Episode 6: The New Avengers |
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The birds! The birds! A bird conservationist ostracized by fellow ecologists takes his revenge by killing them one at a time using trained birds. Even when someone is aloft in a plane, they are not immune to attack, as a flock of kamikaze birds will bring the plane crashing down. As our trio chases after feathery clues, Purdey arrives at the bird conservationist's aviary, and is trapped with a flock of twittering killers!
This one runs hot and cold with me. Although it is a fairly well-crafted piece of film, with a decent guest cast, particularly Vladek Sheybal as Zarcardi, I have a major problem with the premise: the "ecologists" being attacked contend that the bird population of the world must be reduced so that they are not in competition with humans for the food supply. Aside from being utter nonsense, it is reprehensible to contemplate, and I'm fully behind the "diabolical mastermind" in his efforts to protect our feathered friends from madmen who want to control or exterminate them. We've done enough of that already through the use of pesticides, loss of habitat, etc.—oh, all right, I'll get down from my soapbox now...
According to Television's Greatest Hits, this was the top-rated New Avengers episode for 1976. It may come as a surprise what the top-rated episode for 1977 was. A line from "The Hidden Tiger" gets recycled: "Pussy galore!"
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CAT AMONGST THE PIDGEONS |
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Written by |
Dennis Spooner |
CAST |
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John Steed |
Patrick Macnee 007 |
# DOPPELGANGERS |
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Patrick Connor |
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Peter Copley |
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Basil Dignam |
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Brian Jackson |
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Matthew Long |
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Gordon Rollings |
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Kevin Stoney |
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