The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Then and ..Now?

On the way to work this morning I noticed the poster advertising the new The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie that is about to hit the screens. I have no idea what this film will be like but I do hope that the remake doesn't bomb like the attempt to do a modern version of The Avengers. There are some things that should be left alone.

Like The Avengers, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is very much a product of it's time as you can see from the video at the end of this post. I certainly have fond memories of this TV series as a lad. Something I mentioned to a co-worker some time back when Robert Vaughn appeared in of all things Coronation Street. She'd never heard of it having been born in the late eighties.

And suddenly I felt old!

So there's a whole new audience waiting out there to discover the joys of espionage U.N.C.L.E. style. That's what bothers me a bit. The Avengers failed because it was a product of the psychedelic sixties and the actors..well they just weren't Patrick Macnee or Diana Rigg.

And this isn't the sixties.

Times were much simpler back then, as were our expectations of special effects and as for computers..something out of science fiction! Never thought we'd see the day they were to be found in nearly every home.

This evening I had started out thinking about doing a post at my other blog on the comic books that the TV show spawned but decided since it's summer a quick break from politics was in order on Howie's Corner as the main news stories are getting a wee bit repetitive.

In the USA The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was published by the now defunct Gold Key Comics company. The series lasted 22 issues between 1965 and 1969.

 

In Britain their Adventures appeared in TV Tornado, a comic that lasted 88 issues before merging with the Gerry Anderson orientated TV 21.

 

Then there was ...The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. which I do not remember at all,but there was a five issue comic series in the states and three Annuals published in the UK.

 

A sequel if this film is a success? Why not!

Hopefully some Channel on Freeview will repeat the series. Here's the opening from the first episode for you!



For more on both old and new British & American comics please try my other blog:

Howie's World of Comics