Product Description

PULLED FROM THE WRECKAGE OF A PLANE CRASH BY THE MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE OF A LOST TIBETAN CIVILIZATION, THE CHAMPIONS FIND THEM SELVES TRANSFORMED INTO ULTRA AGENTS WITH FANTASTIC, SUPERHUMAN POWERS.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25303 in DVD
• Published on: 1968
• Released on: 2003-12-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Format: NTSC
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 750 minutes

Customer Reviews

International Espionage accented with Fun!
This set represents the first 15 episodes of a 30-episode total of the series, THE CHAMPIONS. Stuart Damon (fresh from being Prince Charming to Leslie Ann Warren's Cinderella, and who went on to soap opera fame), Alexandra Bastedo, and William Gaunt (you'll know this BBC actor when you see him) play agents of Nemesis, an international organization of trouble-shooters based in Geneva. They are on a mission in Red China when their plane crashes in the Himalayas. Rescued from death by an unknown & anonymous group of people, they are endowed with special powers of strength & psychic abilities that must be kept secret, even from their boss Tremayne.

The tone of the series is similar in nature to The Saint (Roger Moore's), Dr. Who, and The Avengers; this is not surprising considering that Dennis Spooner & Brian Clemens were driving forces in all four series. (Terry Nation wrote several of the episodes.) The twist on this show is the increased abilities, with the emphasis on the psychic/paranormal skills, which makes it a cross between standard espionage and science-fiction. Although the late 60's wardrobe, hair styles, and dialogue are a bit dated, the series is set in the Cold War. Nemesis is a top-secret agency that can only be called in by other agencies. NATO enters in to a lot of the plots; bad guys are trying to manipulate the world. The trio tackle that which cannot be done, and do the amazing - all to the bafflement of their boss who hasn't got a clue as to how they manage it all.

The show is good, clean, enjoyable fun. Damon is Craig Sterling, the brash American with a ready smile. Gaunt is Richard Barrett, the sober Brit with dry humour. Bastedo is Sharon Macready, the lovely female operative who can take out any bad guy on her own without getting her hair mussed or appearing less than frail. They balance well, taking turns pulling each other out of dangerous situations.

If you have ever been a fan of Dr. Who, The Saint, The Avengers, The Protectors, or The Persuaders, you are in for a treat. I had seen two episodes (poor VHS copies) prior to the release of this 4 disc DVD set. The quality of the transfers on these discs is outstanding. I only hope A&E sees fit to release the rest of the series - and SOON!

Ambitious quasi sci-fi/spy series offers the goods....
Yet another fine series from Britain's ITC stable, "The Champions," despite the comic book premise, was an imaginative and fairly well done series extolling the exploits of three superhuman agents who received their extraordinary physical and mental powers from a lost tribe of people in Tibet. 30 episodes were made in all and the series made its debut in the USA in 1968.

The Champions, thematically, is in the same sci-fi/spy vein as 'The Avengers," but taken a little more seriously than the Emma Peel episodes produced around the same time(also available in a "Megaset"), by the three leads: Stuart Damon, William Gaunt, and Alexandra Bastedo.

While this set thru A&E is decent, I recommend purchasing the Network DVD set available via AmazonUK and in Region 2 encoding. This is the set to buy replete with director and actor interviews, PDFs of publicity materials, a feature film, commentaries, trailers, and the actors' screentest footage, among several other outstanding extras.

Excellent Series, but...........
This short lived yet popular series is still hyped up about in many countries. Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo and William Gaunt are 3 agents of a Swiss based think tank "Nemesis". When their plane coming back from their mission in China (in the opening episode) is shot down, they are left for dead in Tibet, until they are taken by a mysterious old man to a strange room and are miraculously cured. That's really an understatement, they are also endowed with physical and mental powers beyond comprehension for 1968 (when it aired). Told to keep their powers and the existence of the old man a secret, they take care of the enemy agents and get back to home base, mission successful and go on from there, much to the chagrin of their supervisor played by Anthony Nicholls. Originally an ITC product in England, when released here, it only aired as a summer replacement series in 1968 and aired only 10 episodes of the 30 made. Then in 1983, 2 episodes (which we never saw, 1 of which being the first) were sandwiched together into a feature length story called Legend of The Champions to try to again offer it to our continent (a tad late). Since then it has never been around until 2004 when this set was released by A&E video here and another company there, but their company released both halves and a complete set which you can still get from "Marketplace Clients" on Amazon UK. However in July of last year, another manufacturer in England reissued a more complete set which includes the 30 episodes, behind the scenes goodies and "Legend" as well. I have just purchased a dvd player that can player overseas discs through this Amazon and my copy of the Complete Champions just shipped today. My advice, get a multi region capable player and this recent vintage (the one on Amazon UK that is) set. As of when mine shipped, I paid roughly $53 after currency conversion (including shipping) which is what you will probably pay for this set (shown above) here. Get the complete deal and enjoy it.