Episode 137: Tara King Era
Page 138 of 192

 

  Tag

Steed asked George for a cocktail recipe, but the results were explosive.

  A.K.A.

 George et Fred

 Operation George

 Chi ha ucciso il povero vecchio George?

 ¿Quién Le Disparó A XR40?

  On the Radio

• Who Shot Poor George /XR40?

  Other Viewpoints

• Visitor Reviews
• The GLG Report
• The Young Avenger

WHOEVER SHOT POOR GEORGE OBLIQUE STROKE XR40?

Steed seeks the equation for a murder
Tara becomes an American*

Production completed: 17 April 1968
UK Premiere (London, Season 7): 30 October 1968
US Premiere (New York, Season 4): 9 December 1968

Someone committed cold-blooded murder, firing both barrels of a shotgun at point-blank range—at a cold-blooded computer, one that was in the midst of implicating its creator, Sir Wilfred Pelley, as a traitor. While George undergoes surgery, Tara poses as Pelley's American niece, and finds out that there's more to Pelley's butler than meets the eye.

 IMHO

Check your brain at the door and just enjoy the ride. The acute anthropomorphizing of George—performing surgery on it as if it was an injured human, complete with "anesthesia"—is entirely too silly, even stupid, but on the whole it is more enjoyable than most of this season, due in large part to Linda Thorson's four-bowler performance as Tara as Pelley's niece. Shares the plot with the Cathy Gale episode, "The Big Thinker," another super-computer-sabotage story, albeit one that was intended to be more serious, but alas had even more chuckles than its quasi-remake. Runner up in the "Longest and Most Ridiculous Avengers Episode Title" contest.

 Trivia

Howard Blake composed some of the incidental music for this episode.

*This unofficial subtitle is by Yours Truly.

 Best Line

When Steed asks Tara to double for Pelley's niece, he shows her a photo and she asks, "Where's the resemblance?" Steed smiles, "The knees."

 Essential Reading

WHOEVER SHOT POOR GEORGE OBLIQUE STROKE XR40?

Written by
Directed by

Tony Williamson
Cyril Frankel

Full production credits

CAST

John Steed
Tara King
Jason
Pelley
Loris
Ardmore
Tobin
Baines
Anæsthetist
Keller
Jacobs
Jill
Betty

Patrick Macnee 007
Linda Thorson
Dennis Price
Clifford Evans #
Judy Parfitt #
Anthony Nicholls #
Frank Windsor
Adrian Ropes #
Arthur Cox #
Tony Wright
John Porter-Davidson
Jacky Allouis
Valerie Leon 007

# DOPPELGANGERS

Arthur Cox

From Venus With Love

Clifford Evans

Dial a Deadly Number
Death's Door

Anthony Nicholls

School for Traitors

Judy Parfitt

Bullseye
The White Elephant
Escape in Time

Adrian Ropes

The Danger Makers
From Venus With Love
 

All materials copyrighted per their respective copyright holders.
This website Copyright © 1996-2017 David K. Smith. All Rights Reserved.
Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

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