John Steed asks Mrs. Cathy Gale's help with a business espionage case. It seems that some Asian firm is manufacturing a knock-off of a British product, and selling them to a former British Arabic colony. And in the process has killed a girl.
Cathy uses an unseen friend to translate the Arabic dialect - The first time Cathy hasn't been able to translate - and does some initial investigation of the British medical firm posing as an efficiency expert. (This was Cathy's first try as an efficiency expert - an undercover role that Mrs. Emma Peel would use a few times.) It is while at the firm that Mrs. Gale discovers that a more heinous plot is under foot.
This is another Malcolm Hulke written episode. Although he also wrote pieces involving Mrs. Peel and Tara King, he wrote mainly for Mrs. Gale, including one the best televised science fiction episodes, The White Dwarf.
Update, 2023: The previous two time I had seen this, it was chopped to bits. It was also very poor visuals. The A&E and whoever would broadcast confusing versions of this. But the present broadcast over Amazon Prime shows you as much as survived the original British broadcast. And the visuals and sound are better.
What do I think of the complete program? It's still confusing.
From the complete show, there is less about the science of the imitations, and more about the art of imitation. They try to focus very little on the product. Modeling is the prime topic. Interesting? Ok, let's try this. But you don't see as much of the models as you do thier paintings.
The chopped up version I originally saw, made the painter more the villain. In the full version he is a hired thug. Who is the real villain? Good question. In this 51 minute cut, there is a confrontation with a higher up, a higher-up who doesn't have a good motive to expose himself.(?)
What does she/he want to accomplish? Do they make any money off of this? Why would she/he want to mass murder? That's the plot according to the painter - who has a very disinterested demeanor. I can see why syndicated editors thought he was the villain. He's in charge of the plot; and he's treated more importantly than the one that started the plot. (?)
Also, there is a girl that dies in the beginning. In this complete showing, there is still no reason why she died, who she was, or why she was important.
Seeing all 51 minutes of this show, makes it seem that there was little regard for the script Hulce wrote. I respect Hulce's writing, and these holes in the plot and the focus on models make it seem that this episode suffered from a production problem...probably Brian Clemens.
Monica Stevenson provides the best acting of the supporting characters as Fay, the double-spy-model? There weren't that many stand out performances. And unlike Gale's, Steed's undercover turn was forgettable.
Cathy uses an unseen friend to translate the Arabic dialect - The first time Cathy hasn't been able to translate - and does some initial investigation of the British medical firm posing as an efficiency expert. (This was Cathy's first try as an efficiency expert - an undercover role that Mrs. Emma Peel would use a few times.) It is while at the firm that Mrs. Gale discovers that a more heinous plot is under foot.
This is another Malcolm Hulke written episode. Although he also wrote pieces involving Mrs. Peel and Tara King, he wrote mainly for Mrs. Gale, including one the best televised science fiction episodes, The White Dwarf.
Update, 2023: The previous two time I had seen this, it was chopped to bits. It was also very poor visuals. The A&E and whoever would broadcast confusing versions of this. But the present broadcast over Amazon Prime shows you as much as survived the original British broadcast. And the visuals and sound are better.
What do I think of the complete program? It's still confusing.
From the complete show, there is less about the science of the imitations, and more about the art of imitation. They try to focus very little on the product. Modeling is the prime topic. Interesting? Ok, let's try this. But you don't see as much of the models as you do thier paintings.
The chopped up version I originally saw, made the painter more the villain. In the full version he is a hired thug. Who is the real villain? Good question. In this 51 minute cut, there is a confrontation with a higher up, a higher-up who doesn't have a good motive to expose himself.(?)
What does she/he want to accomplish? Do they make any money off of this? Why would she/he want to mass murder? That's the plot according to the painter - who has a very disinterested demeanor. I can see why syndicated editors thought he was the villain. He's in charge of the plot; and he's treated more importantly than the one that started the plot. (?)
Also, there is a girl that dies in the beginning. In this complete showing, there is still no reason why she died, who she was, or why she was important.
Seeing all 51 minutes of this show, makes it seem that there was little regard for the script Hulce wrote. I respect Hulce's writing, and these holes in the plot and the focus on models make it seem that this episode suffered from a production problem...probably Brian Clemens.
Monica Stevenson provides the best acting of the supporting characters as Fay, the double-spy-model? There weren't that many stand out performances. And unlike Gale's, Steed's undercover turn was forgettable.