The Avengers: Whoever Shot Poot George Oblique Stroke XR40? (Tony Wright Season)
This is not an Avengers episode which has ever appeared here before. There isn’t a particular reason for this, beyond that it hasn’t ever presented itself to me as the subject of a potential blog post so far. I do actually quite like it, but I think I’d better get out of the way the simple fact that this one really isn’t a fan favourite at all.
Personally I find it a bit difficult to tell why. The plot is absolutely wild: a computer with a distinct character and identity is attacked and The Avengers set out to find out what is happening. Obviously I’m not in a position to judge how viewers would have perceived the depiction of the computer when this was broadcast in 1968. Possibly most viewers would have taken it far more literally than we do now? Certainly computers were treated as far more important pieces of kit than they are now, and while you can certainly see a parody of the deference given to computers at the time, possibly many viewers would have experienced computers in their work places treated with nearly as much deference as George is. Nobody watching this originally would have had a computer in their home, of course. However the show doesn’t really have a scary message about the deference with which computers were treated, it’s purely entertaining.
Many of the reviewers comment on the fact that Tara spends much of the episode dressed as a cat, and there is also the comment she makes that she shouldn’t enter a flat because the man who owns it only has angles and no curves, and I think we should take these two facts as clear indicators of the register the episode is aimed at.
In fact this is very much Tara’s episode, and she does most of the work while Steed really doesn’t do very much at all. Again the way she turns up unexpected with her hammy American accent rather highlights that this episode shouldn’t be taken that seriously.
Tony Wright’s role is to be one of the baddies, the one dressed as a chauffeur who carries Tara out to the summer house to burn her in it, and gets beaten up by Steed. This is a role which it would be a bit difficult to get wrong, because he just has to be an evil baddie and get duffed up, can’t go wrong. I’m a bit confused by something on dissolute.com.au and probably have misunderstood it, but the page gives the impression that many of the crew and including Tony Wright were just hired on a sort of casual basis and weren’t regulars. I have probably misunderstood this, because while it might make sense to get the crew on a casual basis, I just don’t believe you would do that with the cast except for roles such as being in a crowd.
Notwithstanding the breathless comments about Miss King’s whiskers, the internet reviews are chock full of criticism for this episode. The script, the treatment of George, the fact Steed doesn’t do much, the pace, basically everything is criticised about this. It really isn’t popular at all.
I’m finding that I don’t really have that much to say about this one, but I really don’t think it’s terribly objectionable, despite its poor internet reviews.
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