U.N.C.L.E.: the week that was

“I can’t believe everything that’s going on, Illya.”

The week of Sept. 21-27 may be the busiest U.N.C.L.E.-related week since the 1964-68 series ended its first television run in January 1968. At least social media amplifies activity to make it seem that way.

It was also the week where news about U.N.C.L.E. 1.0 (the original series) and U.N.C.L.E. 2.0 (a movie version scheduled for release in August 2015 and starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer) collided.

Here’s a look:

Sept. 21: In the U.S., the MeTV channel runs the third episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Quadripartite Affair. It’s one of the best of the entire series and was the first to include significant screen time for David McCallum’s Illya Kuryakin character. The director was future movie director Richard Donner and scripter Alan Caillou would do much to develop Kuryakin in several first-season stories.

Sept. 22: Fans celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary across a variety of social media.

Sept. 23: Composer Daniel Pemberton confirms via Twitter that he’s written the score for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie directed by Guy Ritchie and that recording of the music begins on Sept. 24.

Sept. 24: Recording sessions of the U.N.C.L.E. score begin at Abbey Road Studios. Separately, the movie gets a rating of PG-13 from the Motion Picture Association of America, according a list of MPAA ratings compiled by Box Office Mojo.

Sept. 25: Warner Home Video announces plans to re-release The Man From U.N.C.L.E. series, according to TVSHOWSONDVD.COM. The re-release, scheduled for Nov. 4, will have all the extras a 2007 release had but the packaging will be different.

Sept. 26: The Golden Anniversary Affair, a two-day gathering of 100 fans, begins in Culver City, California, at the site of the former MGM studio where the show was produced.

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, stars of the original series, aren’t able to attend but post greetings on the event’s website. Fans post pictures on social media of crew members, including associate producer George Lehr and composer Gerald Fried, who scored the most episodes of the show.

Also posted are photos of original props, including the U.N.C.L.E. special, such as THIS ONE by author Paul Bishop.

Half a world away, composer Pemberton makes a posting on Twitter that appears to reveal one track of his movie score will be titled His Name Is Napoleon Solo.

Sept. 27: The Golden Anniversary Affair and the U.N.C.L.E. movie recording sessions continue. Andrew Skeet, a musician working on the recording, Tweets a picture of Pemberton working on his keyboard at Abbey Road.

HMSS Weblog, now on its own, gets new logo

After six years, The HMSS Weblog has a new logo reflecting how it is now, formally, a stand-alone entity.

That’s because the Her Majesty’s Secret Servant, the e-magazine website, has gone offline after 17 years.

The HMSS Weblog was started in 2008. The original intent was for Her Majesty’s Secret Servant to have an Internet presence between issues.

Over time, The HMSS Weblog developed its own identity and voice while Her Majesty’s Secret Servant was published less often.

The last new issue of Her Majesty’s Secret Servant came out in the fall of 2011. An attempt was made to come out with an issue in late 2012 for reviews of Skyfall.

For a variety of real-life reasons, that never came about. Reviews were written but remained unpublished. They eventually ran in May 2013 in The HMSS Weblog. It would be the last hurrah for Her Majesty’s Secret Servant.

Fan sites come and go. Her Majesty’s Secret Servant had a long run. For those who were contributors, there are a lot of good memories. Meanwhile, the publishers have their reasons for moving on.

Meanwhile, The HMSS Weblog will continue. The new logo only reflects what the blog has been for some time.

The HMSS Weblog will publish a mix of news and commentary about the world of James Bond and other spies. The latter category includes The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie that’s coming out next year as well as classic spy shows of yesteryear. The blog will also publish the occasional guest column. Onwards and upwards.

U.N.C.L.E. movie gets PG-13 rating

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer
(Art by Paul Baack)

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie, 11 months ahead of its U.S. release has gotten a rating of PG-13 from the Motion Picture Association of America, according to the BOX OFFICE MOJO WEBSITE.

The MPAA cited “action violence, some suggestive content, and partial nudity,” according to a Box Office Mojo compilation of recent movie ratings.

That’s not unexpected. PG-13 is the sweet spot for most action movies. James Bond films, for example, have carried a PG-13 rating since 1989’s Licence to Kill. A rating of R, for restricted, where children under 17 aren’t supposed to be admitted without a parent, cuts down the potential audience for a film at theaters.

Separately, recording of the movie’s score began today. Composer Daniel Pemberton, for the second time in two days, took to Twitter to provide an update.

#TheManFromUNCLE is all go.. And that is actually the mixing desk we are using.. 1960s a go go.. pic.twitter.com/vweYkO4JaD

— Daniel Pemberton (@DANIELPEMBERTON) September 24, 2014

This week has been where U.N.C.L.E. 1.0 and 2.0 have collided.

On Sept. 21, MeTV telecast The Quadripartite Affair, the third episode of the original 1964-68 series and the first to have significant screen time for the Illya Kuryakin character. The next day was the 50th anniversary of the show.

The past two days have had news about the new U.N.C.L.E. film, with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, in the roles originally played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum.

U.N.C.L.E. movie score recording starts Sept. 24

Shoutout to @laneyboggs2001 at Twitter who re-Tweeted the composer as the postings went online.

Daniel Pemberton, composer for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie, took to Twitter to announce he’ll begin recording his score tomorrow, Sept. 24.

Pemberton follows in the footsteps of Jerry Goldsmith (who scored the pilot for the 1964-68 television series and composed its theme music), Morton Stevens, Lalo Schifrin, Gerald Fried and others as U.N.C.L.E. composers. Pemberton didn’t provide a lot of details. For example, he didn’t say if Goldsmith’s theme is incorporated into the score.

Still, after reshoots and test screenings, news — delivered one day after the show’s 50th anniversary — showed how the movie’s post production is proceeding. It’s scheduled to be released in August 2015.

Here are three of the Twitter postings:

For the entire year I have had no life and been slaving away on the soundtrack to a new film…

— Daniel Pemberton (@DANIELPEMBERTON) September 23, 2014

So it gives me enormous pleasure to announce that tomorrow I start recording my score to the new Guy Ritchie film “The Man From U.N.C.L.E”..

— Daniel Pemberton (@DANIELPEMBERTON) September 23, 2014

..and for those who want a sneak peak of the score here it is.. #TheManFromUNCLE.. I will tidy up – promise. pic.twitter.com/S9pSjQnfac

— Daniel Pemberton (@DANIELPEMBERTON) September 23, 2014

The FBI season 9: Erskine’s final cases

Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

The FBI, after eight seasons, was still getting decent ratings but they were declining. Executive Producer Quinn Martin decided to shake things up.

A new/old face was brought in as the day-to-day producer. Anthony Spinner, a writer on the series during the first, second and fifth seasons, took the helm.

Spinner had his ups and down at QM Productions. He left his post as associate producer of The Invaders to become the producer during the last season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He returned to QM to produce Dan August, a police drama that only lasted one season. Later he left again to work as story consultant and then producer of Search, another series that only lasted one season.

Whether it was Spinner’s doing or not, his tenure on The FBI’s final season resembles his time on U.N.C.L.E. On both shows, there was a “back to basics” feel. In the case of The FBI, there was a new young sidekick (Shelly Novack as agent Chris Daniels) for Efrem Zimbalist Jr.’s Lewis Erskine. This was similar to the show’s first two seasons when Erskine had a young sidekick, Jim Rhodes (Stephen Brooks).

This meant William Reynolds, sidekick for six seasons, was out although he’d appear in two season 9 episodes. It turned out Reynolds’s Tom Colby had gotten a promotion and was now stationed on the West Coast.

Also, the final season went back to a minute-long version of Bronislau Kaper’s theme for the main titles, again similar to the first two seasons. Since the third season, there had been a very short main titles.

Still, it wasn’t enough to save the show. The FBI had always been an idealized version of the real-life U.S. agency. By the time episodes began airing in the fall of 1973, the Watergate scandal overwhelmed the news, including giving a black eye to the real FBI.

The show still maintained its quality, drawing a combination of old pros (Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Susan Oliver, Gary Lockwood) and upcoming actors (Harvey Keitel) as guest stars. Perhaps it was just time. Nevertheless, it could be said that The FBI (the series) never “jumped the shark” the way other long-running series did.

UPDATE (Sept. 24): Season 9 of The FBI is available in the U.S. from Warner Archive. CLICK HERE for ordering information.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. celebrates its 50th anniversary

Publicity still from the 1964-68 series.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. debuted 50 years ago today with the telecast of The Vulcan Affair on NBC.

The series had false starts. First Ian Fleming was a participant, then after several months he wasn’t, bowing out to pressure from Bond movie producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Then there was threatened legal action from Eon Productions stemming from the show’s original title, Solo.

In turn, the series got a new title and the legal problems went away. The makers of Goldfinger did make one change in their film. A gangster named Solo died the most spectacular death among hoodlums invited to Goldfginer’s Kentucky stud farm, a change from earlier drafts and from Fleming’s original novel. (Adrian Turner’s 1998 book on Goldfinger details the changes in the movie’s script.)

Nor did U.N.C.L.E. get off to an easy start. Airing on Tuesday nights, it was up against The Red Skeleton Show on CBS, which nearly led to cancelation before a mid-season switch to Monday nights.

But the audience discovered the series, eventually ensuring a renewal for a second season for 1965-66, which would be its highest-rated campaign.

Executive Producer Norman Felton soldiered on. His developer-producer Sam Rolfe departed after the first season and things weren’t quite the same, certainly not as consistent. Various other producers — David Victor, Boris Ingster and Anthony Spinner among them — put their own stamp on the show with varying degrees of success. Major contributions were made by writers such as Alan Caillou (who arguably shaped the Illya Kuryakin character), Dean Hargrove and Peter Allan Fields.

It remains to be seen whether U.N.C.L.E. can resonate with modern audiences. A movie version won’t be out until next year, and some fans aren’t crazy about the idea. It is back on U.S. television, via MeTV, which is showing it on Sunday nights.

Regardless, happy anniversary, U.N.C.L.E.

Happy birthday, David McCallum

Happy 81st birthday, Mr. McCallum. We can see you’re busy.

David McCallum roughing it on his birthday

Jonny Quest’s 50th: espionage gets animated

Race Bannon about to rescue Jonny Quest

A half-century ago, one piece of spy-related entertainment involved a villain planning to use a laser beam to shoot down a U.S. rocket being launched to go to the moon.

A mix of Dr. No and Goldfinger? Sort of. It was the debut of The Adventures of Jonny Quest, later shortened to just Jonny Quest.

The Hanna-Barbera cartoon debuted on Sept. 18, 1964, with The Mystery of the Lizard Men on ABC’s prime-time schedule.

The series chronicled the adventures of Jonny, only son of key American scientist Benton Quest. The importance of Dr. Quest, a widower, was such that U.S. intelligence operative assigned agent Roger “Race” Bannon as bodyguard and tutor.

According to AN ONLINE DOCUMENTARY, the project originated when producer Joseph Barbera saw Dr. No, the first James Bond film. Barbera knew it was a genre he and partner William Hanna had to develop a cartoon for.

The producers initially thought they could revive the radio series Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. A test cartoon was made and, the Quest documentary states, part of it was incorporated into the start of Jonny Quest’s end titles.

Hanna and Barbera soon dropped that idea and opted to develop their own characters. They enlisted cartoonist Doug Wildey, who ended up doing much of the heavy lifting of devising characters. Much of the finished product was Wildey’s. One major exception, according to the documentary, was Jonny’s pet dog, Bandit. Wildey wanted a more exotic pet while Bandit ended up an obvious cartoon dog.

In the opener, ships are being destroyed in the Sargasso Sea by mysterious means. Thus, Benton Quest is called in to investigate with his son and Bannon in tow. Soon after, Jonny, Race and Bandit are soon in peril and stumble upon the conspiracy by an unnamed foreign power headed by an unnamed villain.

The story — written by Wildey, Hanna, Barbera and Alex Lovy — reflected its Bondian influences. The plot’s McGuffin resembles Dr. No. The villain’s main gadget, a laser gun, was part of Goldfinger, which was debuting in the U.K. at the same time (and wouldn’t reach the U.S. until December).

Quest was different than previous H-B productions. Characters (with the exception of Bandit) were drawn realistically, including shadowing.

The series was helped significantly by composer Hoyt Curtin, especially the debut episode. According to the Quest documentary, Curtin wrote the signature theme in such a way that trombone players couldn’t actually play it correctly. It was Curtin’s way of getting back at the musicians who playfully complained that the composer’s music was too easy to perform.

The credits on Jonny Quest downplayed the significance of Wildey and Curtin. Wildey wasn’t created as the show’s creator. On some episodes, he was listed as “supervising art director,” in others it was stated the show was “based on ideas created by” Wildey. Curtin was credited for “musical direction.” Meanwhile Hanna and Barbera got a “produced and directed by” credit in larger type for each episode.

Quest wasn’t a big hit. It ran only season in prime time. It would later be rerun on Saturday mornings. In the 1980s and ’90s, there would be Quest cartoon revivals. But it was never the same.

In the 2000s, there was a DVD release of that first season. But there were changes. Some politically incorrect lines were taken out. Also, the end titles from two episodes were used over and over. The writing credits for each episode were in the end titles. As a result, the viewer doesn’t really know who penned the episodes.

In any case, for people of a certain age, Jonny Quest still resonates, especially Curtin’s theme. Quest’s golden anniversary, understandably, will be overlooked because of the 50th anniversary of Goldfinger. Still, for some, will look back at the series with great fondness.

Bond 24 director of photography chosen, Hitfix says

Hoyte van Hoytema, who photographed films including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, has been hired to be director of photography on Bond 24, THE HITFIX WEBSITE reported.

An excerpt:

BAFTA-nominated cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema has been turning heads ever since his stunning work in the stylish Swedish horror film “Let the Right One In” crossed the Atlantic six years ago. And lately, he’s just getting all the good gigs, having stepped in for Spike Jonze regular Lance Acord on last year’s “Her” and for Christopher Nolan’s right hand man Wally Pfister on the upcoming “Interstellar.” Well, you can add another big pair of shoes for the talented director of photography to fill. With Roger Deakins exiting the James Bond franchise after 2012’s “Skyfall,” we can confirm that director Sam Mendes has tapped van Hoytema to shoot the still untitled 24th installment of the series.

Van Hoytema succeeds Roger Deakins, who received an Oscar nomination for his work on 2012’s Skyfall. Deakins didn’t win and opted to pass on a 007 return engagement for Bond 24.

The Hitfix story was written by Kristopher Tapley, who originally broke the news that Deakins wasn’t coming back for Bond 24 in a post on Twitter earlier this year.

The subject of who would follow Deakins has been a subject of discussion among Bond fans. You can view the entire Hitfix story by CLICKING HERE.

Bond 24 press conference suggestion: don’t take questions

Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson

Bond 24 will start principal photography on Dec. 6, The Daily Mail said at the very end of a Sept. 11 story and the MI6 James Bond website wrote in more detail in a Sept. 13 article. That likely means a formal press conference in the coming months.

Here’s a suggestion for those concerned with Bond 24: just don’t take any questions.

Based on the November 2011 press conference for the start of Skyfall production, the co-bosses of Eon Productions, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, don’t really like answering a lot of questions. At that event, more than 10 minutes passed (out of less than 28 total) before reporters were even permitted to ask any.

If you did away with the question and answer part of the press conference, it would hopefully mean some clichés would go away. “The money’s all up on the screen,” or “I could tell you but I’d have to kill you,” for example. They don’t add anything.

Also, not taking questions would lessen (though not eliminate) the possibility of misleading things being said.

Director Sam Mendes, in an April PBS interview, said he cast the part of Bill Tanner in Skyfall when, in fact, actor Rory Kinnear already played the part in Quantum of Solace.

He also said Skyfall was the first James Bond film where characters were allowed to age, a statement that didn’t stand up to much scrutiny. Nor was that his first time saying questionable things. Back when he was in talks to direct Skyfall, Mendes denied it while his publicist confirmed it. Not taking questions would help avoid that.

Some fans think it’s ridiculous journalists should even expect an answer to a question (read one of the comments to THIS POST). They just want to watch the video. It’s also not like the media outlets wouldn’t show up if the movie makers didn’t take questions. They’d be there to record the various comments and get video.

For the reporters, would they miss much if not allowed to ask questions? At the 2011 press conference, the MC mocked the scribes for not asking what Skyfall meant sooner. Then, Barbara Broccoli gave the vaguest of answers.

Is it really a loss to not go through that? Most of the real information about the movie (that Skyfall would be the title, that Judi Dench’s M was being killed off, that Naomie Harris’ character was really Moneypenny, for example) came out elsewhere.