With the rattle and brass of the famous Jerry Goldsmith opening theme, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ushered us into a weird and wonderful world of secret agents, out to save the world from some unspeakable menace. There are many other such series, but UNCLE had a little extra spark, a little zest, that set it apart from the rest.
It had interesting characters in Solo, Illya and the urbane Mr. Waverly that you couldn't help liking and admiring. If the world's fate rested in their hands, we could all feel a little safer. It had diabolical and fascinatingly eccentric villains that you could almost get up and boo. It had fiendish devices ready to enslave the free world__or perhaps even destroy it__and death traps for the heroe to plunge into (and, of course, out from).
And it was all done with joy and a sense of humor. The scripts were, for the most part, literate and amusing. Solo and Illya never seemed to take things too seriously and had a ready line, whatever dangerous situation they found themselves in. What other show had a hero who, after being attacked by a Thrush bus and dumped in the road, would say: "Well, the bus service hasn't improved, I see." This happy little sparkle makes the show as fresh today as it was in the '60's. TO BE CONTINUED