Website News Archive
April 2002
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Website News Archive |
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If you like visitor reviews... 27 April ...you'll love this bumper crop:
What happened to the site? 24 April. While it may have looked to some visitors as though TAF and TheAvengers.TV were offline for five days, in actuality everything has been up and humming all along—you can see, for instance, an uninterrupted string of posts at the Forum. The problem wasn't with the site; the problem was with a function of the internet itself (for web geeks: apparently a corrupted slave DNS entry). I am sorry for the interruption, but it was all quite out of my hands—although it came down to me to finally find a solution, as I received little help from either the site or the domain host. Hopefully all is well, now, and we can all carry on as before. The reviews keep rolling in. 21 April. The prolific Terylene and another regular provide visitors with plenty of new reading material.
Rogue-A-Matic. 19 April. The Rogues Gallery has had four marvelous new residents added. They've been sprinkled around the page, so you'll have to hunt for them (if you Yanks remember the TV game Concentration, you'll get the idea—and you'll also probably feel a tad old, too...). Reviews, reviews, reviews! 18 April. A wonderful assortment to peruse:
Housecleaning and catching up. 16 April. The links have been checked, and a few duds removed. In the process I noticed a lot of sites out there have not been updated in quite a while—certainly not the case here! And now, enjoy two reviews by Percy Roland of Spain: "Love All" and "Split!" Happy tax day to the Yanks. 15 April. Here we are, barely a fourth of the way into 2002, and I already have the "letter of the year." John Peters not only expresses some touching sentiments on the show, but also flatters me beyond any reasonable measure. It's the kind of letter that can keep one's enthusiasm up for months. My thanks to John for allowing me to share his message with everyone. Gadzooks! It's eye-poppin'! 14 April. It is with great pleasure I introduce the first of many planned illustrated Rogues Profile Pages from Jon Woods Studios: head for the Rogue's Gallery and click on John Cleverly Cartney! Warning: extremely graphics intensive—and worth every pixel! (And it may not be Easter, but you'll find some eggs.) There's also some AvengerNews for Diana Rigg fans down under. And finally (wait for it...) still more new links:
And yet more links. 13 April. Just when you think you've found everything, some more oddities pop up. To wit:
In other news, I have learned today that certain future Avengers DVDs from Contender may be available exclusively through a single retailer chain (and not available through any other stores, real or virtual). Stay tuned for more details. A little of this, a little of that. 12 April. James Jaeger has written a compelling essay that is In Defense of Tara. Recent visitor comments are now online. And here's a small assortment of new links:
Finally, I've added a new feature to the site: IMHO. Yes, I know this acronym appears on every episode review page, but those comments only pertain to the episodes themselves. The new IMHO page is essentially "from the editor's desk," a place where I can mouth off about any vaguely Avengers-related topic I choose. It will probably be updated on a highly irregular basis (which is one of the advantages of web publishing—I'm not forced to follow any schedule). Unusual new images. 11 April. The first of the Avengers Image Archive images to materialize at TAF are, ironically, ones that were never seen at Alan's site. They provide a glimpse into that oddity in Avengers history: the stage play. Also new this evening is an Avengers Toy Range. Champing at the bit. 10 April. Judging by the rush of new visitor reviews received practically the day the doors were reopened, people must have been awaiting this moment for lo these many months. So, enjoy new observations on:
Also, some trivia added for "Man in the Mirror," plus another very bizarre new link: Milk Bottle of the Week! And keep your eye on Alan Hayes' Avengers on the Radio, where things are really hoppin'! New linkage. 9 April. An eclectic assortment of new sites/sights... The Museum of Broadcast Communications has a nice overview of the series, and bios for Diana Rigg and Joanna Lumley. Note that this is a framed site, so out of necessity the links lead to frame content alone (a perfect example of why to avoid frames). You can access the main site here. Also:
And finally, for fun go here and click on the Honor Blackman link. Didn't take long... 8 April ...to start updating the re-launched site. Received the following topical email from So Young Park at A&E: Due to the feedback we've been getting since my last newsletter, I am taking an official survey to determine how much interest there is in our offering the rest of The Avengers '68 episodes on VHS. Please send me a message at avengers@aetv.com and do the following:
The results of this survey will be a major factor in deciding whether we will be releasing The Avengers '68 sets 3, 4 and 5 on VHS format. So please forward this email to as many of your Avengers-loving friends as you can and get the word out about this opportunity. I really want to be able to offer these episodes to you on video, but need your participation to make it happen. The deadline for responding to this survey is Monday, April 15th. Many thanks for your continued support of The Avengers and A&E Home Video. I will let you know what the final decision is ASAP. Best, So Young. Back at the helm. 7 April 2002 The Avengers Forever Site Relaunch Hello, everyone! It's been a long time since I've written to you—seven months, in fact. Hard to believe it's been that long. Some regulars were wondering if I'd ever return... for a while, so was I. When I'd originally turned the helm over to Alan Hayes back in that black, black month of September 2001, it was to be for an indefinite period. By December I was prepared to take it back, but major health problems put me out of commission for several weeks. Then, the sheer enormity of the site revamp project—coupled with an unprecedented workload—forced me to keep postponing the re-launch one month at a time until I could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Had Alan not been willing and able to tend the site for me, the re-launch might still be months away. So, what's new? In a manner of speaking, literally everything. Every single page at TAF has been recreated from scratch with new hand-edited HTML and revised cosmetics. Although the content of most pages might look pretty much the same, each page has received anything from subtle editorial touch-ups to substantial rewrites. Plus, whole sections of the site have been completely reorganized, such as On Location (formerly Being There). And to top it off, a smattering of all-new material has been added, including: Illustrated Rogue's Gallery. Known for his terrific illustrated episode reviews, Jon Woods has created a fabulous new Rogue's Gallery where you'll find delightful illustrations of diabolical masterminds and their associates. See if you can figure out who they are, then hover your mouse over them for the answers. The Gallery will eventually feature special illustrated Rogue Profile pages as well—look for them in the coming months. Nine new visitor reviews, all by Terylene (a.k.a. Susana Grassino of Los Vengadores). New and improved screen grabs. Every one of them has been recreated to increase clarity, and they now sport highly irreverent and occasionally ribald captions for the amusement of fans who aren't prone to taking things too seriously. Plus, the available Tara King episodes feature fresh new DVD grabs, and her episode pages now all have "subtitles" by Yours Truly. New Section. For the sake of completeness, The Avengers stage play now has a page, which means that all forms of the program (TV series, stage play, radio show and movie) now have representation at the site. TheAvengers.TV family evolution: While we hang our flags at half mast for the decommission of Alan Hayes' superb Second Sight site, all is not lost. Many of the images from his Avengers Image Archive will be migrating to The Avengers Forever. Look for this to take place gradually over the next few months. Much more is in store for both The Avengers Forever and TheAvengers.TV. While I can't give too much away, you can expect to see plenty of exciting things happening in the coming months, including changes, expansions and additions. In other news: The Avengers eStore is now a completely separate entity at its own new URL. Like TAF, it has also received a from-the-ground-up rebuild. Look for new features to be added to the eStore in the coming months. Finally, there is a new book in the making as you read this that should be of interest. Provisionally entitled Reading Between Designs: Design and the Generation of Meaning in The Avengers, The Prisoner and Doctor Who by Piers Britton and Simon Barker, it is being published by the University of Texas for release in Spring 2003. What will make this book particularly special (at least for me) is that it will feature an image I created! One of the authors came across the Steed's Flat page and contacted me to ask permission to use one of the panoramas; I will be creating a higher-resolution version for the book. And now I must make some acknowledgements. First and foremost, Alan Hayes has gone above and beyond the call of duty in his role as TAF's proxy webmaster. He didn't just keep the site dusted off with occasional updates to this page (which, to be honest, is all that I'd expected); instead, he contributed substantially to the quality and quantity of the site's content, making numerous technical and editorial corrections as well as adding whole new features. And so he has most certainly saved TAF from the creeping death that overtakes so many websites. Alan was not my sole source of assistance during my sabbatical; his wife Alys, Mike Noon, and Carlos Pagés all provided enormous emotional support while I struggled with many real-life issues. I am indebted to them for life. It's ironic: as much as the internet might seem to be a wasteland, it is at the same time the very thing that has made close friends of five people flung all across the globe. And that friendship is, among other things, the synergy that helps to propel our sites onward. Best regards to all, David K. Smith |
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