The Avengers Forever: Guest Essay

	Guest Essays Page 1 of 14

RA-BOOM-DI-AY: TARA VERSUS THE SWINGING 60s
by Ed Brody

There are a lot of contradictory feelings and opinions which seem to surround Linda Thorson's tenure as the resident Avengers girl, Tara King. Many will openly state their preference for Cathy Gale, Emma Peel or Purdey. Many will, with an air of blasé, place blame at the feet of Thorson as the catalyst of the shows downfall. Many feel instantly obliged to explain themselves when they declare King as their favourite. However, many will (as Brian Clemens himself proclaimed) agree that the episodes in Tara's season were much more fully rounded and accomplished: the visual flair finally achieved the well-established niche which the writing had sparked with Gale, and perfected through Peel.

In no way do I blame either Thorson or King for any of the problems in this season. In a strange way, I mostly blame the 60s. The "swinging" 60s, at least.

The structure of "Steed and Mrs Gale" and "Steed and Mrs Peel" had always featured the coming together of a man of the past and a woman of the future. Steed was a self declared figure of a bygone age. Macnee himself equates the "Steed" which we all know and recall (the bowler, the rose, the umbrella, the coy wit), to the Scarlet Pimpernel. He wasn't a spy who relied on up-to-the-minute gadgets. He wasn't James Bond. Mrs Gale and Mrs Peel, on the other hand, we're advocates of feminism: stylistically and intellectually they were premonitions of the self-assured woman of Thatcher's age. The woman who took the lead.

It is my opinion that the coming together of these two stark opposites (remember: opposites attract), and the coming together of the two diverse time frames, is what gave The Avengers its "timeless" appeal. Because it isn't steeped in the literal trappings of the 60s, it can never become dated. The same goes for The Prisoner. They both enhance the "feeling" of the 60s, but neither the actual events (in fact, I can only recall a single time to which the 1960s was directly referred to in Peel's era -– by Steed in "Escape in Time", and even that felt awkward. And characters like the outrageously "60s" secretary in "Return of the Cybernauts" look positively alien next to the far more actual oddities of Steed and Emma).

Tara however, the way I look at her at least, is the absolute figment of the "swinging 60s London". In the way she dresses, her haircut, everything... she has a charming innocence and girlishness about her, but she occasionally appears to me, perhaps when she says a particular line in a particular way, as more of a Carry On girl, than an Avenger. She (unnecessarily -– the fault of the production team) embodies the almost stereotypical "kookiness" and "quirkiness" which is by-and-large associated with retrospection of the 60s (Austin Powers, anyone?). One imagines her swinging down Carnaby Street on her days off. Like the famous 60s model, Twiggy Lawson, Tara was a girl who represented the style of the decade by her visual appearance alone. She was a Mod. She fit into the 60s groove. Tara King was the embodiment of the 60s. Cathy and Emma were the aspirations of the 60s.

All of a sudden, The Avengers had one leg in the decade it had previously always stood parallel to, and one step ahead of. The dialogue and the trappings, were all basically the same as the previous season, but it was no longer "the past meets the future" it was "the past meets the present", and that made the feeling of the show, the relationship between the leads especially, less congenial. The character of Mother is also structural problem. He was great fun, but all of a sudden Steed was an agent in a hierarchy, with a superior to whom he reported. To add to the less comfortable relationship with his partner, Steed suddenly had the confines of doing what he's told by the boss.

The whimsical freedom of the days of Emma Peel, the carefree feeling people had become so fond of and had so phenomenally and universally fallen in love with, was gone. The Swinging 60s had taken over...