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To Trap a Spy (1966 pilot for U.N.C.L.E.)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:12 pm    Post subject: To Trap a Spy (1966 pilot for U.N.C.L.E.) Reply with quote



TO TRAP A SPY - (1966) [Also released as: "The Vulcan Affair"] This is it! The first "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." episode, a pilot that was expanded after it's 1964 TV premiere so that it could be exhibited theatrically.

Series regulars Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, and Leo G. Carroll are noticably less comfortable with their roles than they were later in the series, but it's still good fun. The villain is Fritz Weaver, head of the Vulcan Chemical Company, who has good capitalistic reasons for doing bad things to the president of a young African nation (William Marshall).

Lovely Patricia Crowley is the fetching heroine. Also starring Luciana Paluzzi ("Thunderball", "The Green Slime") and Ivan Dixon. Directed by Don Medford.

Note to Bogmeister: I'm sure there's plenty more to say about this popular series, and if you'll treat us to one of your terrific jpeg-rich essays, I'll fix you a vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred, if I remember correctly.

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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My buddies & I were big fans of TMFU when we were growing up.

I've watched some episodes on METV & am finding just how dated the show is.

The episodes unfold very slowly & are even on the dull side.
It was a fun show once upon a time but it has dated poorly over the years.

Fortunately this is not the case with my other favorite espionage series from that era Mission:Impossible.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, I had sort of the same experience recently when I tried to watch Mission: Impossible! Dated, slow, and dull.

Weird, huh?

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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not really weird. When you have any tv series with a long run such as M:I (1966-'73), you will run into weak episodes here & there. Happens to the best of 'em.

Star Trek: TOS had a strong first season, second season had some wonderful episodes such as Amok Time, The Doomsday Machine, Journey To Babel. The same season also gave us Friday's Child & some other clunkers.

Third season is the least fav for fans since it had few winners.

I would say that for good consistency throughout many seasons M*A*S*H & The West Wing were rarities.


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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The "Man From U.N.C.L.E." pilot was named "Solo", which was to be the show's title until the United Artist law suit over the name Solo. It was from the "Solo" pilot that "To Trap a Spy" was made, because "Solo" was filmed in color. The only difference between "The Vulcan Affair" and "Solo", aside from one being in color, is one cast member. Originally, the Head of U.N.C.L.E. North America, Mr. Allison played by Will Kuluva.

When the pilot was screened the Network said to "get rid of the foreign guy". They meant David McCallum, the producers thought they meant Will Kuluva. A fortunate break for the series. David McCallum was suppose to be the character that brought Solo information and gear, but he was popular with the teenagers, and he had a good chemistry with Robert Vaughn, so he got a promotion to Enforcement Agent number two.

A little history. First off, TMFU is not a spy series, it is a law enforcement series. U.N.C.L.E. is a law enforcement organization. The United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. When the show was conceived, no one knew what it stood for, they just thought it sound mysterious. They came up with a meaning for U.N.C.L.E. for merchandising purposes.

Norman Felton wanted to do a spy series, and it was suggested that he get Ian Flemming invoked, as the Bond movies were REALLY BIG at the time. Flemming came up with a premise of two agents that worked directly for the President of the United States. Napoleon Solo and April Dancer. Solo was very Bond like, and the name gave United Artist an excuse for a law suit.

NBC liked the idea of the series, but not the premise. Sam Rolfe was the top show developer at the time, so he was hired to flesh out the series. He used a show idea he had developed in the fifties named "Saint George and the Dragons", about two secret organizations battling it out. He just changed the names for TMFU.

Sam Rolfe considered that an international Law Enforcement agency that would have the power, resources, and technology would be staffed by each nations most trusted people. He reasoned that it would be the nation's intelligence agents. These agents would use the techniques that they were used to. So you have a Police agency, that operates like a spy agency.

Thrush is not an acronym. Someone in the production came up with Thrush, which is suppose to have an old meaning for 'death rattle'. David McDaniel turned Thrush into an acronym for his U.N.C.L.E. novels. He also had a different origin for Thrush than the tv show.

TMFU was a low budget show. It was only possible because the show had the resources and backlot of the MGM studio. The show's famous wip-pan came about because the show could not afford wipes or dissolves. They also couldn't afford the time to setup camera dolly tracks. Fortunately, their camera man, I believe it was Fred J. Koenekamp, had developed a technique where he could walk without camera shake. He would strap the camera magazine to his head for support.

The U.N.C.L.E. Special. The U.N.C.L.E. Special was the fourth star of the show. It got almost as much fan mail as Vaughn and McCallum, and generated a visit from Agents of the Treasury Department. Sam Rolf always specified that U.N.C.L.E. Agents would use a Walther P38 pistol with a silencer and full-auto capability. He said in an interview, that during WWII his Army Unit came upon a group of German Soldiers that were armed with full-auto P38s, and that made an impression on him.

Because of the law suit, the production was ordered to avoid certain things that could be associated with Bond. They said no P38, where what they meant was no PPK. Ideal Toys was suppose to build the Special in return for the rights to the toy version. Ideal took so long that MGM prop department made the first Specials from an M34 Mauser pocket pistol. This is what Ideal based the toy on. There were two Mauser Specials made, but only rifle accessories for one. The Mauser was a problem from the start. It jammed every time it was fired, and blank ammunition was hard to get. The biggest problem though, was that it was thought that the pistol was dwarfed by all of the accessories.

The problem got so bad, that the production people went and grabbed six P38s from the "Combat" set to make new Specials. Accessories were made to convert two of the pistols into rifles. There were resin copies of the pistol and rifle version for stunt work. They also made foam rubber copies of he pistol for stunt work and hitting people. Early in the show's run two Treasury Agents visited MGM, wanting to know about the U.N.C.L.E. Specials. They barely avoided having the Specials confiscated, but had to pay a fine of two thousand dollars for manufacturing firearms without a license. The fine added to the cost of the weapons, made the U.N.C.L.E. Specials the most expensive prop at the time.

At the time TMFU was considered a fast pace show. But in today's microwave, A.D.D. world, it is considered slow. I remember watching "Alias", which would do three capers per show like they were nothing. A couple of years earlier, just one of those capers would have been the focus of a show. I personally like watching a show take it's time to do a caper. It makes it look like the Heroes are accomplishing something difficult and dangerous.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________________________________

I had a wacky buddy in high school who loved this show and came up with his own humorous version. Since my friend's name was Charles Hinkle, the name of his spoof was --


The Man from H.I.N.K.L.E.

I asked him what it stood for. He didn't crack a smile as he deepened his teenaged voice and proclaimed it stood for --

He-Man Instigating Non-Clunking Law Enforcement
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~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for all of that great info about TMFU, Krel.

I'd always assumed that it was a high budgeted show & not a modest one. Guess all those scenes on the terrific MGM backlot made the series appear more incredible.

The episode I just recently watched did not even have a brief scene with Illya. Always interesting to watch a show that intends someone to be a secondary character & suddenly they become very popular to the audience.

Saw this with Mr. Spock & Fonzie.

I guess that the first season of TMFU is generally considered their best. I know it offered some episodes where Thrush was not the primary enemy. Always found that refreshing for a change of pace.

Lots of memories of being in grade school & my friends & I talking into our Bic pens to Mr.Waverly.

Years later I went on a site & ordered a prop replica of the UNCLE pen.

Other fond memories from the show was how cool UNCLE HQ was, the moving round table in Waverly's office, & the sound effect whenever HQ went on alert.

Oh, Del Florio's Cleaners secret panel in the dressing room that led into the HG.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________________________________

Talking to your pen. Love that mental image. Smile

I don't remember if I posted this on the old board or somewhere else on this one, but in the early 1960s I spent several hours building a shoulder holster for a dinky little blank pistol used to start track races. I had installed a "scope" on top -- a 4" piece of steel tubing, held in place with neatly wrapped electrical tape.

The shoulder holster was made of a strip of elastic fabric and a piece of poster board covered in black electrical tape.

I wore it under my suit coat to church on Sunday -- and no one ever knew I was armed and dangerous and ready to battle those enemy agents posing as members of the choir. Cool

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~ The Space Children (1958)


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Krel
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
I'd always assumed that it was a high budgeted show & not a modest one. Guess all those scenes on the terrific MGM backlot made the series appear more incredible.

I guess that the first season of TMFU is generally considered their best. I know it offered some episodes where Thrush was not the primary enemy. Always found that refreshing for a change of pace.
.

Sorry Folks, it's gonna be another long one...Okay, I'm not really sorry. Twisted Evil

They did occasionally have problems with the MGM backlot. The WWII show "Combat" was also filming on the lot. The MFU people would go and scout out a location for a future episode, only to find out when the arrived for filming that "Combat" had filmed there first, and trashed the street! So it would cost TMFU time and money to cleanup and refinish the sets.

They came up with Thrush as a stopgap measure. If they couldn't think of a good villain, they would use Thrush.

In 1985, I went to a SpyCon in Chicago, where I met a man that owned some U.N.C.L.E. props. He owned one of the P38s, a resin Special carbine, a reproduction of the U.N.C.L.E. shoulder holster made by the company that duplicated the original design for "The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E." and a pen communicator, made by the man that made them for the tv movie.

The P38, was a WWII German Army pistol, it had the German Army markings. There were six P38s altered for the show, with special one-piece metal grips made to hold the telescoping shoulder stock and scope mount. Each grip was different, because they were hand machined by different machinist.

The barrel accessories, the flash suppressor, silencer and extended barrel, all screwed into the pistol barrel. They did this because they were not sure that the shortened barrel would generate enough pressure from the blank cartridge to operate the pistol's slide. It turns out that it did.

The owner of the P38 told me an amusing story about Robert Vaughn. R.V. would flinch when shooting a gun. Not uncommon, you see it in a lot of tv shows and movies. George Raft was reported to be so bad, they they would glue his eyes open whenever he had to fire a gun, or he would squeeze his eyes shut! The producers gave R.V. a gun, a box of blank cartridges, and told him to go outside and shoot the gun until he didn't flinch.

They had to watch David McCallum with the props. Not because he would pilfer them, but because he would disassemble them to see how they work!

In one episode, they needed the stone in a ring to light up. The prop department was stumped, but Leo G. Carroll had the answer. He told the prop makers about grain of wheat bulbs, and the prop was made. He was in his early 80s at the time.

The U.N.C.L.E. Car. It was decided during the first season that they needed a Spy Car. Every Secret Agent needed a spy car. James Bond had one. James West had his train, and tricked out saddle. But what car? They picked a new model, the Dodge Charger, which immediately stirred up a hornet's nest. NBC didn't like the idea, because it would be free advertising for Dodge. Dodge didn't like the idea, because the didn't want their new car to be sprouting weapons. It might dissuade families from buying the car. WHAT!? The Charger is a muscle car! By all reports, the most overpowered production car on the market at the time. I'm not sure how many families were gonna buy it, but they would have probably sold a lot with the U.NC.L.E. connection.

They looked at other cars, but still had the same problem. NBC didn't like the idea of free advertising. Then the AMT model company came to the rescue. They had a division that made cars (and the full-size ST Shuttlecraft) for the show circuit, that they would later make a model of. They had a car, the Piranha,which the Pontiac Fiero resembles. They would turn a Piranha into the U.N.C.L.E. car, for the rights to make the model kit. They lengthened the rear deck of the car, and added weapons and features, most of which were never seen in the show. It was a futuristic looking car, that the actors hated from the beginning! It is a low car, in which you sat down below the frame. Robert Vaughn said that it was impossible to look good getting out of, because you had to climb up and out of it. You can imagine the problems poor Stefanie Powers with her skirts had! The seats are molded into the body, so the operating pedals had to be adjusted to the driver. The car is a mid engine, air-cooled Corvair engine, which leaked oil. A lot. Robert Vaughn said that you could find the car by following the trail of oil it left.

If you would like your own model of the U.N.C.L.E. car, then you are in luck. It is being reissued by Playing Mantis/AMT in 2015, as the Piranha Super Spy Car. You can get a peak here: http://culttvman.com/main/sneak-peak-piranha-super-spy-car/

We wish to thank the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement without whose assistance this program would not be possible.

This is the tag at the end of most U.N.C.L.E. episodes. In the first episodes Robert Vaughn either said Uncle, or the letters. When it was decided that, for merchandising purposes, U.N.C.L.E. should have a definition. They created the definition, but how to get it to the audience without being overly obvious? Norman Felton had the answer. When he was producing "Dr. Kildare", at the end of each episode, they thanked the American Medical Association, without whose assistance this program would not be possible. So they did the same for TMFU. The cast and crew were even given an U.N.C.L.E. card with their name on it. So the end of each episode, with the tag, thanked the cast and crew of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., without whose assistance the program would not be possible.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Hot damn, this thing is goregous!



I wonder where it is today.



Lordy me, I built so many AMT car models as a kid -- but I never built this one, darn it.



Your fine post has put me in the mood to re-watch this show, David. And as the head of this organization, I'm declaring you to be an official agent!



That's right, sir. You are now —


The Man from E.D.C.A

Emerald Duck Call Agent

Agent Krel . . . your car is ready.


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~ The Space Children (1958)


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scotpens
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There was also an issue of the UNCLE car model kit with "French" box art and bilingual English/French instructions. The kit itself was exactly the same.



"Mademoiselle L'Agente Secrète 97" wasn't a character from movies, television, comic books or any other media. It was just something the AMT guys made up -- maybe so they could continue producing and selling the kit after the UNCLE license expired?

She looks like a pretty cool babe, though.


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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 5:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For Canadian fans in Vancouver, B. C., CBUT has a treat for you! Occasionally they show the pilot in it's original form!!!

Way back in the day, there was no satellite transmission. TV series and movies had to be shipped PHYSICALLY as film (videotape was expensive in 1964). This was true of pilots. CBUT (Ch 2) is the West Coast flagship of the CBC. They not only have Solo, but many of the 'missing episodes of Doctor Who as well!

It's a shame that they do not have the time and resources to go into their vaults and see what all they have.

They recently showed the pilot to a sci-fi / fantasy pilot from 1964, Ghostbreakers, with music by John Williams. It's a serious version of Ghostbusters. Ghostbreakers was given a limited theatrical release in 1967.

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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 8:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
I wonder where it is today.


The Car and many of the props are owned by prop/effects man Robert Short, who is a BIG U.N.C.L.E. fan. He made the H&K P7 U.N.C.L.E. Special for the "Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.". In the tvm, Robert Short is the Thrush man driving the golf cart, that Robert Vaughn punches out.

Bud, may I ask where you found this photo? The reason I ask is because I have one almost exactly like it. A friend took it at the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim California. I, unfortunately could not attend that year, but that photo may have been taken there. Robert Short had many of his U.N.C.L.E. props on display there.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The car somewhat reminds me of those nifty autos from Gerry Anderson's UFO TV show.

From what I have read,those cars on UFO were very difficult to handle for the actors.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
Bud, may I ask where you found this photo? The reason I ask is because I have one almost exactly like it. A friend took it at the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim California. I, unfortunately could not attend that year, but that photo may have been taken there. Robert Short had many of his U.N.C.L.E. props on display there.

First I clicked the link in your post ---

http://culttvman.com/main/sneak-peak-piranha-super-spy-car/

--- then I copied the words "Piranha Super Spy Car" and pasted them to a Google image search, and finally I grabbed a few of the interesting pictures that came up and put them in my post.

The one you mentioned was four rows down from the top, and appears at the lower left in this screen grab.



I didn't even put it in my Photobucket album. I just right-clicked on it and selected Copy Image Location.

If you click on the image in the Google image search results (or "visit page" right next to the image) you'll go to a site that should have the source of the image and some info about it . . . but when I did it, I could not find the image anywhere on the site.

Weird, huh? Very frustrating.

I hope you have better luck, Agent Krel. If you need backup, call your partner -- Alexander Duet. He's twice as cool as Napoleon Solo, and his first name is derived from a Great conqueror, just like Napoleon Solo. Very Happy

But do NOT ask for help from agents Napoleon Screwloose and Illya Nutcrackin. Those are guys are completely MAD!
Shocked


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