Oh boy! Now you're reviewing my favorite Honor Blackman episode, Propellant 23!!! I love Johnny Dankworth's music throughout this whole episode. Typical, whimsical and just plain great. Everyone's looking for the flask. Even the nosy pretty blonde who wonders into the coffee shop worried about the poison. Honor Blackman??? First class! I love the hate love relationship she had with Steed in these great shows. This one was one of the best. Her expressions when he says something that pushes her hot button. Funny. Thanks again for having me over. 😃

This was neat watching my favorite crime detective TV series with such cool guys as you. I am 67 and the first episode I ever saw was Escape In Time from the Season Five colour series. I'd never seen anything like it back in 1967 Friday Nights on ABC. Mrs. Peel We're Needed was always a great part of the show and the different variations of it. I like the one in Something Nasty In The Nursery where she finds a running little toy carousel with the Mrs. Peel We're Needed music playing like a music box. Ian Hendry? Honor Blackman? Linda Thorson? First class acts. Patrick MacNee, Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt were all The Best. I loved Michael Latimer as the Positive Negative Man and Roger in A Touch Of Brimstone. He even came back as a baddie in Angels Of Death in the NEW Avengers. Thanks for the memories. I've got the whole series the three and a half Season One shows and Seasons 2 thru Six complete. Thanks for having me over. 😃

Thank you so much for doing this! The Avengers is my favorite show!!! Just discovered your reaction videos! So glad to see people like you bringing attention to this awesome show!

This reaction is the closest to my own in 1987👍

Great to see new young fans of B7.

“He has one constant companion.” “Who’s that?” “… A little tin dog.”

The sign off at the end of the episode may have been from a WWII song that was played for the evacuated children. People forget that McGoohan was a child of world war ll. His birthdate is given for the Prisoner, March 19,1928. He would have been 13. The war would have been going on for 2 years already. Sheffield was bombed twice in December of 1941. 700 people were killed, 1500 injured, 3000 homes destroyed, 3000 homes damaged, 40,000 made homeless. 6 George medals were awarded to citizens of Sheffield for acts of bravery. I'm sure for McGoohan War and violence and death were a reality he lived with. Goodnight, children everywhere Your Mummy thinks of you tonight Lay your head upon your pillow. Don't be a kid or a weeping willow Close your eyes and say a prayer And surely you can find a kiss to spare Tho you are far away She's with you night and day Goodnight children everywhere Sleepy little eyes in a sleepy little head Sleepy time is drawing near In a little while, you'll be tucked up in your bed Here's a song for baby dear Soon, the moon will rise and caress you with its beams While the shadows softly creep With a happy smile, you'll be wrapped up in your dreams Baby will be fast asleep

It's a pity you didn't feel the same compassion for the man the "kid" shot down in the saloon. You only had compassion for one of the jailers who was an attractive woman. She didn't deserve your sympathy. How many others had they tormented? Remember she and the others setup the prisoner. The "kid" was unstable. This episode showed the danger the Village controllers played with in their various experiments.Wake up!

If he actually had the operation he might not remember why he resigned and any other valuable information. Lobotomies usually just left the patients docile if they were lucky and imbeciles if unlucky and dead for the unluckiest. Why Number Six was so special only the Village Rulers know. But obviously when he returned to his agency in Many Happy Returns Six was treated as an equal not an employee. Six was quite arrogant with the Village hierarchy and the Villagers as well. This makes me think he may have belonged to the aristocracy. Look at how easily he and Mrs. Butterworth understood each other. I felt Six was blinded by the class system in trusting her. You know just as the government was blinded by the Cambridge spies. Our kind just wouldn't pull a stunt like that - a bad show!

The ruling structure for whatever reason wanted Old Number 2 assassinated. The temporary or younger Number 2 knew that if Number Six reported the plan the Old Numer 2 would believe him because of his integrity. Therefore the temporary number 2 recorded Number 6 telling of the plan and then created the false multiple assassinations attempts to make Num ber Six appear crazy. The Watchmaker was drugged and hypnotized to create the bomb in the seal of office. Number Six only participated to prevent Villagers from being blamed and being punished by mass executions.

Dutton had been lobotomised. These episodes are not necessarily about the prisoner but questions about what had occurred or was occurring in the world or what would occur in the future. McGoohan had originally conceived of a 7 episode series. The rest are filler episodes, the quality varies. McGoohan worried about what progress was doing to the world. Maybe Globalization would be a better term. Remember the breakfast scene in Free For All. When speaking of cuisine Six said French. Number 2 corrected him and said international. In The Chimes of Big Ben Number 2 wants the whole world to become The Village. No distinction to be made between counties in government, customs or culture. Each writer was free to choose a subject that interested them. There are 4 scripts that were not filmed. McGoohan reviewed the scripts, might change them, often fired directors and took over their jobs himself. This is definitely McGoohan's vision. He had a good working team. Many had worked with him in the Danger Man series. The introductory music was the third try and even that one McGoohan had the composer pumped it up with the horns and drums to have a dynamic and dramatic effect. This series requires many viewings. It can change with what is going on in the world when you watch it. It was left open ended deliberately.

Now did anyone notice another serendipity occurrence in this episode. Mary Morris suggested her Peter Pan costume. Peter Pan kidnapped children and took them to Neverland island.

His mistake was returning to his home. It's where his enemy knew where to look for him.

Mrs. Butterworth looks familiar because she was in the A,B,C episode. She gave Six her earring to play on the roulette wheel.

The general is what got Six into trouble in The Schizoid Man episode. Six did not know The General was a computer and answered as if The General was a man. This is what set off Number Two's suspicions. This promted the Susan trap question.

I found the thought reading segment especially interesting in light of what is occurring in science/medicine at this time. In a January 6th article entitled "Scientists Concerned About Devices That Literally Read Your Mind" from Neoscope magazine. BCI's (Brian Computer Interfaces) have rudimentarily translated brain waves into text. BCI's have been around for 50 plus years in a more primitive form of course. Rafael Yuste, neuroscientist, expressed his concern about their future use. "The loss of mental privacy, this is a fight we have to fight today. That could be irreversible if we lose our mental privacy, what else is there to lose? That's it, we lose the essence of who we are." Brian scans, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI's) and electroencephalography (EEG) can be used to detect deception by measuring brain activity.

Lots to say about this one. It's a mixed bag of an episode. Lots of fun and excitement in the moment - the first half of the episode is strong, with an insane incarnation of the Master, the amazing action sequence with the plane, and the chilling death of Osgood (but which one, the human or the Zygon?). Then it kinda falls apart at the climax. Don't think TOO hard about the plot. Moffat seems to write clever-clever setup, write himself into a corner, then pull the most minimal stuff right from his butt to wrap up (see "The Time of the Doctor")... Ok, all season I've said I had things to say about the Danny/Clara relationship, but it had to wait for the end of the season. Here we go. Sadly, I just don't feel much about Danny in the end. He's got his guilt over the little boy, and that's supposed to inform his motivations, but it ends up making him sad. Danny doesn't want Clara travelling with the Doctor? Well, what better way to assuage guilt over the death of a child than, say, travelling space and time with the Doctor and saving innocents every week? As it is, he's trying to be controlling ("don't travel with the Doctor") while she's deceitful ("I'm TOTALLY not travelling with the Doctor."). It's a completely toxic relationship. Orson Pink in the future was just a huge ass fake out? I mean, didn't that episode imply, if not state, he was a descendent of Danny and Clara? Does... Orson Pink not exist anymore? That's a bad paradox from a fixed point. Why does Danny make a rousing speech to emotionless Cybermen? There's no plot logic to it. That's the writer giving the departing actor one last good scene. We're supposed to believe Missy hooked the Doctor and Clara up two seasons ago? Wasn't the point of Clara her time loop existence as the Impossible Girl all coming from her jumping into the Doctor's timestream, fragmenting, and influencing all his incarnations? Including being a childhood fear? But... Missy put them together? These are contradictory origins and illustrate my above point of Moffat pulling things from his butt when he realizes he doesn't actually have a good way to resolve what he's set up. "I brought you together because one day she would lead you to Hell." WHAT? So this implies Missy set up Danny and Clara (which would explain the toxic relationship - Missy hypnotized Danny into dating Clara!) then... Ran Danny over, I guess? It really doesn't make sense. I do like Danny's ultimate closure - restoring the life of the child he killed. Don't think about the plot logic, just revel in the thematic closure and Danny, at the very end, being a "good man." It took the entire season for me to like Danny Pink for one minute. Speaking of "Good Men," the Doctor has been wondering if he is a good man all season. At the end he decides he's an idiot with a box and a screwdriver who helps people. So, not exactly a great moment of self-realization. "Day of the Doctor" already did this, and better, with Clara, War, 10, and 11 in the "what was the promise?" scene. The Doctor and Danny... We never do get a reason why this Doctor doesn't like soldiers - especially with his reactions to the painting of the Brig and the Cyber-Brig. Right, this Doctor doesn't like soldiers so Moffat can drive some interpersonal tension into the episodes. As you two observed in the commentary it's to work with thematic points while ignoring plot logic. The issue is the themes can fall apart without plot logic. Like you two I've never been able to decide if Cyber-Brig is a wonderful tribute or utter desecration. It does become a cheap "Kate's not dead," and we know from how any times Moffat revived Amy and Rory that Moffat doesn't like killing off characters. He can kill Osgood - there's a spare. He can kill Danny - Danny was created to be killed off. Kate? Nah. Can't kill her. Heck, let's have Cyber-Brig be the last Cyberman, because, reasons. The Cybermen in this episode are wasted, aren't they? Other than the attack on the plane they don't really do anything (the Clara/Cyberman "I'm the Doctor" is there to... Um... Kill some time because this story doesn't need Clara until the climax in the graveyard. Again, do not think about the Cyberpollen. Where did the metals come from to form shells in graves? Moffat's butt. Missy creating Cybermen to offer as an army to the Doctor? Wow, all these centuries and Missy doesn't understand the Doctor at all. It's interesting in the moment. Don't think on it. Ok, I've bashed this episode more than intended. Let's come around to some good points. Moffat does punch some good emotional buttons here. Osgood's death is upsetting (and not reversed). Kate's shocking (if reversed). Danny, despite being a character I never warmed to, does have a great redemption moment with bringing back the boy he killed. That's some damn good closure. The last scene (before credits) where the Doctor and Clara lie to each other and say they'll be fine is nuanced. With season 7b I complained Clara was a plot device, not a character - well season 8 was good for her development. Rachel Talalay is one of the best directors working today, and any time she does Doctor Who she wrings out every emotional moment she can, stages thrilling action, chooses incredible camera angles, edits with pace, and makes the show look much more expensive than it was. She makes problematic scripts watchable and entertaining (despite all above complaint, in the watching, this IS a gripping episode, and it's only in afterthought all the "this makes no SENSE" comes out), and good scripts utterly magical. Capaldi is, for my money, the best actor to ever portray the Doctor. He's utterly compelling. Jenna Coleman is fantastic. She's got so much appeal, even when Clara is plot device, not character, she holds your attention. Her chemistry with both Matt Smith and Capaldi is among the best ever (no pairing beats the magic of Liz Sladen and Tom Baker, but there's a six-way tie for that #2 spot, and Jenna is one of them). Michelle Gomez is a force of nature. At the risk of spoilers (which I do avoid here), she goes on to become the best incarnation of the Master since Delgado. She might beat Delgado. "Goes on?" C'mon, how many times has the Master been "killed," only to return? Until the show gives us an onscreen death with a corpse, which is then cremated , personally, by the Doctor, they aren't dead. Even then, any future writer can bring them back with a hand wave. Missy's arc is probably the most interesting take on the character yet! But here, we stop. We can't discuss that yet. On to season 9 (after Christmas). Season 9 has some really good material in it, including one of those strong contenders for "Best Episode Ever." One of you knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about, and I expect two 10's when the time is right. On Capaldi being "the opposite" of Smith. This is common, isn't it? 1 - stuffy and upright. 2 - cosmic clown. 3 - dashing man working with the authorities. 4 - anarchic bohemian with a broad personality. 5 - quiet and humble. 6 - the loudest, brashest Doctor. 7 - the melancholic manipulator hiding behind humor. 8 - the romantic. Warrior - the man who makes the hard choices. 9 - the PTSD Doctor. 10 - outwardly the most enthused and personable (and the only version arrogant enough to regenerate into himself), but hiding the pain which causes him to crack in the end. 11 - the awkward introvert, and the old man in the young body... All basically neat opposite of their prior incarnation. I felt for years regeneration went a bit like this: nearing death the Doctor reviews their life, judges themself, and subconsciously decides to become radically different. Think of it as "THAT didn't work - next time I should be THIS!" (Which explains why incarnations so rarely get along. The future version is facing a personality they rejected, the past version a stranger and reminder of mortality...) I'm old. I've had this theory since the 1980's. Well, Moffat agrees - it's hinted at in "Night of the Doctor," and made explicit in Deep Breath. When the Doctor regenerates they become what they think they need to be at the time to avoid the mistakes of the dying incarnation. Of course Smith's Doctor - the old man on his last life in the young body - gets a new regeneration cycle, which leads us to... 12 - the young man in the old body. Now, we're one season in, so I can't finish this analysis, but this season the Doctor is, metaphorically, a teenager. He's sullen, prone to mood swings, questioning himself and his place in the world, pretending not to care while caring deeply. This Doctor in this season is basically a "13 year old" or so, just hitting puberty. If you keep that thought buried in the back of your brain you'll see over the rest of the run how this plays out. I'll return to it at the end of season 9 with my opinion on how the character has evolved. Outro.

Notable for being the episode where Steed and Cathy kiss for the first and only time... Some good casting in this, Kenneth J Warren is always good value and here gets to use his Australian background to adopt a broad accent and insert slang into his lines in a very entertaining way, while Lois Maxwell can be full-on Canadian and David Bauer can be Chicagoan (or is he meant to be Canadian too?). Harry Landis gets to sport an amazing scar, and spout Polari (a kind of cant or slang very popular with entertainers and persons of a camp persuasion, as featured on the radio comedy Round The Horne...). All the crooks are good. Tony Steedman is solid support as well - and Frank Maher gets to act, though perhaps because he was recognisable from Dressed To Kill they give him bleached hair and sunglasses worn constantly indoors. A few fluffed lines but overall quite entertaining. The plot isn't anything to write home about, but everyone is having so much fun it doesn't seem to matter. 8/10.

I'm glad they didn't bring "the woman in the shop" up more frequently. If they had, it would've felt more like being beaten over the head with it.

Was just thinking I needed to comment on this before you posted "Death in Heaven." Too late. In the prior episode I again noted the Danny/Clara relationship was pretty toxic and Moffat needed to really change things up. Then we hit this episode's shock opening. Yeah, that's a change... And a rare move to kill a recurring character so pointlessly and randomly. Add in the Missy reveal and we have an episode in which not much actually happens, but manages to be stylish, moving, moody, and effective all at once. It's an episode which is all setup for next one, but it's a great setup. Utterly riveting, and makes you want to know what's going to happen next... Although, given the week to think, with knowledge of what Moffat had done before, and with the setup given here, it's pretty easy to predict what happens next. My predictions were right. But there's on twist in "Death in Heaven" no one saw coming...

The next episode is the start of where every episode until Peter Capaldi's end I just fell head over heels madly in love with the show and every episode from here was like poetry that made sense of my own life and I still see the Twelfth Doctor as quintessential and I have no idea who those other twelve fellows are loitering in the foyer oh they must be the butlers

I watched this back in March. As I am watching in transmission order, I'd previously watched the sublime Dressed to Kill. This episode is nowhere near the standard of that previous one. The set design is inventive (at least for "Noah's Ark" - the shops are less interesting, though the weird bondage/slavery workshop had me worried, during Steed's brief fight there, that a rack of heavy metal items was going to fall over and injure the stunt person he was fighting). The scenes of Steed and Cathy discussing the case are prescient of Steed and Emma's later quirky activities when doing the same. But mostly it is a very distressing episode because the animals are clearly not having a good time - quite the opposite. It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. The characters all seem to belong to different stories. Godfrey Quigley is wasted, seemingly spending most of his time trying to wrangle an uncooperative snake, putting it in and out of its box with tedious repetition, and having a chatty parrot trying to eat his pipe. The chaps in the gunsmith's are an odd couple - the only really interesting character is the one who informs to Steed, as he keeps changing sides and seems cheerfully disloyal to everyone. The lady in the shackles shop, or whatever it is, is too bizarre even for The Avengers - what the heck is that business supposed to be? Happily supporting modern slavery and torture by dodgy regimes - doesn't seem like the kind of business to have a High Street shop anyone can stroll into. Even Edwin Richfield seems out of place, and his fellow hunter is irritating and useless too. Judy Parfitt seems unhappy to be there, too - again a good actor wasted in a dull role. All the villains seem written by numbers. I almost fell asleep. Only my worry about the animals' welfare kept me up, and that is not entertainment. One of the worst episodes so far: 2/10.

Sad bit of trivia: A hornbill died of a brain haemorrhage during the shooting of the episode, prompting a cruelty probe.

04.23 ish... can See where the Quiz Show "The Weakest Link" got its inspiration now. I am currently watching the series for the first time, enjoying your reactions and discussions in particular.

Always a joy to watch your reactions....looking forward to the next season....

12.20...are they saying "Fight, Fight, Fight" like Trump did (after he was shot in the ear ) ?

for me you have just met the best version of The Master. Michele Gomez hits it out of the park

been waiting for this :]

Not even close to one of my favorites. I don't particularly enjoy the kids. It's a bit of a gamble for the show to do a story with no villain, and where the Doctor basically doesn't actually need to be in the episode. Now, I've mentioned a few times before I'm not a huge Danny Pink fan (we'll have to wait until his arc resolves before I can go into all the details, since I'm being spoiler free), but this episode does show Danny at his best - how he deals with the kids. He's a good authority figure/teacher. He'd be a great father (Orson Pink, anyone?). Unfortunately, I'm still not into the Danny/Clara relationship. Wanting to travel with the Doctor and refusing to travel with the Doctor - not to mention not wanting CLARA to travel with the Doctor - isn't a small, niggling, unimportant disagreement at the top of a relationship, it's a fundamental difference in viewpoint and world outlook which is near-unreconcilable. Lying about traveling with the Doctor isn't a "white lie" or minor ommission which is inconsequential, it's a HUGE DEAL. Clara is traveling to other planets, other times and is constantly exposed to danger of death. While companion deaths are rare in Doctor Who, from the episodes this season, up to this point (meaning I am not drawing off my knowledge of future episodes, but judging Danny/Clara from how I felt the first time through as of this episode), Clara's lies to Danny are a huge red flag. From Danny's view she could vanish one day and never ever return, leaving Danny on Earth wondering what the hell happened to her, and cursing the Doctor for the rest of his life. To be blunt, Danny deserves better and should absolutely dump Clara - unless Moffat pulls some major and stunning reversals during the rest of Danny's arc.

This is one of the most fun episodes since 2005. The flatland creatures are the type of hard-sci-fi/heavy maths concept which would make Christopher Bidmead drool, and trapping the Doctor in the TARDIS is a fun way to pull off a "Doctor Lite" episode which doesn't seem like one (I'm guessing since all his scenes were in the control room, they could get a bit more out of Capaldi than many "Doctor Lite" stories. Boy, that Danny Pink/Clara/Doctor relationship is turning toxic, isn't it?

I’m missing something obvious. (The doors close with the cyberman eye cut outs)

This is one of my absolute favourites, just so much fun. Steed and Cathy are so cool and it's always lovely to see Anneke Wills in anything

My go-to episode for every New Year. Love it. Great to see the likes of comedy gods Leonard Rossiter and John Junkin doing something sort-of serious but sort-of way out. The deserted railway station gives me Sapphire and Steel vibes! This is a lovely spooky episode, reminiscent of Arnold Ridley's play "The Ghost Train" with everyone thrown together, suspecting each other, stranded in a station with a hidden adversary at work.

as well as Anneke Wills,i also spotted Leon Eagles-Jabel in The Face of Evil,and Richard Leech-Gatherer Hade in The Sun Makers

Check out Brian Clemens Thriller series from 1973 to 76. 43 mystery, occult, creepy tales. Whole series is in KZbin. " Thriller TV series 70s " will get you to it.

As much as I’m enjoying these, I can’t wait until you get to the next series…definitely my favourite series of the show.

Ive actually grown to rather like this, after being v cool about it first time round. I find it odd, amusing, I dont normally like lots of kids but these ones were funny , its more a mood piece than a story I think, so if you dont vibe with it there isnt much else to get into. But overtime and with distance, I low key dig it...Though in general I find I enjoy 'New' Who when its a series or two old, not sure why exactly.

The effects of the poison would take several days to kill him. So, with the poison in place, the rebels could stage their coup- knowing when he would die. Their plan was foiled because he died of natural causes, and the rebels weren't in place.

Yep, he has changed. He's lost Blake, the Liberator, Cally... what he did to Dr Plaxton, it's taking its toll...

Practically a different show to the last episode. Love it!

"This is NOT canon." I've never heard my thoughts on this episode described so well.

Isn't it a (poisonous) mushroom rather than a potato? :D I love the feuding chefs in this.

ZEN!!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

My FAVOURITE ever standalone :)

I really loved the ideas of the hidden planet, Moloch and the replicator... and it was executed soooooo badly lol. It's a shame. I feel like it *could* have been OK, but just ended in such a mess :(

First episode I've been a little surprised by your scores. I'm not saying it's an 8 or 9, but apart from the stupidly sitcom ending, I felt it was well done. They're all personal taste obviously, but I thought it might have gotten a 7 or 7.5 perhaps. I was just so pleased to finally see a little of Auron and Cally's people. The stuff around her sister, the cloning and the isolationist attitude and lack of immunity I thought was great. I totally agree with all your downs on the episode, I guess they just didn't affect me as much. You guys call these episodes so well, so I can't wait to watch the next one now :)

I agree that The Goodies possibly were inspired to write Lighthouse Keeping Loonies by this episode!

That incidental music at about 11.26 is also in a Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) episode and used at the start of On With The Show on The Idle Race's Birthday Party album.

For a Series opener for a new start up and sadly the final season. I just enjoy everything, Chris Boucher wrote and Actors and Directors position this story. It’s an episode I constantly watch over and over again.

One of my favourite episodes since Space Fall and Mission To Destiny. Amazing stuff. Clearly a bit more money and time to write if you ask me. Don't know if you know but as this came out just after Star Wars, the team were asked "Oh that film was great, can we do the same effects?" and when they said "Sure, if you give us a million pounds" they were told "Oh no, in your current budget" hahaha.