Man from U.N.C.L.E.

[wbassett]

The classic TV series Man From U.N.C.L.E. is finally here! Authorized
for the very first time on DVD and offered exclusively by Time Life.
You’ll get all 105 episodes of the Emmy® Award-nominated series, each
remastered for stunning clarity and sound, on 41 DVDs.


Plus you get over 10 hours of bonus material, including:

• Interviews with stars David McCallum and Robert Vaughn
• Commentaries and home movies from the U.N.C.L.E. set
• Rare promos and TV appearances

Like "The Avengers," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." is a takeoff on James Bond stories. The good guys, suave American operative Napoleon Solo and Russian Illya Kuryakin, work for U.N.C.L.E. (the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) and battle the evil international syndicate called THRUSH.




In response to the huge success of the James Bond films, the U.S. entered the spy game with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Starring Robert Vaughn as the dashing Napolean Solo and a Scot, David McCallum as Russian Illya Kuryakin, the show had an actual connection to Bond.

Ian Fleming who wrote the Bond books had a character named Mr. Solo in "Goldfinger." Although a bad guy in the original book, Fleming gave producer Norman Felton permission to use the name.

The U.N.C.L.E. spies had very different personalities. Solo was outgoing and sophisticated. Kuryakin was thoughtful and quiet.

The head of the U.N.C.L.E. secret New York office was Mr. Waverly (Leo G. Carroll). His assignments most often involved fighting the evil organization, THRUSH.

During the run of the show, Girl From UNCLE debuted. Starring Stephanie Powers as April Dancer, the show only lasted a year.

My brother is a big fan of this show and ordered the set. It sounds like it will be like the Blade Runner set where they will also be selling the boxed sets separately from the complete collector's kit, so if the $250 price tag seems too steep for one shot, anyone interested should be able to pick up the individual seasons one at a time.

I have the U.N.C.L.E. movies and this is an interesting series especially when it first started. Later on like many of the shows of the era it did turn to camp a little too much, but it is still a fun show. One of the shows/movies even has a cameo by George Lazenby complete with him driving the Austin Martin... a little cross franchise wink and nod which is rare if not completely unseen today.

Currently there is a lot of fan buzz trying to get an U.N.C.L.E. movie going with George Clooney playing the part of Napolean Solo. Check out the YouTube fan made 'intro'.

YouTube - New Man From U.N.C.L.E. Titles

As far as a movie, as long as they follow the early feel of the show and don't make it camp it could be pretty good and even a franchise vehicle, but who knows what Hollywood thinks and what direction they would go in. There were talks of a Six Million Dollar Man movie starring-- Jim Carey, so they obviously were bypassing camp and going straight to slap stick. Fortunately that one never got greenlighted.

[Mike P.]

That brings back memories! That was my favorite show growing up as a kid. I wonder if when they "remastered" it they added color or if it's the original black and white?

[wbassett]

As far as I know only the first season was Black and White.

When they start shipping, my brother already has it preordered so I can definitely tell you more about the transfer quality then.

[Sonnie]

Yeah... this is one of my favorites from the younger day as well. I had forgotten about it actually. Looks like a nice package, albeit on the pricey side.

[wbassett]

Yeah as the set it is a bit pricey, but comes out to $50 a season which is about mid ground for TV series. Not too bad, but not the cheapest either.

[Richard W. Haines]

You want pricey? Check out the cost of the tie-in merchandise from the show in the sixties on ebay.
The Gilbert company (that made erector sets) had spring loaded arms on their action figures
derived from the series. Both Ilya and Napoleon were sold in stores and there were accessories
and other items. Gilbert also did James Bond tie-ins with a fully operational Aston Martin tin
car that had an ejector seat and machine guns that made a sound. Lots of spy toys in the
sixties and I had them all. Alas, Gilbert was put out of business with one of it's Bond tie-ins.
They had a very elaborate slot car set sold through Sears that didn't work for many buyers.
It was rushed into production via a South Korean company that hadn't worked out the kinks
in the electronics. The numerous returns bankrupted Gilbert. In any event, they seem to
have the exclusive on much of the spy merchandise of the time which fizzled out and was
replaced by the "space race" in the late sixties. The other companies that offered
some tie-ins were Marx (plastic figures) and Dell (comic books). Both are also
out of business.

In terms of the TV show itself, some of the episodes were combined to make a
feature film shown in England and printed in Technicolor!