The Avengers by Julie Kaewert

 

(pb; 1998: movie tie-in novel, based on Don Macpherson and Sydney Newman’s screenplay)

 

From the back cover

“She’s Dr. Emma Peel, an auburn-haired beauty clad in black leather and boots. He’s John Steed, the immaculately dressed dandy with the trademark bowler and umbrella sword. Together they’re the hippest, sexiest, and oh-so-deadliest duo of secret agents the world of international espionage has ever produced. They are. . . the Avengers.

“It’s called the Prospero Project: an ultra-top secret program conducting weather-control experiments with contributions from the eminent Dr. Emma Peel. Now someone has sabotaged the project, aiding a sinister group of conspirators who hope to control the weather as the ultimate weapon of world domination.

“The saboteur: one Dr. Emma Peel. Agent John Steed has been summoned to the Ministry by Mother to infiltrate the ominous Wonderland Corporation. To do so, Mother has assigned to Steed the most dangerous of partners: the irresistible Emma Peel. Is she suffering from a split personality? Or, even worse, does Emma Peel have an identical double, an exact replica who will use her lethal beauty for pure evil? Steed and Peel have only forty-eight hours before the detonation of massive weather bombs in every major city will signal the beginning of the end of the free world. With time already running out, the Avengers must learn the shocking truth before they themselves are terminated by the diabolical leader of the Wonderland Corporation. . . or by Mother Herself!”

 

Review

Avengers (1998) is a whimsical, flirty spy-action movie tie-in read with a touch of the strange, keeping with the tone and structure of the original 1961-1969 television / ITV show. Lots of unspoken heat between Dr. Emma Peel and John Steed in this iteration, with Kaewert providing plenty of their interior emotions behind their cool, sometimes icy dialogue. Unfortunately, the editors of the theatrical version didn’t see fit to put Don Macpherson and Sydney Newman’s screenplay up on the screen; it might’ve made for a better film, helped update Avengers for then-modern audiences. Solidly written and fun, this movie tie-in might appeal to fans of the show and/or the 1998 movie, who want to see what the filmmakers originally intended for it (its original running time was 115 minutes; the theatrical, only available version was trimmed to 89 minutes).

 

#

 

The source film was released stateside on August 14, 1998. Jeremiah S. Chechik directed the film from a screenplay by Sydney Newman and Don MacPherson. The theatrical film was a studio/Warner Bros.-cut version of film at 89 minutes; its original running length was 115 minutes. According to the film’s Wikipedia page, “Warner Bros. has no plans to release a director's cut or special edition in any form, despite the fact that director Jeremiah Chechik has offered to recut the film for free.”

Ralph Fiennes played John Steed. Uma Thurman played Dr. Emma Peel. Sean Connery played Sir August de Wynter.

Patrick Macnee, who played John Steed in the original television / ITV 1961-1969 series, played “Invisible Jones.” Jim Broadbent played Mother. Fiona Shaw played Mother. Eddie Izzard played Bailey, one of de Wynter’s thugs. Black Grape/Happy Mondays vocalist Shaun Ryder played Donavan.