"The Champions" The Final Countdown (TV Episode 1968) Poster

(TV Series)

(1968)

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8/10
More Nazis for Nemesis to deal with.
Sleepin_Dragon18 August 2023
Former Nazi Field Marshall Von Splitz is released from a Russian Prison after twenty five years, he vanishes, and picks up where he left off, his mission is to detonate a huge bomb.

I'll be honest, when it started, my initial thought was.....here we go it's another Nazi story, but the plot here worked incredibly well, and The Nazi angle fitted in well, it was a driving factor in the episode, not just plonked in for the sake of it.

The torture scenes look pretty good, Craig would be the most frustrating subject for any potential torturer, too tough and too smug. Expect the usual punch up and fisticuffs scenes, they're well staged here though.

I loved the tension with the bomb scene, that was very well done, despite cries of.....that old chestnut, and of course there's the car going off a cliff, they did repeat the odd bit of material it's fair to say.

A cracking, well known cast featured here, look out for Alan MacNaughtan, Derek Newark and a young Hannah Gordon, all are very good.

Rather good I thought.

8/10.
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8/10
The Champions Chase a Nazi
bensonmum225 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Nazi Field Marshall von Splitz has spent 25 years in prison for war crimes. Now released, he and his band of Nazis are trying to track down a nuclear device. The Champions are charged with finding it first.

The Final Countdown is another strong episode. These Nazi stories always seem to be good. I think it might be because, as Nazis, there's no doubting their evil intentions. I like the fact that The Champions stay one step behind von Splitz and his gang for most of the episode. It makes things more thrilling. I also like the way they put together the pieces to locate the bomb. The whole thing is nicely paced and capably directed by John Giling. The supporting cast, larger than most episodes, is an interesting mix. Finally, I enjoy the fact that all three of The Champions have something to do in The Final Countdown - even though Craig and Richard to their best to send Sharon away at the end.
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7/10
It's That Jag Again!
mickcsavage22 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Nice to see that white Jag flying off the cliff again. The driver did well to survive it - if only for a short time (probably used to crash-landings as an old luftwaffe pilot though!)

Also nice to see Hannah Gordon as his daughter. Amazing how little she changed over the years.

Recently caught this series again - (re-runs on ITV4). First time I've seen it in 50-odd years. The only bits I remembered were the Geneva fountain and the customary booze-up in Tremayne's office at the end of every episode. But pleasantly surprised by the high production values typical of ITC.

Interesting to compare casts with the Avengers (also being re-run on the same channel). Usually quite an overspill. (MacNaughton, for instance as well as Derek Newark - Perry and Henson too from this episode I think). A lot of excellent jobbing actors whose modern equivalents it's not that easy to think of.
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10/10
The last battle of the Second World War
ShadeGrenade26 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Gerald Kelsey's 'The Final Countdown' was the last part of a loose trilogy of themed stories within 'The Champions' television series, pitting our heroes against a revived Third Reich. 'The Search' had London held to ransom with stolen nuclear missiles, 'The Survivors' saw our heroes almost killed in Austrian caves, but the Nazis were not about to give up yet, and embarked on their most ambitious project yet. 'Field Marshal Von Splitz' ( Alan MacNaughtan ) is released from a Russian prison after twenty-five years for war crimes. He disappears, and NEMESIS gets worried. They have good reason to be - he has teamed up with old pals 'Dr.Neimann' ( Wolf Frees ), 'Kruger' ( Derek Newark ), and 'Heiden' ( Norman Jones ). Von Splitz tells them that Germany created an atomic bomb at around the same time as the Allies, and was about to drop it on London when the Heinkel carrying it was shot down. It crashed into a German lake, and has remained there ever since.

After questioning and then killing the plane's pilots - 'Eisen' ( Basil Henson ) and 'Schultz' ( Morris Perry ) - they set out to retrieve the lost bomb, intending to detonate it in a disused country house so that the Americans will blame the Russians and vice versa, and World War 3 will break out. When the fall-out has cleared, the Nazis will emerge from their shelters to take control of the world. Of course, the Champions are not about to let it happen...

Good script, a fine cast, and solid direction from John Gilling make this an above average episode. After a punch-up in the villain's hideout ( plus the sight of Craig and Richard crashing through windows! ), we are treated to a suspenseful climax in which Craig tries to defuse the bomb. Initially, he has help from an explosives expert, giving him directions over the phone, but - wouldn't you know it - the wretched line goes dead. Craig improvises by filling the inside of the bomb with syrup from a grease-gun, thus causing the mechanism to slow down and stop ( if this were made today, he'd probably take the bomb outside, and hurl it into outer space where it could explode without harming anyone! ). Instead of a final scene in Tremayne's office, we get the Champions enjoying a taste of the syrup that has just gotten the world out of a very sticky situation!
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6/10
Dated but watchable hocum!
flugluftholgate5 August 2006
Fans of The Champions will be familer with the format. Baddies plot to end world, baddies get upper hand, boring bit in middle while goodies regroup and finally goodies win before the end of the programme!!! AND Sharron MacReady's bufont does not get out of place! Luftwaffe 'experten' and German secret weapons enthusiasts will like this. Nasty Nazi von Splitz is let out of prison and after getting a few other Nazi chum's plan to recover a lost atomic bomb. Guess when it was written and filmed such stuff was seen as fiction, we know now that the truth is probably stranger. A number of sources have since revealed that perhaps Nazi Germany did test a weapon at Thuringia (a)and there is evidence that two Stuka dive bombers did have atomic weapons and were ready to go but the crews had other ideas... Who knows the real truth. A very prophetic programme, swap the Nazis for some other group with ideas of world domination and the Nazi weapon for a Soviet one... This episode does have the battered Jaguar going over the cliff, how many times has that happened!

Try (a) BBCi News Report 14 march, 2005 (b) 'Hitler's Miracle weapons' by Friedrich Georg, 2005, Helion
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6/10
Outlandish
Leofwine_draca7 January 2022
Another Nazi story, ten a penny on this show but always amusing to see them up to no good once more. Nice to see SPECIAL BRANCH's Morris Perry popping across in support and it's all quite outlandish and exciting.
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