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Acquired recently (and inexpensively) via an eBay charity shop auction, The Persuaders Annual for 1973 (issued in '72) is a book I don't recall previously knowing about - unless I've just forgotten seeing it advertised way back when. It'll go nicely with my Persuaders Holiday Special issued a few months earlier (and which I did know about and bought at the time), and is a nice souvenir of the TV Show which never managed to make it to a second series despite the calibre of its stars.
Interestingly, one of the three comic strips (the rest of the contents being a mixture of illustrated text stories and features), entitled 'Avalanche', is a sort of alternate version of a story that appeared in the Special, called 'Slippery Characters'. It's the same plot, but with different names for the baddies, and it's almost as if the same script was accidentally given to two different artists to draw; then when the mistake was realised, the script was reworked to make the similarities less obvious so that it could be used for future publication.
Or maybe the writer pulled a 'fast one' and reused the same plot - something Terry Nation, who wrote for the show, was known to do (reusing old Saint stories for The Baron), so maybe he was responsible for penning the strips in this book too (or this one at least). I'd show you a comparison if the spine wasn't too tightly bound to open for scanning without risking splitting it, but if you type 'Danny & Brett - The Persuaders...' into my blog's search box, you can see the earlier version of the story.
If anyone has this Annual, can they check and tell me what the interior endpapers are at the back of the book and tell me how many pages it has in all? The front endpapers are a double-page spread, whereas the back ones in my copy are two separate pictures, so I just want to make sure there are no missing pages. I think it's complete, but would appreciate some confirmation.
And hey - wasn't John Barry's theme tune for the show brilliant, eh?
Pedantic and daft question but didn't the "Persuaders" have an exclamation mark at the end of word i.e. The Persuaders!
ReplyDeleteNot pedantic, not daft, just the kind of question I like, McS. I believe it did, but for whatever reason, Polystyle Publications decided not to use it (if they even noticed it).
ReplyDeleteI had to go to YouTube to listen to The Persuaders theme tune because I didn't remember it but I do remember The Protectors theme tune - "Avenues & Alleyways" by Tony Christie which is terrific!
ReplyDeleteYup, agreed, CJ. The theme tune was probably better than the show itself though, despite the presence of the esteemed Robert Vaughn. (He and Gerry Anderson apparently didn't get on.)
ReplyDeleteI bought the Persuaders TV show more than a year ago but I've only watched a few episodes. I was motivated when I saw the parody of it and other shows of that kind they concocted for Top Gear. I didn't even know about the show before that.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/qLp4FhDAfQk
I keep meaning to buy the DVD box set, RJ, but I've got so many others bought years ago that I still haven't watched yet. The Champions, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Follyfoot, UFO, etc., etc. Ta for the link. What did you think of the episodes you've seen?
ReplyDeleteI'm lying in bed recovering from a week of covid but if i look to my left I can see The Persuaders blu ray box set unopened at the bottom of a big pile of dvds. If I have the energy I just might dig it out and play a few episodes. I always get the theme tunes to the Persuaders and Randall an hopkirk mixed up as they are a bit similar I think
ReplyDeleteHopefully you're on the mend, AL, and will soon be dancing around the room to the Persuaders theme.
ReplyDeleteI never realised the Persuaders only ran for one season, such a great pairi g! One of the great 70s tv shows.
ReplyDeleteTg
Inspired by an episode of The Saint with Stuart Damon in the rich American role. Back then, TV 'seasons' were sometimes up to twice as long as today's meagre offerings. The Persuaders ran for 24 episodes. Nowadays, a 'season' would be around 6 episodes for an 'hour' long TV show.
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