The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: Season 1

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, top agents of U.N.C.L.E. (the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) and TV's coolest cold warriors of the 1960s. Hatched in the era of James Bond (creator Ian Fleming came up with the name Napoleon Solo), the show mixed espionage plots and high-tech gadgetry with a trace of sardonic humor and the continental charm of Vaughn's dashing Solo. McCallum's Kuryakin initially started out as Solo's Russian sidekick but became an equal partner thanks to the influx of fan mail, while Leo G. Carroll practically reprises his North by Northwest role as their boss, Mr. Alexander Waverly. While there are Bond-like gadgets and disguises, as well as an international criminal organization called T.H.R.U.S.H., many of the episodes play out like elaborate con games with civilians caught up in the shenanigans. In the episode “The Project Strigas Affair,” that civilian is William Shatner, appearing here with Leonard Nimoy two years before they teamed up for Star Trek. Anne Francis plays a villain in two episodes and other guest stars include William Marshall, Robert Culp, Elsa Lanchester, Barbara Feldon (before she starred in Get Smart), Eddie Albert, George Sanders, and Martin Balsam. The debut run was in black-and-white (the show went color in season two), and it offers a fine balance of Cold War thriller and self-aware humor that would tip into more obvious parody in later seasons. Previously only available in a complete series boxed set, this 1964-65 first season of the cult show is being released to coincide with the new theatrical film. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)