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peabody · Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:53 am Post subject: 6.08 - My Wildest Dream

Discuss, review and rate My Wildest Dream.

Written by Philip Levene
Directed by Robert Fuest

darren · Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 1:35 pm Post subject:

Philip Levene's final episode for the show and he went out on a good'un. I love the darker edge that he developed. His episodes were very formulaic at the start of season 5 but there's some good stuff as it goes along and he breaks away from the forumula. It's good to have a "friend" albeit a rather forced upon one, of Tara's who doesn't die (or maybe that's more a New Avengers thing). Teddy's very amusing and well played by Edward Fox. There's a great two hander between Steed and Dr. Jaegar. Macnee is very measured and shows what a great TV actor he is. You just know the idea of living out the fantasy killings is mad enough for it to actually be inspired by a real thing.

Of course the script is helped by having the debut of one time Avengers designer Robert Fuest. Inspired by working with Peter Hammond, Fuest had previously directed the film Just Like A Woman starring Wendy Craig for which he also designed by the sets.

You can tell that he pushed designer Robert Jones into thinking a little wilder as there are some fantastic sets. The observation room was probably scripted as just a room but with Fuest and Jones it becomes the massive expanse of white with the words "OBSERVATION" emblasened across the back wall. A set that only the Avengers would do. The optics factory with all the glass panes allows for great shots.

The fight scene between Dyson and Tara is so well shot and Linda really goes for it (no obvious use of Cyd Childs). Its far more gungho than many of the Rigg fights.

The lighting in the episode is very strong as well, Frank Watts' only Avengers episode (doing many ITC series). And it also marks the debut of Howard Blake on scoring duties and his style is so right for the show.

10/10

cyberrich · Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 9:58 am Post subject:

A very strong Tara episode. Great plot which Clemens used several months later for one of the best Champions episodes, Autokill. One of Tara's most convincing fight scenes at the photographers. Psychological mind games worked very well in The Avengers. Stay Tuned is another classic in this genre. Wish there'd been more like this! 10/10.

Rodders · Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:02 pm Post subject:

great stuff, including some wonderfully surreal shots from the director. The dream murders are more scary than the real ones with the dummy being stabbed.
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mariocki · Winged Avenger Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 524

A great episode for the reasons already outlined above - great script from Philip Levene and direction to match from Bob Fuest. One that I remember very well from first viewing.
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Lhbizness · Guest

This is a pretty good one, all things considered. The secondary characters are excellent - especially Edward Fox, always a joy to watch - and the plot suitably creepy/bizarre.

In watching it, it occurred to me that Steed offers a great deal to Tara in the way of a new perspective on life - unlike the other ladies, whose lives are fully formed and functional before they meet him, the impression is that he gives her direction and purpose. She's very young and he helps to direct her energies. Although I still find it unfortunate they went the route of her developing a crush on him, it's quite a sweet relationship in some ways.

Steed, however, seems to lose a lot of his sense of humor. He becomes more heroic, more "perfect" in the sense of dedication to duty than in any previous season, but the joy seems to have gone out of it. He's become quite melancholy.

Timeless A-Peel · Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:42 am Post subject:

An excellent episode all the way around, suitably creepy and tense at all the right moments. It was given a later timeslot for violence, I believe, which goes to show how effective it is, given that most of the violence is aimed at inanimate objects standing in for people!

This one seems to draw on The Champions' equally memorable "Autokill", which was written by Brian Clemens. I wonder if Clemens gave Levene the idea to work off of, or if Levene recycled it consciously or unconsciously. They were always reusing scripts, after all, and the premise seems too similar to have come up twice within a couple of years by accident. Anyone heard anything along those lines regarding this episode?
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Frankymole · Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:26 am Post subject:

Lhbizness · Guest

Frankymole · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:57 am Post subject:

Probably had to due to the demand (from the USA?) that the series get more "down to earth" (the whole - official - reason for bring Bryce back) - if the plots won't, the characters have to!
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darren · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:03 am Post subject:

As I point out in the chapter I'm writing for our season 6 book, there's a scene where Steed gets very angry with a humorous character, Dr. Reece. There are moments in the two Charles Crichton directed episodes, False Witness and Interrogators where Steed manhandles those who innocent of their wrong doing (through drugs or being duped).

He does become the straight man in season 6 but he is t without the lighter moments. But Macnee carries it off very convincingly. I think we often undervalue how good he was. Take Over is a very powerful episode thanks to Macnee's intensity and Steed getting so beaten down in the quest for survival, no arched eyebrow raised to the danger in that one!

Lhbizness · Guest

Frankymole · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:52 pm Post subject:

I dunno, Cathy Gale usually took the threats very seriously and wasn't all "arched eyebrow".

If the Avengers had to be like "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In" to succeed, perhaps it's better it came second to that show.
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Lhbizness · Guest

Naw, I'd say that Cathy found a lot of the villains kind of laughable, particularly in the third season. There was always that edge of humor and lack of belief. Again, though, it's not a hard and fast "this is always the way it is, forever and ever, all the time." I was thinking more in reference to Steed's character and the shift in Season 6.

But...didn't you just say that the series became more serious to appease American audiences? Which, given the success of the 4/5 seasons that did contain more of that archness and humor, at least on the part of our leading man, was probably a bad move (if true).

Frankymole · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:38 pm Post subject:

The success or otherwise in the States was down to scheduling, not content.
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Lhbizness · Guest

I'm sorry, but I'm sure that content - the change of a leading lady, which regardless of how good or bad it was, can still put people off who have become accustomed to a certain format - must have had something to do with it. There's no way to determine if that's a correct assessment, of course. But if, as you've claimed, the initially broadcast Tara episodes were not of the highest calibre due to production upheaval, I can imagine a number of viewers defecting simply because it no longer looked like a show they wanted to watch.

Anyways, it doesn't much matter to what we have now. I was just responding to the concept of going serious to appease the US, which if that was the intention still didn't do much. Regardless, they DID go serious, and in my opinion it sometimes jars with the otherwise outlandishness of the plots.

Frankymole · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 4:08 am Post subject:

Lhbizness · Guest

I was really just basing it on what has been said before on this forum - that the initial Tara episodes (including the Forget-Me-Knot) were not the highest calibre of the Tara episodes, and they were broadcast first (regardless of production order, which certainly Tara suffered from in terms of her character development). So it isn't a stretch to guess - again, without any direct evidence of audience reception - that the combination of a new leading lady, an upheaval of sorts in the format, and placing The Avengers up against a popular series would result in a decline in American popularity. That's not a slur on Tara or Season 6; it's just an unfortunate combination of events.

Rhonda · Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2014 12:28 pm Post subject:

4 from me. Like Tara's flat.
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mariocki · Winged Avenger Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 524

Went to see Peter Vaughan today - not doing too badly for 93!

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