The Avengers Dossier, Page Four

Here's another brief look at a supporting player from the 1965/66 season of "The Avengers".

MICHAEL GOUGH
Michael Gough played Dr. Armstrong, a computer and mechanical genius turned tech mogul in "The Cybernauts".

Born in 1916, Michael Gough was a widely respected actor with a career that lasted over sixty years and was spent equally on stage and on screen, with roles in nearly 200 films and TV series. Most readers may remember him as Alfred in four Batman movies (the two directed by Tim Burton... and the two that followed), but he also had key roles in such famous television series as "Doctor Who" (two different turns as villains, with a roughly 15-year gap between), dozens of fun B- horror and sci-fi movies, and as the voice for numerous cartoon- and masked-characters over the years.

Gough passed away at the age of 94 in 2011.

The Avengers: The Cybernauts

The Cybernauts (1965)
Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Michael Gough, John Hollis, Frederick Jaeger, Burt Kwouk, and Ronald Lee-Hunt
Director: Sidney Hayers
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

When corporates executives from firms competing to purchase the manufacturing rights to a revolutionary micro-circuit are murdered one after another, secret agents John Steed (Macnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg) are assigned to catch the killer.

With a story that's part murder mystery, part sci-fi, and industrial espionage caper, "The Cybernauts" is one of the best episodes of the Macnee/Rigg era of "The Avengers". It's got a suspenseful storyline where it feels as though the main characters are in serious danger--and this sense of danger grows right up until the episode's resolution.

The writing on this episode is also excellent in every way. The camaraderie between Steed and Peel is again highlighted by some great banter; the way the investigation into the murders and espionage is portrayed is sensible and logical within the comic-book universe rules that apply to "The Avengers"; and Emma Peel going undercover always adds an interesting aspect to the show--and here, she gets to show off her martial arts skills against an arrogant sensei and his students. The way each of the firms and their executives are portrayed as being distinctly different was also a nice touch--and one that I've found lacking in a couple modern shows I've been watching recently. Were the executives all stereotypes on this episode? Sure. But they were each a different stereotype.

"The Cybernauts" also benefits greatly from the presence of Michael Gough who plays a wheelchair-bound computer genius turned tech mogul. He plays the character with just right mix of excitement over the new world that technology can usher in, arrogance, and outright crazy that he steals every scene he's in. He's so good that I found myself wanting to see more of this character in the future.