Can Anyone Answer This?

[MercilessOne]

I have a question regarding an episode of the Avengers in which I'm getting conflicting information. There was an episode with Linda Thorson in which she's captured by the bad guys and undergoes the Chinese Water Torture. A heavy set man and his diminutive side kick come to her rescue only to resume the CWT. Tara leads them to a house overpowers the two buffons and procedes to tickle the robust guy on the foot with a feather duster sending him into begging hysterics ("Please Madame this is torture!")As Tara would later tell Steed when he was surprised to give her the information she needed so easily, "He was tickled pink"

Now I've read in print and on another internet tickling site that in this episode Tara is tickled on her feet with a feather duster and her laughing is fantastic. Supposedly you can get this episode on tape from a distributor in Europe. Does anyone know if this is true? Miss Thorson was outstanding as a tickler in that scene and I'd love to see her on the receiving end of those awful feathers.

If anyone knows where this version of that episode can be obtained please post. Thank you all.

MO

 

[SuperTickler]

The tickling of Tara in this episode is about as close to a tickling "urban legend" as there is. Rumors of it have kicked around the Internet tickling community for at least 6 years and probably even longer. Yet nobody, to my knowledge, has ever seen it!

There is a great tickling for infomation by Steed of a lovely blonde actress named Angela Browne in "How To Succeed...at Murder," and Steed strokes Mrs. Peel's (the awesome Diana Rigg) bare foot with a feather in an episode whose name I forget, but it might be called "The Fear Merchants." Emma yelps slightly and pulls her foot away but other than that, it's not much. However, the other tickling scene is a solid 10-second rib-tickling with hysterical laughter.

😎

 

[MercilessOne]

Thank you SuperTickler. I actually bought an Avengers video tape set that has the brief tickling of Diana's bare foot by Steed. I also remember the other scene you described. The thing that's got me is I saw a book about the Avengers that describes each episode and the one with Tara that I'm asking about says she's knocked out by the villians who then try to extract information from her by using a feather duster on the bottoms of her feet. It goes on to say that unable to stand the dredful torture she gives the information they are asking for and later gets information in the same manner using a feather duster on the feet of one of the villians. SO! I have the episode on tape but Tara undergoes the water torture. I guess it's like the Lon Chaney silent movie "London After Midnight" It'd be great to see if it could be found! Thanks.

MO

 

[bandt001]

Urban Legends

We almost need a section for urban legends, except that this is about the only really pervasive one. Any others?

 

[SuperTickler]

The story goes that there were two versions of this episode. The "Tara tickle torture" episode was the original British episode, and the water torture was the American episode. The UK has always been partial to the sexual enjoyment of tickling females (witness the Victorian novel "A Man With A Maid" and check out how many of the CalStar videos feature female ticklees and male ticklers with British accents).

The story continues that a second version had to be created for the more "delicate" American audience. Apparently, a man being tickle-tortured was OK, but tickle-torturing an attractive female on network TV was verboten. This doesn't explain why the tickling in the other two AVENGERS episodes mentioned made it to our shores intact.

(As an aside, think about how much higher the XFL's TV ratings would have been if, after each TD, the cheerleaders of the scoring team got to tickle the cheerleaders of the opposing team for a few minutes. Can you say 50 share?)

In any case, the book you mention is probably referring to the alleged "UK only" episode. Again, though, I know of no one who has ever actually seen it. Years ago, during the days of the AOL chats, someone offered a bounty of $1,000 to anyone who could supply him with a copy of the episode. He never had to pay up.😎

 

[Shem the Penman]

Re: Urban Legends

We almost need a section for urban legends, except that this is about the only really pervasive one. Any others?

Well, there's the one where someone claims to have heard of a tickling video that features Sandra Bullock, Neve Campbell, Cameron Diaz, Jenna Elfman, Demi Moore, Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster, or just about any other big-name actress (or actresses) you care to think of. The story goes that the lady (ladies) in question, while young, undiscovered, starving, and desperate for money, resorted to making a tickle video to pay the rent. The video was never widely released and is almost forgotten now, but copies may still presumably be in the holdings of some lucky collectors out there, perhaps even yours...

I've seen at least three or four variations of that story float around -- usually in the form of "Hey, I hear there's a vid where (this starlet) tickles (that starlet). Does anyone have it?" It isn't as pervasive as the Tara King legend, though, mostly because very few people are goddessdamn stupid enough to believe this one.

 

[SuperTickler]

Sherm,

Good call! Can you imagine the sucker who would think that Jodie Foster made a tickling video when she was "young, undiscovered, and starving" when, in fact, she made her feature film debut in TAXI DRIVER at the age of 14?😎

 

[njjen3953]

MercilessOne

Dear MO,
This is not a reply concerning the Advendures or any tickling video/scene. I am responding to your name. I have met many who claim to be merciless and some have lived up to it. Your profile does not say your location, but anyone who claims to be a sadistic, merciless tickler, grabs my attention. I would love the opportunity to put you to the test. Please respond if you are interested.

Jen
Masochistic Ticklee

 

[MercilessOne]

Jen I have e-mailed you and hope to hear from you soon.

MO

 

[MercilessOne]

By the way I reside in the suburbs of Chicago.

MO

 

[ISUmark]

hey what a coincidence, I reside in the suburbs of chicago too...weird...as far as the Tara King Episode goes.....I have the episode and there is only water torture, no tickling...and i read somewhere that the tickling only occurs in the book, but was NEVER filmed...damn editing shit..

 

[Capt. Spalding]

Tara tickled? I never saw that in GONE WITH THE WIND!

My belated two cents on the Tara King "urban legend."
The episode in question is a wonderful MALTESE FALCON/SEVEN
KEYS TO BALDPATE pastiche titled "Legacy of Death," written
by Terry Nation, who is probably best known as the daddy of
the Daleks, the most celebrated antagonists of the longtime
BBC time traveller DOCTOR WHO.
When I first saw the episode in the 60s, I thought to myself what a pity it was that Linda Thorson as Tara King
wasn't the victim of instead of the wielder of that feather
duster. Of course, the very fact that she resorted to tickling said it all about how much a joke Tara King was,
and how THE AVENGERS suffered irreparable harm with the
loss of the vastly stronger Emma Peel character.I mean: could you imagine Mrs. Peel either tickling or being tickled
by a foe? Well, YOU and I could (heh-heh-heh), but it simply
wouldn't have happened on the series, playful feather swipes
by Steed notwithstanding.
Anyway, when I read the entry on "Legacy of Death" in Dave
Rogers' series companion, THE AVENGERS, in the 80s, my
eyebrows shot up when I read his plot synopsis describing
Tara as subject of tickletorture, cuz I knew the episode
well, and it just wasn't there.
My guess then, and now, is that the scene IS in Terry Nation's original script, but was NEVER filmed. I assume
Rogers was working from the scripts or ITV synopses of episodes he hadn't seen.The idea that tickling Tara would
be considered chancey in the US market is certainly
plausible, but it simply doesn't make sense that the scene
would have been filmed for the UK, but not for the US prints. TV series production is too budget conscious and
pressed for time to indulge in "alternate takes." I can see
the possibility that the scene WAS filmed and then replaced
with the water torture, but that just goes against my sense
of the pressures of tv series production. Even it was filmed
then replaced, I can't see the distributor issuing alternate
versions for the UK and the US: far, far too costly and time
consuming.
So, however much all of us would love to see Tara subjected
to the "dreadful torture," I don't think the scene exists
in any print of "Legacy of Death" anywhere.
OK, writers, here's your chance to cobble together a story
from the Steed and Tara era where the slightly ditzy Ms. King gets hers. Hell, maybe I'll do it meself, although I've
already had my fun "literarily" tickling Mrs. Peel...

Also, concerning the highly anticipated meeting of njjen3953
and the MercilessOne: I'm sure I speak for everyone when I
suggest that you guys bring a camcorder to your rendezvous
and ask that you not forget your buddies here hungrily
surveying the video clip forum of the TMF for proof of MO's
tickling proficiency. No alternate tamed version for the
domestic market now...