THE MAD, MAD TEA PARTY AFFAIR was first aired in February, 1965...by that time (I was eight) its series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., had easily become my favorite TV show, with me writing down the names of each episode as I saw them and enjoying the whole secret agent ambience of it...which clearly in retrospect was a takeoff on the successful James Bond movie series. This particular episode takes place almost entirely within U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) in a high-rise building, presumably New York City. Protagonist agents Napoleon Solo (played by Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) find themselves at headquarters confronted with two challenging problems: an eccentric elderly man has infiltrated the supposedly secure building while THRUSH, the criminal enemy organization of U.N.C.L.E., has sent someone to plant a bomb there to kill those attending a crucial meeting. But what makes this episode so memorable to me happened before it was ever aired: at the conclusion of each episode they would show short previews for the following week's show...for this one they showed an airplane headed straight at a skyscraper building, from the viewpoint of the building itself! That image always stuck in my mind and quickly came to the forefront when 9/11 happened more than 36 years later. No, it wasn't a passenger jet...just a model plane launched from a nearby park by that earlier-mentioned gentleman: but he did make the creepy comment that it was on a suicide mission. Although that episode had some serious suspense and stakes as to its outcome, it also had many moments of lightheartedness...and I recommend it to this day if they ever get around to showing this very entertaining old series on television again...
No comments:
Post a Comment