The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)...
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
^Ahh, you're right. According to Spy Television by Wesley Alan Britton, Felton created the basic concept, then discussed it with Fleming, who suggested Napoleon Solo as the lead character's name and also proposed the April Dancer character. Felton then gave his notes to Rolfe to develop into a series prospectus. Then the Bond producers got word, insisted that Fleming step away and the name be changed, as well as asking NBC to vet the scripts to keep them from being too Bond-like. NBC also came up with the final title, which Felton and Rolfe grudgingly accepted.
So essentially Felton had the initial idea, he and Rolfe developed it as a team, and Fleming offered a few suggestions before the decision was made to distance the show from him. So N-121973 was right after all, except for the bit about how the title was changed. Sorry about that, Chief.
Apparently, one of the contenders for the role of Napoleon Solo was Barry Nelson, who'd been the first actor to play James Bond onscreen in a live-TV adaptation of Casino Royale. Another was Robert Culp, who'd go on to star in I Spy (and who played one of the best villains in TMFU's first season, the title character of "The Shark Affair," who was essentially a modern Captain Nemo).
So essentially Felton had the initial idea, he and Rolfe developed it as a team, and Fleming offered a few suggestions before the decision was made to distance the show from him. So N-121973 was right after all, except for the bit about how the title was changed. Sorry about that, Chief.
Apparently, one of the contenders for the role of Napoleon Solo was Barry Nelson, who'd been the first actor to play James Bond onscreen in a live-TV adaptation of Casino Royale. Another was Robert Culp, who'd go on to star in I Spy (and who played one of the best villains in TMFU's first season, the title character of "The Shark Affair," who was essentially a modern Captain Nemo).
The Shark Affair was the episode I was thinking of when I mentioned James Doohan in an earlier post. Many years ago I purchased Andrew Lycett's biography of Ian Fleming and I could swear I read that Fleming created the character of Napoleon Solo for a television series set in Jamaica with a recurring villain named Dr. No. the series idea came to nothing and Fleming used the idea for his 1958 James Bond novel 'Dr. No'. It turns out after re-reading the relevant passage that the show I was thinking of was to have featured a character called Commander James Gunn. And of course in both the Novel and film of 'Goldfinger' there is the Mafiose known only as Mr. Solo.
i agree
Saw it today; enjoyed it--it was fun. Some bits fell a bit flat and I didn't like that they Illya a bit of a psycho. Still, I thought the leads had good chemistry and I really like the music, the style of the '60s. For an action flick, the pacing was a bit off.
A pity it didn't do well--I think the two leads would've made an excellent "buddy duo" if there were to ever be sequels.
A pity it didn't do well--I think the two leads would've made an excellent "buddy duo" if there were to ever be sequels.
Well I'm certainly buying the blu-ray when it comes out. Here's hoping that if the "home video sales" are good enough or that the positive word of mouth for the film gets more bums on seats in the cinemas that a sequel could be green-lit. I'm also hoping that Warners releases seasons 2-4 of the tv series on DVD and re-release all 8 tv films (plus the reunion movie). At the moment in the UK we have 5 of the tv movies available.
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TV films? As far as I know, all the film versions of original series episodes were made for overseas theatrical release, which is why they have extra sex and violence added. The reunion movie is the only made-for-TV TMFU movie I know of. Are there more?
Hi Christopher I just used that as an abbreviated term for tv episodes turned into films. As far as I know there were no dedicated Man from U.N.C.L.E. films until this year, they just padded out episodes or bolted together two parters and released them overseas as you said. I described them as I did to differentiate them from say the Batman '66 film.
There was one made-for-TV film called The Return Of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (or something like that) made several years after the original series.
^Yes, we did both mention the reunion movie. It was called The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair.
If you wade through this thread:
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=205921
you may find a frame grab of him from that episode in one of my posts (unless it got lost when I switched hosts).
^Yes, that's "The King of Diamonds Affair." The B&W one Hela was asking about was "The Dove Affair."
^Between Montalban's two TMFU appearances, you mean? They were one year and three months apart, by airdate.
Prompted by seeing the 2015 film I dug out my movie boxsets and randomly chose One of our Spies is Missing, something of a coincidence that I picked the one with Yvonne Craig in it
You mean One Spy Too Many? The one where they added new footage of Craig as an UNCLE staffer? She was sexy in that, but it was so awkward the way they tacked her onto the story, with Craig having a scene inserted every time the agents call HQ on their pen-radios, or else showing up and saying “Here’s that thing you talked about arranging in the previous scene” before flirting some more with Solo.
Although not as awkward as the new action sequence with David Sheiner in the beginning. They add this whole under-the-credits sequence of his character violently breaking into an army base and killing a bunch of guards, leading into the opening scenes of the TV episode, in which he’s still waiting outside the gates of the base and breaks in again. Plus he has an obvious bald cap that's a poor match for his shaven head in the original episode.
Yes.I meant One Spy Too Many, lord knows where one of our spies is missing came from! 
I hadn't realised Number 17 was tacked on, I know what you mean about the credits sequence, it seemed odd, I just figured he'd had to break through one level of security before forcing his way through a second. It makes a lot more sense now...or maybe less sense!
This is the one that creeped me out as a child, specifically Mr Kavon trying to mummify Illya! No idea why it just seemed really disturbing.
I hadn't realised Number 17 was tacked on, I know what you mean about the credits sequence, it seemed odd, I just figured he'd had to break through one level of security before forcing his way through a second. It makes a lot more sense now...or maybe less sense!
This is the one that creeped me out as a child, specifically Mr Kavon trying to mummify Illya! No idea why it just seemed really disturbing.
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