The Saint...

[DEWLine]

Wondering how Connery in his prime might have gotten on with Hayley Atwell. She seems well-suited to doing her own stunt work, even when the performers she works with on Agent Carter get the rough end of things. But I digress.

For that matter, imagining a crossover with Carter and Templar...or at least with Charteris. That might be worth the price of a DVD set in itself.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the failed pilot which was supposed to feature Roger Moore and Ian Ogilvy. A pilot, I believe, that had Moore as one of the producers. I personally think the trailer gives off a blandness and I actually don't like the disco version of the theme.

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I personally think Roger Moore is the best interpretation of the character to date. One of the worst Bonds, but the best Simon Templar.

 

[Warped9]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the failed pilot which was supposed to feature Roger Moore and Ian Ogilvy. A pilot, I believe, that had Moore as one of the producers. I personally think the trailer gives off a blandness and I actually don't like the disco version of the theme.

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I personally think Roger Moore is the best interpretation of the character to date. One of the worst Bonds, but the best Simon Templar.

That doesn't do a thing for me. It's another contemporary M:I like thing done with the Saint.

I like the idea of Patricia Holm finally being realized, but there was no distinctiveness to any of the characters we saw. It looks like another bit of action fluff with no sense of adventure and even fun that runs through the Saint books. The Saint stories were full of distinctive and quirky characters, which certainly isn't even glimpsed here.

Teal and Fernack came across as distintive characters and yet here Fernack looks like just another Hollywood style cop.

 

[Warped9]

I finally bought the recently released (for Region 1) complete series set. I'm as far as nearing the end of the 5th season. Some of the stories can leave one wanting and some can be somewhat silly and yet some can have some of that spirit of the Charteris stories with Roger Moore really bringing Simon Templar to life. It leaves me grinning like a fool.

 

[Starkers]

I really need to watch more of the Moore Saint, I've seen very few episodes. I've probably seen more of the Sanders' films. For me Ogilvy is my Saint--for so many years I wanted to own a white Jaguar XJS!--I still remember the Simon Dutton tv movies as well, I remember liking them at the time but have no idea how close to the character they were.

I'm also one of three people in the world who thought the Kilmer film was ok...

It strikes me the Moore episodes are probably playing on a loop on some channel somewhere, I should really pop a search into my TiVo.

 

[N-121973]

I grew up on 'Return of the Saint' on ITV, I want to say Monday nights but I could be wrong. For my text ringtone I've got the version of the Saint 'fanfare' that used to segue into the opening theme.

 

[Starkers]

For some reason I thought it was on a Sunday but I could be wrong!

 

[Captaindemotion]

^I'm pretty sure it was Sunday night too.

 

[N-121973]

Starkers, Captaindemotion you are both correct. I just checked the episode synopsis on my DVD box set and the first episode was transmitted on Sunday 10th September 1978. What I'm probably remembering is either a repeat or a trailer for the show between programmes.

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[The Old Mixer]

It strikes me the Moore episodes are probably playing on a loop on some channel somewhere, I should really pop a search into my TiVo.

Heroes & Icons has it in their lineup. Also, sister channel (and former Saint home) MeTV's site has full episodes online.

 

[Starkers]

Starkers, Captaindemotion you are both correct. I just checked the episode synopsis on my DVD box set and the first episode was transmitted on Sunday 10th September 1978. What I'm probably remembering is either a repeat or a trailer for the show between programmes.

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Oh that brings back memories. Much as I love Ogilvy I'd have loved to have seen an entire episode just featuring the stick man

Heroes & Icons has it in their lineup. Also, sister channel (and former Saint home) MeTV's site has full episodes online.

Thanks, not sure if I can access those from the UK mind

 

[Kor]

I've long been interested in old time radio, and that includes The Saint. I've probably listened to more episodes of the radio show than seen episodes of the TV show.

Kor

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the failed pilot which was supposed to feature Roger Moore and Ian Ogilvy. A pilot, I believe, that had Moore as one of the producers. I personally think the trailer gives off a blandness and I actually don't like the disco version of the theme.

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I personally think Roger Moore is the best interpretation of the character to date. One of the worst Bonds, but the best Simon Templar.

I would have loved to see this one, and I say this as a man who's seen the TV show, read the books, and also seen the 1997 movie.

 

[Warped9]

^^ I would like to see it just to offer a fair assessment of it and out of curiosity. The trailer itself doesn't impress me. The only notable thing about it was the fact Patricia Holm is finally realized onscreen even though it's far from how I envision her.

I saw the 1997 film out of curiosity and faint hope. What a bitter disappointent.


The Roger Moore series is...uneven. There are some good episodes and moments, a fair share of "just okay" and some silly efforts that are disappointing. But it does clearly illustrate that Moore was well suited to the role. Given the right materiel he could really make it work.

The series stumbled on a few elements. The music became tiresomely repetative throught the series. Moore really needed some form of stunt coaching to make the fight scenes more credible. In the books it wasn't that the Saint was a superman or unbeatable, but that he seemed to have an effective fighting style and more economical than what we saw onscreen.

I also disliked softening the character too much and making him not much more than some unconventional private investigator who could stray beyond legalities. This was made worse by that gimmick of Templar being so widely recognized at the beginning of each episode. I like the idea of the Saint being more of an unknown and periodically going after individuals for his own reasons. This all stems from the producers not being comfortable with portraying the Saint's outlaw and occasional somewhat mercenary tendencies including the willingness to kill given certain circumstances.

Indeed these complaints are amongst those Leslie Charteris himself made of the series. Apparently he was quite saitsfied with Moore playing the role, but he lamented much if the show's writing. He couldn't accept the producers "playing it safe" with the Saint's portrayal as well as them relying heavily of many conventional plot contrivances.

 

[Warped9]

A lot of Saints: http://www.simontemplar.info/simontemplar.htm

 

[Warped9]

I'm almost done with Season 5 and it's been a mixed bag as I described a couple of posts earlier.

I will say that in S5 we finally get to see a bit more of the Saint being somewhat more of a rogue like he was in the books. We also see his stick figure used more when he pulls a surprise on some of the crooks when they realize they've been had.