Avengers- Epic

[richievegas01]

Very macabre episode this, it basically predates all those urban myths about snuff movies. The film they're attempting to shoot is titled 'The Destruction of Emma Peel'. She merely finds them irritating however. Pity she doesn't get to kick them all in the head repeatedly. Ka-pow!

[TheGodParticle]

I like to see her all tied up.

[ThePicklepirate]

A wholesome beauty!

[KavinCorvaks]

I love Emma Peel.

[TheSSHG07]

The vampire looking guy was the same guy who played in the episode where Emma was dressed up as the Queen of Sin. He was the leader. I love this episode with Emma Peel. So funny. "Split Personality". Your summary said it all. lol. :D

[richievegas01]

@TheSSHG07 Yep, Shakespearean actor Jason Wyngard, he later appeared in a series called Department S.

[looker682]

linda thorson would have look better strapped down

[rkmugen]

Women these days rarely ever look as good as Miss Rigg did back in her day.

[Tyronethe24th]

"Cut! Print!"

[chrstilen5]

I ben trying to see someone get killed by a saw.

[dizzyisme]

i love this episode my parents bought all the episodes w/ diana rigg and ive seen all the color ones and can recite the dialogue LOL

[Hoofbeats85]

Epic isn't that bad. There are definitely colored episodes that are worse. While the black and white episodes were definitely superior, I think any Avenger episode is enjoyable. John Steed and Emma Peel are unbeatable!

[goodsoninc]

Typical "Grand Guignol sketch"

[08noiram08]

I have a feeling I will be feeling ......

[Bibibihe]

In fact, some episodes are really worst than this one (Return of the cybernauts-See through Man-The living dead, both of them show a lack of imagination..), Epic contains many references to various golden periods and filmmakers of the cinema (Cecil B De Mille, Erich Von Stroheim, german expressionnism..), even if it's overacted. This episode is a homage, with some outstanding scenes (the wedding/funeral).

[RogerHoare]

Yes, the wedding/funeral is stunning (one of my favourites), and the whole episode looks pretty startling; I just think this general hammy homage strikes a bum note in a series that, although essentially fantastical, never ruined the dramatic tension by sending itself up.

[GetBentley]

@Bibibihe I thought The Living Dead was rather good actually, Murdersville, Dead Mans Treasure, Something Funny Happened To Me On The Way To The Station, are my Best Emma Peel ones whereas Whos Who would be my worst.

[richievegas01]

@Bibibihe Agreed, The Living Dead is so boring, even Christopher Lee couldn't save it.

[lionsfan102]

what is the point of gagging

[RogerHoare]

This is the worst of all the 50+ Mrs Peel episodes. And many Avengers fans will agree. It's the only episode that goes out on a limb and doesn't take itself seriously at all, spoofing itself with this lame result. It ruined the creative tension that made the 1965-67 series so excellent. thankfully, the producers only fucked up once. One of the very best of the colour series is "The Bird Who Knew Too Much". But somehow the black & white series was better.

[dizzyisme]

what this episode is in my top 5 and i can honestly say i love every single color episode with diana rigg. yah this episode is spoof - like but i dont see how you could think its that terrible. its really funny and that last scene at the end where steed saves emma is really cool. also this zz VON shnerk guy is hilarious

[panacea999]

You'd think Mrs Peel would oblige Steed with a quick knee-trembler, considering the amount of times he saves her life

[goodsoninc]

sorry I meant "too many christmas trees"

[talissin]

Diane Rigg is so pretty :°)

[scotpens]

Merely pretty? That's like saying Louis Armstrong was some dude who played the trumpet pretty well. Diana Rigg was smashingly, elegantly, achingly beautiful.

[pqwilrj]

@scotpens It's something the plastic women of today can never match.

[TrekToons]

@scotpens Voted one of THE top ten sexiest women TV stars of all time.

[TrekToons]

So cool! They were never traumatized by any near death situations. After they evade a potentially deadly crisis, they just crack wise and go on their merry way.

[goodsoninc]

The best ep was "Too much christmas carol"

[amyparking]

"Too much christmas trees". in my countdown it's probably #3, after this and *Escape in Time*

[Gvieto]

Epic was one of the best Avengers television shows from the Diana Rigg era.

[00bean00]

Haha, I never got that big swinging axe from Mel Brook's movie until now.

[gcmbl]

Actually, the axe is from a book called "The Pit and the Pendulum", by E.A. Poe. It's one of those classic things...don't suppose people read them anymore. What with MTV and all, why bother?

[amyparking]

Actually, "The Pit and the Pendulum" is not a book but a short story, not knowing which hardly warrants your irksome sermon. anyway, since the allusions in this amazing Avengers instalment are pretty much exclusively cinematic, Roger Corman's film version is the pertinent source

[gcmbl]

I stand corrected, amy, 'tis indeed a short story. I stick by my irksome sermon, though. Most people get their culture from MTV rather than books these days. I think that is regrettable. Cheers.

[amyparking]

indeed they do, just like in Victorian times they got it from the music hall, cheesy operettas and sentimental pulp fiction. I agree that today sucks in a wide variety of ways, but the age of digital media is not without its gains: access to information of all sorts is so greatly facilitated by the internet that those willing to educate themselves have opportunities undreamt of by previous generations

[amyparking]

for one, had my friends not been compulsive illegal downloaders of all sorts of cultural goods, I would never be exposed to stuff like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, to which the geometrical peculiarity in the design of the room is quite unambiguously a homage

[gcmbl]

I agree with most all of what you say here, amy, about the potentials of the digital age. My sadness is less in regard to the methodology as to the quality of the resources. MTV,to me, is a very poor source of life teaching (as were the music halls, etc). The fact that MTV is available at the push of a button means that much great thinking (leather-bound and ebook) is ignored. Hopefully you are right - the sheer number of ways to access this thought may help make up for MTV; to some extent.

[amyparking]

hey, even MTV can be a good thing sometimes. I once turned it on in the middle of the night and saw a bunch of weirdos standing in the snow, the weirdest of them all chanting away in a kind of lupine yelp... but as there was smth uncanny and beautiful about the guitar line, I waited till the end to see who it was; and 8 years on I'm still a huge Cure fan... but yea, MTV is horrible, in particular in its ubiquity, it's just fucking everywhere

[amyparking]

re knowledge etc, the saddest thing in the world for me is the gradual commercialization of universities; in 50 years time we'll be lucky to have any humanities or social sciences left; a predictable function/result of high capitalism

[veramour]

Sunset Blvd with a twist. I'm ready for my close-up now, Mr. DeMille!

[NINJAFORCE]

Thank you very much for playing that episode of The Avengers. Do you have the full episode of Avengers- Epic? If you do I would love to see the full episode on here. Once again thank you for showing this clip.