THE AVENGERS - Season 05, Episode 10 - "Never, Never Say Die" (1967)

It's a Wassail Wenesday here in The Dungeon, so break out the hot-mulled cider, and let's all go caroling! Never mind then, here's another adventure with "The Avengers."

Season 05, Episode 10 of " The Avengers" was called..........

"Never, Never Say Die!"

It opens with a hulk of a man lumbering down the road!

Is it the Frankenstein monster again?

This poor schmuck is just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and plows right into the big guy!

Feeling horrible, he somehow gets the body to the nearest hospital.

The nurse at the hospital pronounces the man dead!

His fingers start twitching and the next thing you know, the dead man is sitting up in bed, and doesn't seem to be bothered by the incident at all!

He then decides to check out!

The big man is of course, Christopher Lee in yet another one of his some 281 credits!

In 1967, Chris Lee was also in "Five Golden Dragons," The Vengeance Of Fu Manchu," "Island Of The Burning Damned," "Theatre Of Death," and "The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism," and somehow he managed to keep up that pace for seven decades!

Meanwhile, Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel is chillin' at home watching some TV. The thing she's holding in her hands is a remote control! (Is it still considered remote even if it's attached?)

 

What's she watching on TV? "The Avengers" re-runs, of course!

You won't believe what happens next, the same guy hits him again!

It seems like this guy is some kind of robot, and every time a radio gets tuned in to his frequency, he becomes a little disoriented, and some times a lot!

This is a really funny scene where this old man is out by a lake relaxing with his radio controlled boat!

Right about the time that he's gonna get chopped, he turns the boat, and Chris Lee starts walking in circles! 

Now you know why transistor radios are forbidden inside this test center. What they are really trying to do is get all radio signals anywhere near this area shut down or destroyed!

When he's not a robot, Chris Lee is Professor F.N. Stone which is really F.N. Hilarious!

This guy is really a nuisance to Dr. Stone. He's got all these different radios, and he's playing chess with people all over the world. Yep, that's the way you had to do it before the internet!

John Steed is sent in to try and figure out what's going on in this place, and he's giving Dr. Stone a big headache!

Isn't this a René Magritte painting or what?

They took ideas and concepts like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," and "Frankenstein" and pieced them all together like a krazy quilt! They've duplicated a number of different people, and by the end of it, you don't know who is real and who is a robot!

John Steed and Mrs. Peel are about to be disposed of by the overpowering strength of the robots, when the signal gets jammed, and the robots shut down instantaneously and just in time!

"The Avengers" is just one of the best action comedies ever!
 Literally, Cheerz!

TALES OF TOMORROW / "The Dune Roller" - 1952

Here's a wild little tale from early sci-fi TV, it's all about events on Lightning Island, where, a rock collected by scientists mysteriously crashes through the front door after the pebbles combine and quickly grow in size. The men discover that the rocks consist of an unknown mineral, and could possibly be from space. But, long-time resident Cap Zanse believes it's an Ouroboros, or, hoop snake, a legendary creature which rolls with tail in mouth, and blames the mysterious extermination of local animals on the Lake Michigan isle on them...

This episode stars Bruce (CAT BALLOU) Cabot, Nancy (THAT MAN FROM TANGIER) Coleman, Nelson (MOON PILOT) Olmsted, Lee (THE ROCKET) Graham and Truman (PRETTY BOY FLOYD) Smith.

Here's old coot Cap Zanser, he's telling Sally the tale of the Dune Rollers aka Hoop Snakes or the Ouroboros. He's all animated and says that he seen them with his own two eyeballs!!

Sam Thorne and Dr. Carl Burgess are studying some strange rocks collected on Lightning Island. After two small samples are placed together and a little heat is added, well, they change into one larger rock!

After another experiment, the combined rock books out the door after burning a hole through it... Hey, great conversation piece!

So, old Cap is at home during a lightning storm and he calls the doc to tell him that there are weird lights outside his place and he's going out and see what they are...

Well, it ain't hoop snakes, I'll tell you that... Stupid old men!

The doctor and Sam come across Cap, just laying there, all dead-like!

The boys go home to tell the girls about Cap. Knowing of the danger, Jean, the doc's wife, sneaks out and goes to Cap's place! What's wrong with her brain isn't exactly clear, but, she calls her husband and says there are some strange lights outside, and, she's scared shitless!!

Back at the ranch, Jean, who needs to be tied to her chair, watches her husband make a bomb, something he thinks will destroy the energy in the rocks.

Sam takes the rocks, tosses them on the shore and blows the Hell out of them with the bomb!

They really need to keep an eye on Jean!.. Anyway, the doc and Sam are happy with the results of the explosion and claim, all clear!

But, after they leave the scene, the rocks start glowing and change into this very weird thingie that seems to be crawling around!! Kinda creepy, really!

We end with this uncredited guy telling us about how the producers of the series are really into sci-fi and love bringing it to us! So, check in on Wednesday when we continue down the old XMAS trail, here, at The Dungeon!!..

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - "A Hit and Miss Affair" (1974)

The Saturday Night Special of the hour is the classic James Bond movie titled "The Man With The Golden Gun," so don't expect a whole lot that you don't already know!

 I usually watch movies right before I do this, but this time I watched this particular movie in October, and since there was no way to use it as part of the Countdown To Halloween, I waited until now!

 "The Man With The Golden Gun" was Roger Moore's second outing as James Bond.

 You probably know Roger Moore also as "The Saint" but before that, he had a starring role in three other TV shows.

 From 1958 to 1959 Roger starred in 39 episodes of "Ivanhoe" in the lead role, from 1959 to 1960, he starred in a show Called "The Alaskans" as Silky Harris for 37 episodes, and he was also Beauregarde Maverick on "Maverick"for 16 episodes from 1959 to 1961.

 From 1962 to 1969 he was "The Saint" for 118 episodes!

 I think Roger deserves to take a rest after all that, but he was really just getting started!

 His foil in this film is the iconic Sir Christopher Lee as Scaramanga, the hit-man who possesses the golden gun!

 Believe it or not, but Chris Lee and Roger Moore had worked together before in 1958, when Chris played Sir Otto from the Rhine in an episode of "Ivanhoe" called "The German Knight!"

 Who wears it better? Christopher Lee or Maud (Octopussy) Adams?

Besides the giant talents of Roger Moore and Christopher Lee, the cast also includes a giant of a man in a 3'11" frame, Hervé Villechaize!

Everybody knows Hervé for his roles on "Fantasy Island," and in "Forbidden Zone,"
but I didn't know until right now about an 80's music video!

Here's Hervé Villechaize doing his part in a very amazingly "Ambitious" music video by Jeff Beck from 1985.

Here's the whole video! Not a bad song, and I thought it was kinda funny!

All James Bond movies have to have beautiful women in them, and in this one, it's the always alluring and still kicking, Britt (Stiletto, Asylum, The Wicker Man) Ekland!

The same company put out another wine that same year called Uckphay Ooyay.

 If you have never seen it, yes, they are going to drive (If you want to call it driving) across this bridge!


You're probably asking yourself, how many golden things can a man actually have, and I'm here to answer that question! Over the years in movies and TV, besides a golden gun, there have been all these things!

 Starting in 1955, there's been "The Man With The Golden Arm," "The Man With The Golden Nose," "The Man With The Golden Bum," "The Man With The Golden Wrist," "The Man With The Golden Hand," "The Man With The Golden Tongue," "The Man With The Golden Ears," "The Man With The Golden Feet," "The Man With The Golden Guts," and "The Man With The Golden Brain!"

  Besides all those body parts, there's also been "The Man With The Golden Charm," "The Man With The Golden Cells," "The Man With The Golden Spring," "The Man With The Golden Egg," "The Man With The Golden Gloves," "The Man With The Golden Winchester," "The Man With The Golden Hat," "The Man With The Golden Touch," "The Man With The Golden Retriever," and "The Man With The Golden Voice!"

 
 Since everything's all topsy turvy around here, we might as well end at the beginning!

 
 Cheers!
Bottoms Up!
Here's looking at you!

Literally in the end, the master switch meets it's master!