The Avengers Forever: Visitor Review

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The Gladiators
by Iain Clarke

For some strange reason, on their last full run through, the BBC showed this ahead of all the other episodes in the entire series! Surprising they didn't put newcomers off the show. This is the second-direst of the infamous Canadian episodes ("Emily" being the worst—sorry guys!), but only just! Despite the shocking levels of violence, cheesy dialogue, hammy acting, and lame direction, there is an Avengers plot in there—just badly done! The start is kind of like "The Superlative Seven," and the premise of why these Gladiators are being prepared is almost the same. However elements from a good episode have been turned into one of the worst (see "Trap").

The acting by the Canadians in this episode is appalling! "What does Purdey do when Purdey gets annoyed?" Lamps people like you for ruining her show and threatening her career, that's what mate! Peters is probably the best of the lot, and even he's not up to much—way to incompetent to be the head of the secret service. And why do the Canadians have to fight people for fun (see "Emily" for this too)? A welcome return to the old days is made by the high camping Russian Ambassador, who like all good Soviets is a friend of Steed's (Not even some of the Russians I know are as Russian as John Steed). There's also the strangeness of the Canadian Secret Service having an Open Day, in a building they quickly found to replace the one in "Complex"!

Trouble is, the acting by the leads isn't up to par, either. Pat looks visibly fed up, and you can't really blame him for having to work with this tripe. He and Gareth struggle to maintain their interest. They're given the most appalling cliché lines, such as Steed's meal in the restaurant, being "on holiday," Jo's "trouble is our business," Gambit forgetting which side of the road to drive on, and Steed saying "Why don't you come, too? After all, it is your country!" to the Canadian cop! Ugh! Then there's the annoying scenes of Gambit driving the police car with sirens blaring for no apparent reason other than to amuse himself. I have to fast-forward through those, and I'm grateful when he turns it off! And finally, the infamous bullet-catching scene is one I'd have thought any respectable screenwriting team would have ditched after the first attempt in "K is for Kill, Part 2"!

Honestly, I'd rather pass an hour watching something with excitement and a good script... Like The Avengers movie!

0.75/10.

The Gladiators
by Jonathan Buckley

This is The New Avengers' twist of the beginning of "The Superlative Seven." Even the white background is reminiscent of the tunnel room at the beginning. Promised to be such a good episode, too, but, because of the awful hair and horrible dialogue ("You talking to me? I want trouble") just made you stare at the TV with the disbelief that any thing in the world could be so bad. Unlike "Complex" and "Forward Base," where they had someone in distress, it was just another ministry "I dont want to watch this guy" bumbling about. Why even have "the ministry?" Third in the "Worst episode list," second only to "Epic" and "Gnaws."