the Champions

[sergebroom]

Back in the 1960s, there were spies everywhere. At least on the silver screen and on the TV screen. Among those defenders of Civilization were The Champions, who deviated from the formula by having 3 spies instead of the usual lone wolf. The trio, after a mission gone very wrong in China, found itself endowed with superpowers by a scientifically advanced culture hiding in Tibet and led by Isaac of York. (Not really, but actor Felix Aylmer did play Isaac in the Robert Taylor version of Ivanhoe.)

A few years ago, a limited DVD set was released for the North-American market, so my wife gave it to me as a gift. Some of the stories didn't hold up, but some did. Alas, the rest of the series was never released. When I recently got that software that makes my laptop capable of reading DVDs from any area, I bought the complete series from Great Britain.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AccLo_yQgFg )

Comments

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I remember this show. It aired in the US as a summer replacement sometime. 1968? 1969?

I dimly recalled the opening had a voiceover giving the backstory and delineating the trio's superpowers.

During this period of my life (which lasted about forty years), I would watch anything that was even a little bit science-fictional. I also loved spy shows. Nevertheless, I found The Champions underwhelming.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

When I watched the show again, I did find myself wondering why each episode had to have the narrator explain to us about the main characters's powers. Then again, we're SF people and we're used to fill in the blanks, thanks to all the baggage we carry.

I liked the show a lot, obviously, in those days, along with Man from UNCLE - Ilya was my favorite, and probably was for many males and females. For some reason, I never caught much of the Emma Peel era of The Avengers, but I rather enjoyed and still enjoy the Tara King stories.

As for SF, well, there was Gerry Anderson. In fact, I have this young nephew I've been thinking of corrupting with my Thunderbirds episodes.