Conventional wisdom and The Simpsons tell us that the worst crime a beloved TV series can commit is to outstay its welcome and stick around long after its run out of ideas, until even its most loyal fans lose interest. But almost as bad is when a TV series bows out when it’s still fresh and interesting, only to return a while later with a crap follow-up. Some fantastic 60s shows were guilty of this and as a result we were lumbered with series like The Return of the Saint and The New Avengers. Thankfully though, The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E isn’t a series but a feature length spin-off but it still seems to want to try its best to sully the memory of an awesome show.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E originally ran from 1964 to 1968 and introduced us to the super-smooth American agent Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughan) and his less smooth but more dangerous Russian counterpart Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum), who both worked for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. This crudely acronymed and slightly fascistic international association was all that protected the world from the evil THRUSH (don’t laugh), an organisation whose aspirations were world domination and general evilness. Hitting small screens at the same time that Sean Connery’s Bond was shaking and stirring up cinema audiences it aspired to give TV audiences the same mix of overblown action, espionage and sharp 60s cool.
The Return of the Man from Uncle: The Fifteen Years Later Affair is a television movie that cropped up on America’s PBS channel in 1983. In it Solo and Kuryakin are forced out of their respective retirements when their old THRUSH nemesis, Sepheran (Anthony Zerbe), escapes from jail and gets his hands on a nuclear device. While the original show tried to emulate the Connery Bonds; this just feels like a tired parody of the Roger Moore ones, which by the early 80s had basically become parodies themselves anyway. And while the original show had a certain tongue-in-cheek self-awareness, the humour here is much more obvious (and not funny), with characters literally winking at the camera.
In fact in one particularly low point George Lazenby turns up in a ridiculous extended cameo as a British agent called “J.B, which doesn’t add anything to proceedings except to prove that he didn’t spend any of the money he made from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service on acting lessons. Robert Vaughan and David McCallum fare a little better but both look a bit old and unconvincing in the action scenes, and when a jowly, 50-something Napoleon Solo turns on his lady-killing charm, it’s just creepy.
Overall, The Return of the Man From Uncle just goes to show that what in the 60s was stylish and coo,l in the 80s just looked cheap and naff. Even the awesome original theme tune sounds crap in its 80s incarnation. We can only hope the original series finally becomes available to UK viewers sometime soon.
Overall Verdict: Fans of the original show should do what the cast have probably done since, and pretend this 80s retread doesn’t exist.
Special Features:
Picture gallery
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon