Since the Emma Peel colour season was largely written by Brian Clemens and Philip Levene, it's hardly surprising that only three writers were responsible for the six episodes here.

Levene contributes the first four, which are of highly variable quality. The first, FROM VENUS WITH LOVE was the season five opener, and is the best of the Levene episodes here.

The series rarely went in for much continuity, but there's a nice nod to the start of the previous season here as our first sight of Emma shows her fencing. Then - after the first of the new "Mrs Peel, we're needed" scenes - we're straight into a story of astronomers belonging to the British Venusian Society who are dying of apparent old age.

A cracking script, neat touches such as Steed's wonderful eye test, and some excellent guest stars - Jon Pertwee as the barmy Brigadier Whitehead, Barbara Shelley as Venus and Philip Locke as Dr. Primble - get this set off to a good start.

THE FEAR MERCHANTS sees things take a bit of a downturn. The plot itself is a bit dull. Ceramics businessman Raven turns to Patrick Cargill's Business Efficiency Bureau to find his rival's weaknesses.

There are a few good moments in these such the man finding himself in an empty Wembley Stadium and the car speeding to drive Crawley mad but the plot itself doesn't really convince. The BEB's plans seem OTT for the ceramics industry and Brian Wilde doesn't convince as the supposedly "young" Raven. On the plus side (and it is a major plus), Diana Rigg wears the most incredible set of Emmapeelers during this episode. "Quite revealing, I assure you," Dr Voss tells her when she queries the questionnaire she's answering!

ESCAPE IN TIME sees our heroes on the trail of an escape route, but can Peter Bowles' Tyssen really be sending them back in time?

Bowles is excellent playing four different characters, there are some witty lines and some typical AVENGERS moments in an enjoyable episode - Steed showing Emma Paxton's feet in the morgue and the escape route which involves passing stuffed animals from one courier to another.

Disc two opens with THE SEE-THROUGH MAN, which is the weakest of Levene's four scripts in this set, despite featuring the late great Roy Kinnear. There's a rare piece of continuity here, as Warren Mitchell returns as Ambassador Brody, but it's all a bit dull.

Things improve with the only Brian Clemens script here (although it's based on a story by Alan Pattillo), THE BIRD WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. On the trail of the missing Captain Crusoe, Steed and Emma get involved with bird-exhibitor Edgar J. Twitter and Jordan, the headmaster of a school for birds.

Kenneth Cope and Anthony Valentine make early television appearances, while DOCTOR WHO fans will recognise Ilona Rodgers (Carol in THE SENSORITES) as the lovely Samantha Slade.

The collection concludes with Richard Harris' only script for the colour Emma Peel season, THE WINGED AVENGER.

Apart from Tay-Long, a supposedly T-shirt wearing Sherpa butler, who is clearly not oriental, there is little to fault here.

Jack MacGowen is wonderful as Professor Poole, while Colin Jeavons (who never appears to put a foot wrong) makes another appearance in the series as comic writer Stanton.

Throw in Frank Bellamy's wonderful artwork, the fight on the ceiling (although why does the Avenger's cape not hang down when Emma's collars do?) and this rounds the set off nicely.

When reviewing the monochrome Emma Peel episodes, I usually concluded by noting the lack of extras. This time around, we've got some.

Most notable is three minutes from THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MISSING CORPSE, a mini-episode shot on the set of HONEY FOR THE PRINCE. Supposedly twenty minutes long, this was apparently all the material that was known to exist until a ten minute version was allegedly found in California. Hopefully that'll find it's way onto some future release.

With only three minutes here, all can really do is enjoy Valerie Van Ost (Penny in DEAD MAN'S TREASURE) as "The Body", who hides beneath a rug in a barely long-enough cricket sweater and fishnets before being escorted away by Steed...

The remaining extras are a trailer and some rather small photos, which are a little disappointing. Also disappointing is the fact that the last act or so of THE SEE-THROUGH MAN suffers from some slight lip-sync.

On the plus side, the red Associated British Corporation is present on most episodes, while the mini-episode features the old style ABC triangle. Packaging is also slightly better than before, with a sturdier box to hold the two separate cases.

Overall, a decent start to the Emma Peel colour episode. It's just a shame about the lip-sync problems and it would have been nice to have seen more of THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MISSING CORPSE. BACK TO THE TOP

THE AVENGERS:
THE DEFINITIVE DOSSIER -
1967, FILES ONE AND TWO

Written by PHILIP LEVENE,
BRIAN CLEMENS,
RICHARD HARRIS

Directed by ROBERT DAY,
GORDON FLEMYNG, JOHN KRISH,
ROBERT ASHE, ROY ROSSOTTI,
PETER DUFFELL

Starring PATRICK MACNEE
and DIANA RIGG


KULT T.V.
(CERTIFICATE PG)

REGION 2 (PAL)


RATING: 7/10


NEXT RELEASE:
1967, FILES THREE AND FOUR

PREVIOUS RELEASE:
1966, FILES THREE AND FOUR