Shinda Shima

This is the final episode of "Secret Agent" and although it and the previous episode are both in color, they are not among the better episodes of the show. In fact, this last one is awfully silly and reminds me of the film "Black Dynamite" when he goes to Kung Fu Island to battle the fiendish Dr. Woo! In this case, Drake takes the place of an electronics expert who is smuggling computer parts into Japan in order to take them to a Dr. No or Blofeld sort of guy in charge of this silly island. Not once did anyone question whether or not Edwards (the smuggler) was known to the baddies--and they most likely would have at least seen pictures of him! And, the episode is filled with all sorts of silliness such as a bunch of guys inexplicably practicing martial arts EVERYWHERE on the island as well as very silly costumes. I particularly liked the lady cutting wood in half using her martial arts skill--as you can SEE where the block of wood had been cut down the middle already! Silly and rather shoddy...and a sign that the series had indeed run its course.

IMDb - Danger Man (Shinda Shima)

Shinda Shima is the denouement of the terrific series, Danger Man, which had originally began in 1960 as a ½-hr. series, then, after a retconning and expansion of the runtime to 1-hr, returned, and ran until 1966.

As many fans of the series know, Mr. McGoohan would leave Danger Man to follow up soon with the legendary series, The Prisoner,

It's hard to really say much positive about this episode, as two things Danger Man episodes have is they're deftly written, and acted, and the actual writing - the dialogue - of this episode is very sparse.

Instead, it is mostly made up of long underwater scenes, of either swimming to/from the island, Shinda Shima, or battles.

With the dialogue so sparse, there's really no deep characterisation.

We just get the merest pieces; the woman, Miho is fighting the 'baddies' out of revenge, the character Kenneth Griffith plays, Richards, is just out for himself, and the 'baddies' want to do bad stuff, globally.

I think if there was more enthusiasm on all parts - this might've fared better.

I would bet Mr. McGoohan would demand the characters' and their actions be fleshed-out, but, by this point, Danger Man was all but officially over (in fact, this episode and the preceding episode, Koroshi, were seen AFTER the run of The Prisoner in some markets!), and his apathy is palpable.

Mr. McGoohan - one of only a couple of actors I've always loved - can't be blamed, he felt they were recycling ideas by this point.

One of my favourite episodes of Danger Man, The Paper Chase, was directed by Mr. McGoohan, and many people who've reviewed it have done so negatively, not seeing the whimsy in it.

I would rather think of The Paper Chase as the final episode, as whilst I do agree it is of lighter weight than the majority of the series, it also has all the elements of what goes in to the best episodes; great acting, great writing, and an interesting story.

In addition, it's got some really terrific camera work by Mr. McGoohan (such as the camera circling the card players,at Eddie Gelb's house).

Something else working against this episode is - for those too young to know - the James Bond film series, which began approximately the same time as the (original ½hr) series, had really taken off by this time, and the film, From Russia With Love, had come out only a short time before this episode was filmed, and the similarities are abundant; from the setting of Japan, to the almost Bond-like villain and his henchman (in an underground lair) with 'global domination' as their goal, as well as other similarities.

The similarities were not by accident, as broadcasters in the UK and the states were bursting at the seams with Bond/spy influenced series, from The Man From U.N.C.L.E, to Get Smart, from The Wild, Wild West, to The Avengers ('Mrs. Peel, we're needed'), and others.

As I said, there's not much positive to say, but, even a not-great episode of Danger Man is still enjoyable, and here, it's almost all because of the acting, by Mr. McGoohan, and in supporting roles, Yoko Tani as Miho, and Kenneth Griffiths as Richards, who do their best with such meagre roles.

The director is Peter Yates, who would shortly direct the American film, Bullitt, with Steve McQuuen, and it, too, has very sparse dialogue, but, it has one of - if not THE most iconic chase scenes in filmdom.

So, when you watch this episode, just remember; I think this episode would not have been the way I would've wrapped up this well-loved series, and McGoohan's energy might be lacking here, but, where it is focused, would bring forth a TV series unlike ANYthing before, OR since.

The last two episodes of "Danger Man", "Koroshi" and "Shinda Shima" are far from the best in the series. In fact both appear to suffer from a distinct deficit of oriental extras, both of the evil organizations seem to be 95% staffed with middle-aged British guys!

The plot in "Shinda Shima" has only a slim connection to the previous episode, "Koroshi". The scripts of both are uninspired and there's just not enough real plot to work with.

All in all, I wish these, the only color episodes of "Danger Man", had been filmed in England so we could at least see Drake's car and apartment in color.

Being a fan of The Prisoner, it was interesting to watch all of the bits and pieces from Danger Man that were incorporated into the later show. Overall the show was excellent right up to the last season. The final season, IMO, jumped the shark.

Up until that final season the stories were more people centered and played off the real tensions that existed in the Cold War period. As the show progressed, more and more technology was incorporated. However, it remained believable albeit advanced for the period. The final two episodes took a turn toward the more fantastical 007 type supervillains. I think I see why McGoohan chose to leave the show and do the Prisoner. There was nowhere for Danger Man to go as far as story lines.