The Avengers (TV Series) Small Game for Big Hunters (1966) User Reviews

Great start

[jvt-52466 · 8/10 · 4 February 2022]

One of the great openings in episodic television: a desperate man in tropical gear wading through a swamp, hacking underbrush, climbing a wire fence. As he's about to escape, a dart hits him in the back and falls by a road marker, "London 23 miles." Steed (Patrick Macnee) brings Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg) to a house in darkest Hertfordshire, where the comatose man is being treated for sleeping sickness. He's not the only case. Emma Peel recruits Professor Swain (Liam Redmond), who insists the illness results from Shirenzai, a magic cult indigenous to a former British colony, "Kalaya." As it happens, there's an adjacent Kalayan Ex-Servicemen's Club, and Steed goes to investigate. Our heroes encounter Razafi (Paul Danquah), a seemingly sinister Kalayan in warpaint.

In an era when Brian Clemens claimed The Avengers would "never show a coloured man," this episode features Danquah, son of a Ghanaian official, as well as beautiful transplanted Jamaican Esther Anderson as Lala. British colonial apologists might not enjoy Philip Levene's script.

In fashions, Pat Macnee looks sharp in a chalk-stripe suit and then a classic white tropical ensemble. Diana Rigg gets crisp white slacks while her sleeveless black top showcases her broad shoulders. Less stylishly, she wears another of her torpedo padded bras, already outdated. Anderson easily bests Rigg at filling out a sarong, though Diana looks nice.

The episode isn't perfect. As Col. Rawlings, Bill Fraser wolfs down the dense scenery. The action scenes are poorly staged to the point of having Steed (stuntman Rocky Taylor) swing in on a vine to an accompanying Tarzan call. But feeble humour only slightly distracts from the strong plot.

Small Game for Big Hunters

[guswhovian · 6/10 · 29 July 2020]

When a man dressed in tropical clothing is found in a coma in Hertfortshire, Steed and Mrs Peel investigate a mad Colonel who believes he still serving in the tropics.

Ex-colonials was a favorite topic of British TV in the 60s, so it wasn't long until The Avengers jumped on the bandwagon. Small Game for Big Hunters is pretty average; the best part of the episode is Bill Fraser's performance as the mad Colonel Rawlings. It is quite a nice plot twist that the Colonel is not the villain. And doesn't Diana Rigg look fetching in that native dress?

In the jungles of Hertfordshire

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 27 January 2015]

This episode opens with a man hacking through what appears to be a tropical jungle; he emerges by a road about twenty miles from London. He can't say what happened though as he is found asleep with a dart in his back. Steed and Mrs Peel are called in to investigate the strange case. Several things point to the former colony of Kalaya; the dart; his condition looks like 'Kalayan Sleeping Curse' and the clothes the man was wearing are traced back to a Colonel who spent his entire career there. The Colonel lives just up the road from where the man was found so Steed arranges to see him by posing as a rubber planter who lost his plantation when Kalaya became independent. He learns that the man can't accept that the colonial days are over; using artificial heating his friends have created a jungle in Hertfordshire and he believes he is still in Kalaya. He may be happy in his delusion but those with him have far more sinister ideas; they wish to destroy newly independent country.

This was a delightfully silly episode with some enjoyable characters; old colonial Col Rawlings was amusingly batty and the bad guys' plans were suitably dastardly. Some details seem a little surprising in these more politically correct times; the jungle features 'natives' who are referred to as 'savages' more than once… although this is balanced by the appearance of a Kalayan Agent whose accent was posher than Steed's! The 'tropical' setting provides an excuse for Mrs Peel to appear in a rather fetching sarong. Overall a fun if a little dated episode.

A rumble in The (Hertfordshire) Jungle.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 7 July 2022]

When a man is found unconscious, suntanned, with a poisoned dart in his back, it appears as though he's spent time deep in a jungle, but how was he found in Hertfordshire.

This is perhaps the zaniest episode I've seen so far, this is a whole new level of craziness, but underneath the elaborate setting, the jungle inspired music, and Colonel Rawlings' bluster, there lurks a really good plot, one that's actually a lot more chilling, and down to Earth than many.

It's definitely all smoke and mirrors, but perhaps the balance just wasn't quite right, I found it hard to see the purpose of Colonel Rawlings, his presence felt a little pointless.

The opening scenes are pretty fantastic, and perhaps the best part of the episode, they felt energetic, curious, and gave a real sense of danger. The rest of it was baffling, but still watchable.

Plenty of well known faces to see and enjoy, Bill Fraser was always great value. James Villiers was excellent as Trent too.

Well it was certainly different, 6/10.

Small Game for Big Hunters

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 5 December 2023]

Is a voodoo curse responsible for putting a British farmer in a coma? This puzzle leads Steed to the headquarters of Colonel Rawlings, an ex-serviceman spending his waning years in the Kalayan jungle. Unbeknownst to the Colonel, however, the "jungle" is an artificial habitat located right outside London, and is being used by a diabolical mastermind to develop a deadly strain of tsetse fly that will be unleashed on the citizens of Kalaya in response to the eviction of British rubber plantation owners.

African safaris , people getting attacked by tribes, and a station doing research on rubber trees which is staffed entirely by ex-colonial chaps. Bill Fraser plays the headman Colonel Rawlings, a composite of every bluff, walrus-y Empire cliché you've ever seen, pushed over the line into absurdity. He still believes he's in the jungles of Kalaya. Actually he's the standout character here. Found him hilarious. There's quite humorous lines, the typically bizarreness about it - safari in London. I think there's a wry commentary about colonialism.

It's a jungle out there

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 27 February 2011]

"Small Game for Big Hunters" is a lesser Emma Peel entry, set in an artificial jungle cottage 23 miles from London. Mrs. Peel watches over victims of 'The Curse of Sleep' (when not dozing herself), while Steed spends time with nutty Colonel P. R. Rawlings (Bill Fraser), who believes he's still in the tropics. The audience may also feel a sense of drowsiness during the dull proceedings, a rare feat for this season. Not even the climax can offset the ennui, as Steed gives out a Tarzan yell swinging on a vine, with Emma, looking for all the world like Gene Tierney in 1942's "Son of Fury," outfitted in a shoulder baring sarong (she also wears a shoulder baring sleeveless top that outlines her curves and accentuates her bosom very nicely). As Professor Swain, expert on native voodoo and curses, Liam Redmond made one return appearance, in "Wish You Were Here," A. J. Brown returned for "The Winged Avenger," and Peter Thomas returned for both "Death's Door" and "All Done with Mirrors."