The Avengers International Fan Forum

JohnSteedFr · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:36 am Post subject:

I'm at Series 6. I loved the beginning since I have that peculiar passion for the mysterious Bryce era, like the set from a scene of the original pilot later used as Mother's frontyard in 'the forget me knot'.

I also needed to move on to 'Homicide and Old Lace'--I couldn't wait-- to see if there were more pieces of the puzzle to find and indeed, I loved the description of all the scenes the original Bryce material contained. How did you get that? I asked Alan the other day if one could have a look at the original 'great gb crime' script nowadays and he said yes but at the BFI only. Shame they don't make an online copy. I wish I knew the dialogue from those missing scenes.
And I think we now know who the guy with Patrick Macnee is--his character's name-- in one photo on the Optimum dvd taken on an unknown set, some scene deleted for the final Clemens material. That unknown character who has a spacious living-room or office must be the one who works with Korff as well: a man called Hobson.

There's also a photo from the original ending somewhere on Ebay, it confirms or accompanies as I should say, what you say Mike in the book. Tara reveals she's got the real crown jewels.

Why can't we find this unseen material? (Also a bit thank you for listing all the 'invitation to....' material used in the remake. Another point I didn't know: Osonga, Nsonga's name in the Bryce episode).
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MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

Noel · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:19 pm Post subject:

MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

Noel

Amazon USA stock it.

Noel · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:28 pm Post subject:

MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

Noel

I think that's something you'll have to take up with Amazon.

Noel · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:44 pm Post subject:

Rodders · Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:26 am Post subject:

Mike, as you know I love the book, but if you do update it, it would be nice to have Colin Finbow's take on Surfeit of H20 rather than BC's standard 'I wrote it'.
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MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

JohnSteedFr · Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:51 pm Post subject:

Do you have more info about the original material from 'Invasion of the Earthmen', if you checked the original script as well, by any chance?
So, from what I understood, there were more scenes inside the school about the training the teens are following, like that room where Steed would have flown like the astronaut in a spectacular way? Something to do with gravity. Fantastic!!!!

Did you like the script of 'GGBC' from what you remember? How awful the style was that made it 'unshowable'? There must have been some god awful scene. The ones I can think of are with Steed using a gun and swordstick to kill.

I'm currently reading the part after Linda got her real hair back. As I can see, a lot of material shot by John Hough in particular didn't make it to the final versions...Unused locations for example or that actor who got all his scenes deleted from 'You'll catch your death', or the unseen original intro to 'super secret cypher snatch'! Surprised

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MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

Joris

Thanks again for giving great feedback on Bowler Hats and Kinky Boots.

I don’t have a script for Invasion of the Earthmen, only dialogue sheets, which duplicate all the dialogue from the shooting script with some directional instructions.

I have heard of a scene where Steed entered a room and was sent flying into the air by an anti-gravity device, but this was not in the shooting script, so logically it had to be in an earlier draft script, but as I could not verify its origin I did not include it.

To include the later Brian Clemens filmed scenes, which explain why Tara’s hair is blonde, I think that something must have been removed to allow space for the new material.

My instant reaction to reading the shooting script of The Great Great Britain Crime was that it was a very complicated plot and when portions were edited into Homicide and Old Lace, they used the easier to understand parts of the storyline.

There were bits and pieces that did not get included in episodes, sometimes for timing reasons. This was not something that happened exclusively with the Tara King episodes, as Diana Rigg and a guest star spent a full day at Tykes Water Lake filming scenes for The $50,000 Breakfast that do not appear in the episode.

Character actor Royston Tickner was called at 10.30 am to a soundstage at Elstree Studios to do some filming for You’ll Catch Your Death, but because filming was apparently running behind schedule, he was not actually used. Presumably his scenes were cut as being unnecessary to the storyline, although he will have been paid for his day at Elstree. This situation occurs on other episodes as you’ll find out when you get to the episode Thingamjig.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what the original teaser sequence for Super Secret Cypher Snatch was like. I have only seen paperwork saying that it did not work and that a new one would be written and filmed.

darren · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:55 pm Post subject:

JohnSteedFr · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:37 pm Post subject:

New Avengers, here we come! Laughing

I concluded the last chapter from the first show. Again, I learnt new things, this time with one of my favorite episodes: Take Over (ie: the ambulance that comes to Steed's rescue and the character hearing the truth lying behind Grenville's stay at the Bassett's.

I guess my following question is a tad bit ridiculous but would they keep, at that time, the cut material, aiming to preserve it as 'records' etc?
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I've been blessed by The Avengers!

MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

JohnSteedFr · Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 12:02 pm Post subject:

I think it's been done already (ie: complete research at the archives). Jaz himself if I remember told us there was no other unseen footage there. Crying or Very sad

Or maybe there is, but due to copyrights issues or costs, it cannot be released, yet...
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MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

Joris

Material can always turn up from other sources such as the British Film Institute, or the National Media Museum, where after being missing for decades a copy of the promo film The Case of the Missing Corpse was located in a film can that was wrongly marked up.

JohnSteedFr · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:31 am Post subject:

I'll start reading the part after the one talking about the 1998 movie. It's great to list all the deleted scenes that didn't make it--shame when I think of it, that last year's bluray didn't contain the director's cut. Crying or Very sad

Though Emily isn't a good episode, according to me, I agree with what the book said, it ended with humour, one last time. But I wish they had filmed some official ending for the NA period, with champagne naturally! Laughing

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MikeR · Epic Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 1106 Location: UK

Joris

I'm pleased that you are still enjoying Bowler Hats and Kinky Boots. Unfortunately, Jeremiah Chechik failed to stamp his authority on the movie and lacked confidence in editing the film together. There were as many as 9 different versions of each reel of the film. However, when Warner Brothers saw it they decided to audience test it in the States, not once, but twice. The negative results from these tests brought about more shooting and the addition of the mechanical insect sequence and then even more editing and cutting together.

I'm really indebted to Mick Audsley and Duncan Barber who worked on The Avengers film for assisting greatly with the research on the movie.