The Champions (TV Series) The Search (1968) User Reviews

The Menace underwater.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 10 May 2023]

A British submarine, which houses several nuclear devices is taken control of by a group of Nazis, a huge ransom demand is issued, failure to pay would mean the destruction of London.

As a singular episode, it's very good, in the context of the series itself, it's repetitive. Part of me couldn't help but think, here we go again, those Nazis are up to their old tricks again, and once again the action is taking place on a submarine, again. However, it remains one of my favourites, you somehow feel Dennis Spooner's influence.

Well acted, with several familiar faces, the best known face here perhaps being John Woodvine, not sure about the accent, but he certainly looked the part. Always good to see Joseph Wurst, just a few years after he appeared in Doctor Who as the somewhat maniacal Professor Zaroff in The Underwater Menace.

How nice to see Craig being the damsel in distress for a change.

The footage of the jets looks marvellous, a little at odds with the viewing deck on top of the submarine.

Heligoland, aka The Holy Land, Germany's only off shore island, a beautiful place,

8/10.

How to steal a submarine

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 8 December 2015]

The Champions are called in to help find a stolen submarine carrying four nuclear missiles. A ransom demands $5 million in gold or London will be destroyed.

Overall, The Search is a good, exciting episode. We see The Champions use several of the abilities we've seen before - super-strength, super-hearing (tracking the guy through the woods at night was great), and telepathically communicating trouble. A couple new skills are presented: super-cipher (the ability to quickly calculate and change a missile's course) and, what I'm calling, super-hunches (the ability to locate a missing submarine by intuition without a shred of real evidence). The episode features some real drama in The Search as the nuclear missile is actually fired at London. At the time, I wasn't sure how they were going to work that out. A nice supporting cast, decent looking sets, and quick-paced direction make this one a winner.

I'm not sure why The Search has a low rating compared with some of the other episodes. I'm giving it a 7/10.

Well, Happy New Year

[richard.fuller1 · 8/10 · 5 August 2006]

What a way to begin 1969, by watching an episode about the diversion of a nuclear attack from a submarine.

A scientist is kidnapped who can maneuver the attack and he is forced to do so at the expense of his own life. Sharron poses as his secretary.

Tho there are times in this series when super-hearing or super-vision should have been used and we don't see it take place, the good thing about The Champions is the balance of the super powers. The episodes aren't overthrown with Craig, Richard and Sharron doing nothing else but using their powers.

In the opening of this episode, as several episodes did at this time, we see Sharron in a library picking up a copy of War and Peace, and she speed reads it while she is standing in line waiting to check it out.

Still that would have been quite a long stand and quite a long line, apparently, even if she gazed over each page for a second.

Worth comparing to is Barbara Eden in "The Stranger Within" 1974, where she takes in the knowledge from the books in a similar fashion, turning pages very quickly, but eventually she evolved to the point where she would walk down the aisles of bookshelves, running her hands over the spines of the books taking in the words.

Or you could refer to Lynda Goodfriend's first episode of Happy Days when she appeared as Lori Beth, and Ron Howard reads a book about this fast, tho with humorous results.

Very good though repetitive

[johannesaquila · 7/10 · 17 July 2023]

Watching the Champions episodes in order, this episode is where I first felt that things were getting a bit too repetitive. It's the second submarine plot in a row, and the last nuclear missile plot wasn't too long ago either. I guess they just had the infrastructure for submarine takes available and made use of them, and of course the temptation to let your superheros prevent nuclear disasters is always hard to resist. But otherwise the episode itself is really good.

The Nazis in this episode and their boss reminded me of KAOS and its boss Siegfried. Altogether, it seems appropriate to mention the Get Smart episode Rub-A-Dub-Dub... Three Spies in a Sub (1966) here, which may well have served as partial inspiration.

Target: London

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 4 July 2012]

'The Search' is one of four 'Champions' episodes penned by its creator, the late Dennis Spooner ( the others being 'The Beginning', 'The Interrogation' - the best of the lot - and 'The Gunrunners' ). It opens at the submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland. An intruder - 'Lt.Haller' ( John Woodvine ) - gains access using a false identity pass, shoots a guard, and gasses the crew of a sub. A party of frogmen - led by 'Captain Conrad Schultz' ( Reginard Marsh ) - board, and put to sea. They remove their diving gear and put on Nazi uniforms. The sub comes equipped with four atomic missiles. To activate them, the Nazis require a physicist, such as 'Dr.Rudolf Mueller' ( Joseph Furst ). Mueller is kidnapped after giving a television interview in London. NEMESIS receives a demand - pay up five million dollars in gold or else London will be destroyed. Acting on a hunch, Craig and Sharron begin hunting wartime submarine pens, finally arriving at Heligoland in the North Sea. By a striking coincidence, this is where Mueller is to rendezvous with the crew of the submarine...

Directed by the late Leslie Norman ( son of Barry ), this is an exciting adventure story from the pen of Spooner. Craig spots Haller at an inn and keeps tabs on him by - wait for it - listening to the matches rattling about in his pocket! Richard's impersonation of Haller leads to a brief but thrilling fight with 'Albrecht' ( Ernst Walder ), culminating with the Nazi going through a hotel window. Mueller is sympathetic to the cause to the point where you wonder why on earth they bothered to kidnap him when they could easily have asked him and he'd have gone of his own free will. He rebels, however, when Schultz orders the missiles be fired. How strange to see 'Sir' from 'The Good Life' and 'Sir Dennis Hodge' of 'Terry & June' playing a Nazi captain! The incidental music is by Albert Elms, who worked also on 'Man In A Suitcase' and 'The Prisoner'.

Things To Look Out For - a cameo by newsreader Corbet Woodall, familiar to fans of 'The Goodies'.

One highly disturbing moment is when Tremayne informs Richard of the ransom demand, and the latter glances at the two British army officers present. They are completely expressionless, as if this sort of thing were an everyday occurrence.

Incidentally, the first 'Champions' comic-strip in 'Joe 90 Top Secret' bore a plot similarity to 'The Search', with a villain threatening nuclear destruction on two cities - New York and Moscow - and the climax featuring the Champs using their mental powers to work out the calculations required to re-route the missiles, causing them to explode harmlessly.

Typical again

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 5 October 2021]

Another typical episode, this time dealing with the ever-present Nazi threat and adding a submarine to the mix once more. Getting very familiar by now although it remains watchable in a classic '60s way.