tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post216857214817661118..comments2024-01-29T04:14:06.026-08:00Comments on Preppies of the Apocalypse: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: “The Tigers Are Coming Affair”Morgan Richterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14479288651753689466noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-14038185489917255602016-12-22T11:17:33.848-08:002016-12-22T11:17:33.848-08:00Eric -- that's a good thought about the Norman...Eric -- that's a good thought about the Norman Felton papers. I think it's also in Heitland's book where they mention that originally Napoleon was supposed to be a widower -- I believe that was back in the days when Ian Fleming was still tangentially attached to the show. It's fascinating to hear about the changes that were made along the way. (Also in Heitland's book: Sam Rolfe's comments about how he originally thought he might have Illya turn out to be a Soviet sleeper agent, which would have been a completely different direction.)Morgan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14479288651753689466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-82888177086745453422016-12-22T11:05:46.176-08:002016-12-22T11:05:46.176-08:00I wouldn't be too surprised if there wasn'...I wouldn't be too surprised if there wasn't a full/official character bible--especially considering how much was being played around with, during the series' initial development. I vaguely remember something in Jon Heitland's "Man from U.N.C.L.E. Book" about Napoleon at one point (likely pre-pilot) being Canadian; even though the series did pretty much make the character American instead, there supposedly was still a reference in the press materials during the first season to his service in the Royal Canadian Army (per http://www.manfromuncle.org/biosolo.htm).<br /><br />If a bible does exist, it might be in the Norman Felton papers, at the University of Iowa; see http://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/speccoll/tag/norman-felton.Eric Jon Magnusonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-420636149007060202016-11-30T08:55:56.283-08:002016-11-30T08:55:56.283-08:00I think Partridge was just messing with Illya when...I think Partridge was just messing with Illya when he talked about remembering him, in a kind of gung-ho British 'do you remember the war' kind of way. I get the feeling he hasn't met Partridge before - after all, what kind of spy would he be if he didn't recognise him? (I know, their incompetence is often a feature here but I don't think Illya is quite /that/ incompetent.Aconitum-Napellushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02132750527925948980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-13228946316662584642016-11-28T14:34:10.641-08:002016-11-28T14:34:10.641-08:00I suspect none of us will ever be able to truly ma...I suspect none of us will ever be able to truly make sense of The Man From UNCLE. Doesn't matter. It's still a delightful show, even when it doesn't *quite* add up.Morgan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14479288651753689466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-38020723236096792732016-11-27T05:34:05.379-08:002016-11-27T05:34:05.379-08:00Napoleon's account of the initial encounter wi...<br />Napoleon's account of the initial encounter with Partridge is ambiguous as to whether or not Illya was involved.<br /><br />However, on the bus right before Illya is knocked out, Partridge asks Illya if he remembers him, so I took that to mean Illya had seen Partridge before, and therefore had been involved in the earlier action. I just watched the scene again, and I really am not sure what the scene means. <br /><br />I guess I will stop trying to make sense out of The Man From Uncle and just enjoy it.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />montereysnowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12337328048147956191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-32626024679371495242016-11-27T01:48:48.337-08:002016-11-27T01:48:48.337-08:00Mrs. Spooky -- yeah, the timeline gets easier to m...Mrs. Spooky -- yeah, the timeline gets easier to manage if you just assume Illya was a prodigy who breezed through several years of education in no time.<br /><br />Back when I was at USC's film school, I used to check out old show bibles from the film library all the time (Star Trek, et cetera)--they were fascinating! I should do some investigating to see if they have a bible or any kind of guide from UNCLE (entirely possible, since one of my instructors, Stanley Ralph Ross, was a season three staff writer). It'd be interesting to see what concrete information the writers all were working from.Morgan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14479288651753689466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-59874601415124849932016-11-26T18:57:54.969-08:002016-11-26T18:57:54.969-08:00About the timeline and Illya's education. I t...About the timeline and Illya's education. I think he was working on his Phd while working at UNCLE. Not sure how remote education worked back in the 60s - I have a friend now who's working on her Phd from Warsaw, Poland (she's supposed to be writing her thesis, forgot when she said it has to be turned in). He was shown doing homework in the hospital in The Deadly Quest Affair, so it's possible he didn't actually attend classes there for the full time even if it's the university where he got his degree.<br /><br />It's possible too - and my own headcanon - that Illya's just a prodigy and zipped through any schoolwork they gave him in Ukraine - or Russia, wherever his primary schooling was done. Maybe he was younger than the rest of the students in college, that way he could still be in his later 20s when he started at UNCLE in Berlin. <br /><br />I don't remember, did Napoleon say something that he AND Illya smoked out Partridge into the jungle? Illya didn't know or remember him in their first encounter in front of Del Floria's and Illya really doesn't forget things as a rule.<br /><br />As for continuity, I'm pretty sure they didn't have anything even remotely resembling a "bible" for the writers. I think they had writers' guides that may have changed from season to season which looked to be pretty much ignored.MrsSpookyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09977564886261921552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-28714562231007357912016-11-26T09:21:30.490-08:002016-11-26T09:21:30.490-08:00It's *almost* like the various writers on the ...It's *almost* like the various writers on the show (and, later, the terrible reunion movie) didn't pay too much attention to anything that had already been established about Napoleon's and Illya's backstory. I love the show, but it could be terribly half-assed and sloppy at times.Morgan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14479288651753689466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-81445256752208286002016-11-24T18:20:23.356-08:002016-11-24T18:20:23.356-08:00It gets worse for Solo if you stare too hard at Na...It gets worse for Solo if you stare too hard at Napoleon's information in the Man From U.N.C.L.E movie. In the television show, we know that Napoleon served in the Korean War (I love that fact, only because my Grandfather was an Army medic in that war) and the timelines fit for him getting out of the Army and joining U.N.C.L.E. But in the movie, he no longer is a Korean War Veteran (because, srsly, who remembers THAT war, right?) But a WWII vet, which poses a problem, considering that would put Solo in his mid to late 40s in 1963, even with the fibbing on his entry paperwork. Also an issue, because the U.N.C.L.E phases out agents over the age of 40. Anyone remember Norman Fell's performance as the original Mark Slate?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14394218397967945441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-15887511756030961302016-11-24T16:01:09.987-08:002016-11-24T16:01:09.987-08:00I seem to recall that Illya's graduation year ...I seem to recall that Illya's graduation year in the Survival School Affair is given as 1956; Napoleon's two years earlier. Which would make Illya just turning 23.<br />In The Gazebo in the Maze Affair, it seems Napoleon and Illya have been together since at least 1958 since we are told the original action with Partridge took place seven years earlier.<br /><br />So, uh, yeah a bit difficult to cram everything into those years.<br /><br />montereysnowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12337328048147956191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-89674146537079562312016-11-24T07:11:39.524-08:002016-11-24T07:11:39.524-08:00You are entirely right about this episode. I feel ...You are entirely right about this episode. I feel awkward about Jill Ireland anyway as their marriage was floundering, and the rape threats are not good, and the episode itself is pretty terrible. One bonus points - goats! I love goats! And of course Illya not only with his shirt so wantonly unbuttoned, but also his sleeves rolled up showing off his beautiful forearms. And wet! God...<br /><br />As for Illya's career... University in the Ukraine, then the Sorbonne, then Cambridge... I can just about work it out this way. Either he wasn't in the navy (if we're just taking as proof him being in a navy uniform in that one episode - he could conceivably be undercover) or perhaps it was the navy that funded him through uni. So perhaps his undergrad and the navy overlapped. Again, perhaps his PhD and Uncle overlapped. It's conceivable. He might have been a member but not an active agent in the field. He might have been so clever he didn't take so long to do his PhD (although I have my own beautiful headcanon of his PhD days independent of Uncle and in a relationship with another PhD candidate.) What's hard to reconcile with that is the date of his Survival School stint, which I think just have been during his PhD. I don't remember the year.Aconitum-Napellushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02132750527925948980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-34911170785650903782016-11-24T04:59:46.968-08:002016-11-24T04:59:46.968-08:00vintagehoarder, I feel certain that's exactly ...vintagehoarder, I feel certain that's exactly how it happened.Morgan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14479288651753689466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-61781386338766061812016-11-23T14:30:26.057-08:002016-11-23T14:30:26.057-08:00One would almost think that Illya lied on his resu...One would almost think that Illya lied on his resume, and U.N.C.L.E., being the competent intelligence agency it is, didn't bother checking it out!vintagehoarderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16712215159631487676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-86271810881820154992016-11-23T07:36:38.753-08:002016-11-23T07:36:38.753-08:00vintagehoarder: Yeah, I think there must've be...vintagehoarder: Yeah, I think there must've been strange things going on behind the scenes in this episode, because the interactions between the characters are definitely more strained than was usual for this show. I know McCallum's marriage was in the process of falling apart around this time. It's a weird and kind of unpleasant episode.<br /><br />montereysnow: It's almost all worth it for half-undressed Illya. Even so, I watched this episode three times this week while recapping it, and I feel like I never need to see it again, even for that white shirt.<br /><br />Illesdan: I also go crazy trying to figure Illya's educational/work history out. He earned his doctorate from Cambridge, but he also served in the Russian Navy, and then in the episode "The Survival School Affair" we learn that he's been an UNCLE agent for a long time (they give a precise date; I'm too lazy to look it up, but since sometime in the late 1950s), and then in "The Summit Five Affair" we learn that he used to work out of UNCLE's Berlin headquarters before transferring to New York... I'm trying to reconcile all this with him being in his late twenties or very early thirties at the start of the series, and I can't figure out a workable timeline.Morgan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14479288651753689466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-81299571020160157652016-11-22T12:59:29.993-08:002016-11-22T12:59:29.993-08:00I don't want to go to college in the MFU unive...I don't want to go to college in the MFU universe: you can get a doctorate in quantum physics, dentistry, botany, and chemistry all before the age of thirty. I declare shenanigans.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14394218397967945441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-37627776017466989632016-11-22T08:06:05.874-08:002016-11-22T08:06:05.874-08:00I was just thinking last night how grating and irr...I was just thinking last night how grating and irritating Jill Ireland's characters in UNCLE were.<br /><br />You are right though. Any episode that gets Illya not only half undressed but also wet is a twofer worth watching.montereysnowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12337328048147956191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75557205567764834.post-26399445053918587872016-11-21T22:39:02.037-08:002016-11-21T22:39:02.037-08:00When I watched this I felt there was something... ...When I watched this I felt there was something... <i>off</i> in the body language between Jill Ireland and the other leads. I was left wondering if stuff playing out behind the scenes wasn't leaking in front of the cameras.<br /><br />But yeah, David McCallum in that unbuttoned white shirt makes up for a lot!vintagehoarderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16712215159631487676noreply@blogger.com