning with the aerosol spray can is great and spray canning the Kanernaut into immovability was quite fun, with Steed's "1002" comment at the end very funny.

Good fun all around with one of the best ideas of the Avengers canon.

[Bradstreet]

A favourite episode of mine. Robert Lang is a terrific villain who starts as standard TNA bad guy-the double agent-and becomes an archetypal TA badguy-the diabolical mastermind. If I remember correctly, the Peter Cave novelisation has an explanation. Apparently Malov was already Kane's henchman. He discovered the horribly injured Kane, pulled him from the car, killed a tramp and put his body in the burning car, took Kane to some sort of underworld clinic and Bob's your uncle! Not terribly convincing, but it's one of those plot elements that you're probably not supposed to look into too deeply.

That's a good point about the new Bond movies. I really don't think that the Daniel Craig ones are anymore 'realistic' than something like MOONRAKER. The difference is that Roger Moore always looked like he was having fun. By scowling, Craig has managed to convince everyone that his Bond is more serious.

[johnnybear]

I loved the Cybernauts but they look completely different in this episode and yet again we only see the one! And where was Benson? Frank Goff we've never seen or heard of before but maybe it's a name play on Michael Gough who played the creator of the Cybernauts? I wonder if they originally planned to use Frederick Jaeger in this one and he wasn't available as he turns up in Target!!!
JB

[dissolute]

The draft script has Goff as well so it looks like they never planned to have Benson.