A joy from my childhood was watching reruns of the The Avengers. Much later in life I bought the DVD’s on a whim, and I will admit to enjoying watching the old episodes.
I have two years form the “pre Diana Rigg” Avengers. Honor Blackman (who was a Bond girl, Pussy Galore) did a fine job. It was clear that the production quality was a bit thin, and that showed through, but still they were enjoyable romps. Starting in 1965, Diana Rigg took the place of Ms. Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) in John Steed’s new partner, Miss Emma Peel, and the series was in full cult mode. There were 2 years of Diana Rigg episodes filmed in black and white. and they were awesome.
Then in 1967, they went to color. While the production values improved year after year, and the writing, one thing was lost in the transition to color. Miss Peel began wearing colorful pant suits and similar attire. Gone forever was all the black leather that graced the show in the B&W era.
Pity, that was definitely one of the charms.
(For the record, like most cult classics, the plot lines were contrived, the action cheesy, and almost all episodes had Miss Peel in a catfight. Hence, I will continue to watch the episodes.)
