The Avengers Forever: The Young Avenger

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You'll Catch Your Death
By Joseph A.P. Lloyd

Direction: Three out of five. I have seen Dickson's work on The Champions, and I am glad to report that it is infinitely superior here to any of the episodes he did on the rival series. There are some very good camera angles, particularly when the specialists are murdered by a seemingly unknown germ. A good effort, but pales beside Fuest, Owen and Sykes in this season.

Plot: Two out of five. I do not know if anyone else has yet said this, but the plot here was used before in "Something Nasty in the Nursery," and again in "Love All." Burnham must have been extremely short on ideas when he wrote them, but "Love All" is so much better.

Original Music: One out of five. The main theme is high pitched and irritating, but one of the good points about this episode is when Johnson takes the "Invasion of the Earthmen" theme, and builds on it, adding a perfectly natural follow-on to what was not there before. Excellent, shame about the rest of the score.

With Music From: "The Fear Merchants," "The Bird Who Knew Too Much," "Invasion of the Earthmen" (months before the former was transmitted!), "Death at Bargain Prices," "You Have Just Been Murdered."

Wittiness: Two out of five. The lines are average, which is not bad considering it is Burnham's first effort when he is not in front of the camera for the series. An average score.

Action: Two out of five. A very dull episode, where not very much seems to happen, and there is yet another scene where Tara gets abducted with chloroform (I think this happens at least four times). The fight at the end is also non-existent. Oh dear.

Cars/Sets/Locations: Four out of five. A great deal of this episode was shot on location, and all the better for the cars, for we have here a Wolseley Six, a modified Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, Steed's Bentley and an AC 428 all in the same episode. The location filming is great, and we also see Mother on a very well designed set, almost as good as the strap-hanging one.

Introduction/Tag: Two out of five. An immediate introduction, with the inexplicable deaths happening extremely quickly is marred, unfortunately, by a very silly and weak tag, which seems to follow all the rest of the series in a downhill direction. This happens rather a lot, despite the content of the episodes.

Overall Impression: Rather a dull episode, and seriously hampered by a dull script, and Tara at her worst. Ronald Culver is wonderful here, but the rest of the guest cast, and particularly Fulton Mackay, who was so wonderful in "Return of the Cybernauts." There are also too many characters to feasibly keep track of. Tara really is not as good as Emma in any shape or form.

Rating: Five out of ten.