I wrote about a few Emma Peel episodes, not only because those are the ones I grew up with, a mere boy at the time, but those were the only ones we got to see in Austria.
Some years ago the Venus Smith and Cathy Gale episodes have been dubbed and aired on ARTE. This was an amazing experience in many ways. First of all, the videotaped series looked odd and very old, slightly distorted images and actors waiting for their cue made it hard to believe that this was such a hit in the UK. And then there are two very different women, one very naive but lovely and relaxed, the other a professional, tough and modern. Steed does not wear his bowler yet, or only occasionally, and the stories often take place outside of Great Britain.
The humour and the odd stories are already there, although not that outrageous as in later seasons. But what strikes me the most was the incredible economy with which those early episodes manages to get away with! In "A Chorus of Frogs" almost the entire episode takes place on a yacht, though we never see the yacht from the outside, we don't see water from the ship's view, of course no underwater scenes, though the story evolves around deep sea diving! And no one tries to shake the boat to give us an idea of motion or being on board of a ship! Incredible!
In an other episode, which I think takes place at the Riviera, Steed sits at the "beach" in the sand, leaning against a wall (sic), we never see the sea, all we see are people in beach wear passing in front of the camera, and, at one point, a girl passing a ball waits too long before she starts to threw it... One can almost see the studio lamps trying hard to give us a sun feeling.
And so on, every episode is concealing things too expensive to show. This has changed with the start of the Emma Peel era, all takes place in the UK, so no one had to travel far for outdoor shooting.
Some years ago the Venus Smith and Cathy Gale episodes have been dubbed and aired on ARTE. This was an amazing experience in many ways. First of all, the videotaped series looked odd and very old, slightly distorted images and actors waiting for their cue made it hard to believe that this was such a hit in the UK. And then there are two very different women, one very naive but lovely and relaxed, the other a professional, tough and modern. Steed does not wear his bowler yet, or only occasionally, and the stories often take place outside of Great Britain.
The humour and the odd stories are already there, although not that outrageous as in later seasons. But what strikes me the most was the incredible economy with which those early episodes manages to get away with! In "A Chorus of Frogs" almost the entire episode takes place on a yacht, though we never see the yacht from the outside, we don't see water from the ship's view, of course no underwater scenes, though the story evolves around deep sea diving! And no one tries to shake the boat to give us an idea of motion or being on board of a ship! Incredible!
In an other episode, which I think takes place at the Riviera, Steed sits at the "beach" in the sand, leaning against a wall (sic), we never see the sea, all we see are people in beach wear passing in front of the camera, and, at one point, a girl passing a ball waits too long before she starts to threw it... One can almost see the studio lamps trying hard to give us a sun feeling.
And so on, every episode is concealing things too expensive to show. This has changed with the start of the Emma Peel era, all takes place in the UK, so no one had to travel far for outdoor shooting.