Avengers Chess Board Intro

[baarbear]

"Miss Peel, we are needed!" 

[DenEColt]

Emma Peel / Diana Rigg... I was 14 or 15 at the time... It was more than a young lad could handle!

[MrMamboking2]

The English Jane Fonda

[essertpitay]

Uber Sexy Diana Rigg.

[robertgift]

Well? Let's hear the fantastic theme music!

[chinookking97]

@Elric33239

Correct.

[tackysum]

Talented amateur and stone cold fox!! She was "Must see TV"!

[wordzly]

One of my 2 or 3 favorite TV shows as a kid. I always liked the way the announer pronounced "extra-ordinary" -- so British!

[chinookking97]

@Elric33239

The German translation is good. I began watching the avengers in german (mit Schirm, Charme und Melone) and a Few weeks ago I "re-watched" them in English, there is no difference.

[Elric33239]

@chinookking97 I believe the translation in English is "With Umbrella, Charm and Bowler." I once read an Avengers fanzine with that name on the title page.

[cuttersboi08]

I miss this opening! Thanks for posting!

[GoblinXXX]

I always thought the announcer on this intro sounded like Stan Lee.

[soupalex]

Wow. Was this shot just yesterday? It looks it.

[altfactor]

Wasn't this intro eventually used on reruns shown in the UK??

[NorbertoWeaver]

WATCH,`'FREE':;MOVIES:;'ONLINE­!,''

ＷＷＷ.ＷＡＴＣＨＦＲＥＥＭＯＶＩＥＳ４.ＴＫ



[saholben]

sexiest tv intro....EVER !!!!!!!!!!

[sporran564]

45 years later, I can still remember as a kid coming home one evening from our local swimming pool, turning on the old portable black and white TV and the first image I saw was the guy falling onto the chessboard with a knife in his back, and then Emma Peel in a catsuit. I was transfixed. I think the Sixties began that moment for me.

[TheEldoradoKid]

@sporran564 Yes!, sounds like one of those seminal poignant moments that only occurs a few times in a lifetime if you are aware enough of the uniqueness of what is happening to you!  The 60s were full of those opportunities, new vibes just around the corner made one ask: wow! what's next? These were exciting times...

[Saetta]

This "Extraordinary Crimes" introduction is my favorite. I have watched the series in tv broadcasts about twelve times. I even watched the series at least twice in Spanish, "Los Avengadores". I bought some VHS tapes of "The Avengers" when available and now own a DVD Series. Diana Rigg now lives in France. The beauty, drama and music of "The Avengers" continues to be very entertaining in today's world wherein the film stars seem to be special effects.

Saetta

[GoblinXXX]

@Saetta I don;t know, there's just something wrong about John Steed, the quintessential Englishman, speaking Spanish... But I've seen Popeye cartoons in Spanish, too, that's almost as strange! ;)

[Elric33239]

@GoblinXXX That's the trouble with international marketing of TV shows: translation without character considerations. The Avengers or "Los Vengadors," as I believe they were called in Spanish speaking countries, were also broadcast in French, German, and many other languages I'm sure, like "The Prisoner." Many Europeans thought "The Prisoner" was a French show and I've even seen re-edited opening shots with Chinese ideograms appearing on the sliding file drawer that said "Resigned." Weird!

[TequilaCT]

Emma Peel "DING DONG!!!"

Wish i had a time machine LOL

[The1962driftingaway]

This sequence was created for the episodes broadcast on ABC's New York affiliate in 1966 (at least from what I've heard), as sort of a test run to see if the show would play in America. It must have worked, because the show popped up on ABC nationwide in the spring of 1968 . .

[Sewnknit]

I have all VHS videos - love 'em!! Sadly though, after I bought all VHS, then they came out on DVD . . . . oh well :-\

[neopadro]

@Sewnknit Unluck I have all the DVDs need to bring them out and watch them again. have not seen them for a couple of years. better then shit on tv now.

[alianzacastello]

yo de niño..año 1,978 estaba enamorado de diana rigg, gracias al youtube puedo verla denuevo. la daban creo en canal 7 aqui en LIMA-PERU.....whe are love diana rigg

[GarthanSaal444]

Well, it aint Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, but we can see where the Black Widow got her costume idea from.

[moxie96]

I thin this was the only UK TV series that had not been retooled and dumbed down for an American audience like shows today are so constantly done over like the office which turned into it's own thing but a success to audiences like three's company, in the UK known as man about the house. The nightmare of Life On Mars USA version compared to the Original UK one is a glaring recent example of UK TV series massacare. Everybody only watch the original version!

[brabon1]

@moxie96 first brit series sold directly to us...makes sense with the brit invasion of pop music occurring at about the same time

[SurlyInsomniac]

I think some people here are misinterpreting the definition of "amateur" used in this context. In this case it simply means she wasn't "officially" trained as an agent but more importantly it is not her profession, therefore she is not an officially sanctioned "Professional". It is her avocation rather than her vocation. Similarly, the character of Sherlock Holmes was called an "amateur" detective, to those of you suggesting that a MAN (fictional or otherwise) would never be so "disrespected".

[Elric33239]

@SurlyInsomniac The exact same thoughts I attempted to convey 8 months ago! Thank you for confirming my insights in a more articulate manner!

[SurlyInsomniac]

@Elric33239 Thank you. I just thought your sentiments deserved to be echoed.

I also don't get the hate for the "Chess Board Intro". Sure it was largely unnecessary but it was well done for what it was. It certainly wasn't the first (or last) example where the premise of a show is explained in an opening narration or song lyric.

It seems that some people are determined to find things to be offended by. To them I say "Just repeat to yourself it's just a show. I should really just relax".

[Elric33239]

@SurlyInsomniac Well said. Comics legend Stan Lee stated that the reason he posted a summary paragraph at the begining of each Marvel comic was because he felt that every issue should be treated as some reader's first instead of assuming that only people who have read issue #1 is reading it. I particularly liked the MST3K tag at the end of your response. Very clever.

[CaptainBuckRogers]

Best intro. Should've been used for the DVD in each EP episode.

[moxie96]

@CaptainBuckRogers So does that mean the US audience never heard the famous Theme song of the Avengers until the color episodes came out ? Or did it spring up at the end of the show? Because I read that the "In color" was for the USA viewers benifit -note they spelt it without a U as in Colour-

[brabon1]

@moxie96 no...this part runs into the famous opening...the opening was retooled for american audiences so they wouldnt be confused

what american audiences didnt get to see what the honor blackman epis...until a&e packaged them in the 90s

[cuteycindyhoney]

I think they thought the American audience was too stupid to understand the show without this lame intro.

[cuteycindyhoney]

@bladrunner6 I'm a bloody Yank, but have no fear, I took no offense. People in Hollywood seem to have a low opinion of their own countryman's intelligence. As a fan of Japanese animation also, I've seen this same problem crop up there. There are too many examples to quote here. Let's just say I'm tired of rice balls being referred to as donuts!

[bladrunner6]

@cuteycindyhoney Sorry Cindy, I should not have worded it that way. My reference was towards these big wig idiots in America who have to meddle with everything. Their thinking the American viewing public needs such a tedious explaination is an insult to their intelligence. As for the Anime thing... Ridiculous.

[cuteycindyhoney]

@bladrunner6 Hey, not a problem!

[MrValiant61]

0:16...Oh my god. absolute perfection.

[PeliculasIlluminatis]

masonic business 210%

[Epc100]

Strange how this is so much more nasty and state orientated than the intro for Brittish broadcast.

[JaneHarrison2]

she may b 100 now but 0:14 to 0:18 is just hotttttttttt.......

[PauleQueenie]

good day

[thepratingknave]

Did the man doing the voice-over just refer to Emma as a "talented amateur"?

Yes, it's pretty amateurish the way she karate-chops people in the throat, and throws herself over a table and lunges like a lioness pouncing on her prey, or how she outwits supercomputers, robots, brilliant scientists, criminal masterminds, gangsters, fellow spies, and even her seasoned partner, John Steed.

Ahem. So I guess what I'm saying is, Mrs. Emma Peel is a bit more than a talented amateur.

[ivebeenthere1]

my late Mother was soo much like Diana Rigg....& man could she kick butt...lol

big thanks for sharing

[LaCantarella1]

Amour... ❤ I wanted to be like Mrs. Peel/Diana Rigg growing up watching old re-runs of this. Now I have it in Life so my Dream came True.

[tulsa21]

Oh God, take this 50 year old back to the mid sixties where Mrs Peel was strutting her stuff in that leather suit !

[skunkhead2007]

yeah emma peelvery hot .some years ago i watched a chat show may have been parkinson i cant remember,anyway patrick mcknee is a naturalist sits round the house with nothing but a bowler hat and maybe some suspender straps on his socks with fuck all else on and he always insisted that his guests dressed the same way----takes all kinds eh?

[coliseumdog]

This series was one of my favorites. I really do not remember the other talent amateurs before and after Mrs. Peel, but who cares. She is like Sean Connery as James Bond, no one can match up.

Also, notice the waiter's fall. He is falling from his knees on the board, if you look closely. Without looking, you would think he was free falling standing straight up.

[sexyblondeuk2012]

Honor Blackman was the first actress to star opposite Patrick Macnee. Ms.Blackmon went on to play Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.

[sygma707]

Oops, Diana beautiful for ever !

[Ultramar0270]

Wow, Diana Rigg is so beautiful.

[markcruiser64]

talented amateur? Have they ever seem Mrs. Peel in action?? VERY professional.

[Elric33239]

I think this was an intentionally double-edged description of the character. Yes, she was exceptionally capable lady-of-action, but some would have considered her an amateur SPY in "sophisticated circles." I thought it was brilliant in a tongue-in-cheek way.

[thepratingknave]

Elric33239: You may be right, but I interpreted it as being sort've gently sexist, which wouldn't have been at all unusual, given the year.

Regardless, Emma was generally a very clever, capable character, fiercely intelligent and intuitive, certainly a fair match for Steed. He held a great deal of respect for her, and trusted her implicitly.

I may be thinking on it too much. Your interpretation seems feasible.

[Elric33239]

I think you're addressing the limited intelligence of the "narrator" as well as how limited the word "amateur" can be in a given context. Calling Steed a "top professional" points out his credentials, not necessarily his capabilities. I've known several men with "professional" titles who probably couldn't tie their shoes without an instruction manual and I've known people who had less than 1 yr experience at a job who exceeded their bosses' performance. I'm a Hard Knocks School Graduate myself.

[Elric33239]

By the way, would you have considered it sexist if the amateur in question were a MAN? If so, I wouldn't call your observation over-thinking so much as a possible note of resentment over the fact that the average woman has to work twice as hard as a man in order to receive half of the respect that is due ANYONE who serves in a position of responsibility. I'm a man and I strongly agree with the unfairness of this societal flaw, but I think your posting potentially reveals YOUR gender, TPK. ;)

[Elric33239]

OOOPs! I meant to say "If not," not "If so," but I think you've got the general idea.

[thepratingknave]

My first comment wasn't really meant to be taken seriously. I thought the sarcasm was clear. I was just having a bit of fun, really.

If my post reveals my gender, well, that's all right. The time in which this program was made was my main reason for thinking that this intro was potentially sexist, and very *slightly* sexist, I might add. It doesn't offend me deeply or anything like that. I quite like this intro, actually. Short and to the point, and somewhat surreal.

[thepratingknave]

If the amateur in question were a man?

Again, the year. There are of course women who are sexist, and I thoroughly disagree with that, or with discrimination of any kind, but I was referring specifically to that period in history, when discrimination of women was much more prevalent, or perhaps simply more tolerated in the media.

If I'm being honest, yes, there are certain aspects of being a woman that I resent, not least of which because I'm transgender, but that's beside the point.

[thepratingknave]

I don't resent men. On a completely different note, I am rather curious as to how these Youtube "conversations" get started in the first place. I made some casual comments and now I find myself explaining them. Just the sort of thing I usually try to avoid, haha.

I hope Ive clarified my thoughts on the matter. It's much easier to speak what I feel rather than to type it. Anway, no harm done. I'm off to watch "The House That Jack Built". Cheers!

[Elric33239]

I don't believe that I accused you of resenting men in any of my posts. I was just amused by the notion that it would be socially unacceptable to use a low-ranking word to describe a woman when it was obviously a case of "consider the source" AFAIC. Now if you'll excuse ME, I'm off to watch "A Touch of Brimstone!" Ta!

[Elric33239]

I'm sorry but you misunderstood my question, which could be because either English isn't your first language or you're again being defensive about the issue of gender. I meant if the professional was a woman and the man was announced as an "amateur" by the same announcer, would you consider him being sexist? I believed that you would say no, so I addressed the theory that you considered it an attack to call an uncredentialed WOMAN an amateur especially if she proved to be capable & talented.

[Elric33239]

I too was talking tongue-firmly-placed-in-cheek, so I find it interesting that you felt the need to be defensive regarding my posting. And the tongue-in-cheek surreal nature of the "summation" was my original point of observation, I believe.

[thepratingknave]

I see. It's hard to tell what the tone or intention of a comment is sometimes. I wasn't really defending myself, I was merely clarifying what I had previously said.

Pardon me for saying this, but it seems to me that you yourself are being a bit defensive. Judging by your response, I do believe you've misinterpreted something that I've said, and I'm sorry for that. I did try to make myself clear. Such is the nature of the written word, I suppose. I really wasn't trying to start a row.

[Elric33239]

When conversing with a lady, regardless of her orientation, I admit to being defensive due to being in situations where I have to "watch what I say" for fear of being sexist, specifically when a comment could be misinterpreted as misogynistic like pointing out that perhaps Mrs. Peel's gender wasn't an issue in the announcement so much as her standing in the Spy Community at that time. You used the word "sexist" originally, so I picked up "sensitive feminist" from that comment. An honest mistake

[thepratingknave]

That's perfectly all right. I'm not some crazy feminazi, so you don't have to walk on egg shells around me. It's much easier for me to actually speak to someone, to be able to hear the subtleties of tone and inflection, but even then I often have difficulty interpreting the definite meaning. Autism tends to do that, unfortunately.

"...perhaps Mrs. Peel's gender wasn't an issue in the announcement so much as her standing in the Spy Community at that time."

I quite like that interpretation.

[Elric33239]

Thank you.

[thepratingknave]

You're welcome.

[bladrunner6]

@thepratingknave Well I don't! How dare those Americans discredit Mrs Peel in that way!? "talented amateur" No that was their way of saying as a woman, she is lesser than her male counterpart. Dumb American machoism of the time period.

[thepratingknave]

@bladrunner6 I made quite a few comments some months ago, due to someone taking offense to my opinion that this intro was slightly sexist, which turned into a one-sided argument on their part, haha. Please pardon my confusion. Which of my comments are you responding to?

[Elric33239]

@bladrunner6 and @thepratlingknave As The One-Sided Argument instigator in question, I can only speculate that bladerunner6 disagreed with your assessment of "her standing in the Spy Community" was addressed as Amateur as opposed to her gender. I would refer her to SurlyInsomniac's comment regarding Sherlock Holmes' description that was probably promoted by Scotland Yard at the time for the same reason: he wasn't on THEIR payroll, just his own. Steed had to ask Mrs. Peel for help, remember?

[bladrunner6]

@Elric33239 There's no argument here tiger, only my concern that the American big wigs felt a need to interfear with a British cassic and to refer to Mrs Peel in the way they have. Was the American male ego of the 80s unable to accept a woman as a man's equal???

[Elric33239]

@bladrunner6 1. I think you have your decades mixed up, dear lady. It was the '60s, not the '80s! 2. There was little indication that the "American big-wigs" hired Peter Wyngarde to read that introduction. 3. You've obviously never heard of April Dancer, Honey West, Sgt. Pepper Anderson, Christy Love, Jaime Sommers, or any number of TV heroines who held their own in a predominantly male profession in the US of A. While their staying power were limited, they were there and they left a legacy!

[PREGO1966]

@markcruiser64 The term talented amateur was used because Steed worked for the British government while she did not

[Zippertheslipper]

To all those who comment on Diana Rigg being babe fab and such, you are correct in your opinions, cheers. ;)

[sammygrew]

Emma Peel...(Ms. D.Rigg).. was the absolute, most Fantastic looker of all time...

[scorpio888]

@sammygrew

Oh, I know. I always cringe a little when they say that, "talented amateur". But it was a kind of sexism prevelant in '60s TV: she had to be taken down a notch (this opening was shot for the States, but not for Britain, is that says anything).

[MaxAndTheTatraplan]

This is the very best Avengers Intro!

as far as I know - the US version:)

ahh !!!!

max

max & the tatraplan

[Elric33239]

I think this was created because we Yanks didn't see the Catherine Gale episodes (until they were broadcast on A&E decades later), so we needed a proper intro to the series to get acquainted with the characters.

It worked on me! I loved this series and had a huge crush on Emma Peel that lasted to adulthood!

[boreal75]

This was created because the average american viewer is not the British one...

Fantasy and English humour were not a common thing in USA, "Man from UNCLE" for example was quite more academic with conventional spies stories, while "The Avengers" went into science-fiction or semi-fantastic, and were hard to put in a single category..!

[Elric33239]

Your comment reads like an overall assessment of the show, which is valid, but it doesn't explain the thematic significance of "The Chessboard Motif," unless I'm missing something.

[CDeanWatcher]

Thanks for posting this!