Great Old TV Episodes...from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

 

THE PROJECT STRIGAS AFFAIR...All episode titles in the sixties spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. are in "The ___ Affair" format.  The one in this article was from their first season, initially aired in November 1964.  Although at age eight I would become an ardent fan of the series starring Robert Vaughan as agent Napoleon Solo and his Russian sidekick Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum, I'm not sure if I saw this specific episode at that time...more likely later in the spring of 1965 as a rerun. In it, sounding more like a Mission: Impossible undertaking, Solo and Kuryakin are assigned to discredit a politically surging warmongering diplomat from a fictional Balkan nation.  Making up an imaginary "Project Strigas" to tempt their adversary's interest, they enlist the aid of a chemical engineer-turned pest exterminator as the phony head of this convoluted plot to lead the ambassador on.  I picked this episode to discuss because of the presence of two very familiar faces, as you can see from the above photo taken from it during a party: Star Trek's William Shatner (playing the exterminator) and Leonard Nimoy (as the Balkan ambassador's assistant) are hobnobbing with Vaughn as Shatner's character has had a little too much to drink.  Star Trek wouldn't begin its three-year run until the late summer of 1966: here's a sneak preview of its stars! Of course, back then I wouldn't have known that...it's fun to go back in these old series (The Twilight Zone is another good source) and notice guest actors who would later star in their own shows and movies, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is loaded with these examples.  For the entire year of 1965 and well into 1966, I was nuts about The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: it was by far my favorite television series of that time.  Unfortunately, after its run...unlike with Star Trek...those possessing its rights refused to release it into syndication for many years.  Still now this series, very popular during its time, is extremely hard to find on TV.  So I decided to buy the entire series on DVD off Amazon at a huge discount using some of my gift card balance...nice!