Six more colour episodes from the Emma Peel era of THE AVENGERS and no, I'm not getting into an argument about whether these are from season 5, seasons 5 and 6 or seasons 5a and 5b...

First up, we had a Brian Clemens re-write of a Roger Marshall script (hence the writer's credit of "Brian Sheriff"), A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE STATION.

This is one episode that never quite works for me, despite a delightfully eccentric performance from John Laurie. Isla Blair looks quite nice as the bride, but I've always found the rubbish stripped-down Morse ("diddly-dah, diddly-dum, twiddly-dum...") incredibly annoying, and the plot itself is nothing special either.

Fortunately, things pick up a little with SOMETHING NASTY IN THE NURSERY which, like its predecessor also features a DAD'S ARMY regular (in this case, Clive Dunn). However, despite featuring the ever-dependable Paul Eddington and a pre-Mother Patrick Newell, this doesn't hit top gear either, and there's an incredibly annoying bit towards the end when Dudley Foster explains the plot to his sidekick.

The first disc ends with THE JOKER, which is pretty much a Diana Rigg solo adventure. This is really a remake of the Cathy Gale story, DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU, even down to the cut-up photos.

Sally Nesbitt is wonderful as the completely barmy Ola, obsessed with how words sound and teeth, while Peter Jeffrey could always be relied upon for a great villain. Despite this, it's not one of my favourite Emma Peel episodes, although the shot of her in a bra (black, for those interested) helps a little...

Fortunately after a rather average first disc, disc two gets off to a cracking start with the excellent WHO'S WHO???

From the ludicrous idea of a GP inventing a mind transfer machine, the whole Floral Network and the confused continuity announcer whose voice-over explains what's going on after each ad break, this is tremendous fun. Macnee and Rigg get to play parts other than their usual ones as they're bodies are now inhabited by Basil and Lola, formerly played by Freddie Jones and Patricia Haines, who are excellent as Steed and Emma. Even writer Philip Levene puts in a cameo in one of the best colour episodes.

THE AVENGERS was never big on continuity, but the Cybernauts spawned not one sequel, but two. The first, RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS is the penultimate episode here, but despite the presence of both Peter Cushing and Fulton Mackay, this doesn't quite match the heights of the original, although the Cybernauts themselves look as impressive as ever. Perhaps it's the bit towards the end with a robotic Emma, which has always annoyed me.

Finally, DEATH'S DOOR, which sees an attempt to thwart a peace conference using "dreams", except they aren't really dreams at all. The nightmare scenes are suitably spooky, and there's also an excellent scene in Becker tries to shoot Steed on a target range.

After the inclusion of that bizarre German TV interview with Macnee and Rigg last time, we're back to the usual follow the hat, picture gallery, cast bios and trailers (sadly not 1960s ones, which would have been fascinating). It would be easy to criticise Contender for this, but they're only licensing the material, so it would be unfair to be too harsh.

Picture quality is generally good, but there are a few annoying sound glitches on RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS.

Another enjoyable collection, with WHO'S WHO??? the best of the bunch. BACK TO THE TOP

THE AVENGERS:
THE DEFINITIVE DOSSIER -
1967, FILES FIVE AND SIX

Written by BRIAN SHERIFF,
PHILIP LEVENE, BRIAN CLEMENS

Directed by JOHN KRISH, JAMES HILL,
SIDNEY HAYERS, JOHN MOXEY,
ROBERT DAY

Starring PATRICK MACNEE
and DIANA RIGG


KULT T.V.
(CERTIFICATE PG)

REGION 2 (PAL)


RATING: 7/10


NEXT RELEASE:
1967, FILES SEVEN AND EIGHT

PREVIOUS RELEASE:
1967, FILES THREE AND FOUR