Oh, sure - plenty have used the name over the years. But ever since i first saw the opening to their tv show in the late 60s, these 3 were The Champions in my eyes:
Readers like the Mindbender will recall that i drafted a fairly elaborate feature on them back in ancient APA days. No and Every pun intended, but i'd gladly champion a BBC/ITC effort to revive the series. In those days, it was severely hampered by a limited (BBC limited) budget, though the writers tried hard to work with what they had.
For example, Craig shows us how to make an entrance and dispose of inconvenient guards with low budget super strength:
With modern effects and a fair budget, they could do some great things with the team these days.
But - Who were the Champions, and what were their superpowers? And what the heck is Nemesis?
Let's let Joe 90: Top Secret #1 give you the quick summary:
While quite a few British stars you might recognize have appeared on the series, you won't see that old man from the mountains these days. He was seriously old - Felix Aylmer was born in 1889! (I just thought that was kind of noteworthy)
More familiar names include Michael Gough (Alfred in the Batman movies before Michael Caine), Julian Glover (Grand Master Pycelle on Game Of Thrones), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Aubrey Morris (Everywhere from Dr. Zhivago to It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. This is getting old), Paul Eddington (you know him, Yes?), Gabrielle Drake, Tony Steedman, and Donald Sutherland...
...among many others.
Sutherland gets his picture in here because he tries to dress like a supervillain...
...sort of. I can appreciate that.
He also gets bonus genre cred for having been on The Avengers and The Saint (twice) as well.
Anyway, i get carried away because i've been a fan for nearly 50 years, but this was all just introduction for some comics. After the quick summary above, here's a bit more information on the origins of Nemesis and The Champions from the Joe 90: Top Secret Annual 1969.
(You can skip right past if you're not interested in background info)
And, finally, on to our comics. We have three short comics from the first 3 issues of Joe 90: Top Secret.
If we're really lucky, one of our UK readers will know who wrote & drew the stories.
That little tease about their powers at the end was typical of the tv show, too. It eventually led to what's generally considered the best episode, The Interrogation, in which Craig is kidnapped and probed for information about their powers.
...but, we eventually learn that it was Tremayne & Nemesis who abducted him, wanting to know how they accomplish their missions - triggering a rift between the team and their boss.
I'm not sure how many issues the series ran, but i think it was about the same as the number of TV episodes - 30. After that, Joe 90 merged into TV 21 and The Champions was lost in the shuffle since it was no longer on the air. The Saint (Roger Moore version) started up in the slot instead. (but Vincent Price is still my favorite version of Simon Templar)
 |
| If you're going to bring someone from the USA to star in a UK series, Prince Charming is a pretty good way to go. |
 |
| If you saw her playing opposite Kirk Douglas in Draw!, you know those superhuman treatments were holding up mighty well. |
 |
| If you ever look at that photo on the back of the Neuromancer manual
with the three of us staring off in different directions and wondered
what the hells i was doing, come back and look at William Gaunt here. (I let Troy be the pretty one) |
Readers like the Mindbender will recall that i drafted a fairly elaborate feature on them back in ancient APA days. No and Every pun intended, but i'd gladly champion a BBC/ITC effort to revive the series. In those days, it was severely hampered by a limited (BBC limited) budget, though the writers tried hard to work with what they had.
For example, Craig shows us how to make an entrance and dispose of inconvenient guards with low budget super strength:
With modern effects and a fair budget, they could do some great things with the team these days.
But - Who were the Champions, and what were their superpowers? And what the heck is Nemesis?
Let's let Joe 90: Top Secret #1 give you the quick summary:
While quite a few British stars you might recognize have appeared on the series, you won't see that old man from the mountains these days. He was seriously old - Felix Aylmer was born in 1889! (I just thought that was kind of noteworthy)
More familiar names include Michael Gough (Alfred in the Batman movies before Michael Caine), Julian Glover (Grand Master Pycelle on Game Of Thrones), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Aubrey Morris (Everywhere from Dr. Zhivago to It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. This is getting old), Paul Eddington (you know him, Yes?), Gabrielle Drake, Tony Steedman, and Donald Sutherland...
...among many others.
Sutherland gets his picture in here because he tries to dress like a supervillain...
...sort of. I can appreciate that.
He also gets bonus genre cred for having been on The Avengers and The Saint (twice) as well.
Anyway, i get carried away because i've been a fan for nearly 50 years, but this was all just introduction for some comics. After the quick summary above, here's a bit more information on the origins of Nemesis and The Champions from the Joe 90: Top Secret Annual 1969.
(You can skip right past if you're not interested in background info)
And, finally, on to our comics. We have three short comics from the first 3 issues of Joe 90: Top Secret.
If we're really lucky, one of our UK readers will know who wrote & drew the stories.
That little tease about their powers at the end was typical of the tv show, too. It eventually led to what's generally considered the best episode, The Interrogation, in which Craig is kidnapped and probed for information about their powers.
...but, we eventually learn that it was Tremayne & Nemesis who abducted him, wanting to know how they accomplish their missions - triggering a rift between the team and their boss.
I'm not sure how many issues the series ran, but i think it was about the same as the number of TV episodes - 30. After that, Joe 90 merged into TV 21 and The Champions was lost in the shuffle since it was no longer on the air. The Saint (Roger Moore version) started up in the slot instead. (but Vincent Price is still my favorite version of Simon Templar)
stills from The Champions s01e16 & e18, pages from Joe 90: Top Secret #s 1-3 & Annual '69 (1969)
You neglected to mention what everyone should know - Alexandra Bastedo has been a 'Babe of the Day' on my blog - more than once. I used to love the show as well, and remember the night that the first episode was shown. I also had the cards.
ReplyDeleteWhy, so she has. 3 times, even. Her first appearance on Crivens! is my favorite of the trio.
ReplyDeleteFor comic fans, it's worth noting that her final movie appearance was in Batman Begins, where you can find her attending Bruce Wayne's party. Off screen, she founded the ABC Animal Sanctuary in West Sussex. ABC = Alexandra Bastedo Champions.
She remembered.
Sadly, we lost her 3 years ago, less than a year after the death of her husband, Patrick Garland.
(She never got to see their friend Charles assume the crown.)
The way things are going, none of us may ever get to see her friend Charles assume the crown.
DeleteYeah. You can see it in his eyes these days.
DeleteAt least he'll be spared the Sun's inevitable "Mad King Charles" headlines.
Of all the British spy-fi and detective shows, The Champions and The Avengers were my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI *think* The Champions was on NBC sometime around 1967-68 or so. It may have been used as a temporary summer replacement, so maybe only about a dozen episodes were shown in the US. I don't remember ever seeing it in syndication, but I have seen most of the episodes on Youtube.
I remember Donald Sutherland in the "voodoo" episode, but I had forgotten that he once guest starred on The Avengers. (Was it "The Superlative Seven"?)
IIRC, at the end of "The Interrogation," Tremayne ordered the investigation terminated. Then the guy from Nemesis' Internal Affairs-type bureau said something like, "I'm still not satisfied that those three are trustworthy." And Tremayne said something to the effect of, "Well, I am, so you sit down and shut up."
I always liked the little vignettes at the beginning of each episode, although sometimes they contradicted the narrator's claim that the Champions' powers were a "closely guarded secret." Sometimes, they were rescuing somebody or responding to an emergency (Richard saved some kids from a UXB, Craig saved some kids from being run over by a truck), but sometimes they appeared to be unnecessarily showing off. Richard did the times crossword puzzle in a few seconds, and Sharron read War & Peace cover to cover while waiting in a check-out line.
I was living in the Philippines in those days, so didn't see it on NBC. While i don't recall where i first saw them, i do recall the vivid impression they made. That stuck with me, and when i started trading tapes with folks in other countries, that was one of the first shows i hunted down as soon as i could transfer PAL to NTSC. It took decades to finally be able to watch them all.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall the Avengers episode Sutherland appeared in offhand, and i got sidetracked on the way to the disks. (Seems like cheating to just go look at the IMDb or Wiki, y'know?) Thanks for sidetracking me, and giving me an excuse to go watch the episode. I so rarely do these days since i can't find subtitles and the hearing has gotten so bad.
So it took several playthroughs, but the scene ran like this:
The interrogator presses Tremayne for his feelings on Craig, and he confesses that "there's something about him that's almost... what's the word... uncanny?"
Interrogator: "And that doesn't bother you?"
Tremayne: "Of course it doesn't. It's not that kind of feeling..." Tremayne goes on to say that the interrogator would have to work with them as closely as he has to understand.
I: "There's so much unexplained! We just can't leave it like this."
"Well?"
Treymane grabs microphone, turns on tape recorder and adds a note to the file...
"Result of Craig Sterling's interrogation - Satifactory."
I: "Very well. I don't accept your decision to clear Craig Sterling. But my views are on that file, too. And if, at some time in the future...
Well, it's on your head."
and, yeah - i loved those little vignettes. Given their budget, often the simplest ones worked best - like hearing a lost watch in a field of tall grass, so no hunting required to find it.