Hils Watches The Vulcan Affair
Oct. 29th, 2015 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hilsSo I've just started rewatching The Man From UNCLE (yes, again) and this time I'm doing liveblog commentary type things for each episode. I was doing it mainly for Tumblr but I figured I may as well post here too just in case anyone else is interested.
Be warned I have very little in the way of intelligent comments to make about this show. Those will come from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jacqui_hw
Aww! The classic theme tune!
J: Now we get the weird "Hi, I'm Napoleon Solo" opening
H: No, they didn't start that until later in the season
J: Oh :(
How do the bad guys know their way into UNCLE HQ anyway
It's nice the the first female character we see is a WOC even if she does get knocked out after 5 seconds. Show how diverse UNCLE is anyway
J: It says something that in the first two minutes a show from the 60s has more people of colour than a lot of shows now do
H: LOL! I literally just wrote that down
LOL! Illya's accent and broken English. That didn't last long
J: Illya's hair looks better in black and white
Why is the vicar so freaked out by Napoleon. Like he's sweating and terrified. Why?
"You were I believe they call it 'going steady' with a man named Vulcan" Is that what the kids are calling it Napoleon? Because you're so old.
Of course Napoleon has to stop to flirt with the THRUSH agent on the plane. He has evil lady radar.
Napoleon is such a flirt. Winking at Elaine.
Elaine sees all the luxureous clothes "What's all this for?"
J: He likes buying clothes. Illya would not approve.
"I'll protect you in every way possible but in the end your safty is down to you." This was the point where I knew I was going to love this show. No wrapping women in cotton wool and treating them like fragile creatrues.
This is so great! Elaine is so brilliant and smart. She doesn't flinch at all when she realises they're onto Napoleon and gets herself into a position to warn Napoleon. This is a housewife not a trained spy. I love how this show writes women especially in the earlier seasons.
They've rigged Napoleon's car to explode when it hits 50MPH. Well this pre-dates speed
Why is the radio operator on a sunbed at work? This happens a few times and I've never understood it
Wait, no, they rigged his car to his him with knockout gas...in the hope that he'd be killed in the crash? That seems a little ineffective
So Napoleon gets knocked out and 2 minutes later passes out. He's not having a good day.
"What are you so upset about? You're doing better than I am!" Napoleon is so proud of his non-spy partner
That's a very large spanner!
J: Wow those guard dogs are shit! Napoleon is right there and they just happily trotted right past him
J: I think Elaine just started the tradition of awesome women who can run in heels
J: OOOH! Plot twist! Probably the first one ever on TV. Actually most of the things we think of a tropes now probably started on this show
"Now you're going to be chained to a pipe!"
J: YAY my favourite! Well, it's better than being chained to Hitler
H: What the fuck?
J: You know, in that episode where they're trying to reanimate Hitler
H: Oh, yeah. Okay, that comment makes more sense now
Yes, steam them to death. What an effective way to kill someone.
"Sorry."
"No, I understood the risks and I accepted them."
Elaine is so fucking awesome!
Ah, Napoleon rescuing himself because this pre-dates the days when he and Illya would constantly rescue each other
J: I like that Napoleon instantly works out how to rescue them and gets on with it. In a modern movie they'd have a long conversation and then at the last second work out how to escape. And I like how she looks all wet and bedraggled like a normal person would look.
(J is having much more insightful comments about this episode than I am - this will likely be a theme for all of them)
(Screencap of Napoleon's smile when Elaine starts crying)
And shots like this make me understand the people who love Napoleon. Sorry, I've always been an Illya girl
J: And Elaine has a few moments of crying and then she gets over it. Why don't they make shows like this now?
J: Napoleon gets to reunite someone with her husband and he got to go shopping for presents. Napoleon is the best. Aww! Looks he watching anxiously to make sure she gets back to her family
Be warned I have very little in the way of intelligent comments to make about this show. Those will come from
jacqui_hwAww! The classic theme tune!
J: Now we get the weird "Hi, I'm Napoleon Solo" opening
H: No, they didn't start that until later in the season
J: Oh :(
How do the bad guys know their way into UNCLE HQ anyway
It's nice the the first female character we see is a WOC even if she does get knocked out after 5 seconds. Show how diverse UNCLE is anyway
J: It says something that in the first two minutes a show from the 60s has more people of colour than a lot of shows now do
H: LOL! I literally just wrote that down
LOL! Illya's accent and broken English. That didn't last long
J: Illya's hair looks better in black and white
Why is the vicar so freaked out by Napoleon. Like he's sweating and terrified. Why?
"You were I believe they call it 'going steady' with a man named Vulcan" Is that what the kids are calling it Napoleon? Because you're so old.
Of course Napoleon has to stop to flirt with the THRUSH agent on the plane. He has evil lady radar.
Napoleon is such a flirt. Winking at Elaine.
Elaine sees all the luxureous clothes "What's all this for?"
J: He likes buying clothes. Illya would not approve.
"I'll protect you in every way possible but in the end your safty is down to you." This was the point where I knew I was going to love this show. No wrapping women in cotton wool and treating them like fragile creatrues.
This is so great! Elaine is so brilliant and smart. She doesn't flinch at all when she realises they're onto Napoleon and gets herself into a position to warn Napoleon. This is a housewife not a trained spy. I love how this show writes women especially in the earlier seasons.
They've rigged Napoleon's car to explode when it hits 50MPH. Well this pre-dates speed
Why is the radio operator on a sunbed at work? This happens a few times and I've never understood it
Wait, no, they rigged his car to his him with knockout gas...in the hope that he'd be killed in the crash? That seems a little ineffective
So Napoleon gets knocked out and 2 minutes later passes out. He's not having a good day.
"What are you so upset about? You're doing better than I am!" Napoleon is so proud of his non-spy partner
That's a very large spanner!
J: Wow those guard dogs are shit! Napoleon is right there and they just happily trotted right past him
J: I think Elaine just started the tradition of awesome women who can run in heels
J: OOOH! Plot twist! Probably the first one ever on TV. Actually most of the things we think of a tropes now probably started on this show
"Now you're going to be chained to a pipe!"
J: YAY my favourite! Well, it's better than being chained to Hitler
H: What the fuck?
J: You know, in that episode where they're trying to reanimate Hitler
H: Oh, yeah. Okay, that comment makes more sense now
Yes, steam them to death. What an effective way to kill someone.
"Sorry."
"No, I understood the risks and I accepted them."
Elaine is so fucking awesome!
Ah, Napoleon rescuing himself because this pre-dates the days when he and Illya would constantly rescue each other
J: I like that Napoleon instantly works out how to rescue them and gets on with it. In a modern movie they'd have a long conversation and then at the last second work out how to escape. And I like how she looks all wet and bedraggled like a normal person would look.
(J is having much more insightful comments about this episode than I am - this will likely be a theme for all of them)
(Screencap of Napoleon's smile when Elaine starts crying)
And shots like this make me understand the people who love Napoleon. Sorry, I've always been an Illya girl
J: And Elaine has a few moments of crying and then she gets over it. Why don't they make shows like this now?
J: Napoleon gets to reunite someone with her husband and he got to go shopping for presents. Napoleon is the best. Aww! Looks he watching anxiously to make sure she gets back to her family
no subject
Date: 2015-10-30 03:30 am (UTC)I probably started with Napoleon and switched to Illya. Also, first semester of Russian may have coincided.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-30 08:54 am (UTC)Yeah, I watched this on reruns when I was a kid because my mum was a fan. Decided to rewatch it all again a few months ago prior to the movie coming out and totally fell in love with the show all over again hence my decision to watch it all again with commentary this time
I don't know if it's still the case but Amazon had the complete box set reduced price a while back
no subject
Date: 2015-10-30 03:03 pm (UTC)Thanks for this, by the way. Sometimes (OK, other series of that vintage
I Spyhave deeply disappointed me) revisiting old favorite TV shows has been an exercise in cringing.Amazon box set: Not this month, alas.