Line #26 YMMV/TheManFromUNCLE


1	!!Tropes for the series:
2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Most of the show's composers. Music/JerryGoldsmith did the show's theme (and three episode scores). See also [[Series/HawaiiFiveO Morton Stevens]].
3	* BadassDecay: Heroes Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are sometimes subject to plot dependent BadassDecay, when necessary. E.g., in the third act of the third season episode, "The Five Daughters Affair, Part II", Solo and Kuryakin fight THRUSH's "karate killers" ([[spoiler:who despite that name (as given in the credits) do very little actual killing in the episode]]) for about the sixth time in this two-part adventure. Despite holding their own in several earlier fights with the karate killers, in this scene Solo and Kuryakin completely lose whatever fighting skills they've demonstrated earlier, and are straightaway handed their asses by the THRUSH "killers" in mere seconds. This is necessary, of course, to set up the fourth act's climax and resolution (therefore "plot dependent").
4	* CryForTheDevil:
5	** General Harmon in "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair, Part II". [[spoiler: Admittedly unlike most examples of his trope he doesn't get killed, but when he's exposed to the docility gas that he and the other bad guys plan to use in their scheme to take over the world and is ''permanently'' transformed from a dynamic man of action into someone who's one step up from a puppet - "Why don't you come out (of the elevator)?" "I have not been told to." - it's saddening. It helps that Leslie Nielsen, as Harmon, is the only cast member who [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously actually made an effort]] in acting terms.]]
6	** How about Captain Shark from ''The Shark Affair?'' He's a remarkably complex character whose aims are arguably quite noble, and when he [[spoiler: refuses to let Napoleon help him get off his sinking ship at the end,]] it's actually pretty sad.
7	* EstrogenBrigade: Kuryakin almost immediately caught the attention of (mostly) female fans, and Creator/DavidMcCallum went from mere RecurringCharacter to series regular to second billing in the first season alone. By the second season, [=McCallum=] shared equal billing with Creator/RobertVaughn.
8	* FairForItsDay:
9	** Illya Kuryakin is not only a Russian, but a Soviet patriot and ''a commissioned officer in the Red Navy'' (at one point, he even appears in Soviet naval uniform). Still, he is never portrayed as anything other than a trustworthy ally and decent man. Not bad for a series first broadcast in 1964.
10	** While treatment of different cultures varied from sympathetic to sometimes condescending through the series, the first episode shows the agency employing Black and Asian employees; also they attempt to protect the leader of a new nation in Africa. ''The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'' in fact was notable at the time for often (though not consistently) casting actors of the correct ethnicities. Seeing as this is an issue we still sometimes have today, well...
11	** Also, although the portrayals of the GirlOfTheWeek are often cringeworthy, Napoleon (or for that matter Illya) is ''never'' forceful or coercive with them, unlike [[Film/JamesBond some spies we could name]].
12	* FanPreferredCouple: Despite Napoleon Solo being an infamous ChickMagnet, most fans ship him with Russian partner Illya Kuryakin instead of any GirlOfTheWeek. In fact, the ship predates the "grandfather" of shipping, [[Franchise/StarTrek Kirk/Spock]], by quite a bit and is arguably just as influential on the way fans ship things as it. This continued into [[Film/TheManFromUNCLE2015 the 2015 film]], where more people found themselves shipping Napoleon/Illya over the canon Illya/Gabby.
13	* HilariousInHindsight:
14	** "The Project Strigas Affair", which featured Creator/WilliamShatner and Creator/LeonardNimoy in their first appearance together, two years before ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. And to make it extra funny, Nimoy's character is repeatedly derided as a "fool."
15	** The innocent in "The Never-Never Affair" is an U.N.C.L.E. translator played by Barbara Feldon; this episode premiered a few months before she got a transfer and a promotion (to [[Series/GetSmart Agent 99]]).
16	** In early May 2019, [[https://twitter.com/Al_Drago/status/1125563131521064965 David [=McCallum=] was seen leaving Martin's Tavern in Georgetown with none other than Robert Mueller]]. People were quick to joke that Illya Kuryakin was in on the Mueller Investigation, or that it was compromised.
17	* NightmareFuel: Solo's interrogation in "The Summit-Five Affair".
18	** Whatever the hell the ''vault'' was in ''The Spy With My Face''. You can't save a man who no longer exists!
19	* RetroactiveRecognition:
20	** Creator/RichardKiel has a small, uncredited role in "The Vulcan Affair" as a guard, over a decade before he became Jaws in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.
21	** "The Project Strigas Affair" featured Creator/WilliamShatner and Creator/LeonardNimoy two years before ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', with them even interacting in at least one scene.
22	*** Additionally, the main villain (and Nimoy's boss) is played by Werner Klemperer, a year before ''Series/HogansHeroes''.
23	** An U.N.C.L.E. translator in "The Never-Never Affair" is played by Barbara Feldon; this episode premiered a few months before she got a transfer and a promotion (to [[Series/GetSmart Agent 99]]).
24	** General Harmon in "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair" is played by Creator/LeslieNielsen, as part of his long career in serious roles before ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' and ''Film/TheNakedGun''.
25	** A henchman in "The Indian Affairs Affair" is played by Creator/NicholasColasanto, better known as Coach from ''Series/{{Cheers}}''.
26	* SeasonalRot: The third season (during which the approach was changed to ride the coattails of ''Series/Batman1966'', which also affected ''The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.'') is hated by most fans — two low points being Kuryakin riding a bomb full of essence of skunk that's falling onto Las Vegas and Solo dancing the Watusi with a gorilla — and considered to be the season that killed the show, although it did get an abbreviated fourth season that tried to reverse the damage (too little, too late — and as Jon Heitland's book on the series pointed out, if the third season was too comical the fourth season was too ''serious'').
27	* StrawmanHasAPoint: One [[StrawFeminist villainess]] from "The Bridge of Lions Affair" makes some very good points about how women's lives were restricted in many ways. True, she was consumed by [[AmbitionIsEvil a lust for power]] and was completely ruthless and unethical, but she wasn't ''wrong'' about how unfair society was to women.
28	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
29	** "The Hula Doll Affair" features two brothers who happen to be rival THRUSH executives in a plot involving the title doll, which has a heat-sensitive explosive inside, and Napoleon impersonating a delegate from THRUSH Central. A recipe for power plays and suspense? It likely would be had it not been in [[SeasonalRot season three]] and scripted by Stanford Sherman, who also did the one with Illya riding a bomb filled with essence of skunk ("The Super-Colossal Affair") and the one with popsicle bombs aimed at Victor Borge ("The Suburbia Affair"). Throw in the executives being played by Jan Murray and Pat Harrington, and their mother [[spoiler: and real THRUSH Central member]] being played by perennial LargeHam Creator/PatsyKelly, and... oh dear.
30	** "The Five Daughters Affair", also from the third season, also applies, at least in regards to its cast. While Creator/HerbertLom is utilized well, actors such as Creator/TellySavalas, Creator/TerryThomas, Creator/CurdJurgens and Creator/JoanCrawford are given small, unremarkable roles.
31	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The series lives and dies on its UsefulNotes/ColdWar setting, and the oddity of a spy organization employing both American and Soviet agents.
32	* {{Woolseyism}}: The Latin American name of the series was translated as ''El agente de CIPOL" (The Agent of CIPOL), being CIPOL the Spanish acronym of " '''C'''omisión '''I'''nternacional '''P'''ara la '''O'''bservancia de la '''L'''ey" (International Council for Law Enforcement).
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34	!!Tropes for the 2015 film:
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36	[[YMMV/TheManFromUNCLE2015 Here]].

Context YMMV / TheManFromUNCLE