Review Ace Of Wands

[michaellevenson]

Used to love this as a kid , got the DVDs, such a pity only the third series survives, but it's a good watch.
Michael McKenzie was great as the mysterious Tarot, a psychic, a magician and a crime fighter.
Assisted by Chas and Mikki played by Roy Holder and Petra Markham in the third series, and who can forget Fred Owl as Ozymandas Tarot's pet owl.
Two stand out stories, Peacock Pie, The Power Of Atep, are probably the best of the surviving stories. As much as I'd love to see Dr Who Troughton missing stories returned to us, I'd love to see the missing series one and two of this very watchable show found probably more so.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Series one (29 July to 21 October 1970)

• "One and One and One are Four" - 3 episodes. Tarot is on the trail of a cure for paralysis which in the wrong hands, those of Madame Midnight (Hildegarde Neil) and accomplice Teddy Talk (Michael Standing), is a formidable weapon. Also - Frederick Peisley as Prof Ekdorf, David Prowse as Kal, Tony Caunter as Six, Daphne Heard as Ma Epps, Bruce Boa as Mr. America and Jan Conrad as Mr. Russia.
• "The Mind Robbers" - 4 episodes. Old adversary Senor Zandor (Vernon Dobtcheff) has kidnapped two Government ministers and Tarot traces them to a mysterious house where he meets Fat Boy (Michael Wynne) and some strange creatures. Also - Sheelah Wilcox as Miss Jelicoe, Geoffrey Lumsden as Sir William, Terry Walsh as Castor and Alan Chuntz as Pollux.
• "Now You See It, Now You Don't" - 2 episodes. A bank robbery leads to a villain with delusions of grandeur in a houseboat filled with computers and Nazis. Christopher Benjamin as Falk, Kevin Stoney as Bank Manager, Tim Curry as a Cashier, Ray Barron as Macready, Alan Tucker as Gaston and Billy Cornelius as a Guard.
• "The Smile" - 4 episodes. Master art thief Tun-Ju (Willoughby Goddard) and accomplice Mrs Kite (Dorothy Reynolds) plan to steal the Mona Lisa. Also - John Barron as Bartlett Bonnington, Reg Lye as Digger Farmer, Patrick McAlinney as Sir Patrick Landau, Diana King as Lady Landau and Tom Gan as Japanese bodyguard

Series two (21 July to 13 October 1971)

• "Seven Serpents, Sulphur and Salt" - 3 episodes. Mr Stabs (Russell Hunter), an evil magician plans with the help of Polandi (Harriet Harper) and servant Luko (Ian Trigger) to steal the missing segment of the Secret Seven Serpents from Tarot. Also - Jack Woolgar as Charlie Postle and Llewellyn Rees as Mr. Christopher.
• "Joker" - 3 episodes. Tarot investigates why children suddenly go berserk and meets the fiendish Uncle Harry (Dermot Tuohy) and his strange troupe of travelling entertainers. Also - Carmen Munroe as The Queen, Roy Holder as The Jack, Walter Sparrow as The King, George Waring as The Headmaster, Sheila Raynor as The Headmistress and Lorna Heilbron as Miss Pascoe
• "Nightmare Gas" - 3 episodes. Thalia (Isobel Black) and brother Dalbiac (Jonathan Newth) steal the deadly hallucinatory gas H23, a gas which causes a deep sleep and vivid nightmares from which the victim dies of shock after 23 minutes. Also - Laurence Carter as Dr Winthrop, Lewis Wilson as Police Sergeant and Alan Chuntz as Trooper
• "The Eye of Ra" - 4 episodes. Ceribraun (Oscar Quitak) decides to steal a huge diamond called the Eye of Ra which it is claimed will turn people into chalk and tracing him, Tarot is prisoner of a talking computer who plans to use giant chess pieces to crush him to death. Also - Edward Jewesbury as Mr Quince, Nicholas Smith as Fredericks, Charles Morgan as the Computer.

Series three (19 July to 29 November 1972)

• "The Meddlers" - 3 episodes. New assistants Chas and Mikki live in a flat overlooking a street market which is under a curse and involved in this is Mockers (Barry Lineham) the local Prophet of Doom. Also - Paul Dawkins as Dove, Michael Standing as Spoon, Norma West as Chauffeuse and Stefan Kalipha as Drum.
• "The Power of Atep" - 4 episodes. Strange dreams after a meeting with medium John Pentacle (Sebastian Graham-Jones) leads Tarot and companions to Egypt where in Atep's tomb he encounters a High Priest (Michael Mulcaster) and double, Quabel. Also - Michael Rose as a Tramp, Joe Dunlop as Fergus Wilson.
• "Peacock Pie" - 3 episodes. Mr Peacock (Brian Wilde) has the irresistible power of suggestion where torn strips of paper can become bank notes and people do things they do not want to do. Also - Jenny McCracken as Young Mrs. MacFadyean, Dorothy Frere as Mrs Macfadyean, Valerie Van Ost as the Manageress.
• "Mama Doc" - 3 episodes. When one of Mr Sweet's colleagues vanishes, Tarot traces him to a bizarre Doll's Hospital where Mama Doc (Pat Nye) and assistant Bobby (Michael Mundell) change real people into dolls. Also - Robert Grange as Prof. Dorian, Wendy Hamilton as Posy Peagram, Ivor Roberts as Dr. MacDonald.
• "Sisters Deadly" - 3 episodes. Chas returns from a photo assignment with no memory of the assignment or that he robbed a village post office, which leads Tarot into a plot to kidnap a NATO Commander-in-Chief. Henrietta Rudkin as Mathilda Edginton, Bartlett Mullins as Postmaster, Sylvia Coleridge as Letty Edgington, James Bree as The Major.
• "The Beautiful People" - 4 episodes. Two beautiful girls Dee (Susan Glanville) and Emm (Vivian Heilbron) refuse Mikki entrance to a small town fete, which leads Tarot into an investigation of extraterrestrials with strange powers. Also - Edward Hammond as Jay, Kathleen Sainsbury as an Elderly Woman.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Don't know if you knew, Michael, but somebody found an audio-only recording of some of the NIGHTMARE GAS story....


"Nightmare Gas" was story three of season two. Episode 1/3 (tx 01/09/11). Tarot meets a new adversary - the beautiful but deadly Thalia. With her monosyllabic brother Dalbiac she steals a top-secret weapon - the deadly hallucinatory gas H23, a gas which produces not just a deep sleep and nightmares but kills the person 23 minutes later.

"Nightmare Gas" was story three of season two. Episode 2/3 (tx 08/09/11). Thalia and her brother Dalbiac plan to tes tthe deadly H23 gas on Lulli and Dr. Winthrop, but when Tarot tries to rescue them the gas is used on him instead, inducing a nightmare set in the time of the English Civil War.

 

[Doctor Omega]

There seem to be more audios from season two found, but nothing else seems to have been uploaded anywhere...

These are quotes I have found on missing episodes boards....

If I recall correctly, these audios were taken from series two (1971) comprising:

"Seven Serpents, Sulphur and Salt" (all three episodes);
"Nightmare Gas" (all three episodes); and
"The Eye of Ra" (minus the first episode).

I've also heard/read it mentioned that the audio for the first title is of particularly poor quality...

and....

P.S. It seems audios exist for all series 2 bar 'Joker' and episode 1 of
The Eye of Ra'.

And, these two (unconfirmed) quotes are all I have been able to find out so far.

I too hope that they find an actual filmed season one or two episode in the future.

 

[michaellevenson]

Thanks for the links. Nightmare Gas is the one I remember. If only we could get it back in the archives.
If only ( sigh).