Question: Did the 1966-67 BBC TV series "Adam Adamant Lives!" inspire Austin Powers? The first episode of AAL! starts in England in 1902. Adam Adamant, a wealthy gentleman adventurer, thwarts a plot to assassinate Edward VII at a royal ball. Adam Adamant is captured by a masked villain, The Face, who subjects him to a 'living death' putting him to sleep in a block of ice. In 1966 Adam is found, frozen in ice. Revived to consciousness, he has daring, swashbuckling adventures in 'swinging sixties' England, although, as an Edwardian gentleman, 1960's pop culture mystifies him. In the second series of AAL! we find that The Face, too, has been cryogenically frozen. The Face is revived and renews his conflict with Adam (like Dr Evil). Aged 10 and 11 I watched AAL! avidly; it remains one of my favourite TV shows. Sadly the BBC dropped AAL! after two series. The Austin Powers franchise openly pays tribute to British 1960's espionage thrillers. How much of an influence, was Adam Adamant Lives!?
Rob Halliday
24th Oct 2019
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
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Answer: While there are many overlaps, and IMDB does list Adam Adamant as a "reference" for Austin Powers, Mike Myers himself has never indicated that that series was part of his inspiration. According to Myers, he created the character as a tribute to his father; more specifically, as a tribute to the comedy/culture of the '60s, which his father had introduced him to and which had influenced his own comedy.