The Avengers Forever: The Young Avenger

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The Rotters
By Joseph A.P. Lloyd

Direction: Three out of five. For once, I will criticise Robert Fuest's performance. The whole thing is just so boringly shot, and the scene where Tara is trapped in her car by the lorry is just awful. What happened? Maybe he is upset by the reviews that people are about to give this episode.

Plot: Three out of five. This plot is actually rather like an average Emma Peel episode, and therefore rather good. A less simple example of revenge than usually portrayed. It feels as if it was written by a fan, and therefore, we see that Freeman is trying too hard to give us a decent story. There are too many characters, too may eccentrics, and too many scenes to keep track of. Sorry, but this is just not good enough for my top five list.

Original Music: None. Another Laurie Johnson's Greatest Hits concert.

With Music From: "The Fear Merchants," "The House That Jack Built," "Mission... Highly Improbable," "From Venus With Love," "Split!," "The Living Dead," "The Positive Negative Man," "The Forget-Me-Knot," "The Bird Who Knew Too Much."

Wittiness: One out of five. "We don't deal in secrets here, Mr Steed. We plant trees. And when they have fully grown, we chop them down." "What a rich, full life you must lead." Freeman seems to have put the wit on hold this week. Minus one point for the awful pun of a title.

Action: Two out of five. Tara, who is very useless and not very liberated this week, takes on Sandford, who is wielding an axe at her. He steals her car. Why doesn't she then take his lorry? Steed does have rather a good fight at the end, however, using some excellent music from "The Living Dead" as accompaniment.

Cars/Sets/Locations: Three out of five. We have Tara, who gets her car stolen, versus Sawbow in his MGB, but then she loses him. There is a good amount of location filming here as well, and the sets are reasonable, but the location does not excuse Fuest's poor direction.

Introduction/Tag: Two out of five. Pendred getting chased through several doors is not particularly interesting, but it suffices. The tag is horrible, though, seeming to never start or finish. A horrid example of what tags can become like, such is the Thorson series.

Overall Impression: Although this is a totally fantastic episode, I happen to rather like it. One, the number of eccentrics is amazing, and they are wonderful, each in their own way. Two, the plot reminds me of an Emma Peel episode, and I suspect it could have been much better if Emma had been in it. As it is, it seems a bit silly to feasibly comprehend, and there really are too many characters. Ten out of ten for Kenneth and George, by the way. "I hate anything inferior."

Rating: Seven out of ten.