Episode 156: Tara King Era
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Production completed: 17 January 1969
UK Premiere (London, Season 7): 30 April 1969
US Premiere (New York, Season 4): 10 March 1969
In the middle of an antique shop,
Tara is grabbed and knocked out with chloroform. She awakens with a splitting headache in
1915, in a house full of people who call her Pandora. Seems a wealthy old man on his
deathbed has agreed to reveal his hidden treasure to a pair of diabolical nephews who have
brought the old man's dead bride back to life.
IMHO |
If I see Tara grabbed and knocked out with chloroform one more time, I'll... I'll... Well, you might imagine that
I am quite tired of this little device... Anyway, this one could have been better if they'd fixed almost everything.
Greatest liability: one of Linda Thorson's worst performances (ironic, as it is her favorite episode). It also
suffered from a lack of production creativity—Tara was drugged the whole time, but where were the fish-eye lens
perspective shots? It did have a neat Night Gallery ending, as well as a cute little
homage to Cathy and Emma, but it wasn't enough to earn it
another bowler, I'm afraid.
Trivia |
Screenwriter Jeremy Burnham was a guest actor who appeared in three episodes: "The Town of No Return," "The Fear Merchants" and "The Forget-Me-Knot."
Anthony Durrant writes: "It might interest you to know that the first person to play an invalid lord in a talking motion picture was a woman—Elsepeth Dudgeon in The Old Dark House. Apparently the director, James Whale, had offered the part to actor Dwight Frye, who refused to play the man absolutely, so actress Elsepeth Dudgeon was cast and billed under the name 'John Dudgeon.' Her invalid lord was the forerunner to the invalid lord featured in this Avengers episode."
BTW, both Emma Peel and Cathy Gale make cameo appearances in this episode—well, so to speak. Look for their names in the file room.
*This unofficial subtitle is by Yours Truly.
Best Line |
"I know she's indestructible, but it's further back than
that." (Steed's comment on seeing Cathy Gale's file while searching for an
agent's file from WW I)
Tag |
Tara arrives at Steed's to find he'd received her gift of the antique clock. But he politely requests that she exchange it, for it has something of a skull-splitting chime.
