I watched every episode of Man From U.N.C.L.E. on their original run on NBC from 1964-68. The opening attack on U.N.C.L.E. headquarters by Thrush in “Vulcan Affair” had me hooked and, despite the campy and comedic 3rd season, I never gave up watching. It is my all-time favorite tv series. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I will give you my views of the new, complete series DVD set.I’ll talk about the episodes themselves later (and the ones I’ve watched look great!) , so let’s get to the special features:

The best are the interviews, one each with Vaughn and McCallum and then both of them together. I’ve heard many of their stories in previous interviews but it is nice to hear them again here. The only complaint I have is the constant emphasis of questions about the Viet Nam era. The show was made in the 60’s but there is certainly no evidence of any war influence on the show and this is echoed repeatedly by all the interviewees. I don’t expect anyone involved in the show to recall events from over 40 years ago but their memories can be jogged by the right questions such as when McCallum remembers the actors in “Concrete Overcoat Affair”. Other interviews include directors Richard Donner and Joseph Sargent, writers Dean Hargrove and Peter Allan Fields and Production Assistant George Lehr. Hargrove is the best especially because he worked on seasons 1,2,4 and Donner and Sargent comment how the show didn’t do comedy (they obviously didn’t watch season 3 much).

Other special features of note: “Cloak and Swagger” history of the show which has creators Norman Felton and Sam Rolfe recounting the beginnings of the show with Ian Fleming. The music of the show, a particular favorite element of mine, is given an excellent segment by tv/music music expert Jon Burlingame. There are also great features on Danny Biederman’s fantastic spy collection (which even includes the original correspondence from Ian Fleming on Western Union forms!) and the U.N.C.L.E. car which is owned by collector Bob Short. Maybe the best special feature are the home movies from the sets of “Indian Affairs Affair” and “Thor Affair” taken in 1966/67 by David McCallum.

Rounding out the extras are the longer color pilot version of the “Vulcan Affair” when the show was called “Solo”, the movie “One Spy Too Many”, and the trailers for the first four movies.

Still, the best thing about the set are the episodes themselves which never looked better being uncut with great color. Some time I will do a blog about collecting the series on Beta and VHS in the 1970’s and 80’s and having to watch local station edited and washed-out color versions and still being thrilled just to have them!

If you can afford the set, open channel D and let the memories in!

A special thanks to agents Craig Henderson and Jon Burlingame for getting me the set to enjoy.