The Avengers (TV Series)

The Cybernauts (1965)

Patrick Macnee: John Steed

Photos 

Quotes 

• Emma Peel : [bent over dead body]  The position of the head. He's been hit from the front and yet there isn't a trace of bruising on the face.

  John Steed : Conclusion, honorable lady?

  Emma Peel : In-ku.

  John Steed : Ink who?

  Emma Peel : It's a karate blow. Delivered by an expert, it breaks the neck easier than a hangman's noose.

  John Steed : Many in this country, experts?

  Emma Peel : Very few. Barely a handful in the whole of Europe.

• Tusamo : You are acquainted with our recent development?

  John Steed : You've produced a new circuit element for the transistor. I'm here to negotiate the rights for the concession.

  Tusamo : This heralds a new age, Mr. Steed. Computers no bigger than a cigarette box, pocket television, and radios smaller than a wristwatch.

• Tusamo : We have saying, Mr. Steed: in darkness, ceiling is always higher.

  John Steed : Confucius?

  Tusamo : Tusamo.

• John Steed : If I'm not back by eleven-thirty, I've stayed for breakfast.

  Emma Peel : You don't eat breakfast.

• John Steed : [Emma is under attack from a Cybernaut]  Mrs. Peel, throw me the pen! The pen, throw it me!

  [Emma does so; the Cybernaut turns to follow the pen] 

  John Steed : It's a short wave device, works like a guided missile.

  Emma Peel : Well get rid of it then!

  John Steed : Don't worry, I will.

  [turns corner to find Armstrong and another Cybernaut coming at him] 

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : That won't help you, Steed, this one has a brain of its own.

• John Steed : [solving crossword puzzle]  'It moves in the dark, it leaves no mark, it's as hard as steel.' Nine down. Now what would that be, Mrs Peel?

  Emma Peel : Cybernaut?

• John Steed : As Tusamo might have said, we have a proverb: he who talks too much, forgets his listener.

  Emma Peel : Son of Confucius?

  John Steed : Steed.

• Emma Peel : I must say, I can't wait to meet Oyama, 'the Tall Mountain'.

  John Steed : What's he got that I haven't got?

  Emma Peel : A hobby.

  John Steed : Archeology, philately, knitting?

  Emma Peel : Splitting doors.

• Dr. Clement Armstrong : That's the trouble with man. Such an impulsive creature. Cannot cope with crises. Today, one wrong decision, one simple error could bring complete destruction.

  John Steed : I suppose you have an answer, doctor.

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : There, Mr. Steed: The electronic brain. Oh, not this one, but I have the blueprint here

  [touches his temple] 

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : , a small computer built with these new circuit elements, incapable of a wrong decision.

  John Steed : And what's the end product? The perfect politician?

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : Exactly. Government by automation.

  John Steed : Sounds like an electronic dictatorship.

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : It's the only solution.

  John Steed : I'd say that was up to the voters. They might disagree.

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : Once I get delivery from Harachi, an army of cybernauts is only a matter of time.

• [last lines] 

  John Steed : [Emma offers Steed a pen after his pencil breaks]  I don't hold with those newfangled things.

  Emma Peel : Oh!

• John Steed : [seeing Benson for the first time, after being knocked out by a Cybernaut]  Oh, is that another one? Looks almost human.

• Dr. Clement Armstrong : Correctly programmed, the machine could answer questions on finance, science, even military and political matters. It could supplant the human brain entirely.

  John Steed : Is this for publication?

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : I'm theorizing, of course. The problem is size, but with the development of new circuit elements, it could only be a matter...

  [buzzer interrupts] 

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : Excuse me.

• John Steed : Is this your idea of progress?

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : The ultimate in human achievements.

  John Steed : Human? A cybernetic police state? Push-button bobbies? Automated martinis? Remote-controlled olives? No, I think I'll stick to good old flesh and blood.

• John Steed : Will the machine supplant man. Or woman, for that matter.

  Emma Peel : And will it?

  John Steed : Not if I have anything to do with it.

• John Steed : Well, that kind of music wasn't composed by a computer.

  Dr. Clement Armstrong : It will be in time.