The Man from UNCLE – an extended introduction to the 60’s series from a newbie slash fan

[rallamajoop]

Since most of my activity here nowadays seems to be me writing Man from UNCLE meta or fic on every topic under the sun, I figured it was time to make a proper masterpost of everything I've posted here or to various comms.

Most of these links go to LJ, though there are a few at the end to odds and ends I've posted to tumblr too.

Fic

• UNCLE slashfic recs masterpost – [LJ Mirror]


• My fic:
  • Fatale
    

    Pairing: Napoleon/Illya
    Summary: Napoleon’s weakness for femme fatales has never been one of the more ambiguous facets of his sexuality. (Or, a world in which Illya began his career on the wrong side of the law certainly isn’t one where Napoleon is any less likely to wind up in bed with him.)
    Rating: NC-17
    Word Count: 6,630
    Notes: Alternate universe, contains gun-kink and some bondage

    
    
  • A Unified Theory of UNCLE, in four parts
    

    Pairing: Napoleon/Illya
    Summary: In a world where the occasional well-placed enemy mole or major security breach is simply a matter of course, a handful of UNCLE's most sensitive operational directives have never been committed to paper at all.
    Rating: PG
    Word Count: 28,544
    Characters: Napoleon, Illya, Waverly, with appearances by Angelique, Ursula Alice Baldwin, Mark Slate, Gemma Lusso and "Wanda"
    Notes: Effectively a mix of elaborate crack theories and historical trivia built around a faintly ridiculous amount of flirting, fluff and prolonged UST

Resources

• The Man from UNCLE – Complete Season 1-4 subtitles – [LJ Mirror]
Ripped from the DVDs, available in text format. Not as good as proper episode scripts as the lines lack attribution, but handy for checking dialogue in a hurry.


• Complete production credits spreadsheet – [LJ Mirror]
So, I started making a spreadsheet to get my head around which of the recurring cast showed up when, and got a bit carried away. Set up to be sortable either by episode airdate or original production order, covers shooting dates, air+rerun dates, directors, writers, and pretty much all the other credits available for import. Should be useful to anyone trying to figure out chronology and recurring influences.


• MGM Character bios – Napoleon, Illya and Waverly – [LJ Mirror]
The original source for a lot of details that made it into collective fanon without ever really coming up in the show, like Napoleon's yacht and Illya's love of jazz.


• Original outlines for UNCLE and THRUSH – [LJ Mirror]
Published with some of the early promotional material, and packed with details that didn't make it into the show, like the existence of the Mask Club and some of the other entrances to UNCLE HQ. Includes scans of some early promotional articles.


• The UNCLE Special – [LJ Mirror]
Scans of some articles with detailed technical info on the UNCLE gun.

Meta

• The Man from UNCLE – an extended introduction from a newbie fan – [LJ Mirror]
In which I attempt to write the introduction I'd wished I'd been able to find before watching, to let me know what I was getting into.


• Family Trees of Napoleon, Illya and Waverly – [LJ Mirror]
Covering every known family member we've ever met, heard about, or whose existence was perhaps vaguely alluded to once, plus some musings about what it all tells us about their backgrounds.


• On nicknames and Illya's wandering ethnicity – [LJ Mirror]
Ficcers are fond of throwing around nicknames like 'tovarisch' or 'Smart Russian'. I ran some searches through the subtitle files to check exactly what was used in the show and how, and in the process, made the surprising discovery that the show all but completely stops admitting that Illya is Russian in the later seasons.


• The curious semi-canonicity of the UNCLE Special – [LJ Mirror]
The UNCLE gun was and is one of the defining symbols associated with the series - so it would probably surprise most long-time fans to realise it was never actually mentioned by name on screen. Virtually everything fans 'know' about the gun actually comes from various news articles (scans and links included).


• The spotter's guide to The Girls of U.N.C.L.E. – [LJ Mirror]
UNCLE actually featured a number of recurring female staff members over the years, and many of them (IMHO) are so much more interesting than they get credit for (even if most of them were inexplicably called 'Wanda'). There's also an appendix post of sorts: Heather McNabb, Wanda Mae Kim and Sarah Johnson in print


• Gay communist spies and KGB honey traps – The surprising history of the Lavender Scare – [LJ Mirror]
Only tangentially related to UNCLE, but I started looking up the subject of gay spies, and found so much more material than I was counting on.

Picspams

• That one photoshoot – [LJ Mirror]
Three UNCLE stars, three attractive models and a smoke machine all get together to have one hell of a day at UNCLE HQ.


• Illya vs. The Cameraman: A Saga in Pictures – [LJ Mirror]
One of my favourite things about UNCLE's many promotional stills is just how many there are where it looks like Illya’s spotted the camera man, and thinks he’s up to no good.

Book reviews

• The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Behind the Scenes Story of a Television Classic
  
A real treasure trove of behind-the-scenes details, recommended to any UNCLE fan.


• Ian Fleming’s Thrilling Cities
  
A travel book by the author of the James Bond novels, and one of Norman Felton's first inspirations for the series. Unfortunately, it quickly turns out that no matter what city Fleming wound up in, all the misogyny of the Bond franchise would still be along for the ride.


• KGB: The secret work of Soviet secret agents
  
A fascinating source on Cold War espionage.

Trivia and other odds and ends from tumblr

• General:
  • On the canonical support for that good old bed-sharing trope in MfU
  
  
• Napoleon Solo:
  • Norman Felton and Ian Fleming design Napoleon Solo + Addendum
  
  
  • Sam Rolfe continues to develop Napoleon Solo
  
  
  • An Annotated Guide to Napoleon’s Apartment + gifs
  
  
• Illya Kuryakin:
  • Canon details about Illya’s UNCLE career
  
  
  • Illya, romance and sex appeal
  
  
  • Illya's promotion to equal billing
  
  
  • Quotes from the later writers' guides, and some meta on Illya, women, and Napoleon + Addendum
    
  
  
• Mr. Waverly:
  • Behind the scenes with Leo G. Carroll's failing health
  
  

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Very good points to be made all the way through and it's refreshing to see someone look at the show with fresh eyes. I'm sure you are going to have fun with the series and I hope to read some of your work. Where will you be posting it?

Might I also offer you an invitation? There is http://mfu-canteen.livejournal.com/ which is our daily chatting place. There is also http://mfu-scrapbook.livejournal.com/ for all the image needs. There are also tons of links. Both sites are slash friendly.

Finally, looking for a new friend or two?

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the fandom! We're glad to have new members, especially a good writer.

Thank you for a terrific overview. I am most looking forward to seeing those fic ideas. It might be cheek from someone who can't write a word, but if you can fic half as well as you meta, they'll be very fine.

All the meta is admirable, but I'd like to especially yay what you write about S4, which says what I feel (as overview) better than I could. I'd like to add that nonhumans seemed very unfortunate, unlike S1 Fox and Hounds.

Most fans would probably advise against sitting through GfU, but if you ever care to give a small appendix about that; or indeed on any subject, this one would be interested.

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Hiya, I enjoyed reading your thoughts. I've loved U.N.C.L.E. since God was a boy - and I actually like cheese - so the gorilla is fine by me. Although there are better examples of the faux gorilla http://mfu-canteen.livejournal.com/2119557.html

I agree S4 is a bit of a lurch after that, but I enjoy that too.

And I agree the villainesses - and some of the good girls - get better shrift than was often the case at the time. Which, I think, goes some way to making it still watchable. Although it was still undeniably sexist by modern standards.

I put off watching the Reunion for ever, but have just finally watched it. It's not terrible, but it it's not great either. Mediocrity is always the unpardonable sin of showbiz.

I like the boys as mates. I'm not a dedicated slasher, but I have slashed (ahem - slash is also a euphemism for urinating) and will probably do so again.

Like many fandoms - and long term fan I might be, but I'm still fairly new to fandom - I think it feeds on the gaps in the narrative. There's little to fill in or fix, if canon does it all for you.

I'd be interested to see if your views evolve over time :0)

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

I see you've jumped into the deep end with gusto. Welcome to LJ. Allow me to recommend posting any gen stories you'd like to share in Section VII http://section7mfu.livejournal.com/ (http://section7mfu.livejournal.com/)

We host many different challenges. Watch for the weekly calendar each Monday, to keep it all straight.

I'm a first cousin (watched the original when it first aired) but there are many second cousins in LJ and all are welcome to join in the fun. You're also welcome to peruse our UNCLE bible. It was written for the 50th Anniversary. http://www.mfuarchive.net/archive/6/MFU_Bible.pdf (http://www.mfuarchive.net/archive/6/MFU_Bible.pdf)

[sparky955.livejournal.com]

Ah. getting your PhD in The Pretty and The Brunet !!!!!

As one who came back to the family in 2007, all I can say is, THANK GHU FOR LJ and online fanfic.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

I've actually got one fic up already at AO3 (http://archiveofourown.org/users/rallamajoop/works?fandom_id=4405466). Would probably have been writing more if I hadn't derailed myself into meta-land - hopefully should have time to get back to that soon-ish (though lord knows I'm not the fastest writer out there at the best of times).

I'd hardly say no to a new friend or two or more community recs, though I'm actually in the weirdest place right now where my own f-list has so completely dried up on LJ over the last few years that I've all but given up and moved over to tumblr, much as I miss proper threaded conversation. Discovering a fandom community still active over here has been the best kind of shock to the system, but I honestly have no idea whether it's going to get me back into the habit of posting regularly again. So, um, hi! Nice to meet you! I may or may not be around much. ^^;

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Well, as I mentioned in the comment above I do have one fic (http://archiveofourown.org/users/rallamajoop/works?fandom_id=4405466) posted already! I did actually link it to muncle and was there looking for a beta a little while before too, though I guess not everyone saw it/made the username connection.

Gosh S4 is an awkward subject for me. >_< I know a lot of fans loved it and I'd be the last person to tell them they shouldn't, especially when it sure has inspired some excellent fic. But I personally found it such a slog it all but killed my love of the series dead for a while in the middle. :/ Such a painful exercise in producers confusing grimdark nihilism for maturity.

I'd like to add that nonhumans seemed very unfortunate, unlike S1 Fox and Hounds.

Do you mean in the sense of episodes like My Friend the Gorilla, The Abominable Snowman, The Tigers are Coming, The Birds and the Bees, The Bridge of Lions, etc? Not the best record, though I did enjoy Bow-Wow and Bat-cave despite their sillier elements, and even Tigers has its (ahem) redeeming factors.

I did give GfU a quick try - or at least I watched the first episode and the Mother Muffin Affair. I wasn't exactly blown away and its reputation turns me off a lot, but I did write down a few paragraphs worth of thoughts at the time. Will have to see if I can track them down.

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Actually, I did follow the link. But I don't have a taste for PWP, and I'm afraid I backbuttoned as soon as I saw the warning for gunkink (Thank you for putting it.) Nonetheless, I'm sure plenty will like it.

Thanks for replying, and looking forward to any future contributions, fic or meta.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

An interesting and intelligent analysis of the show. I enjoyed reading this and agreed with a great deal of it, which, I suppose, indicates that there are some universals about fandom (or about something) between old fen such as myself and new ones such as you. Welcome, cousin.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Hi yourself! I kind of love that we've got folks in this fandom old enough to remember the show when it was originally on air - both for history's sake and just for getting more different perspectives in the mix. (Like meeting Doctor Who fans at cons old enough to have actually seen the missing episodes, to the envy of everyone else in the room.) Fandom over on tumblr makes me feel old and crotchety sometimes, it skews so young. (Apropos of nothing, gosh that gorilla can play the drums! Costuming too has come a long way in the last half-century.)

Although it was still undeniably sexist by modern standards.

Yeah - I mean, it comes and goes, but there's definitely moments even in UNCLE that really make me cringe, and plenty of others I know I give it more leeway on because it's a show from the 60's and I know how much worse it could be. And yet, I'd still say it's overall less sexist than some big budget modern productions I could name, le sigh. How far we've come, how far we still have to go...

ahem - slash is also a euphemism for urinating

XD yeah, I have encountered that one (also a guitarist, and a genre of horror movie!) Fortunately usually not too ambiguous in context. ;)

Like many fandoms - and long term fan I might be, but I'm still fairly new to fandom - I think it feeds on the gaps in the narrative. There's little to fill in or fix, if canon does it all for you.

*nodnodnod* I've seen it pointed out many times that canons with really tightly-plotted stories may be hugely popular and still not inspire much fic, simply because there's no space left to play in. I have my own convoluted theories on how half the reason fans get so much into slash and other non-canon pairings is that you get to start with nothing more than characters and maybe some good chemistry on screen, and everything about the hypothetical romance is up for exploration. But that's a whole other tangent.

[seagull2eagle.livejournal.com]

{flails around excitedly at your post} Awesome, great review and summary of the whole thing! I rather want to write a 7k reply to it, lol, but sadly I don't have enough time for that. But I *really* appreciate the amount of time and effort you've taken into not only the watching but the whole poking around to find everything on the internet and then saying "not enough!" and making one that *does* have what you (and probably others) need. ^^

I'm a fan who grew up watching reruns, and managed to keep liking it into slash years (amazing what we don't see when we're younger!) but never got around to fanficcing it myself until the new movie came out. My friend and I went to see it and I was expecting nothing much... and came out absolutely delighted. It wasn't the most awesome thing in the world, but for what it was, we really quite liked it and thought they did an excellent job. Not the original by any means, but still so much fun and with good characters and dynamics. So then, of course, I went back and started rewatching the original too. Because there's only one movie, but there's hundreds of episodes of the tv... and I fell in love with that all over again as well. For many of the same reasons that you've enumerated here. The characters! The interactions! The wonderful balance between serious and funny. The many, many women in all facets and they at least tried for a decent representation of other races as well (heck, a lot better than most of the current day ones!) It was a product of its time, but it was a GOOD product, and does quite well even to this day.

Regarding Napoleon and the women, I actually had the thought the other day that he doesn't so much *chase* them, as he lets himself be *open* to them - whatever they want to do, he responds accordingly.

Regarding fandom, I actually made a post on this myself a few weeks back (on my journal) that I think fandom and canon diverged so very radically in so many ways because the early fen didn't have dvds to watch - they had their memory of the tv episodes, and the reruns, and in many tv stations, they didn't often rerun the black and whites because it was jarring for the audience. So fen were left with later seasons more than early, and memories, and lots of discussion amongst each other. Which lead to some rather interesting parting of the ways between canon and fanon along the way. Not all bad, but definitely slightly different beasts. ^^ (Like Illya's science - which I quite like, but as you say, isn't there in the series. Rather interestingly, though, *is* there more in the movie! Nod to fanon? Or just giving Illya more depth? Both ways, I like. ^^)

I'm also totally with you that I'm not a season 4 person at all. -_- Which, haven't rewatched all of them yet, but it starts off, as you say, grimdark, and is almost completely irreconcilable with the initial seasons. No hope there, where hope is what the first seasons have in abundance.

This must have been a heck of a post on tumblr, lol. Not the format! Thank you for reposting it in LJ, and with all the pics too. ^^

That clip you have with wet Illya is hysterical because I was just capping that one and very much enjoying making icons of it... Wet T-shirt Illya pulling himself up, yum! :)

Anyhow, must run because late. I really wanted to reply lots more, but had kept putting it off because no time to write that much, and then thought I better post *something* before bed, just so you know how much I appreciate your post and thoughts. I don't think it's wasted at all. And if there's fic ideas too? Even better. ;D

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

I see you've jumped into the deep end with gusto.

Considering the one other thing fannish thing I've done so far involved writing PWP gunkink fic, I think that one's pretty much a given. <_<

Thanks for the comm rec, though given the one gen-fic-ish idea I've had thus far would involve some sort of elaborate crossover with Doctor Who, I'm not sure if a comm dedicated to canon is something I'm best placed to get much mileage out of. XD; Shall keep it in mind anyhow.

I'm a first cousin (watched the original when it first aired) but there are many second cousins

I had not run into that terminology before - is it riffing on the idea of being an UNCLE? So 'first cousin' is whoever watched the original run, and 'second cousin' covers everyone else?

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

there are some universals about fandom

Well, at the very least we're all fans of the same show, so I would hope so! ;) And thank you, I am feeling very welcome indeed!

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

And I am sure I will find that PhD just as useful as Illya's is on the show! If I disappear abruptly, just assume THRUSH has mistaken me for someone whose PhD is in theoretical physics, and are about to be very disappointed with my contributions to the construction of their latest superweapon.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Wow, you really did jump in feet first! And what a great commentary! You've definitely done your homework. And, yes, it is very interesting to read what a new fan thinks of our very old fandom. I've seen it quite a bit in K/S these last few years; it's really nice to see the same thing happening here. For so long, new members were far and few between. So welcome to the fandom!

Oh, you may want to pick up a copy of this book. It's pretty informative.

http://smile.amazon.com/Man-U-N-C-L-E-Book-Behind---Scenes/dp/0312000529/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456401476&sr=1-1&keywords=the+man+from+uncle+book

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

I *really* appreciate the amount of time and effort you've taken into not only the watching but the whole poking around to find everything on the internet and then saying "not enough!" and making one that *does* have what you (and probably others) need. ^^

XD See, when I say the show 'stirred up my old essay writing habits', I do mean to say I have serious form for getting a bit loquacious over new fandoms (or even short questions someone has dumped in my tumblr ask box). Throw in the minor frustration of combing the web and finding nothing that really talks about so many things about the show that really stood out to me, and the urge to throw my own 5c into the ring becomes pretty hard to keep down. (Lord knows if anyone who would actually find it useful as an introduction is ever going to find this thing, but it doesn't seem to be lacking reaction either here or on tumblr, so I will gladly call that a win.)

This must have been a heck of a post on tumblr, lol. Not the format! Thank you for reposting it in LJ, and with all the pics too. ^^

Four posts on tumblr, technically, but I see you have already found them. ;) Should be a link to the one fic I've written yet there somewhere too, but I have more planned, believe you me!

With myself and the movie, I had the weirdest trajectory where it was trailers for that that got me interested, then I couldn't go see it right away because my friends were busy, so I started watching the series and fell hard. By the time I actually did get to see the film a month or two later, I had already managed to come all the way around to being the sort of purist who was morally offended by how unrecognisable movie!Illya was, and so I couldn't really get into it. ^^; (Probably would've worked out better for me in the reverse order - I doubt having the old series so fresh in my mind helped. Ah well.)

Re: fandom and history, have you seen the Fanlore page on muncle's fandom history? The Early Fanfic: Gen (http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Man_From_UNCLE#Early_Fanfic:_Gen) has some interesting tidbits about how early (zine/fanfic) fandom was focused on Illya to the point that Napoleon was almost a total non-entity. A lot of that is put down to lack of availability of the series (pretty much just as you suggest), and the fact people were getting a distorted second-hand view via the novels and fandom osmosis, so that early fandom's love for Illya became later fandom's focus on Illya to the exclusion of all else. Apparently that began to change late in the 80's - the fact people could record and trade tapes of the series around then probably would've helped. Now that I look it up, apparently official video tapes weren't available until 1991. Yeesh, it's a wonder the fandom kept going at all! They weren't making it easy for people.

I'm not sure I'd say the film does any more with scientist!Illya though - the series may have sort of dropped his PhD out there and forgotten about it, but the fact he has some sort of science background is implied often enough. He often mentions reading scientific papers on various subjects, and he's the one explaining technical details to Napoleon a lot of the time. I've also seen plenty of non-fandom sources mention Illya's science credentials and apparent PhD (IIRC, mostly in the context of his contrast with Napoleon and his appeal to female fans as the intellectual). It's just quantum physics that hilariously never comes up in practice. So the filmmakers wouldn't have had to know jack about fanon to throw in a bit of sciencey stuff attached to his character (and sadly, it's about the only thing about movie!Illya that I did recognise).

That said, Illya Kuryakin, PhD is definitely one of those things fandom has really taken and run with in a big way. Is there actually a single scene of Illya at a microscope at an UNCLE lab in the show? I honestly can't think of one, and yet, I've seen it in so many fic now that part of me thinks it must have happened somewhere! XD IDEK.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

[and apparently I broke the comment limit slightly; here's the rest]

Which, haven't rewatched all of them yet, but it starts off, as you say, grimdark, and is almost completely irreconcilable with the initial seasons. No hope there, where hope is what the first seasons have in abundance.

It does lighten up a bit later on, but in a weird kind of way where you have graphic torture scenes and perky innocents sharing space in the same episode. So bizarre. As you say, the lack of hope really starts to wear you down. I'm not sure I even fully recognised what a bit part it played in what made UNCLE work for me until it was gone. :\

That clip you have with wet Illya is hysterical because I was just capping that one and very much enjoying making icons of it... Wet T-shirt Illya pulling himself up, yum! :)

You know, I actually remember eyeing that particular one when the icon batch turned up on my friend's list. V. nice indeed. *_*

Aaand now I should really be getting for bed, but thanks for this lovely long comment - I really do love getting them. <3

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Most excellent. We are actually a pretty active fandom, all in all. I hope that we will see you around.

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Yes! Exactly right. We call each other cousins. Recently, I've found and joined an MFU fansite in Russia! Illya being Russian and all, they are all "second cousins" but are very enthusiastic about the fandom. They write stories and do a lot of translating for fans there not as well versed in English. They talk about the original show and the 2015 movie. They even post other movies and TV shows in which actors David McCallum and Robert Vaughn starred in that aren't available in the US. Very nice and exceptionally polite group of cousins.

Here's a vid made by Anna Impu, from the Russian site.

Enjoy!

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said at the top, I did first get into the series around September last year - it's had time to percolate. Besides which, my past record tends to suggest that if I come out of a new fandom without a few gallons of meta sloshing around my head, I probably didn't get into it very much. ^^;

I've seen it quite a bit in K/S these last few years; it's really nice to see the same thing happening here. For so long, new members were far and few between.

Indeed there is nothing like a new installment to get people into an old fandom. *g*

I've actually seen that book recced around a few places already - was thinking of maybe seeing if I can convince someone to get it for me for my birthday. It does indeed look very much up my alley.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Nice vid! I'd heard there was a fairly active Russian portion to the fandom. I do remember wondering on my first watch through the show how Illya (being written by Americans and played by an Englishman) might come across to an actual Russian audience - it's nice to know the answer seems to be 'not badly'.

Is there a specific Russian site you were thinking of? I know there's a pretty significant Russian population on LJ, but it sounds like you mean elsewhere?

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Here's the site I joined. There may be other fan sites I'm not aware of. http://rumuncle.diary.ru/ You can watch without joining. It's a great bunch of gals from all over Russia. All very nice and in love with NS and IK.

[seagull2eagle.livejournal.com]

Instead of replying to your reply, I wrote a ficlet. Inspired by a line in your meta post; though I'll admit it's not the cheeriest of fics. ^^;;; So much for the optimism we were talking about, oops. But, well, sometimes the oddest things stick with us.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6116242

Okay, on to more cheerful things now. And replies. ^_^

[seagull2eagle.livejournal.com]

XD See, when I say the show 'stirred up my old essay writing habits', I do mean to say I have serious form for getting a bit loquacious

Oh, me too! Early fandoms used to get meta posts from me all the time, and happiest times ever were when I would fall in with others who would also do the same. The early "campfire discussions" of us debating fine points of fandom... ah, such fun! Sadly, I rarely have time for that anymore. It's a matter of parceling up my life and allowing myself to come out for a few hours of play periodically and having to also rotate between the parts. But it's a lot of fun to see others engage, and I'm really delighted to see all the thought you've put into this. So much fun to read along and go 'yes!' ;D

Tumblr isn't the easiest for fandom interactions. I finally got on there, but spend more time liking posts than actually talking.

I did like your fic. I remember seeing it posted originally - I have a tab on my phone set to tv MFU and one for movie MFU ao3 posts so I can see the new ones coming through. Fun now to go back and see knowing it's you. Enemies or not, those two just can't stay away from each other! ;D Very yummy.

I lasted all of about five minutes in the movie blinking at tall!Illya and then shrugged and went with it. I suspect that if they'd tried making movie!Illya anything like tv!Illya, fans would be even more outraged and be picking it apart like crazy going nononononononononooooooooooo! As it is, he's so far different, that the fans who weren't going to like it can't say much other than "not Illya!" and not go into nitpicking, and the ones who do like it can like without the problems. Tv!Illya was such a phenomenon, that making the changes was probably the only way to make a true character in it. And yeah, probably just having fallen in love with tv!MFU didn't help you when seeing movie!TMFU. ;D I've been very much enjoying rewatching the tv series, but for me it's a rewatch and not a first fall. Though it is a first major fandom jump into it for me - I was always on the edges watching the fandom but not interacting directly with it before. So this is fun for me too in a new fandom but not new way.

A focus on Illya without Napoleon wouldn't have been nearly as much fun for me, I suspect. I like my buddy-buddy series, even before slash. ^^ Fascinating to see how that happened, though!

Yes, 80s is when VCR came out and fans started recording in mass and trading amongst each other for all sorts of things. I was pretty much running mine for everything under the sun... had every single Dr. Who episode that channel 54 showed. :) There's an infamous moment in a brief-lived series called Phoenix that my friend and I were watching off my old tapes a good decade or so later where in the middle of the show, a ticker tape marquee scrolls across the bottom of the screen "Mount St. Helens has just erupted"... ;D And then in other series there were fans copying their own recordings and sending around to other fans, second, third, fourth generation... talk about pixilated, sometimes! I've got some behind the scenes things from Due South that I got that way. Not to talk about the anime fansubs of the time. ^^

Fandoms are remarkably durable. I was doing the Dr. Who scene the entire time it was on hiatus. For a long time, the convention was inviting all sorts of other guests like Babylon 5 and other SF things just to keep going as a convention while still doing the primary Dr. Who (and watching the actors get older and older...). I actually stopped going to the cons a few years after New Who came along because of the sheer explosion of fandom at that point was overwhelming.

[seagull2eagle.livejournal.com]

I broke the comment length on my reply too. ;p
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the series may have sort of dropped his PhD out there and forgotten about it, but the fact he has some sort of science background is implied often enough. He often mentions reading scientific papers on various subjects, and he's the one explaining technical details to Napoleon a lot of the time.

True enough. And the pHd wasn't even mentioned itself until season 3. The pHd might have been the nod to the fandom like of the scientist rather than the start of it. Though with him explaining things to Napoleon, I often got the impression that Napoleon did know most of that and was just winding Illya up because he liked to. ^^ And, well, the audience needed to know.

Is there actually a single scene of Illya at a microscope at an UNCLE lab in the show?

Now that you mention it... I can't think of any. {tilts head and thinks} None? They're usually out in the field. There's not a lot of episode time with them back at headquarters, unless the series is set in headquarters. And of those... no. Hummmm.... Interesting point!

Interestingly, I'm watching season 3 now, and you're right that it's not as silly as people say it is (at least at the start), but I *am* finding it more difficult in general without any expectations, and I think I've traced at least part of it out: They're trying to please the fans.

Seasons 1 and 2 just basically went with the original ideas, though they did do their nods and interactions with fans in various ways (increased Illya time - the running and jumping of Illya time that you mentioned ^^ Illya shirtless time... ^^). But season 3 seems to be deliberately *trying* to do things with the characters, and things that the fans had claimed to want to see. It's not working because it's forced, and it's not natural. That's the way a lot of series go in the end - changing for the fanbase, when the fanbase fell in love with the original product. (I'll never, ever get why they decided that Brisco County Jr. needed to be changed because of the watching demographics to match the demographics, which... canceled the series because everybody stopped watching it when they changed it.) It could be also a bit more strain on the actors because of the fame and not as easily played in their scenes. There's something that's just a bit more forced about the episodes so far.

Hope is definitely more enjoyable. I will also often bypass fanfiction with bad endings because while those might be more realistic, they're not what I need. Life is miserable enough sometimes, without the thing that brings enjoyment and a detachment from everything also going there. Shows, and fanfiction, need to have that hope in them, because that's what makes things better. Without that... it might be realistic, it might be art, it might be drama, but it's not enjoyable and it's not what most people fall in love with. The first few seasons of UNCLE succeeded in that part along with fun and friendship as well.

Wet!Illya in season two is also combined with a heck of a lot of Shirtless!Illya. I was capping the Foreign Legion episode and rather admiring an actor that would do so much of it in just his briefs. ^^ The undressing scene in the plane was hysterical. That, almost certainly, was a fan nod. Yet, a fun, silly one, that was quite delightful.

[seagull2eagle.livejournal.com]

{checks through LJ posts} Was it on Tumblr where you mentioned ripping the screen captioning for a start on scripts?

Cool idea! ^__^ I have heard that the screen captioning wasn't the best. But it's a heck of a lot more than nothing, and nothing is what's out there now. Would be awesome for just what you said - a quick check of nicknames and other things "I thought they said" only to find they didn't say. Or things like that. Good luck with it. :)