When they did them as comic books, the title had to be changed to Steed and Mrs. Peel. That caused endless confusion in comic books stores when people flocked in for the new Avengers book.
They were pretty good. I got the first two, but I wasn’t a regular comic reader in those days so with a year’s wait I never realized that a third one was produced.
I couldn’t watch the film Avengers long enough even to get to Sean Connery. It’s on the list for Worst Film Ever. My dream would have been for Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson to play them while they were still young and married.
The first time I heard the title, I definitely thought it referred to the British T.V. series. Over time and exposure to the massive media campaign, I grasped the difference. I think it was the Farmer’s Insurance commercial that finally planted the Marvel superheroes firmly in my brain in association with the movie.
Honest to Og, I have not seen any advertising for this movie. I’m not trying to paint myself as some sort of proud luddite, either.
Could be that I haven’t done much retail shopping in the past 6 months (if I do it’s like, in the housewares section at Target or just the grocery store.) Could be that I don’t have cable and have not seen any target-audience movies in that time (I’ve seen movies just not ones with the right previews). I don’t get the paper or cruise entertainment sites - even though I have been to entertainment sites in that time. I go to fast food places, only just in the drive through. I also use AdBlock so I don’t see internet ads.
I suspect if I watched tv with commercials, went into toy or clothing sections in department stores, flipped through current entertainment magazines or sites or stood in line at a fast food joint I’d have seen it. But I totally missed it.
I even saw photos from a film shoot in my friend’s neighborhood last summer. No characters in costume so I still didn’t know.
Trust me, I don’t think I’m normal in these regards and am plenty embarrassed that I have been clueless when it comes to this movie.
I did play against a friend in Draw Something about a month ago and he started drawing some characters from The Avengers and once he finished Captain America and The Hulk I got the clue. Still didn’t make me sure that the new movie was the same characters
Marketing, shmarketing. I don’t look at that stuff. I haven’t read a comic book since the 70’s and even though I had a job up till last year building movie theater displays, I don’t follow those types of shows. AND part of the movie was filmed right outside my building, we had extras sitting in front of my store every night, and still, every single time I hear “The Avengers” my first thought is John Steed and Emma Peel. Don’t care how much money Marvel makes…my Avengers wear bowler hats and black catsuits and have better dialogue! Heck, I even campaigned to procure the logo for our company to use for crew members, and still…my first thought, each and every time… once you are hooked, you are hooked!
Sounds sort of how I felt in the lead-up to Avatar. I saw some of the concept art for the human war machines and thought “Man, I knew the Fire Nation was starting on industrial tech, but that’s a huge stretch”.
I thought: the character isn’t supposed to be blue. The Avatar has long blond hair, armor, and a red cape. The space stuff isn’t so weird; apparently Ultima I had a space combat part.
Scott Simon of NPR had been a huge fan of Mrs. Peel in his teens and later recalled that, when he finally had the chance, as a cub reporter, to interview Diana Rigg, his first hard-hitting question was something along the lines of, “What is it, ma’am, that makes you so wonderful?”
I enjoyed the bits in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, when Kwai Chang Kang got together with all his buddies from days gone by, but not under these names: John Steed, Napoleon Solo, The Saint, and Elliot Ness (since they already had Robert Stack on the payroll).
And, for me, the Steed/Peel Avengers movie is working the other way around… I keep seeing it in used DVD stores and think “wtf, it isn’t even OUT yet…?”
“The Avengers” Marvel comic made its debut in September, 1963. “The Avengers” television show made its debut in the US in October 1965. I also thought the new TV show might be about the superheroes.
Initially, I was disappointed as well. But I was 14 in October '65. One look at Mrs. Peel and I was hooked!
I’ve never heard of the guy and can’t defend him, but there are many, many steps between screenwriting and filming and final editing with things can go wrong. TVTropes on Executive Meddling says:
Doesn’t mention the writer, but mind this is after the director probably still made his own changes.
My mom liked The Avengers, and the revival, The New Avengers. By the time I found out about them as a kid, I already knew the Avengers as the superheroes from the comics, and finding out there was a totally different Avengers threw me at first–for what, a few minutes? Seconds?
I like them both.
I have those. They came out about 7 months apart, as I recall, so each has a different copyright year. Ian Gibson art, which is highly stylized but pretty nice. Rather goofy stories.
