UNCLE Friday - Napoleon and the "Innocents"

Here's a topic that could inspire debate - Napoleon and the "Innocents".

There are some interesting innocents during the course of the series. A few that come to mind are Mimi Doolittle from "Foxes and Hounds", Mary Pilgrim from "See-Paris-and-Die", Clemency McGill from "Bat Cave", Salty Oliver from "Ultimate Computer" and Terri Cook from "Gurnius" (some people like these characters, but they annoy the socks off me!), Elfie van Donck in "Deadly Toys", and Janet Jerrod from "Off Broadway".  Aside from the females, I thought young Chris Larson in "Finny Foot" pairing up like a side-kick with Napoleon was very good.

Cousins, what are your thoughts on the innocents, good and bad.

UNCLE Friday - The best of Napoleon

Continuing with UNCLE Friday, when do you think Napoleon was at his best?  Is there a particular episode or season that you think really captured the essence of Napoleon?

Personally, I believe Season One did the best at developing Napoleon's character, and that he was particularly good on his own in "Iowa Scuba" and "Dove".

Cousins, would you like to share your thoughts?

Writers' Wednesday - "The Final Affair"

On Channel D, there have been posts regarding "The Final Affair" written by MFU fic author, David McDaniel.  McDaniel's books were authorized publications, with adventures for the guys written in the style of the series, and were very popular.

If anyone is interested in obtaining a PDF copy of the story, please email me at kitti4940@yahoo.com, and I will be glad to forward your request for a copy of the manuscript.

UNCLE Friday - Napoleon's Femme Fatales

Wow!  The excitement of Friday night being UNCLE night - I remember it as though it were yesterday.  For the first UNCLE Friday topic, we will mention Napoleon's femme fatales. 

In "Deadly Games" there was Angelique who, as Illya recognized, did have qualities similar to the spider family.  Poor deceptive Angela in "Four Steps", she didn't fare too well. 

There was also the lovely DoDo, who was seriously vicious in the movie made from "Bridge of Lions".  She was bumped off so her brown dress could be used again in "Thor".  (They didn't just recycle sets on MFU, they recycled wardrobe, too.)  At least DoDo redeemed herself as the "innocent" Tavia Sandor in "Birds and Bees" and Abbe in "Maze Affair".

Poor Mara in "Nowhere", its tough to consider her a femme fatale.  Yes, she worked for THRUSH, but she was almost an innocent.  First, she acted per the instructions of Dr. Tertunian, and then she acted per the instructions of Alexander Waverly when she gulped down a batch of Capsule B.  "Happy days," indeed ..., don't you wonder what happened to Mara post Capsule B?

Of all the femme fatales, I have to admit that I liked Serena the best even though she tried to "barbeque" Illya.

What do you say, cousins?

Serendipity Saturday - Websites and Blogspots

It's Serendipity Saturday, and I've spent much of my day doing research for a couple of McCallum-related projects.  I'm going to finish writing the "Sapphire and Steel" sequel if it takes me the next six months!

Doing things like research online, reading fanfic and chatting with friends on blogs, I've had the opportunity to make many friends here in the US and in the UK.  I've even made a friend in South America.  I can read or figure out Rebeca's emails most of the time (many thanks to my three years of Spanish and to Mrs. McCuiston and Mr. Jarrett).

Though I have links to several websites and blogsites here on Section II, I would love to know if I'm missing something significant.

Cousins, what are your favorite places to locate or share information about MFU or the guys?

Favorites Friday - MFU

Wow!  What an awesome day!  Our Cousin 'Lusha came to see me, and we had a blast chatting about MFU and the guys.

The only part of today that wasn't particularly awesome was dealing with the OPM again.  Still no insurance - we are in "interim" status, so nothing becomes fully effective until 2/1.  Yeah, but what if you have a major emergency?!!

Anyway, OPM made me think of bureaucrats, which made me think of megalomaniacs, which made me think of villains.

Cousins, let's talk about favorite villains - MFU villians, or David as a villain, or Robert as a villain.  As always, it's an open forum.

MFU-NCIS Tuesday: MFU favorite episodes

I'm sorry I'm late posting again.  I'm working on a writing project, and I became way too involved last night! 

We've shared favorite Illya episodes and favorite Napoleon episodes.  From the comments posted, we have:

Illya episodes:
1st Season:  Bow-Wow, Terbuf
2nd Season:  Recollectors, Birds and Bees, Nowhere*
(*Nowhere is my addition - there's nothing like a good explosion!)

Since there were no third or fourth season choices for Illya, I'll add a few:
3rd Season:  Pop-Art (I liked the flip-flops!), Yo-Ho-Ho, Concrete Overcoat
4th Season:  Gurnius (I thought he was very good at being very bad), Maze, Deadly Quest

Napoleon episodes:
1st Season:  Shark, Terbuf, Fiddlesticks, Dove & Finny Foot
2nd Season:  Nowhere, Waverly Ring, Cherry Blossom
3rd Season:  Deadly Smorgasbord, Her Master's Voice, Candidate's Wife
4th Season:  Maze, Summit Five, Deadly Quest

Favorite character episodes may be different from your favorite episodes in general.  Our friend, Benzadmiral, has his Silver Communicator Awards, but I can't recall them at present.  If I throw in my favorites first, I don't generally get as much response to the questions.  Cousins, what are your favorite episodes from the series?

By the way, all previous topics are still open.  I'm still hoping for an answer about the origin of that Victorian staircase!

Kuryakin-McCallum Monday - favorite IK characterization

We've talked about favorite episodes for the "little blond guy" on MFU.  What is your favorite characterization or disguise? 

Do you like the simple, no disguise needed, characterizations like the "Kuryakin of Paris" stunt in "Deadly Decoy", the little street thief in "See-Paris-and-Die" who needed only a knife and a beret for his character, or do you like the more elaborate disguises like Donyev in "Project Strigas"?

What do you think, cousins?

Solo-Vaughn Sunday - Favorite Episode

So far, we've had other topics for Solo-Vaughn Sunday.  Since the question has been asked about favorite episodes with Illya, why not ask about your favorite Napoleon episodes?  Cousins, what do you say?

Serendipity Saturday - Memorabilia

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday!  My mom gave me something she found in the closet of my bedroom (I haven't lived at home since 1981).  It was a Christmas present I received in 1966 or 1967! 

The present was a ViewMaster set - the regular viewer along with a projector so you could project reels on a screen.  I took it with me to school several times to show reels of different places or historical sites.

inside the box, along with the ViewMaster, were the reels I collected.  In the batch, were my "Man From U.N.C.L.E." ViewMaster reels!  I'm not sure why, but the episode they picked for the reels was "The Very Important Zombie Affair".

I've been worried for years that my mom sold my kid stuff in a yard sale and was absolutely thrilled to see my UNCLE reels are in pristine condition!

I know there are a lot of cousins with wonderful collectibles.  Cousins, do you have any special UNCLE memorabilia you've collected - especially collectible toys from childhood?

Writers' Wednesday - Zine Stories

Lisa Madden has posted a request on Channel D for material for two upcoming zines.  Here is the info:

Stories and/or artwork are needed for two Man from UNCLE fanzines: The Kuryakin File (gen) and Eyes Only (adult/het).  She also need covers for both if someone is so inclined.

The website is below for guidelines or you can write Lisa. Stories must be submitted to her no later than March 31.  Lisa hopes hope to publish for Media West Con end of May. Send electronic manuscripts in RTF or MS Word format.  Lisa will send the edits back as soon as she can to allow time to get the final drafts back to her by May 1.

NorthCoast Press
http://nocoastpress.com/

Kuryakin-McCallum Monday - favorite IK episode

I apologize for the late post.

Since tomorrow's post will be about the 150th episode of NCIS, I thought we could have an UNCLE-related question for today.  Cousins, what is your favorite IK episode?

Favorites Friday - Music

It's interesting how much music was created for MFU.  There were variations on the opening and closing themes for the series; the movie soundtracks; and episode or scene specific background music.   In addition, there were a few actual songs (of sorts) used during the series.  I love David McCallum's "Trouble".  

There are two episodes that leave me perplexed: 

I've never heard who is to blame (or is responsible for) the unintelligible part in "A Man Is a Horn" for "The Off-Broadway Affair".  Did he make up that gibberish?  Even as a kid, I was embarrassed for him!

Does anyone know why "El Ka-bong Illya" sang "Hava Nagila" in "The Ultimate Computer Affair"?  The non-existent "Province of Chacua" didn't seem like a place that would have many, if any, Jewish residents. 

According to the world of "wiki", the melody for "Hava Nagila" came from a Ukrainian folk song.  The Jewish words "Hava Nagila" mean "Let's Rejoice".  In Chacua, they mean I don't have a clue about your culture, and I'm not blending in like one of the locals!  I guess the censors or "network standards" wouldn't allow El Illya to sing "La Cucaracha".

Cousins, what is your favorite bit of MFU music?  Did you enjoy the theme from a particular season or movie, or was there a particular episode that had really good background music (like "Fiddlesticks")?

MFU-NCIS Tuesday: MFU Movie Soundracks

Are you an UNCLE memorabilia buff?

A couple weeks ago, I ordered "The Spy With My Face" soundtrack from a seller on eBay. The CD arrived Saturday.

The cover has a nice copy of the poster for "TSWMF", which featured Robert Vaughn.  When I opened the CD, I found a book in the front, filled with several photos from the MFU movie posters.  The soundtrack has music from "TSWMF" and the subsequent movies.  On the back of the CD, I read that the soundtrack was a limited issue of 3000 copies, and it was issued by Turner Classic Movies.

I visited the TCM website (see the links).  The soundtrack is still available; just click on "shop" and "soundtracks".  I just typed in the full name of the soundtrack and found it.

If you visit the TCM website, you can click "database".  I used "David McCallum" for my search.  I found all the MFU movie trailers, which can be downloaded.  Also, if you haven't done so, you can vote to have the movies made available on DVD.

If you click on "site", there are articles about some of the movies and four MFU-era photos.  The photos were labeled "One of Our Spies Is Missing".  Three are different shots of the photo of Waverly standing between the guys with a treasure chest on the table.  You can't download, but you can print the photos.  In the third photo, it looks like Mr. Vaughn was intentionally making a face - it's worth a look!

The fourth photo is of Robert Vaughn only, standing beside the cracked glass panel. He's smiling, not all like the deadly serious photo behind the glass, and his hair isn't as flatly Bryllcremed as it was in the first few episodes.  The photo reminded me of the one first season episode when Solo casually stepped away from the glass panel and, "breaking the fourth wall", told the viewer about the episode.

Cousins, I try to share the best inside information I can with you! Since there hasn't been a lot of traffic on Section II yet, these are our little secrets!

Kuryakin, Mallard, & McCallum Monday - comparisons

If you haven't been on Ellen's website for David McCallum, links to new articles have been added.  There's a great wallpaper of a gentleman drawing an incredibly life-like portrait of Mr. Kuryakin, and my Illya and Napoleon wallpaper with the January calendar is there, too.

On the Yahoo group "Channel D", there has been a discussion of recycled scripts, which ties in to our topic suggested by British cousin, Sharon.

How many Illya-isms or UNCLE-isms have you seen incorporated into "NCIS"?

The obvious connections I've noticed: 
(1) for the funerals of Kate Todd and Chris Pacci, Ducky wore a very Illya-ish black suit, white shirt and black necktie [I wish he would dress like that again!];
(2) when Abby's tried to make a CGI of a suspect, the results looked Illya-ish;
(3) Kate's asking Gibbs what Ducky looked like when he was younger;
(4) Mr. Palmer's barber-shop quartet being called "The PB&J's";
(5) Rene Benoit giving Ducky, as Charles Harrow, a bottle of "Napoleon" brandy;
(6) Ducky's going undercover; and
(7) Abby's telling Ducky, "... you're 'The Man' ...".

I haven't listed all the U.N.C.L.E.-ish things, and there are also some obscure McCallum things (like the photo of David, the dad, and David, the son, in the Mallard house).  I can think of at least five more (including things done by McGee, DiNozzo or Gibbs). 

How many other parallels have you noticed, cousins?

Happy New Year! MFU Friday Favorites - Innocents

Okay, I know everybody has been gearing up for the New Year.  Happy 2010, and let's hope it's 10 times better than 2009!

If everyone hasn't partied too much, today's discussion question is who is your favorite MFU innocent?

By the way, you can still post a response regarding "Colditz".

Serendipity Saturday - Voting for MFU and Other Movies on TCM

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday, and a happy "Boxing Day" to our UK cousins.

Today's topic is one I have mentioned before on Channels D and M, voting for various MGM movies to be made available on DVD.  The movies were made from various "Man from U.N.C.L.E." episodes or were movies that DM or RV filmed during the mid-1960's. 

On the Turner Classic Movies website, http://www.tcm.com/, type the name of the movie in the database search window.  The name of the movies, along with any similarly titled ones, will be listed in the center window.  Click on the appropriate movie title, and the database will bring up information about the movie. 

If you're not familiar with a movie, most have a theatrical trailer that can be viewed or downloaded.  On "Three Bites of the Apple" there's a trailer entitled, "Italy's in Season", that promotes both "Three Bites" and "The Venetian Affair".

To the right of the screen, there is an arrow with the word "vote".  If you have not voted for a movie before, click the word "vote", type your email address in the pop-up box, and then submit your vote.  It's that simple.  You are not obligated to purchase anything by voting.

Here are the movie titles:

"Around the World under the Sea" - a David McCallum movie

"Helicopter Spies" ("Prince of Darkness Affair")

"How to Steal the World" ("Seven Wonders of the World Affair")

"Karate Killers" ("Five Daughters Affair")

"One Spy too Many" ("Alexander the Greater Affair")

"Sol Madrid" - a David McCallum movie

"Spy in the Green Hat" ("Concrete Overcoat Affair")

"Spy with My Face" ("Double Affair" with a snippet from "Four Steps")

"Three Bites of the Apple" - a David McCallum movie

"To Trap a Spy" ("The Vulcan Affair")

"The Venetian Affair" - a Robert Vaughn movie (not based on MFU)

Please take a few minutes and support our favorite spies!

Also, while your here, please comment on any of the topics from earlier in the week.

Favorites Friday - Episodes

I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas, cousins!

Today's topic is difficult to answer!  What are your favorite MFU episodes?  For me, it's tough to pick a single episode out of 105, or a single episode per season.  Here are my top fives (and a couple of guilty pleasures) along with the ratings from Bill Koenig's episode guide:

First Season:  Project Strigas (A); Fiddlesticks (B+); Bow-Wow (A); Giuoco Piano (A+); Mad, Mad Tea Party (A+)
Second Season: Alexander the Greater (A+); Adriatic Express (A); Birds & Bees (A); Nowhere (A); Waverly Ring (A)
Guilty Pleasure: Re-collectors (B)
Third Season:  Concrete Overcoat (A); Her Master's Voice (B+); Yo-Ho-Ho (B); Pieces of Fate (B+); Suburbia (B-)
Really Guilty Pleasure: Casbah (C-) [the story is so-so, but I give Casbah kudos for Danielle DeMetz and certain visual effects]
Fourth Season:  Summit Five (B+); Deadly Quest (A-); Fiery Angel (A-); Gurnius (B+); Maze (A)

In answering this question, I realized that several of my answers would be different if I were to list favorite scenes.  That sounds like a good topic for next week!

A question for MFU-NCIS Tuesday

We know much of MFU was filmed on the MGM backlots; even the exterior of the building where the dressing rooms were located was used as a site.  Since this is Tuesday, I have a question about sets and props.

I recognized a few props and sets recently while I was watching the movie, "High Society":
the white staircase from the Dexter-Haven's house;
the red chairs with gold fringe in the Dexter-Haven's house;
the statues from the grounds at Tracey Lord's house; 
the front exterior of Tracey Lord's house;
the unpaved drive at Tracey Lord's house (best used when Waverly, decked out with those sharp-looking driving goggles, kicked up some dust in "Her Master's Voice");
and a section of Uncle Willie's bar - it looks like it was converted into Miss Diketon's "toy" display in "Concrete Overcoat".

The steamboat from "Showboat" served as a vantage point for Napoleon at the beginning of "Hong Kong Shilling".

The New York brownstone set (with DelFloria's Tailor Shop) was used in "Singing in the Rain".  Gene Kelly danced his way down an adjacent side street.  After the May 1967 fire on Lot 3 that affected the New York set, part of the burned out set was used as the abandoned warehouse site in "Deadly Quest".

In addition to the MGM movie sets, lots of stock footage was used to establish locales.  The exterior of Biltmore House in Asheville, N. C., was used in both "High Society" and MFU.

What props or sets have you identified from MGM film history or from stock film, cousins?  I'd love to know where I've seen the ornate wooden staircase used in "Double Affair", "Bow-Wow", and "Secret Sceptre".  I've puzzled through several 1930's-1950's films, and I can't place it. 

Cat