Yes! This is exactly what I hoped to find when I spotted that handful of
DVDs. THE AVENGERS? Hey, I remember watching that many years ago, let's
see how much money I have on me....
As always, SPOILERS piled chest-high.
"The Cybernauts" is a terrific thriller that has some of the feel of a
Hammer horror film. (I really expected Christopher Lee's Mummy to smash
through the door in the opening sequence.) The droll aspect of the show
is at a minimum this time, making the monsters seem like a genuine
threat. There is one chunk of the story which (while great as far as
advancing the plot goes) is handled so poorly it's embarrassing. But
that's not enough to be more than a slight speed bump.
Off to a good start, as we see a panic-crazed man lock himself in his
study. Although he takes a few shots with his pistol at the twin doors,
whatever is pounding on the other side doesn't seem discouraged.
Black-gloved fists smash through the doors and break them down, the man
snatches a shotgun off the wall and fires but with no effect. Then a
dark bulk looms between us and the victim, there's a whipcrack noise and
we see the man standing for a second with his head tilted to one side
before he drops. The staging on this is strangely unnerving; the victim
was evidently killed so quickly and cleanly that he didn't have time to
fall. On the floor, the barrels of the shotgun have been bent into a
U-shape by the attacker's swiping the gun aside. Strong fellow. Then
this wonderfully creepy "Cybernaut March" music starts up...
Our avenging couple investigate the shambles of the crime, with Steed
particularly bemused by the way the barrels of the shotgun have been
twisted. ("Whichever way you aim it, you hit the chandelier.") Mrs Peel
arrives with the file on the two previous victims; all three men were
top executives in the electronics field, dead with broken necks or
smashed skulls. Even as Steed wonders if there will be a fourth, we see
a Cybernaut repeat his habit of punching through a door, disregarding
bullets and dropping a man in his tracks (again, with that grisly moment
where the victim stands dead for a second before falling).
A common link in the crimes is that the men were negotiating with a
Japanese firm for a new "circuit element" that will make transistors
even tinier. (This means the Iron Man armor will finally be practical!
Call Tony Stark.) Steed goes to poke around the Harachi Corporation a
bit, but Emma tries a different tack. Feeling that the deathblow
resembles a karate strike she recognizes, she visits a local karate
school.
Here is where the episode stumbles and almost hits the pavement. *Sigh*
The scenes with Mrs Peel at the dojo just ring false in so many ways
that it brutally cracks my suspension of disbelief. Aside from wanting
to slap the smug obnoxious sensei (listed in the credits as "sensai")
upside his little bald-wig head, I found the way the students were
allegedly training to be so unconvincing it almost seems deliberate.
Emma has to prove her credibility by challenging the only female
student, a sullen blonde woman called Oyuka. Again, there seems to be
more judo than karate involved and the fight is staged quite stiffly and
in near slow-motion.
(To be fair, in 1965 very few of us in the UK or the States knew much
about Asian martial arts. Seeing a clip from one of today's (for
example) Jet Li films would likely have seemed nothing but a confusing
blur of motion to an audience back then. Of course, not longer after
"The Cybernauts", Bruce Lee started his dynamic demonstrations on THE
GREEN HORNET and Western audiences quickly became more familiar with
gung fu and other arts.)
I am also stunned by the fact that this sensei (he introduces himself as
"the Knowledgable One", very humble) has a student Oyama who is "a fifth
Dan at Judo, a fourth Dan at karate." The sensei says he is truly proud
of Oyama, but you have to wonder what sort of unbelievably high rank he
himself must hold if this is just one of his students. Maybe he studied
at Sinanju. It also takes a lot of gall to name yourself after the real
master Mas Oyama, who founded the hard style Kyokushinkai-kan. And when
this expert enters the dojo announced by a student striking a gong, I
lost all faith in research done by the writers.
Anyway, the karate angle turns out to be a wrong alley as far as the
investigation goes. The killer is actually (as nearly all Avengers fans
must know) a Cybernaut. That is, a radio-controlled robot with a stiff
metal mannequin-type head (no glowing lenses for eyes or anything like
that). The monster dresses up in the classic black overcoat, fedora,
gloves and sunglasses used by so many horrible movie creatures. Once
given his orders, the Cybernaut tracks a signal emitted by a fancy pen
that the robot's creator gives to intended victims. Behind this whole
vile scheme is not Davros, but another equally twisted genius also in a
motorized wheelchair.
MIchael Gough is (as usual) very good in the role of mad Dr Clement
Armstrong, owner of a fully-automated nearly human-free factory. Rolling
about in his fancy chair, surrounded by closed-circuit television and
other gadgets very hip for that era, Armstrong wants the Japanese
circuit so he can build an army of <strike>Cybermen</strike> and conquer
the world (diabolical laugh!).
Things get ticklish as Armstrong catches on to Steed's game (for one
thing, he's entirely too well dressed to be a reporter for a science
magazine) who traps himself in the automated factory. Earlier, Armstrong
had given Steed one of those infernal pens and sent a Cybernaut out to
track its radio signal. But sticky-fingered Emma has the pen (oh noes!).
Luckily, she herself is heading toward the factory because Steed is late
returning to her apartment.
So begins a suspenseful sequence of a Cybernaut stalking our heroes
through the darkened corridors and (just to throw another firecracker in
the mix) Armstrong has now unleashed a second robot =96 one which can
think for itself. I would love it if the improved Cybernaut had said,
"Who needs this?" and went off to work on math problems, but it's just
as homicidal as the first model. Luckily for all of us who want to live
free of a Cybernaut Empire, Steed and Emma is quick witted enough to
find the only solution.... pit the two killer robots against each other.
Nice thinking!
There are so many good points about this episode (and just the dodgy
karate sequence as a minus) that I'd guess this would make the top ten
list of many fans. It's amusing when Mr Tusamo predicts "computers no
bigger than a cigarette box, pocket television and radios smaller than a
wristwatch." What a wild dreamer! Next he'll be spinning fantasies about
portable telephones that can tap into a global information network. My
goodness. (It's too bad I'm such a cinema heathen, though, because as
soon as Bert Kwouk appeared, I was waiting for Peter Sellers to leap out
of a closet upon him.)
A typically delightful moment comes, when at the scene of one of the
murders, our idols check out the seven foot high man-shaped hole in the
wall. Who could possibly have done that? asks Emma, and they both look
down with wild surmise at this adorable little toy robot whirring along
on a shelf.
Mrs Peel understandably gets such a disproportionate share of praise
when this show is discussed that it's nice to see Steed slyly
distracting Tusamo so he can take some surreptitious photos with a
camera built into his umbrella handle, and that it's he who realizes the
Cybernaut will slug away at whoever holds the signal pen =96 even if
it's another Cybernaut. I think I'll make it a point to play up Steed's
contributions to the Avengers' triumphs. You might note that he seizes
the assistant's gunhand and rather deftly hurls the man the length of a
table in a neat somersault. The man in the bowler hat and tailored suit
is stronger than you might think.
You can tell it's a British show when Armstrong's assistant wipes his
sweating face with a handkerchief and says "It's very hot in here. It's
over seventy!" One of the intriguing aspects for me of English shows and
films was that the homes and buildings always seemed so damp and chilly,
so that the characters dressed well, compared to American programs. Even
a kid, I noticed everyone wearing sweaters or jackets inside and closing
doors behind them everywhere they went in their houses.
http://community.webtv.net/drhermes/DRHERMESREVIEWSHome/
|
