A fan from U.N.C.L.E.
 

For those of you who remember the famous MGM-Arena TV series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," a fan named "Skiperino" has created a new opening title sequence for the show with *perfect* casting for the leads, and with Samuel L. Jackson and Kirsten Dunst as well. Have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd6x-TZ--Bc&mode=related&search=

While it's clumsily executed in places, kind of first draft, the casting is dead right and the flavor is there. This kind of star power would be the kind of thing an U.N.C.L.E. project would need to get the attention of Hollywood's movers and shakers, don't you think?

Wouldn't you go to a movie w/ Kirsten Dunst as a secret agent named April Dancer?
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Thanks for the memory. I used to watch that every Friday night....I had a ginormas crush on Robert Vaugh....

Mistress, the DVD sets (one the first season of black-and-white shows, the other the entire 3.5 seasons) are supposed to be out later this year from Time-Warner -- available only online to start.

Time-Warner have said that Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, among others connected with the show, have recorded extras; I've even heard that one of McCallum's home movies (w/ Jill Ireland, his wife at the time), filmed about 1966, will be included.

To me it doesn't matter what it costs, or if they come out on video *cubes* and I have to order a special player from the planet Vulcan (and you can just imagine what Interstellar Express would charge for that). It's U.N.C.L.E.!
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Leo G. Carroll was the "man-candy" on the show. ;)

Same vintage?
 

Mistress,

That was my junior high Friday night too. I think Star Trek was on also, but I liked UNCLE better.

Chuck

Merciful heavens, must we retread everything? I thought Brady Bunch redux should have resulted in the execution of the perps. U.N.C.L.E. was so bad that people had to Get Smart to get over it.

B

Chuck,

Star Trek and U.N.C.L.E. were both on the same network, NBC. ST premiered on Thursdays and then had two different time slots on Fridays. MfU started on Tuesdays, moved to Mondays (a shift which is credited with saving the show), then to Fridays for two seasons. In its final half-year it was back on Mondays -- but opposite "Gunsmoke," which (combined with the loss of fans after its silly "Batman"-like third season) led to its cancellation.

The show that replaced it on Mondays? "Laugh-In." (Ironically, in the very first L-I aired, in one of those psychedelic party scenes, Leo G. Carroll is seen holding the pen communicator and saying, "Come quickly, Mr. Kuryakin -- I think I've found Thrush Headquarters!")
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And what about Mannix?.................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_1Ax4vliO8

I used to love U.N.C.L.E. myself but I think there's a lot of romance we have with childhood favorites because as kids, we tend to overlook a lot of the flaws, plot holes, poor acting, etc...

I tried to rent some of these old shows a few times and was pretty disappointed. I think some memories are best left alone.

Now a couple movies I did re-visit are the James Coburn set, "Our Man Flint" and "In like Flint". These are so cheesy, I'm sure they were written on purpose that way. Still great, light entertainment that was much of the inspiration for the "Austin Powers" movies. AP even stole the ring tone from the hotline from Flint.

Same here. A week ago or so, I sat through part of a original ST. It was first I'd seen a zillion years and, was excruciatingly baaaad.

I don't know, but I don't think I'll ever get tired of the original Star Trek series... :nerd: Another one that stands the test of time is M*A*S*H*. :army:

Baaaad TV?
 

Oh, trust me, I know there were slipshod episodes of MfU and ST. After all, the stuff was produced by committees (highly talented committees, but still) under time and budget constraints. When MfU gave us an episode with Sonny and Cher or with somebody in a gorilla suit (yup, it happened), it deserved to be hooted at.

But look at stuff still older, like a lot of the lousy '50s "SF" movies and Commie-hunter spy films, and you realize what a leap forward these took in their genres. (Which overlapped, a little -- MfU was always dealing with SF-based threats from Thrush, such as an earthquake machine.)

MfU also may have pioneered the buddy-movie concept on TV. Culp and Cosby really established it in "I Spy," but Solo and Illya came first.

MfU's visual style hasn't dated, either. Look at how most TV shows of the time plodded along. MfU gave us sharp cuts, jumping from locale to locale; the whip-pan effect to change scenes; titles for the episode and for each act within it . . . it had dash, in other words.

It's funny how SF, crime stories (to an extent), and TV in general get judged by their worst examples, while other forms of literature are only judged by their best.
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Joe Mannix
 

Ah, yes! Another Bruce Geller series (he created "Mission:Impossible"!). The visual style of the intro, with the split screen images, is neat.

I'd love to see some of those again, especially the first year when he was the loose cannon private eye working for the computerized detective agency, Intertect. Rather a modern concept, yet it was 40 years ago.
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I loved that show, too. Also, I Spy and Get Smart. I know you guys must have watched those, too.

My daddy told me about them. Golly, you must be real old.

B