Talk:The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Untitled
I have a vague recollection of the A.U.N.T.I.E agency being mentioned once in the show itself. Can anyone confirm? --mordemur 13:36, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Possibly you are remembering the Avengers episode The Girl from A.U.N.T.I.E. Fairportfan 08:51, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

"Mad" magazine did one of its television show satires on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and called it "The Man from A.U.N.T.I.E.".Toddabearsf (talk) 23:42, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Catacombs and Dogma Affair
Someone added this to the official book list, but I can't find any reference to it on the Net or in any of my UNCLE references. Is it possible this is fanfic? 23skidoo 22:28, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * NO. It's much too old to be fanfic.  It was an actual printed paperback book.  I have no idea why it's not in anyone's list, and I'm amazed all the UNCLEheads haven't heard of it.  It definitely isn't fanfic.  I owned a copy, but don't have it now.  I bought it in a used bookstore in Southern California called The Bookie Joint, if that's of any help. Pedant 19:33, 2005 Jan 7 (UTC)
 * A second novel by J. Hunter Holly that was never officially published was circulated among fans. Fairportfan 08:59, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

External links within copy
An anonymous editor put a number of external links to Web pages about people named into the story. I've taken them out, because wikiedpia articles aren't link farms. The idea of wikipedia is to create a connected web of knowledge - and if we send people to other Web sites, they can't return here easily, or see other wiki-related links. Instead, please create wikipedia articles for people who you think need them! - DavidWBrooks 17:01, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

"Sweets" is apparently unclear
"In the UK a series of sweets (chewing gum?) was sold at the time of the broadcasts." Could somebody please clarify this for the non-Brits? - Feb 6, 2006 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.51.230.198 (talk) 14:07, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm not a Brit, but I'm going to give it an educated guess. 23skidoo 17:26, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

This is well covered in the "Trivia" section of the "Man From UNCLE" page. I don't think foreigners are unaware of chewing-gum. P.Woods —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.137.32.103 (talk) 21:42, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Back up Stories -
Michael 14:45, 15 February 2006 (UTC) here. The Backup story for The Man From Uncle was what would later be a one shot, single issue comic. It was Jet Dream and her International Stuntgirl Counterspies. Michael 14:45, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Tulsa,OK
Does anyone have a reference to backup the "real headquarters" quote? This website Tulsa TV Memories refutes this claim! It also shows why Tulsa was important to the show. --Jimwelch 19:55, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Although some grump may shout "original research!" it looks like you've found good reason to remove the reference. So I have. - DavidWBrooks 18:59, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Information out of sequence
This entire section appeared after the first paragraph speculating on the meaning of THRUSH, which opens the article. It interrupts the flow and seems out of sequence. I leave it here so a wikipedia editor can put it into a better place.

"The creators of the show denied this but at one point were even told this on the air when one of them was a guest on a LA radio show. Fans went so far to dress up in full T.H.R.U.S.H. uniforms, made fan films ( T.H.R.U.S.H. Training Film # 14: Securing the Desired Objective which detailed a successful assault on an U.N.C.L.E. installation), and even went so far as to attend a Robert Vaughn summer stock play dressed as T.H.R.U.S.H. agents in full uniform and buying out the first 2 rows which had both Vaughn & MGM worried until they found out it was a tribute/gag. A friend of McDaniel was given a certificate from one of the creators of the show that he was the head of the Nevada Satrap of T.H.R.U.S.H. which was based in Las Vegas. ( Satraps are autonomous divisions of T.H.R.U.S.H.). He may well be the only actual T.H.R.U.S.H. agent and lives somewhere north of San Francisco and is working on making a full T.H.R.U.S.H. uniform so he can make an appearance at ConspiracyCon.

A fan and movie stunt man, Bob Short, owns the U.N.C.L.E. car used in both the Man From U.N.C.L.E. & the Girl From U.N.C.L.E. Various other fans own the original weapons used in the shows.

Another explanation was Terrorism, Harassment, Revenge Unlimited &mdash; Supreme Headquarters." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.9.123.234 (talk) 23:24, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
 * This last suggestion seems very similar to James Bond's enemy, SPECTRE - Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion. gergis (talk) 15:00, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Someone please elaborate on THRUSH
I think that there should be more information on the evil organization THRUSH itself, its commannd structure, operatives, methods, wealth, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.118.132.29 (talk) 00:49, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

The United Nations, Credits and Daisies
The U.N. in U.N.C.L.E. was originally to refer to the United Nations but the U.N. objected. Viewers may recall that the exterior shots that led into action at UNCLE headquarters featured at least one view of the U.N. building. According to Kathleen Crighton's THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.: A RETROSPECTIVE, to prevent confusion, UNCLE producer Norman Felton added this "acknowledgment"/disclaimer to the closing credits:
 * "We wish to thank the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement without whose assistance this program would not have been possible."

The IMDb has a slightly different wording in Crazy Credits.

By the by, I remember a bit of that Please Don't Eat the Daisies episode: Ilya shows up at the front door, displaying his credentials, and then -- commercial! About as much as was in the promo. Turns out his character was supposedly investigating the stuff the dad was seeking to fire the family's new toy cannon (in real life this would have been calcium carbide; add water to generate acetylene as fuel for a bang). My thought at the time was that the U.N.C.L.E. spies weren't playing "themselves" in this episode. -Wfaxon 19:58, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

THRUSH dubbed with WASP?
I'm almost 100% certain that when the two-parters edited into movies were shown in the UK, they overdubbed "THRUSH" with "WASP", obviously to avoid any reference to the disease. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidhorman (talk • contribs) 16:03, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
 * "WASP" was the name of the villainous organisation in the pilot; i think only the movie based in part on the pilot used WASP; could that be what you're remembering?. Fairportfan 08:56, 29 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I’m fairly certain that the name of the disease wouldn’t have been an issue - it’s far more in uncontroversial use as the name of the bird. I thought that there had been some problem with using WASP, it being the acronym for the good guys in Gerry Anderson’s puppet show Stingray (World Aquanaut Security Patrol), and they looked for something else.
 * The biggest issue with the dubbed version is that it is not looped conventionally - every instance of the replacement uses one single utterance of the word by Robert Vaughn, regardless of who is speaking, and whether or not it fits the tone, context or feel of the speech it is inserted into. Jock123 (talk) 17:02, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Campiness???
Something needs to be done about this illogical word. It is very hard to see why it has been used so prominently and unnecessarily in this article. 213.210.20.153 16:18, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't know that it's all that prominent, actually - and "campy" in an American-slang sense exactly describes the feel of many of the programs. I'm not sure what synonym we could use, without becoming too pompous and faux-academic. - DavidWBrooks 17:04, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

There's certainly nothing wrong with an encyclopedia--which I gather is what wikipedia purports to be--appearing "academic". If a television show is not a fit topic for academia, then probably it isn't a fit topic for an encyclopedia either. TheScotch 09:17, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

There is an article on camp (style) and you can make up your mind--Phyllis1753 (talk) 17:40, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Point of View
Re: "This campiness was mostly in evidence during the show's third season, when the producers made a conscious decision to increase the level of humor of the show (the first two seasons were more straightforward action-adventures). According to The Making of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. this change of direction resulted in a severe ratings drop, and nearly resulted in the show's cancellation; it was renewed for a fourth season and an attempt was made to go back to serious (or at least semi-serious) storytelling, but viewers didn't return and it was cancelled midway through the season.":

I think there was plenty of humor in the first and second seasons. It was just more dry, more sophisticated, and smarter than the the rather crude self-parodying humor of the third season. This assessment may be subjective, but it isn't any more subjective than that of the paragraph I quote above. TheScotch 09:26, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Star Trek TMP theme a reworked UNCLE Theme???
I'm usually open-minded when it comes to people adding statements to articles, especially since most of what we post here comes out of our own knowledge of the subject (regardless of Wiki's requirement of verification and sources). But I have to call B.S. at the statement that Goldsmith later reworked his Man from UNCLE theme as the theme for Star Trek the Motion Picture. I would really like to see someone provide a verifiable, non-trivial source to prove that. 68.146.41.232 19:21, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:ManFromUNCLEbook.jpg
Image:ManFromUNCLEbook.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. BetacommandBot (talk) 14:42, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Napoleon Solo, an American?
In general, the term "American" would lead a reader to believe Napoleon Solo was a citizen of the United States of America. (I'm sure our friends to the North in Canada and our friends to the South in Mexico might have other views on this.) In a letter written by producer Sam Rolfe, explaining the genesis of the show, he wrote:  "Napoleon Solo, one of U.N.C.L.E.'s top agents, is dashing, sophisticated with an easygoing manner and quick smile.  He maintains a small apartment in a luxury building overlooking the East River.  The decor has a nautical flavor, reflecting Solo's love for the sea and possibly a hangover from his service days as a commander of a corvette in the Royal Canadian Navy." So, I'm thinking, this text should more properly read "Canadian Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), ". Hope this helps! Darci (talk) 02:58, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

This is a fair point, and one that I think warrants some discussion in this article. I think it's a little problematic to state that Solo is definitely meant to be Canadian considering how many times he is referred to as an 'American' in the series itself (by both himself and by other characters). Beyond Rolfe's pre-production character sketch, there is no mention of Solo being Canadian. Indeed, he appears to have served in Korea (Secret Sceptre Affair), a fact which suggests US citizenship; and in "To Trap a Spy" he tells a woman he is from Kansas. ANB (talk) 00:43, 19 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Korean War service does not indicate he is a US citizen. The Canadian Forces were involved in the 1950–1953 Korean War and its aftermath. 26,000 Canadians participated on the side of the United Nations, and Canada sent eight destroyers. Canadian aircraft provided transport, supply and logistics. 516 Canadians died, 312 of which were from combat. After the war, Canadian troops remained for three years as military observers. See the Wikipedia page "Canada in the Korean War" 2.31.162.54 (talk) 22:02, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Clean-up and Reorganisation
Most of the facts in the trivia/miscellaneous section fall under one of two headings a) Guest Stars and b) MFU in popular culture. In order to tidy up the article and make it a little more organised I've created a 'guest stars' section and a 'MFU in popular culture' section and divided the facts from the miscellaneous section between them. I've also added in some further references (though a lot more are still needed) and facts. The only other change I made was to put all the information on the A-team episode into one paragraph. In the previous version the episode was described twice in different sections (once under the inappropriate heading of 'Reunion TV movie' which really can only refer to the "Fifteen Years Later Affair"). ANB (talk) 20:39, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

I've removed the "lists of miscellaneous information" template from the MFU in popular culture section. This section is neither a list (being nicely written in paragraph format), nor is it miscellaneous (being information on a common theme). --Kurt (talk) 14:36, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

MiB and U.N.C.L.E. agents in Black Suits
The creators of the 1996 film Men in Black dressed their agents in dark suits and ties as a reference to the type of clothing worn often by Solo and Kuryakin in U.N.C.L.E. [18]

The linked article does not state this - it is merely an aside, quite possibly wholly the work of the journalist, which draws the comparison between what the MiB wear and Kuryakin’s black suits. The MiB agents are men in black to reference U.F.O. and paranormal lore, and not because of U.N.C.L.E. It might be that the writer(s) of the film were drawn to the whole “men in black” phenomena by some passing interest in TMFU, but it’s a really trivial connection that is being made. 79.67.132.46 (talk) 16:42, 21 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Removed this statement. After reading the footnoted reference, there was no substantiation of a cause and effect relationship. UNCLE was mentioned as something that the creator had seen years ago. An ASIDE was made, apparently by the reporter, that UNCLE agents wore black suits. Conversely the term "Men In Black" has been in use in the discussion of paranormal phenomena, UFO sightings, etc for decades. As that was what the comic (and later movie) MIB was about, that is probably the source of the name and look. The similarity to UNCLE is simply coincidence. Khajidha (talk) 17:29, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Tracklistings
This set of edits have added some very interesting information about MFU soundtracks. However, the full tracklistings from the albums now take up a very large portion of the page. What would people think about creating a separate article for them called something along the lines of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Soundtrack Albums? ANB (talk) 00:13, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. It would seem that, although somewhat useful, the section on "Soundtrack Albums" is rather unnecessary to the purpose of the article, is inordinately long, and should perhaps be placed on its own page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.53.16.187 (talk) 16:04, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Head of U.N.C.L.E.
Did not Burgess Meredith play the head of the U.N.C.L.E. organization, at least for a season or two? -71.214.223.133 (talk) 07:47, 10 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Nope, though that would have made interesting TV. Will Kuluva played the head in the pilot episode, but Leo G Carroll played Waverly in all other episodes. ANB (talk) 08:53, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

There was a 1983 made for TV movie "The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E." where the head of the organization was one Sir John Raleigh, played by Patrick MacNee of "The Avengers". Leo G. Carroll had died in 1972 at age 85, so he couldn't play Alexander Waverley in that 1983 TV film.Toddabearsf (talk) 23:37, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Anticipation of Star Trek's UFP?
The current article claims that "In its idealistic depiction of an international organization that transcended borders and agents of all nationalities working together, Rolfe's U.N.C.L.E. anticipated Gene Roddenberry's interstellar United Federation of Planets in "Star Trek" two seasons later."

I don't think this is correct at all. The UFP is a direct decendent of the "United Planets" concept in the 1957 MGM film "Forbidden Planet". Which, of course, predates UNCLE by nearly a decade. Plus the actual United Nations is an international organization that transcends borders and, at its most idealistic, has different nationalities working together. So I believe that this claim is at best a very big stretch, and at worst simply wrong. I will delete the claim unless someone can back it up in within the next week or so (or whenever I next think about it!) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Randy.holland (talk • contribs) 18:30, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Somebody removed this, probably because it sounds like original research. Primogen (talk) 22:54, 19 March 2013 (UTC)

Kuryakin - Russian or Georgian
Kuryakin is called Georgian in the article. He was never called Georgian in the program; he was always called Russian. There was a comment that he had been a university student in Tbilisi, but that does not make him Georgian. He was clearly Russian. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.7.62.214 (talk) 04:07, 23 February 2015 (UTC)


 * I support reverting to Russian. RJ4 (talk) 08:13, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

The meaning of "T.H.R.U.S.H."
According to the 1965 novel The Dagger Affair by David McDaniel, which involves a temporary alliance of U.N.C.L.E. with T.H.R.U.S.H., the meaning of the enemy organization's acronym was the "Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity" rather than Humankind. I have therefore edited the main article accordingly. I note that, prior to that fourth novel based on the TV series, Thrush had not been an acronym, just a proper noun, as it always was on the TV show. When the full meaning of the name was revealed in the novel, Solo, Kuryakin and Waverley were all surprised by the information because they didn't know "Thrush" was an acronym and the higher-up in Thrush, Ward Baldwin, explained why he, as an old timer, referred to Thrush as "The Hierarchy." I note that, throughout the novel, "Thrush" is the style used, rather than "T.H.R.U.S.H."Toddabearsf (talk) 23:55, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Odd subtitle
When viewing this article on the Android Wikipedia app, it has a subtitle attached. The title is rendered as: "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." with a subtitle of "How do touch screen of mobile phones work". I only see subtitles when using the mobile app - they don't appear in the mobile webpage, and don't show up in any editor I've tried, so I can't fix it. Any ideas? Stacecom (talk) 01:24, 11 August 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm seeing the same thing. Here's a screenshot from the Android app. [[File:Screenshot_of_strange_caption_on_"Man_from_U.N.C.L.E.".png]] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mghoffmann (talk • contribs) 05:30, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

THRUSH
The THRUSH section should be restored since it described the enemy faction of the series. 2600:6C55:700A:300:3003:D983:25F2:87C1 (talk) 16:14, 20 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Agreed! LA (T) @ 09:12, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Categories
I have removed this article from Category:Television series set in the 1960s. That category is only for TV shows that are set in the 1960s which were not made during the decade (eg something made in the 2010s, but set in the 1960s or a 1950s series set in the then future 1960s). As the Man from Uncle was made in the 1960s it is not appropriate for it to be in the category. Dunarc (talk) 19:52, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Deleted sentence
The following sentence was deleted from the first paragraph of the "Season 1" section because it appears to be a remnant from an earlier edit as it references things that no longer exist in the article:
 * Leo G. Carroll's role as a secret agent in the latter film directly led to his casting as Mr. Waverly in the series.

There is no "former-latter" structure in the paragraph so it's not known what film is being referred to. And the webpage cited makes no reference to Carroll being cast based upon a performance in a movie. (The citation does reference the "innocents" statement preceding.) 136.159.160.5 (talk) 18:05, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

1966 Dick Van Dyke Show episode The Man from My Uncle
I just happened to see a 1966 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show entitled The Man from My Uncle. I think this is obviously a reference to The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; towards the end Dick Van Dyke even addresses a party he thought was imaginary as "thrush". Unless someone disagrees I will add soon. --SportWagon (talk) 15:06, 1 September 2022 (UTC)


 * Apologies. I'm not sure how I overlooked the reference which was there in this article already.
 * --SportWagon (talk) 17:35, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

Main Cast and Characters
Why is there not a section listing all the main cast and character? There is one for guest stars, but not the main cast. Warblerab295 (talk) 23:53, 14 June 2023 (UTC)