Visitor Reviews
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The Hour That Never Was
by Experience Steedophile

I dislike the chipper, perky elevator music at the beginning of this episode. It really detracts from the moody atmosphere. While I'm griping, I'll also mention the goofy jacket with contrasting breast pockets worn by Mrs. Peel. Even Diana Rigg can't make that jacket look good.

References: when Steed and Mrs. Peel first investigate the airfield pub, Mrs. Peel briefly wraps Steed in a curtain, a reference to "The Town of No Return," when Steed wrapped her in a curtain. Also, there's this piece of dialogue:

Steed: "Thirty highly trained technical men just up and dance away from..." Mrs. Peel: "... Hamelin," a reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Trivia: when Steed enters the pub on his own after Mrs. Peel's disappearance, you can see the number on the building is 69 (no comment!).

Blooper? In the tag scene, when Steed and Mrs. Peel are riding on the back of the milk truck, at first Steed is sitting on the left and Mrs. Peel on the right, then in the next shot Steed is on the right with Mrs. Peel on the left, then they're back to Steed on the left and Mrs. Peel on the right. This might be a blooper, or it might be intentional cuteness, since what follows is a Keystone-Kops style speeded-up chase. Your guess is as good as mine.


The Hour That Never Was
by B.A. Van Lerberg

"The Hour that Never Was" is another of my favorite episodes. I think that this one has a similar feel to "The House That Jack Built," although the latter was virtually without humor. Still, both are true mysteries that leave you wondering what's going on as you watch.

Steed takes Mrs. Peel to a closing party for RAF Camp 472-Hamelin. Once they get there, however, all of the thirty-some-odd people believed to still be there are gone. Like Steed and Emma, we have no idea what's happening, we're just given strange clues to lead us along the way (stacks of milk crates, unconscious rabbits...). On the off chance someone hasn't seen it, I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it's not a let-down from the build-up.

4 1/2 out of 5 bowlers.


The Hour That Never Was
by Gregory A. McVey-Russell

This story is wonderfully creepy. It was a treat seeing it again because I remembered virtually nothing about it, so I got to experience the surprise all over again.

They replayed the idea of an abandoned base from "The Town of No Return" and took it a step or two further. Steed and Emma running around the empty base, with the piano going here and the razor going there, very much reminded me of a good Twilight Zone episode. Something's going on, and the answer gets only so close before vanishing again. The path is littered with bizarre clues: the razor, the player piano, the unconscious rabbit, the dead milkman. And then there is that horrific siren, which reminded me of the fire alarm in the building where I work. That, and the vanishing Mrs. Peel, proved too much for our man Steed. Mr. Macnee did a wonderful job of "losing it" in the canteen. Finally, Roy Kinnear makes a superb appearance as the spaced-out tramp, putting those shifty eyes of his I like so much to good use.

They held the suspense beautifully—so much so that it wasn't dispelled even when the base became populated again; it still seemed like a creepy place. Where did all these people come from? Why are they acting like nothing happened? The final answer, which did come at the end as David points out, is a good diabolical plot. My only gripe is the way it was revealed: Steed finds Mrs. Peel. He unties her, and pop! out comes the whole plot. I think it would have been better to let Dudley Foster's character reveal the plan slowly, menacingly, with Steed and Emma filling in details here and there, as he gloated. Ironically, in "Something Nasty in the Nursery," some complained (with good reason) that Foster's character explaining the plot in a dashed-off manner at the end to an underling who obviously knew what went on, sort of let the steam out of that episode. I felt vaguely the same way when Emma did a similar thing here.

But I can't hold this one flaw against it. "Hour" is a fine story with excellent acting and great photography. 3-1/2 out of 4 bowlers.


The Hour That Never Was
by Nick Griffiths

This episode has got to be, in my eyes, one of the best Emma Peel episodes, if not THE best.

From it's opening pan of the sun-drenched countryside to the sequence of following Rosey through the grass, this episode is an instant joy to watch. The clever editing of the sequence does give you an unnerving sense that Steed is going to hit that dog. But we'd hate him if he did that, so he doesn't.

The bulk of the opening sequence is great, with Steed having a whale of time reminiscing about the war; you get the feeling, as Mrs Peel points, "Amazing we had time to win the war."

There are some great moments of sinisterness in the early half of the episode, particularly when Steed and Mrs Peel are checking out the camp. I still think that when they walk into the Mess Hall with the party music going on and no party is a fantastic moment, and it's a pity that this isn't a Cathy Gale as that would be a great End of Act One shot.

Gerry O'Hara's direction is very good, and the spinning shots of Steed loosing his sense of orientation with the mystery sound echoing round is fantastic.

The notable feature is that the bulk of the episode has only two people in it. Roy Kinnear steals the show as Hickey the stamp-collector-hating tramp. Gerald Harper is also good but there's too little of him.

The fight on the other hand is fantastic, with lots of hard Steed and Emma action and the great music themes. I still think the Nitrous Oxide is amusing.

Overall a gem, criminally ignored. Five out of Five.


The Hour That Never Was
by Matthew Moore, a.k.a. Sixofone

Plot: Very good. A very intriguing, captivating, and mysterious episode. A mad dentist brainwashing RAF troops, what not to love?

Humour: Excellent. "I have a bruise in a place you'll have to take my word for" is a great line. I love the exchange "Returning from a mission, hunched over the controls, eyes rimmed with fatigue, the men groaning in the back." "Where had you been, the war?" "No, the local pub." Just Steed and Emma for the first twenty-five minutes makes for many memorable moments.

Direction: Excellent. Wonderful cinematography. Very creepy shots of the empty airfield. I enjoyed the fun camerawork whenever that sound started.

Acting: Very good. Nice performance from Roy Kinnear. And Excellent performances from Lady Diana and Patrick as usual.

Tag: Excellent. When a bad episode ends with an excellent tag it leaves you feeling ok, but when an excellent episode ends with an excellent tag you feel ecstatic.

Music: Very good. Good creepy music for the empty airfield.

Miscellaneous: Reminiscent of The Omega Man, a movie starring Charlton Heston as the last man on earth. This episode also reminded me of Danger Man an episode entitled "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove" where Drake had a car crash at the beginning of the episode and all the clocks were stuck at twelve.

Overall Rating: 10/10

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Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

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