As this episode opens we see a man from the ministry arriving at the front gates of a research establishment; he is escorted in by three men on motorbikes; two in front, one behind. As they drive round a corner they lose sight of him and suddenly he is nowhere to be seen; both he and his conspicuous Rolls Royce have vanished! Steed is soon on the scene but doesn't find much apart from tyre tracks and a toy car; coincidentally also a white Rolls Royce. Except that is isn't a coincidence; while conducting experiments the scientists have discover a method of shrinking things and one of them, Chivers, intends to use it to make some money. As the investigation progresses Steed too finds himself shrunk when he hides in a military vehicle Chivers plans to steal. If the villains are to be brought to book he will have to find a way to contact Mrs Peel and get 'unshrunk'!
This is an enjoyably silly episode. The idea of a 'shrinking device' is of course highly far-fetched as is the fact that it only effects certain things it is aimed at; so a person making a phone call shrinks but the phone does not but so long as you don't over-think things it is a lot of fun. The scenes featuring miniaturised characters are done well and look surprisingly real even when they are interacting with full sized characters. There is a degree of darkness to the story; one victim of the device is washed down a drain and another is put in a box which is then left in a rubbish bin where he will presumably die. Francis Matthews makes a fine villain as Chivers; not an over the top madman, just somebody willing to kill for money, he contrasts nicely with Ronald Radd's Shaffer; an enemy he intends to do business with the scene where Shaffer demands more medals for his uniform was priceless; made only better when Steed points out one of them was for the Crimean War! Overall a fun episode.
This is an enjoyably silly episode. The idea of a 'shrinking device' is of course highly far-fetched as is the fact that it only effects certain things it is aimed at; so a person making a phone call shrinks but the phone does not but so long as you don't over-think things it is a lot of fun. The scenes featuring miniaturised characters are done well and look surprisingly real even when they are interacting with full sized characters. There is a degree of darkness to the story; one victim of the device is washed down a drain and another is put in a box which is then left in a rubbish bin where he will presumably die. Francis Matthews makes a fine villain as Chivers; not an over the top madman, just somebody willing to kill for money, he contrasts nicely with Ronald Radd's Shaffer; an enemy he intends to do business with the scene where Shaffer demands more medals for his uniform was priceless; made only better when Steed points out one of them was for the Crimean War! Overall a fun episode.
