Welcome to Zombie Strings, the podcast that watches all the zombie movies. This week, The Avengers. No, not the Marvel superheroes. The spy show from the 1960s. This episode is from 1967. Return of the cybernaughts.

You know, I've seen people act like that in pictures. What do they call them, zombies or something?

Zombie.

Zombie?

What's a zombie?

Well a zombie…there’s um... ...Mr. Bill there’s... ...the living dead.

They are the living dead.

Get me the zombies!

Against an army of zombies, no armies could stand!

The unburied dead are coming back to life and seeking human victims.

I’ve seen the dead rise.

Kill the brain, and you kill the ghoul.

I was surprised at there being cybernauts, like this felt very Doctor Who in a way that I didn't expect. Yes, absolutely. So I suppose we should pause for a minute and say, yeah, I mean, this podcast we normally do movies. We are in between seasons as it were. And so, well, we and producer Brad Prep for launching into the zombie movies of the 1970s, John and I are circling back. Because we're kind of interested in what TV is doing with the concept of the zombie during the 60s. During the 60s in zombie film, we have a pretty dramatic evolution of the genre. As we move from the zombies as sort of sad. silent, unstoppable assassins, yeah, to by the end of the decade, we are looking at at night of the living dead's cannibalistic hordes that are taking over the earth. So, I John and I are just interested to see if the TV shows that featured zombies, if they are kind of mirroring that evolution of the genre, or if they are doing their own thing. So, yeah, and that was really interesting, and I think we've had I think the last episode we watched had a certain response, and this one has a very different response, so I'm kind of excited. It does indeed. A John, I will get into it, but I think this episode had two distinct types of zombie in it. It did. And for folks who are wondering when we're going to get back to movies, don't worry, very soon, in the next few weeks, and I don't want to spoil anything, but in our first episode, we welcome back an old friend and a new friend. That was very cryptic, but I try. Yes. All right, so, hey, shall we jump into the Avengers' John? Let's do it. I think you are producer-bread. Yeah, I'm going to do my best, producer-bread imitation here. I have a lot of notes that are way less organized than what producer-bread does, so bear with me. I want to talk about the show Avengers itself, and then I will touch on the... There's a number of like very famous actors in this episode that I want to touch on as well. So the Avengers is a British TV show that ran from 1961 to 1969. And it is a real cultural artifact. it uh... perfectly embodies the swinging london and spifi vibes if you think of what austen powers is making fun of it's exactly this so bright colors jumpsuits uh... sound effects everything and attitude like i have an example i want to bring up later so remind me but there's a sort of blasey attitude about the whole thing that that anyway carry on Yeah. So, John, you're a James Bond person, right? Yes. Yeah. So, what is there are some a number of James Bond connections between the Avengers and James Bond movies? Is James Bond like a very well-established movie franchise at this point? Or is it still starting out? It is becoming a well-established franchise, right? We've had five movies since the first one that I've come out by this time. So the first one was Dr. No, and for Mosheworth Love, Gold, Finger, and Thunderball, And then you will only live twice. So those are the five movies that we're here and you'll only live twice as the same year as this show. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to get into there's some real bond connections and you're all getting to in a minute. But also the novels are well-established. I mean, the reason that the bond movies took off, partially is the novels were kind of a huge hit in England. And those started coming out in the 50s. So... Okay, so it is the era of a very particular type of spy show and spy movie that's embodied and so all right so The Avengers ran for quite a while it like totally revamped itself year two in it started out as a gritty black and white British crime drama right and it originally started. Ian Hendry as David Kiel, who was out avenging his fiance's murder, and it's kind of a grim premise for the show, which actually tracks with James Bond. I remember, you know, what I grew up watching James Bond movies in the 70s and 80s, and it was Roger Moore and Flip comments, not unlike this episode of this show, but I went back to Dr. No, which is a very different movie in 1962. And I was like, who is this thug? you know, like it was just had a total different vibe, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's interesting. So, but after the first season, they revamped the show. Ian Hendry left and they, the other actor who had been sort of the sidekick is Patrick McNey and they made him be the centerpiece and the main protagonist of the show. And for the rest of the show is run, they always paired him up with a woman partner secret agent. It wasn't always dying a rig as he was not. No. Oh, well, she's the famous like she's the most famous when I just thought she was in all of them Yes, she was actually only in it for about two years. Oh, wow. So over the run of the show three Patrick McNeat always had a female partner agent and the show went through three of these agents. The first one was honor Blackman who played secret agent Kathy Gale for a couple of years. For several years in fact and guess what? Well, I mean, I've hinted at this, but what franchise poached her to be in a movie? was a James Bond. It was James Bond. They poached her to be and I think gold finger. Okay, we are she played a character whose name I still have trouble like accepting that I know that this character showed up. You know I'm talking about, but that would be a pussy galore. It would, yes. Particularly a subtle name in of, yes, a famously subtle franchise, but yes. Yes, famously subtle. But with her, with honor black men's time on the Avengers, it started to make this shift into this very over-the-top swing in 60s, spy. spy action show with lots of bright colors, lots of 60 sound effects and plots that were not so much gritty anymore as they started to move into like comic bookie type plots with, you know, megalomionical villains and ludicrous plans to conquer the world. That sort of thing. Yes. The episode we are watching is from the fifth season of the show and it is the second season that starred Diana Rig as the as Emma Peel. And this is by far, this is I think considered kind of the high point of the show is her stretch of time on it. Yeah. Diana Rig as Emma Peel is kind of the ultimate like 60s sex skimble if you might and gogo boots, short dresses, old landish outfits and those kung fu. Yes, exactly. And Patrick McKinney played John Steed and Diana Regues was Emma Peel. And they were equal partners. Emma Peel was not subordinate to Steed. He wasn't giving her orders. And while Emma would occasionally get kidnapped and have to be rescued, Steed would get kidnapped and have to be rescued by Emma from time to time. So this was kind of a big deal to the point where I don't I don't know if we have our sort of, like, competent, badass female action heroes of the later decades without Emma Peel in this role. What I don't thought, Storm? I think that is true. Like I'd have to, I'd have to do a broader survey of movies at the time, but I think having a really the idea that a woman could be a spy in entertainment. and have and not and be a spy that does something other than like seduce men or something. Exactly. You know, is is new here, I think. Like there's probably, you know, if we were doing the, you know, espionage strains, our next podcast, we might have, we might have gotten to this point and have been like, have constructed history of women spies in cinema, but it feels new to me for 1967. So, I'll wrap up this overview of the Avengers in just a second here, but the show really peaked in popularity when it got into a spot on a prime time U.S. TV, and that made it a global phenomenon, basically. It wasn't James Bond again. It was James Bond. Do you remember? Which? No. So the Avengers produced two Bond girls. Do you remember which movie she was in? I don't. And I feel bad because producer Brad would know it off the top of his head. It was a diamond star forever. It was no. It was, uh, on her message, she could serve us. Do you remember what her distinct, what set her apart from all the other bond girls? I don't. She married James Bond. That's right. They got married and then Roger Moore's run starts with him putting flowers at her grave and like avenging her death sort of against blowfeld. That's right. Yep. So the show went on for a couple more years after Rage left, a new actress came on Linda Thorson joined playing secret agent Tara King. The show continued to really lean into its kind of comic booky silliness, and it was eventually canceled. There was a lot of production difficulties in its last couple of years. But most importantly, it lost out in a critical time-slat bottle. Time-slat battle. With, do you want to guess what show it lost out to in 1969? It can't be Star Trek. I don't think you've ever heard of it. No, I don't. It lost out to Rowan and Martin's laughing. get out of here. I mean, I have theoretically heard of that though. I've never watched it. That's Dean Martin, I assume. Yes. So unfortunately. All right. So the Avengers, an important show, very fun show. I do want to talk about a couple of the main people that appear in this. Yes. This episode was directed by Robert Day. He directed, I think, a total of six episodes of The Avengers. Robert Day was a, um, I saw him described him on us as a journeyman director. He started all the way at the bottom and he worked his way up to the role of director. He started out as a clapper boy. Do you know what that is? It's the person when they say action, and they hit the, and they smack the, the clapper, that makes that sound, and that's how you know, that's how the editor knows what scene. I didn't know that was called the rapper boy. It made me laugh. I had to Google it. So then he worked his way up to camera operator and cinematographer. He worked with a lot of famous people. And by the time he was tapped to direct a episode of the Avengers, he had filmed a ton of stuff in a wide range of genres, including the horror genre, which I think he does bring a little bit of that into this episode and we'll get into it. Um, he is known because he spent so much time operating with cameras, he had a real eye for, um, interesting camera angles, uh, which is openly one. Yeah. Definitely. I think in this episode. So, uh, and, uh, Uh, yes, that's all I think we need to say about the director Robert Day. So there are three famous people I wanted to talk about in this episode. The first let's just talk about Diana Rig, I think she's arguably, I mean, she's the best known character from this show. She, Diana Rig is famous and I'm not going to just redo her Wikipedia biography, which you can go and read yourself and I encourage you to do it because she's pretty interesting character, but she was cast at aid. How old do you think she was when she was cast as Emma Peel? I'm going to say 24, 26. So pretty close. She plays agent M appeal and the name M appeal is a pun on something. Do you want to guess what it might do you have any idea what it might be? I don't. Emma Peel, so when the directors and enlightened and progressive bunch, I'm sure, when the show runners were listing out the traits that the character needed to have, the main one was Man Appeal. which they abbreviated to M appeal and then as a joke they just name the character M appeal. So that may be gives you some insight into what they valued and their everything I need to know. Yes, exactly. Alright, so she was here in season five as the first season to show that was in color and it really brought out her outfits which she is very famous for. Like her like Patrick McNeigh, her co-star, she worked with some designers that made her very iconic 60s outfits. The first couple of episodes that she was in, she wore a famous black leather cat suit. You've probably seen a photo of it. Yeah, that's what that's how everybody thinks of Diana Reagan this yes John why do you think she stopped wearing the cat suit after a couple episodes I would assume because parents complained It's possible, but A, it was super hot, and B, it made such loud, creaking noises when she moved, that it kept ruining the show audio. So they had to say, I get to it. Yeah, I don't, and by the way, it's not like Hollywood has matured on from putting women in ridiculous outfits. I remember seven of nine. Oh, yes. from a Voyager. Her first version of that outfit was so tight she passed out so they had to the head to make it. That's just fantastic. It's not fantastic at all. So after that, they worked with her to come up with her new set of clothes which has come to represent the entire swinging spies in London vibe. John, do you so she came to wear these really recognizable bright body suits or jump suits? And John, I'm going to put in our chat if yours can't see this but maybe we'll put it in the show notes. These were so popular and so connected to her. What do you think they called the jump suits that she popularized? I have to guess peels. Close, so I'm gonna put it in the chat and why don't you tell us what you see. All right, Diana Rig and the Emma Peeler, that's original. You got it. I would call this a track suit with a belt. Yeah. Yes. A belt that's like six inches too low to work correctly as a belt. Yes. No, the belt has no support purpose at all. Yeah. Okay. Diana Riggci, this rocketer, he had rocketed her to a global fame, like other people in her situation, like Jerry Ryan that we were just discussing. She had a really, um, mixed experience with fame. She came from a theater background. So becoming an instant international sex symbol was pretty overwhelming and she experienced that friction of wanting to be known as the serious actor that she could be versus the demand of Hollywood that she just looked great in a jumpsuit. Yeah, that's so interesting and I've been thinking of that a lot. You know, obsession was a breakout hit. And I imagine that Indy Navarrette, I believe that this her name, who plays the lead in obsession, who was by all reports amazing, I still haven't seen it, and it's killing me. You're gonna like it. Yeah. Like she went from nobody to everybody in a month. And I just think about like, What is that like like I don't think I don't think you can watch each who hollywood story all you want I don't think it compare you prepare you for the actuality of that experience I imagine she gets like 10 calls about being in movies like a day right now, you know what I mean like yeah Yeah, no from my reading it was a really overwhelming experience for rig And so her co-star Patrick McKinney will get to him in just a minute, but he ended up kind of taking her under his wing. He was a really experienced, he was really experienced in the television industry. He had been in it for many years. He was older. And he would do cool things like when, the reporters would ask really invasive or rude questions during an interview. He would redirect the question to himself and other things like that. And they remained friends. He helped ease her, he helped her figure out what it meant to be suddenly really famous. And they were friends until they died, basically. That's that's great. Yeah, she worked for a long she worked for a long time. She did. She is in game of thrones. She yeah, her last major roles in game of thrones. She was I haven't actually seen game of thrones, but she was is it Olenna TRL. Yes. It's kind of I think it's a fan favorite role. I think she has a couple really memorable scenes. Yeah. I think so. And so after a couple of years of the decided to choose ready for a change, so she went and was a bond girl. After that, she actually went back to theater, which was her first love, and I don't know about you, John, but I actually know Diana Rig best from her many years succeeding Vincent Price as the host of PBS's mystery. I didn't know that. Yes, she hosted that for, I think, over a decade. Oh, wow. So, She had a really colorful career. You can read all about her. On the set of the vendors, she did a lot of her own stunts. So she was constantly getting beat up and we're going to talk about that in a couple of moments in this episode where she's her all the crossers. Yes, that was crazy. And Patrick Monique, make Nate clearly does not do his own stunts with me. And would you guess John that in the mid 60s? There was a lot of concern on set for the safety of actors. She is quoted as saying that the show runners had a quote about as much consideration for actor safety as a piece of old scenery. Wow. Anyway, the last thing I want to note is another way in which she is important is a little ways into her time on the show. She discovered that everybody else including like Rando members of the set was making many times what she was making. Oh, wow. So what was she taking on every week for 14-hour day, six-day week schedule? I don't know. 500 pounds. 90 pounds. 90 pounds. Yes. That's crazy. So she found out that she's being paid less than it almost everybody else. And she waged a big battle against the producers. Good. So for equal pay, they played hardball with her, but she won out. And I think that's another All right, I'm going to move on from Diana rig. She's really cool. I really enjoyed reading up on her as you can tell from all the time I just spent discussing her. You should Google her and check it out. I'll go quickly through the next two people and then we'll get into the actual show that we're here to discuss. Patrick McNeey plays John Stead, her partner. McNeey, he was expelled from college when he was young. Why do you think if you want to take a guess as to why he was expelled? for not, I don't know, for not wearing his uniform, for... No, it's a little more salacious than that. He was selling pornography, and he was running a student gambling ring. That's it! Oh, Patrick, which is ironic because in as his career development he became known as like a real gentleman, like a really good human being, but he was throughout the 50s, he was the very definition of what you like to call John of that guy. Yeah. He was in a ton of US and Canadian TV shows basically like Twilight Zone. Raheid every show you could be on he was on and when he was cast for the role of John Steed he was actually on the verge of quitting acting because he hadn't ever gotten a big Hollywood break and The financial instability of being working actor was making it hard to live, but right he took this role And he became the backbone of the franchise He was the only person to stay cast member to stay continuously on it across its entire run and Just as Emma Peel had a really iconic look he had a iconic look of his own. Do you want to describe what his look is? He looks like a very, very classic British gentleman who's got a pin straight suit, an abrella and a bowler hat. Yeah, he worked with fashion designers as well to kind of cultivate a unique look. The thing he brought to the genre is playing a secret agent who is mostly smart and clever and charming, rather than tough and athletic and awesome at shooting things. Right. McNeee was I understand a pretty class act. He backed up all of his co-stars who were much younger and newer to the industry than him. He would go to bat for them behind the scenes with showrunners. And he seems to have been a pretty quality guy and he passed away in 2015. I know him. You know what I know him best from? What's that? uh... he does the narrated he does the narrator who does the voice over at the beginning of the original nineteen seventy-eight battles star galactica does he really yes and i can hear him saying or the mian's or the tooltics That is Patrick McNeigh and I can't I can't unhere that so hey that's awesome. Yeah, all right. Well last person I want to discuss and then we really will discuss the actual episode of promise. I want to discuss well we got this episode has a guest star on it as with all of these shows. If it was like a mystery or something. You had to know that whoever the famous celebrity guest was was going to turn out to be the bad guy. Yeah, in case he's like extra clearly a bad guy. Like. Right. The person we're talking about is Peter Cushing. Yes, and he's famous like as with Diana rig you can go read is Wikipedia entry if you want to know I will just say he also started out in theater and then he did a bunch of genre rules he became a huge TV star in Britain and movie star and movie star and so by the time he guessed it on this episode of the Avengers he was an international icon he was a household name. Yeah. Interestingly, John, to both he and Diana rig both came out of stage production, stage acting. Oh, he's got stage actor written all over him. Yeah. And you know, they both gave the same reason when they were asked why they moved to film. And can you guess why that is? Was it money? No, it, well, it may, that may have been part of it, but they both cited that they just got really sick of the repetition of doing the same stage performance over and over and over. I think curious about that because that's got to be exhausting. Well, yes, yeah, he was on his own stuff, including some hammer films like The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula, and the director of this episode, Robert Day, actually directed Peter Cushing in a hammer film called Shee. And they brought they like brought that horror genre collaboration with them into this episode I think so that's interesting now what is interesting is in a lot of the hammer films especially the Dracula once he was van Helsing who is a good guy now and it just speaks to how sinister Christopher Lee looks as Dracula that you could buy Peter Cushing is not the villain of a movie so yes and out of course gen X's and everyone else knows him is grandma of target and stars the guy in star wars who is in charge of the death star basically holding Vader's leash that's right and Yeah, he is a del I mean what a delight. I mean he is when you see him on the board games by the way like there's this game called little wars He played he was like a miniature collector and war game player and like just he's just he's like a nerd dream, you know, yeah Like everything I read about him suggests that he was just like a super great person to work with yeah He was like best friends with Christopher Lee and I was going to ask you that trivia question what his hobby was, but yeah he had no sorry busted your trivia He collected thousands of like little model miniature soldiers and stuff anyway. What a character. Yes, all right, but that's all I want to go through because we have to actually talk about. Yes, now that was don't like to talk to the stock about the zombies. All right, so John, I'm going to, I've been talking for what seems like about seven hours. So I'm going to ask you to give us our 30 or 60 second overview of return of the cyber knots, season five of the episodes, 17 of the Avengers. This episode is about someone is objecting scientists. We don't know why initially or who is doing it, but it turns out that in a previous episode of the Avengers, a man named Armstrong had invented the cyber knot, which is an automaton robot that cannot be destroyed. And we learned that who has been abducting these scientists, is the cybernaut. And further, though Armstrong was killed, his brother, played by Peter Cushing, is alive and wants to take revenge on John's deed and Emma Peel. So he is using cybernauts to abduct scientists that can devise a sinister plan to take care of John and Emma forever in a way that is sinister and painful. and related to the topic of this and related to the topic at hand. So we'll get to it. Thank you for that overview, John. Yeah, first of all, this is like, like spies, like villain, spy villains always have elaborate plots. to like, do something that's like, you know, there's this famous, it's, I don't know if it's famous, I remember this SNL sketch when not John Belushi, but Jim Belushi was on it and it's like all the Bond villains gathered together and they're like doing a PSN, they're like, look guys, if you get them, just shoot him, all right? Just quit messing around, like, and so this plot very much feels like you could just shoot him, guys, like, you know? Yeah, this is a quite elaborate evil scheme. Yes. We'll get into some of the details. I don't think we need to go beat by beat through the plot. Why don't we talk a little bit about the opening because we're introduced to the cybernet, which I will argue is one of this film's two zombies. Yes. We get a cool opening sequence with 60s spy music and we see Patrick. McKinney, well, we see John Steed and Emma Peel, like kind of slinking around spiced aisle like this. Can you describe their on-screen like relationship? They're just incredibly familiar with each other, and there's just a touch of flirting, but not that much, actually. It's like they seem like two people who are just really comfortable with each other, but they're always sort of one-amping each other with quips and that sort of thing. Yeah, they got along really well in person, the two actors, and they would change up their lines to put in like little inside jokes for each other and to try and make each other laugh. So I think that sort of comfortable familiarity comes across their performance, but that's always doing this sort of like arch Spy arch banter with each other. Yes, can I like like here's what I wanted to say earlier about them being Blasay or Lasay fair like like the impact of this totally doesn't bother them, right? Like they're talking about, and they're just sort of casually tossing off that the world's going to end. You know, sort of thing like, like speaking of Austin Powers making fun of it, the best example was in the second movie, Elizabeth Hurley, you find out she's a fanbot and tries to kill him. And so it goes to Peter York, who's the spy boss, is like, oh, yes, sorry. You have no about it all the time. Anyway, like it's that kind of attitude throughout the entire episode, you know? Yes. Exactly. So this episode opens up and I was not surprised to learn that the director had done some horror based on the way this episode opens because it opens with a kind of zany series of camera shots as we just crazy. We approach the front door of a mansion. And that there must be 20 cuts where you're zooming closer in the door and then you zoom in at like 15 degrees and like you zoom zoom zoom zoom into your at the door. It's super noticeable and what are who breaks through the door into this house and captures? He didn't kill this. He captures these captures. So what breaks through is the perfect example of cheap British television 1960s costumeing, all right? It is a cybernaut and you know it's a cybernaut because it's got a metal head. Except I'm assuming they couldn't figure out how to make the eyes look good so they put sunglasses on them. Yes. Anna and a fedora and a black trench coat that goes all the way down to the knee so they didn't have to make like a whole robot body And black gloves and boots so he can judo chop hit the people he's attacking he looks intimidating and he's good just just enough robot face showing so you know it's not a human being Yeah, the glass is just really, it's just, it's just, it's still he can be in Cognito. Yeah, the look of it, it reminds me of like early low budget like Dr. Doom kind of, yes, if that makes sense, it does. So yeah, this is one of our zombies, unless just go ahead and talk about it. So so when I say that this is one of our zombies, John, what do I mean? Well, there are actually two zombies and we don't get to the next zombie till very late in the show. My initial thought, since I hadn't researched the episode, ahead of time, is it like Andy? Is this really zombie enough to be a zombie? Because he is an automaton, he's a scientifically created zombie, though he's made of metal. I don't know if there's supposed to be a real person in there, but they're like a mindless killing zombie that is controlled by a zombie master, but it's all scientific and electronic. Yeah, did this, I'm curious, did this remind you of any of the zombie movies we've seen? Just creature with the Adam brain will. I was thinking creature the other day. It was very much like that. Though he's metal instead, he's not a person with a converted brain. I don't know if he's a construct or somebody who's been converted into this thing. Yeah, he's the type of zombie that I in on earlier in the previous episodes, we've said kind of evolved into like the Terminator. Yes, or Jason. Yeah, like zombies of the stratosphere like kind of stuff it moves slow and implacably it's immune to like later in the episode people are gonna shoot at it and it isn't bothered you can't overpower it you know there's a bit right out of any zombie movie or slash movie you care to watch where somebody's running away from him towards his car He drops his keys. He has to run back and grab his keys and looks back in the entire time. The cybernaut is just slowly walk towards him. You know, we read it home in a fight at a 13th movie or in Zabilander, anything you care to mention. So. And I should mention, so the, I think the only zombie movie that came out this year. So remember, when this came out, we were one year away from Night of the Living Dead. Right. When this came out, I think the deadly organ was the, necessarily zombie movie. And I don't know that that would have been widely seen in the US. Probably not. But this type of zombie is like harkens back to like the 30s and 40s. Yeah, the 40s especially I think so, but we have a more zombie like zombie later in the show that we're going to get to. I'm just going to kind of sum up how this all begins. So the deal is that Peter Cushing's character, Mr. Barris Ferd. he wants revenge because his brother was a mad scientist to invented the cybernots. Right. Steve and Emma don't realize that he is the brother of one of their old archnamesies. Correct. So they're friends with him for some reason. We don't completely understand. Yeah, so he has basically insinuated him. He's befriended them. He has charmed his way into their social life. So like two thirds of this episode is him having them over for drinks, So he's trying to be friend them because he has this convoluted plot. He wants revenge on them, but he, and he would think, well, he also controls a cyber knot. Why doesn't he just have the cyber knot killed him? It's because he wants them to suffer as much as it's possible to suffer, like it's be too good at death to just have the cyber knot, you don't chop them, right? I guess. And because it's Peter Kushing, and he's like, can I want them to suffer? Like you can buy it because it's Peter Kushing right and he's just like in pure villain mode But like when you think about it for 30 seconds, you're like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard Can you like I try to I try to remember when you I'm watching him that like in real life This is like a kindly man. Yes, you know, it's these roles those hours and he's like they would Yeah, so There's a couple lines he speaks that are very close to Star Wars lines and I actually had deja vu like He said something about dealing with somebody later, and it sounds just like deal with your rebel friends later. They exact same intonation. And I just, you just can't unhear it when you've seen a movie a hundred times, you know? Yeah. We don't have a movie. I will say as progressive and even feminist in some ways as this show is, it still has that mid-century thing where it was quite reasonable for someone approximately twice your age to be, someone to be hitting on a woman. Yeah. Twice their age. Yes, which it just it seems really weird watching it with 2026 eyes, but um Anyway, so the way that Emma and Steve get drawn into this is basically a bunch of Scientists are being kidnapped so a lot of the movie is is them trying to figure out who is kidnapping the scientists and why they're Why a seemingly random like scientists from a wide range of expertise is are being kidnapped and John can you tell us why they're being kidnapped? well they're being kidnapped by Peter Cushing so they can this is great. He doesn't have a plan. His plan is to get scientists who are really smart and have them make a plan about how he's going to kill, steed and peel. He's like, your job is to come up with a cruel way to kill them. you can have any money you want but i have no idea how you're just you guys pitch me something you know he's like a studio executive i don't have any actually ideas here i just am hung in a higher people with ideas and tell them that they're bad if i don't like them yeah Yeah, they're like literally, he just wants him to brainstorm a way, a really nasty way to kill Steve. Right. Just really funny. Uh, again, a lot of effort to something like you could just run them over. It really is. It's worth saying that I really love his mad scientist set up because he, in his house, which he is constantly inviting, Steve and Peel over, like, for drinks in, he has a one way. mirror. Is it a one way or two of me? It's a one way mirror set up. So, Steve and Peel like so he's got this big mirror in his living room basically. And right on the other side is his mat of that wall is his mad science layer. Correct. Like got all these computer banks and he's got this like Igor style assistant. Yeah. And they can see through the mirror. And it just makes for some fun like visual moments in the film where it does. It's many as the question though, right? Like now, if you're watching a like there's a cop thriller and somebody's being interviewed and there's clearly an observational mirror so people can see you get this shot of the person being interrogated like side eyeing the mirror because they know there's other people on the other side of it and what point were people aware enough in society that they were that there were no longer going to believe that a normal smart person wouldn't understand that there's such a thing as a one way mirror you know what I mean Yeah, that that's actually fascinating question because I'm just she did just her hair in the mirror and John Steve like looks in the mirror and like They think nothing of it and it's a giant mirror. It's not like a little like it's like five feet across and three feet high. It's not like a tiny little thing, you know. Well, I think we're at a point in time where just the idea of like, of all this surveillance, felt really exciting. We've seen this in a number of zombie movies where the movie is clearly extremely excited, just to show you that the bad guy has a remote camera through which he's watching the heroes. Yeah, that is a theme in our zombie films. And maybe it's in all films, but yes, remote cameras everywhere. is very exciting. And these cameras are hilarious because I'm sure they're cutting edge at the time, but like, we look at them and they're like sticking out of the eyeball of a statue or something. And I'm like, I can see that from 100 feet away. It's on why it's a giant black dot on a white statue. Like, yeah. I'm just going to summarize what happens. And then John, can you just pull out a couple things that were fun for you that you wanted to discuss? The bulk of the episode is uh, one of the scientists is like a collaborator who's happy to help out, right? One scientist manages to escape and is recaptured, and there's various shenanigans that go on with the scientists, and um, it ends when the scientists present, bearersford, with the plan they've come up with. Yes. And so John, is there anything between the intro stuff that we've talked about and the revelation of the plan that you want to pull out, like any scenes or or moments? There are a couple like the scene I mentioned before where the guy's running from the cyber not it has a very strong horror movie vibe. Yes, and he's driving by the way, a Jaguar Mark One. Oh, yes. It's a very old Jaguar. There is a scene where the cyber not breaks into recapture and escape science. Yes. And I think they're in like Emma's house or maybe their headquarters or something. Anyway, it's shot in a very horror movie way. Yes. And that is also the scene where she gets like bodily hurled into a wall. I was like, that's got a hurt. Yeah, yeah. And clearly like, there's a couple of scenes where Pet and Higny has to like stay in in front of a car that's rushing Adam and dive out of the way. And it's like the worst screen painting like back projection. You've ever seen like you're totally unconvinced. Yeah, I would like to talk about their cars. Yeah, I was going to say, tell us about the cars because there's some very Yeah, so, but John Steed drives a 1930s Bentley Speed 6. This is why that's important. In all the books, and in the early books, the only, except for one time until like, if the Ian Fleming books, James Bond drives a Bentley convertible. Just like that. And in fact, his first car is in 1930s, Bentley convertible, very similar to one John Stede as here. He crashes that, I think, in Dr. No. But in any case, he then buys a 1953 Bentley convertible. Like, it's the same style of car that John Stede is driving like to the, to the letter. Now it looked to me like an old tiny it is it's like 30 years old at the timing of this. So it would have been like a retro car at the time. Yes, it's like the size of a bus. Well, that's the and there's a joke in the James Bond books we're like. We're like, and his his always slate gray is his requirement and it's like, well, nobody's going to run you off the road in this thing. Like it's they describe it as a tank, even though it's in convertible. So yes, so I think that is a direct call back to James Bond. Now, what is interesting? is Diana Rigg drives a Lotus Elan S3, which is a very cool car. At this time, James Bond, in the movies had that sweet Austin Martin DB5, the silver one with the bullet proof shield. Like that car is like that cool. it does look pretty cool and it looks so small compared to uh... that bigger when you that i think that's a little sports car and and john steeds car is a tank for sure yeah uh... oh yeah so what else john you want to call out before we get to view their sinister plot in the end game I don't want to give this show too credit for being feminist, they put this absolutely horrendous secretary who talks like a child who just wants to be famous and have been hit on her in the middle of the episode. It was excruciating. That was so. He is in it. They clearly thought this was a really funny character because she's in like three long scenes and it's really painful. It's really painful. The other note I took here is there's a lot of people flopping on couches. like like the cyber nut drags somebody into a cell and they throw them on a couch and then a guy guy is escaping cyber nut and he breaks into Emma Peel's house and he flops on a couch and then John Steve gets punched by a cyber nut and he flops on a couch like everybody's just flopping on couches like the whole episode. So yeah at the end of a whole lot of there's a lot of shenanigans cyber nuts are fought clues are tracked down. We did be enter is exchange. Can I say that I feel like John Stee just gets lucky. Like he feels very reactive. Like he is going to investigate clues, but I don't know that I could say he puts together a lot of clues. Like enough to say it's the same question. Yeah, the steed and peel are pretty passive. I don't watch enough of the show to know. I mean, but all of the interesting stuff is done by the villain. Like it's all the villain is doing the interesting stuff. And they, they kind of get pulled into it and they eventually kind of figure it out but not because they worked real hard to gain the information. It's work because it's totally sort of dawns on them what's going on. Yeah, they sort of figured out in between dinner parties with the villain, you know? You know, like yeah. I also love that Peter Cushing is like, somebody actually calls him on this. This is a classic narrative story trope like when the villain's doing something stupid. You have a lesser character mentioned, they're doing something stupid, and then you have them justified, and then that happens in this. One of the characters is why, you know, why to go to all this trouble. any base because it's a game of cat and mouse like you just you know so uh so without Peter Christian being ridiculously villainous like this whole thing would seem very silly it's still very silly but because it's got Patrick me and Diana Reagan Peter Christian like it just works fantastically all right so let's get to the final plan which involves So, but the scientists eventually come to Beerusford and they say, we've done it. We've got, we've come up with the perfect way, the worst fate that you could possibly suggest to get a person to, and it is. It is to put a device on your wrist. They, I think they turn them into wrist watches, but it's a device that interacts with your nervous system and makes you a mindless automaton that can be controlled by the person with the right control system. Yeah, essentially it makes you a zombie in the service of a zombie master, but it's entirely technological. Yes. And this is very much the zombie as a tragic figure for the zombie, because very specifically as a restated multiple times, you remain totally aware of what's going on even while somebody controls you. Your torment is that you're aware of what's going on. Peter Kushing hits this point multiple times, but they remain, they don't say consciousness, like, but they're aware of what's going on the entire time. At one point, Baris Ferd says they will not die and yet they'll wish they were dead. Yeah. So he's going to turn steed and peel into zombies. So the the the the the the mechanism, the way that they do this is like very complex and yes, it involves a lot of goofiness and they've got to like pick up their vitals and like they divine this device to like, why didn't even start talking about it? It's bizarre and I couldn't even tell you what happens. Yeah, they introduced some techno-babel stuff that I think I think could have been trimmed without really hurting the plot too much. Actually there's one bit I like is the one scientist that refuses to help. He's like, I figured it out. Give me this stuff and I'll make this device and then he brings it to Peter Kushing. It's like this box. Peter Christian is like, I see what you're holding, but what does it do? And he goes, this and he flicks a button and throws it on the ground. It's a smoke grenade and he spreads away, like, like, bad supervillain vigilance here. You need more. You need to think these things through a bit more. You have all these cameras. Why are they on your guys here? that causes them a lot of problem because then they have to dispatch the cyber not to go get them back. Yes. Yeah, it's a real problem. I wanted to say that I think we've seen this in a couple in maybe atomic brain, but any movie where they posit that you can use a little like game pad like controller. Yeah, control someone. I always embathered because like they'll push a button and then like the zombie will raise its arm for example. It's like did they dedicate a whole are there 356 buttons on this thing, one for each possible action you could take? It does bother me too. I'm like really, that thing is not that big. But they have to do complex things like a tax somebody and strangle them and like, you know, yeah. The barrisfer does put his sinister zombie plan into action. He gets peel to put on a wristwatch in which he has put a the zombification device. Right. It turns her into a zombie and she kind of goes blank faced and starts walking around exactly like a 1930s or 40 zombie does. Yep. The plan was to get a watch on seed as well, to zombify him. But due to some exciting happenings or whatever, he doesn't put the watch on. Well, this is why I say he's lucky like he just has to rush out the door and he leaves it on the table Yeah, yeah, or maybe there's maybe the man scientists is unlucky hard to say So Emma obeying the commands of Barisford, gets in her load as her cool car and races back to Barisford's house. Steed follows in his much bigger car that we've discussed. And then when they get there, he confronts Emma and says, hey, you're acting a little bit strange and she does everyone in this show and they need to subdue somebody, they judo chop them on the shoulder. Yeah, and then they fall over and so it seems like all is lost, all right? So oh, yeah I love this was the last episode of the series and yeah, what a grim way to end Yeah, you know anyway. Yeah, no, so so Emma's a they're back at all back in this mad science lab Emma's been zombified and Steed Reane's consciousness, but he's he's been captured and Beerusford does a whole lot of gloating and you know, mad, you know, evil villain type of excellent excellent villaining. Then a big scuffle breaks out when they try to put the zombie watch on steed in the scuffle, steed, tricks them so that they accidentally put the watch on the cyber knot, instead of on him. And that causes the cybernaught to basically go crazy. Yep. And it starts just randomly attacking everybody. And I think it, like, here, I'm going to steal man this weird scene. I think that the energy pulse of the watch puts out disrupts its normal programming and that causes it to go berserk. How about that? Yes, okay, perfect. So it's attacking everyone. The henchmen are running around and we get a fight scene where Steve and Peel both do a lot of cool karate moves and yes, punch and kick people and stuff. But did you notice you didn't say Patrick McNeon day in a rig? Because only one of those two people actually did any actual karate moves. Okay. Yeah, point taken. I'm sorry to dog Patrick McNigney. He's beloved. It's just he clearly. He's a spy who clearly has no aptitude as an actor for action. So yeah, he's he does not scream. I'm an action hero. Correct. Which which is fun. I think I think we probably are seeing about as much action in this episode as he ever does because I think generally he tried to play it more cool and charming. Yes, but Uh, at any rate, they basically defeat everybody and the, of course, your, your villain has to get an ironic death. Yes. So the cyber not in it's insane rage grabs bear usford and I. Peter Cushing's acting. His facial expressions. Yes. Well, he's pretending to be squeezed to death by the cybernaut or something to behold. Like he is, uh, uh, like unafraid to just sell it. I think that's what makes him, uh, he's not like dinner or something, right? He's just completely unafraid to go big. Yeah, actually a thing I read about him and a thing he was proud of was that he never He played a lot of like very campy villainous roles, but he never played him can't believe like he always No, played him straight and he felt it was like a service to the audience. So they Seed and Peel get they break the cybernoss control thing and they switch it off, but it's too late And then we close with a little comic scene, a little day new ma, in which they are trying to fix a toaster. And it goes horribly, they make some jokes about modern technology, because of their run-in with the cybernaut. And then the gag is the toaster, like explodes in launches through the roof, and then in a sick burn on the British space program. Yeah, that's the first thing great Britain's ever got into orbit. Yeah, but dang, which yeah, I mean, it's all in 1967. Yeah, it's kind of like, it's kind of harsh, and I think the point is that they're not even trying. So yeah, so, and that's a wrap on return of the cybernots. Yes, it's a delightful. Yeah, I had so much fun with this, do we want to go through some of our questions? Let's do some of our questions. Can I ask you a question? Yeah, please. Andy. Is this a TV show with zombies or a zombie TV show? This is a TV show with zombies. Agreed. What makes you say that? They are because, well, first of all, most of the show doesn't have anything to do with zombies. The zombies are a part of the show for about 10% of its runtime. Right. And nothing, you know, when we ask that question, we're really asking, like, Does does this require specifically that there were zombies in it for this story to have worked like if we could swap out the zombies for some other kind of sinister A bad guy then to me that makes it a show with zombies. I agree. And I think that's what we're dealing with here. You know, I think the real zombie is zombie Emma Peel at the end. Yep. And, you know, that's a good couple of minutes of loved ones turning against you type zombie horror, you know, horror is in quotes, because at no point is it really scary? No, but she feels like the Dr. Satan zombies, right? Right. They're just automatons that do whatever they're directed to do. And, yeah. Exactly, yeah. All right, so Andy, would we survive in the world of the Avengers and the cybernaughts? Yes, I think so. Is it for the same reason? I think so, which is that we're not important enough to be abducted by a cybernaught? Well, yeah, this question is always tricky because something like this, you're really only in danger if you have crossed a very particular person, right, who is then become obsessed with getting revenge. So in that sense, you and I are unlikely to have done something so bad to this guy that he wants to zombify us. Yeah, and we just don't produce a bread isn't hatching some scheme. I mean, I guess if a cyber-not were coming after me, I would probably be in trouble. As always, it's walking slow and the thought is just like how hard could it be to just run away from this thing. Right. But if it cornered me in my office, like it does to one or two people in this show, it probably could judo, shot me. It does seem threatening when you're cornered, right? Like it's big and I'll wrap you, you're, you're probably toast. Yes, yeah, agree. So Andy, do you like this television show? A, enough to recommend it to a general audience, and B, as a piece of essential literature in the zombie canon for our zombie-loving fans. So I'm going to say a solid yes on do I recommend this episode in this show generally, especially if like me, you weren't really, you weren't around when the show first came out and you kind of missed the cultural excitement that surrounded it. It really is a delight. It really does feel like you're watching a very pure artifact of the late 60s. And so I think that it would, it's hard for me to imagine not enjoying watching an episode of this. Right. I don't, you know, whether, you know, whether that holds up over, you know, 50 episodes, I, I leave that to you to decide for yourself, dear listener. Yeah. As for zombie, so no, I don't think this is essential viewing if you're a zombie fan. I do think it's interesting that here we are right before night of the living dead. It's actually possible that this might have come out in 68 in America. I don't know. I was a little confused. It certainly was 67 in Britain, but at any rate, it is interesting that it seems to me that from our limited viewing of TV shows, we've seen man from uncle. We saw Thriller and we saw this, the Avengers, all of them are really employing zombies from like two decades earlier. Yeah. So these TV shows are not on like the forefront of the zombie genre. They're not pushing it forward. I think that's pretty interesting as a fact. I also think it means that you do not need to watch this because the types of zombies in this show are, you know, you've seen them before if you've watched any earlier zombie film. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'll, I'll just mirror your recommendation, particularly on the zombie nature of it. The one thing I will say about enjoying this show. So right now, I like, I have shows I watch with my family. We just hang out and watch. And my son and I are currently watching the animated superhero adult superhero show invincible, which is great, but also very dire in hyper-hyper-hyper-violence. And then with my wife, I'm watching the show Hacks about these two foul-mouth comedians, which is also very good, but like touch tons of loot, jokes, and stuff. So there was a definite pleasure and maybe this just makes me old in just watching a simple, silly adventure story with lovable characters and just relaxing and having a good time. Like, yes. Like, we just watched an episode of... Invincible, and I was like, no, no, no, no, no, like, like it had good drama. I didn't want something to happen, and there's none of the head here, and it was just like, oh, that's relaxing, you know? And it was, and it's competent and entertaining. Yeah. And yeah, nothing, nothing's going to happen to upset you, and you're not going to be tense at the end of it, you know? And, you know, basically, I'll sort that a little bit right now. Yeah, you know, this, this always makes me, you know, pine for the TV of Yesteryear, like TV through the 90s or whatever, where, yeah, you would watch, you would like be just watching it to hang out with these people, you know? Yeah, yes. So, to my favorite shows are the Battlestar Galactica reboot by Ron Moore, which is just an amazing television show incredibly gritty, tough decisions are made, and I also love the mini series Chernobyl, which might be the most depressing piece of TV produced this century. But what I was watching this, and I made that connection with Patrick Knit, McNeon, the original Battlestar galactic, I was like, maybe I just want to go back and watch the original a little bit. You know, like the stakes are low, like the stakes aren't low, but it's a much less intense experience, and maybe sometimes I want that instead. Yeah. I couldn't, uh, I couldn't agree more. Yeah. It's all right. All right. Well, everybody, we will be returning soon with our first zombie episode, bringing back a character, a beloved character from season one. So we will see you in a few weeks for more zombie strains. You've been listening to zombie strains. We'll be back next episode to talk about another zombie movie. If you enjoyed our podcast, please take a moment to rate us in your podcast Apple Choice. Tell a friend, follow us on Instagram at zombie strains. All of this helps like-minded people find this show. See you next time.