Department S – 30th Anniversary Special
Edition 7-DVD Set (1969 – 1970/British
Spy TV/Umbrella Entertainment/Region Zero/PAL)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Episodes: B
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero/0 PAL format
software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the
website address provided at the end of the review.
With The Avengers
the biggest hit of all the television Spy series, it become the most imitated
series of the 1960s, give or take the Adam West Batman. When it came to spy
shows in particular, they all wanted to be The
Avengers and one in particular was so obviously intent on it that it
managed to be the best of the imitators.
It helped that some of the talent from The Avengers (namely the final season with Linda Thorson) was also
involved in Department S, a hit
series about a special unit in France’s Interpol (a country where the Tara King
Avengers was as popular as it deserved
to be) that investigated unusual cases.
The other forerunner of The
X-Files besides Kolchak: The Night
Stalker, the series had a trio of investigators and yet another higher-up
they reported to, but with some differences.
Rosemary Nichols
(sporting a black hairdo similar to Thorson’s Tara King on The Avengers, though her fighting skills are
far from her counterpart’s abilities) played super-reference investigator
Annabelle Hurst, Joel Fabian played partner Stewart Sullivan who was more than
able-bodied enough to handle himself physically and Peter Wyngarde played Jason
King, a writer who lived the adventures he wrote about. He was not
a relative of Tara King from The
Avengers, produced by a different company.
The result was some interesting chemistry that lasted the whole run of
the show until it played itself out.
They would sometimes report to Sir Curtis Secrete (Dennis Alba Peters in
a groundbreaking role for a black actor) who was a federal official. You would rarely see that on The Avengers, but one not overdone here
like similar Mother/Alexander Waverly-type characters that can slow down the
narrative too often.
The Tara King episodes are indeed the ones this series is
especially interested in being like, as if the participants from that show felt
their ideas were not being fully realized or being held back by the world
already established on that show. It can
be no unlike Space: 1999 in its
first season when it had no qualms looking similar to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, yet still being
its own kind of separate world.
Sometimes the places where the crimes take place are overused (airports,
for example) making the shows less memorable and separate than The Avengers, Mission: Impossible or even Man
From U.N.C.L.E. (all reviewed elsewhere on this site), but Department S holds its own and has not
been seen in the U.S for decades. A
typical show will have memory lapses and/or time lapses that seem fantastic,
but turn out to be a trick by villains up to no good. Can the team stop the evil plot? It is very good at this and smarter than you
think. All 28 hour-long shows are here
and they are some of the best Action/Spy TV you have likely not seen or seen in
a long time being only available in Europe and Australia.
As the
titles are part of the mystery puzzle of each show, we’ll only reveal the
highlights of the guest cast of whom include Peter Bowles, Bernard Horsfall, Patricia
Hanes, Simon Oates, Bill Nagy, Richard Vernon, Jeremy Young, Anton Rodgers, Basil
Dignam, Stratford Johns, Dawn Addams, Neil McCallum, Sue Lloyd, David Sumner,
Paul Stassino, Edward De Souza, Michael Godfrey, Isla Blair, David Prowse, Alan
MacNaughtan, Kate O’Mara, Adrienne Corri, Eric Pohlmann, Angela Lovell, David
Kelsey, Nik Zaran, Michael Gothard, Eric Lander, Eddie Byrne, Kieron Moore,
Barbara Murray, Alan Lake, David Bauer, Fiona Lewis, Michael Gwynn, Patricia
English, Leslie Sands, Derek Newark, Lois Maxwell, Donald Houston, John
Nettleton, Tony Selby, Duncan Lamont, Guy Rolfe, Cyril Luckham, Jean Marsh,
Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Sue Gerrard, Robert Urquhart, Ann Bell, Iain Cuthbertson,
Patricia Donahue, Lee Montague, Frederick Jaeger, Michael Griffiths, Ronald
Lacey, Patrick Mower, Pippa Steel, Pamela Ann Davey, Sandor Eles and Anthony
Hopkins.
Another
Monty Berman/Dennis Spooner creation, the show was blatant in and made no
apologies in being like The
Avengers, but was in a more realistic world to the extent that
these are more like police procedurals and outright mystery tales than action
spy tales that build into something more fantastic with such a world to
match. Some may feel that does work,
others will not, but I like both series very much and feel both are underrated;
I am referring to the Tara King Avengers
as the earlier Diana Rigg/Emma Peel shows are universally considered the
classic episodes of the series. Whatever
the original approach of Department S,
it manages to develop into its own show just the same and that is why it is
such a welcome, enduring Spy TV series whose DVD availability is something to
be very happy about.
The 1.33
X 1 color PAL image very looks good for its age, with very limited color
variance between episode transfers and making one want to see a film print or
HD Blu-ray version. The show was shot in
35mm film and looks top rate like the best ITC/Lew Grade productions. Frank Watts was Director of Photography on
the show and he made it look really good, as he always did, while Brian Elvin
also lensed some shows that also turned out very well. Color is very consistent and nice, but the
blue in the opening and especially closing credits can be grey on some
prints. Still, that is a minor complaint
for how good these shows really look.
Some shots are even demo quality for the format which would rate it
higher than our average grade above. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (miscredited as Dolby 1.0 on the package) also sounds
good for its age including the dialogue, sound effects and memorable
instrumental theme song by Edwin Astley, usually sounding very clean and clear
throughout. This is one of Astley’s best
theme songs.
Extras
are many and besides the great box art (which is competitive with the many
clever designs for home video versions of this show going back to VHS) offers
trailers for other ITC/Umbrella DVD releases, guest cast profiles, various
production notes, original ITC pressbook text inside each case and rare stills
on all seven main DVDs. Besides a
mini-reproduction booklet with the set, DVD 1 adds a reprint of the ITC
pressbook in miniature inside the DVD case, Wyngarde commentary on episode #4,
DVD 2 adds UK/US promotion for the show, DVD 3 adds a trailer for the show and
isolated music and sound effects on Episodes #9 & 10 though volume tends to
be lower than expected so be careful upon playback of the shows and DVD 7 adds
Wyngarde introducing episode #26 in which Anthony Hopkins guest stars. That is a partial audio commentary
track. In all, this is a great,
involving set of extras and will remind those lucky enough to get their hands
on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. DVD set how much fun such
extras can be.
Instead
of continuing the show as it was and likely realizing the show had run its
course in content, Wyngarde’s character was spun off onto his own show. Jason
King had the writer/agent leaving Department S and going out on his
own. Not helping was how the Stewart
Sullivan character was being underwritten in the end, making him seems more
shrill than he was meant to be, or that Annabelle Hurst did no learn enough
self-defense or show it, ruining any character trajectory.
You can
read our coverage on Jason King at
this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8921/Jason+King+(The+Complete+Chapters
As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import
exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
