2.08 - K is for Kill - Part 1: The Tiger Awakes

[darren]

Written by Brian Clemens
Directed by Yvon Marie Coulais

[Rhonda]

5 for me

[anti-clockwise]

I wasn't too keen on this one. I agree with Rodney that it could have been a better 1 hour episode. jut dragged on too long. THe dialogue was not particularly engaging between the characters that is a hallmark for this show. THe plot was not bad but not well presented. There were also too many magical moments where Steed or Gambit are miraculously not hurt after being shot at. So go figure. I just got the DVD's so am about half way through and this was actually my least favorite so far. 6/10

[Timeless A-Peel]

I wasn't to keen on this one. I agree with Rodney that it could have been a better 1 hour episode. jut dragged on too long. THe dialogue was not particularly engaging between the characters that is a hallmark for this show. THe plot was not bad but not well presented. There were also too many magical moments where Steed or Gambit are miraculously not hurt after being shot at. So go figure. I just got the DVD's so am about half way through and this was actually my least favorite so far. 6/10

It feels a bit like a wasted opportunity, because we never got two-parter Avengers episodes, other than the first two (Hot Snow and Brought to Book. Yes, I know they're not strictly two parts of the same storyline, but they do have a lot of the same threads, which is close enough for me). So it's a shame they chose to break the trend with this one, which drags out the plot too long, and could have been done in half the time. Gambit and Steed's wife-swapping is a highlight. And I grin at the end when the champagne goes up Gambit's nose. I'm convinced it's unscripted because Gareth reverts back to his natural accent, and the way they laugh looks more like Patrick and Joanna reacting than Steed and Purdey.

[anti-clockwise]

wow you're good Timeless. Good observation. How is Gareth's accent different than Gambit's?

[Timeless A-Peel]

wow you're good Timeless. Good observation. How is Gareth's accent different than Gambit's?

Gareth, like all of the Avengers' leads (save Joanna, though she took some voice classes), went to drama school, and, at that time at least, the training was aimed at eliminating the students' accents and replacing them with a more generic "drama school" accent. This is part of the reason that, by the time Linda did the Avengers, she'd lost her Canadian accent to the point that it was more natural for her to play Tara British. Gareth was working class, so he cheerfully described his natural accent as "cockney." He could revert back to it at will, but generally when he's onscreen, he doesn't sound the way he would have naturally. But sometimes it creeps in on certain words, or when he's being interviewed. I think the end of K is for Kill is another instance of that. It sounds like he says, "It went up me nose" or something like that. It may be me, but it sounds less like Gambit and more like Gareth to my ear, because Gareth didn't always sound particularly like Gambit. If you get what I mean.

[anti-clockwise]

I'll have to look at that again. I heard his voice on the Clemens/ Gareth commentary and he sounded roughly the same to me plus 30 years. BTW glad you never went into the building! Would love to see pics when you have time. (Sorry this is for complex).

[Timeless A-Peel]

I'll have to look at that again. I heard his voice on the Clemens/ Gareth commentary and he sounded roughly the same to me plus 30 years. BTW glad you never went into the building! Would love to see pics when you have time. (Sorry this is for complex).

It can depend on the interview. It's not as though they sound 100% different, but I always think Gambit sounds more "clipped" than Gareth, a little more precise and efficient. It's probably more a matter of degree than anything. But Gareth was notorious for being able to manipulate his voice--there are loads of interviews where the interviewer brings it up--so he can sound quite different from one role to another, and when he's just himself. I haven't heard anywhere near as many interviews with him as I'd like, but sometimes it surprised me to hear him as "just him". He sounds more casual to my ears.

(And yes, I live and there will be pictures).

[anti-clockwise]

Very interesting. Well I certainly got a taste of his accents in Faces. I thought he did an excellent job of sounding and looking like a completely different character-like the homeless irishman. Not sure how difficult it is to switch between those accents but he is very convincing. That takes real talent. Off topic here, what other roles did he have that were of completely different sorts of characters with "accents".

[Timeless A-Peel]

Very interesting. Well I certainly got a taste of his accents in Faces. I thought he did an excellent job of sounding and looking like a completely different character-like the homeless irishman. Not sure how difficult it is to switch between those accents but he is very convincing. That takes real talent. Off topic here, what other roles did he have that were of completely different sorts of characters with "accents".

He played three roles in the Pet Shop Boys movie It Couldn't Happen Here, and the ventriloquist in particular stands out. You can see those on PURRR:

http://www.ping.be/~pvandew1/avengers/g ... n_here.htm

He also did Upstairs, Downstairs, of course, and his character was working class. And there was his part in Planet of the Spiders for Doctor Who. I'm always a bit too distracted by the moustache to focus on his voice, though. I'm trying to remember how he sounded in That Beryl Marston...!. More in line Gambit, I think.

Gareth gets a lot of stick for his Irish accent, but I had an Irish professor who sounded very Terry Walton to me