THE AVENGERS - "Return Of The Cybernauts" (1967)

Here we go again, it's time for the Saturday Night Sequel down here in The Dungeon!

 

The internet seems a little confused about "Return Of The Cybernauts." The IMDB has it as the first episode from Season number six of "The Avengers," that aired on February 21, 1968, and Wikipedia says that it is episode number seventeen of Season five, and aired on September 30, 1967.

 

Here's another interesting piece of information, starting with Season five, all episodes of "The Avengers" were filmed in colour, but since they didn't begin transmitting in colour until November of 1969, they were all still broadcast in black and white when first shown!

This outing we have the venerable Peter Cushing as the evil Paul Beresford.

Paul Beresford is worse than evil, because he's pretending to be John and Emma's friend, but his real intentions are to kill them in the most horrible way possible!

Instead of sending out a mercenary robot to kill people, Paul is sending out robots to kidnap people, smart guys who will be able to conjure up the most painful way of dying.

Why is Paul so mad at Steed and Mrs. Peel? It's because he believes they caused the death of his brother Dr. Armstrong played by Michael Gough in the other episode, and he wants them to pay for it!

6'5" perennial bad guy Terry Richards has the role of The Cybernaut.

Terry was in four more episodes of "The Avengers," an actor and stunt man in many films, and was the Arab swordsman that gets shot in "Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark," in this memorable scene!

Even though his intentions are to murder Emma Peel, Paul obviously also desires her!

Ami (Rentaghost) MacDonald almost steals the show as the secretary with a crush on herself, who gets tossed across the room by The Cybernaught.

Diabolical Paul has everything, including a huge two-way mirror so he can spy on his guests.

Who's that knocking at my door?

Patrick Macnee was born into a wealthy family, but his Father, a horse trainer, pissed it all away drinking and gambling, and so Patrick was raised by his Lesbian Mother, and her lover Uncle Evelyn.

Paul's captive scientists come up with a device in the form of a watch that turns the person wearing it into a virtual zombie, aware, but powerless to do anything except take commands, or in other words, it basically turns them into human cybernauts! This one is for Mrs. Peel.

Mrs. Peel is now powerless!

What an idiot, she's completely under his control, and all he wants to do is kill her. I think I could come up with something better than that!

Steed notices there's something wrong with Mrs. Peel, but not before she judo chops him in the neck!

Frederick (The Persuaders, The Pretenders, The Protectors) Jaeger reprises the role that he had in the other episode as the Bunsen burnin' Benson.

Ouch, that hurts!

They end up turning the tables on Paul, and the cybernaut squeezes the life out of him!

The cybernaut is deactivated, and this time Steed gets to push it over with one finger!

ULTRAMAN / "The Terrifying Gamma Rays" - 1966

Here's a wild Ultraman adventure when some unusual radiation from space turns a boy's drawing into a real-life monster, celebrated by a group of artistic children.

The class assignment is to draw monsters! Hey, I don't ever remember getting a class assignment to draw monsters, what the Hell man!

After being made fun of for his silly monster he drew for the assignment, one of the boys goes to a pipe storage yard and draws his monster, Gavadon, on one of the pipes. Then, a mysterious burst of radiation from space strikes the drawing, and...

It turns into a giant monster, a really weird one!

But the damn thing just wants to sleep all the time.

The Science Patrol is monitoring the situation, watch out for that wheel!

At dusk, the monster gets up, walks away and disappears... Then a star appears in the sky, the thing has left Earth to become part of the universe. The day is saved!

But, the kids color the the drawing of Gavadon and another burst of radiation brings the new drawing to life.

It looks more scary the the original version, but it still just wants to sleep.

The tanks roll in while the thing slumbers, and...

They fire away at the unearthly monster.

Hayata gets swept into pool so he pulls out his handy talisman and changes into our super hero, Ultraman!

Ultraman grabs the monster by its tail and swings it around and around before slinging it away.

He holds Gavadon over his head and shoots off to return the monster to space.

The kids are very sad to see their monster leave Earth, but...

A being appears and tells the kids that on this night once a year...

Gavadon will appear in the sky for all the children to admire.

After that, the Science Patrol will need to keep an eye on the drawings the kids are making of their monsters because there may be some bad ones!

THE AVENGERS - "The Cybernauts" (1966)

Right now, nothing appeals to me any better than "The Avengers," so that's what you're going to get on this fine Wednesday, March 2021! 

"The Cybernauts" was the third episode from the fourth season of "The Avengers," and aired March 28, 1966, almost exactly 55 years ago, and it's still just as good as the day they made it!

 

People are getting killed and there always seems to be an ink pen involved!

Not even a shotgun can stop the mayhem!

Steed remarks that this would be a good shotgun for shooting chandeliers!

Something big is at the door!

And after the death and destruction, another pen is at the scene of the crime!

This gal is supposed to be pretty tough, but Mrs. Peel disposes of her easily!

 

 This is a pretty funny moment that made me wonder if it was in the script or impromptu. Mrs. Peel is dusting the room, and then she dusts off Steed a little bit too.

 

Try and wrap your brain around this fact. KISS have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but neither Patrick Macnee or Diana Rigg do!!

 

The guy in charge of all the mayhem is Dungeon Hero Michael Gough, as mean Dr. Armstrong! Shame, shame, Michael Gough also does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

 

The big Cybernaut robots under Dr. Armstrong's control are tuned in to anyone who has one of his guidance pens on them, so he kindly gives one to Steed!

 

Boy, would I like to have this table full of toys!

Steed finally gets to meet the big guy while he's in his dormant state, but that doesn't last for long!

 

As it turns out, Dr. Armstrong has another Cybernaut working for him too, but this one is not a hit man, he's a maintenance man.
 

 

I love all the monitors in Dr. Armstrong's lab!

 

They plant the homing device pen meant for Steed on the maintenance man robot, and the two Cybernauts duke it out!

 

Dr. Armstrong loses his shit! He can't believe he's been foiled by John Steed and Mrs. Peel!

The two robots beat each other senseless, and become comepletely non-functional, and Mrs. Peel can't believe she was able to push the hit man robot over with one finger!

I'll be back on Saturday with the followup episode they did in 1967 that's in colour, that was called "Return Of The Cybernauts," so stay tuned