Let me introduce...Simon Templar by Gord Lacey (All reviews)
5/20/2002
Simon Templar made his first appearance in a book, not on TV as I had originally thought. In 1928 Leslie Charteris released his novel, "The Saint Meets The Tiger". This character would appear in over 100 novels and stories, 9 movies from RKO, radio dramatizations on the BBC, a movie staring Val Kilmer and, of course, a TV series lasting 118 episodes with Roger Moore as the title character.
I've always liked Roger Moore as James Bond and I've known that Sean Connery was the second choice (behind Moore) to start the series of movies, but it was rather interesting to find out that it was Moore who was the second choice to play The Saint. If Patrick McGoohan hadn't turned down the role it would have changed the feel of this series as well as the entire Bond franchise.
This set features the following episodes:
Flight Plan
London - When Middle Eastern arms dealers hijack the Royal Air Force's new secret weapon, the Osprey, Simon leads a high-speed chase across Europe.
Escape Route
London - When Simon is caught red-handed in the midst of a jewelry theft he faces twenty years behind bars.
The Persistent Patriots
Africa/London - Prime Minister, Jack Liskard, is negotiating for the independence of his country when Simon foils an assassination attempt on his life.
The Fast Women
Brands Hatch, England - When an attempt is made to sabotage the top woman driver, the stakes get deadly and the prize becomes survival.
The Death Game
Zurich - Homicidal mastermind Alfred Vogler has devised the perfect method for breeding psychopathic assassins...and Simon is the favored target.
The Art Collectors
Paris - Simon has to navigate the lies and deceptions of highly motivated, heavily armed Art Collectors looking to liberate a fortune.
To Kill A Saint
Paris - An attempt on Simon Templar's life launches a bizarre campaign to build a vendetta between Simon and Paul Verrier, ruthless king of the Paris underworld.
Video
As with their other "Cult TV" releases, A&E has done a nice job with the video. The colors in the video appear nice and bright and rich with color. The print contains dust and some minor flaws and the odd glitch here and there, but overall it's a nice transfer. The episodes of "The Saint" take place around the world and stock footage is shown for these locations. Unfortunately these are lower quality prints and contain quite a bit of dust and grain.
Audio
A mono audio track from the 60s isn't anything to jump up and down about, but it serves it's purpose. The audio is nice and clear and without any major problems. While a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is great for a show like "Thunderbirds", I'm quite happy with a mono track. There's an audio dropout in at the beginning of "The Persistent Patriots" but it also appears in the trailer for the episode. Chances are it was a problem with the original track.
The backs of both DVDs in this set list "Production Stills Gallery" although I couldn't find any production stills on either disc. Also listed on the second disc is "The History of The Saint" which is also absent.
Trailers
There are trailers for each episode in the set which last 1 min each.
Roger Moore Biography
5 still frames with information on Roger Moore.
Roger Moore Filmography
6 still frames with Roger Moore's filmography.
Summary
While I prefer the James Bond character over The Saint, this show is fun to watch. My only complaint is A&E has started with the first color season and not released the show in order. Look for Donald Sutherland in "Escape Route" and Edward Woodward (The Equalizer) in "The Persistent Patriots". It's too bad the photo galleries are missing for this set as they were present on sets 1 and 2.
