Avengers '67: Set 4 [VHS]
This final set of episodes from the 1967-1968 season ofThe  Avengersfollows the delightful, pop-surreal series through the concluding chapter of Diana Rigg's involvement as agent Emma Peel. On tap is "The £50,000 Breakfast," in which a ventriloquist is discovered to be carrying a stash of diamonds in his stomach, leading Mrs. Peel and John Steed (Patrick Macnee) into an investigation that involves murder, dummies, and borzoi dogs. "Dead Man's Treasure" finds a mortally wounded fellow agent hiding important documents in the home of a racing enthusiast--whose driving "simulator" nearly kills poor Mrs. Peel with a lethal dose of electricity. Tape two includes the terrific "You Have Just Been Murdered," in which a gaggle of blackmailers and assassins accosts prospective victims with toy weapons to prove they can easily be killed. Steed and Mrs. Peel enter the fray, just as they do in "The Positive-Negative Man," a tense but amusing plot about an electrically  charged killer dispatching members of a scientific research team (and very nearly our heroes) with one touch of his high-voltage finger. The final tape includes the dark and scary "Murdersville," in which Mrs. Peel is kidnapped in a town full of killers-for-hire. Following that is the cheeky "Mission Highly Improbable," featuring Steed and Emma as shrunken versions of themselves after being subjected to a miniaturization device. The series ends--rather sadly for worshippers of Mrs. Peel--with "The Forget-Me-Knot," introducing Steed's next partner, Tara King (Linda Thorson), in a story about a traitor within the intelligence community. A coda in which Steed and Emma say goodbye is indeed unforgettable. Fortunately, the good times and quirky humor and whimsical sexuality between this perfect pair live on forever in this boxed set.--Tom Keogh