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)
