Despite attempts at cross-promotion with its parent series, the show failed to build an audience and lasted only one season. Its failure was considered a contributing factor in Man's mid-season cancellation in early 1968.[1]
Contemporary reviews of The Girl From Uncle were mostly negative, with much of the critics' comments centered upon the lead actors, particularly Powers. A review in the The Baltimore Sun noted that Powers is "prettier and shapelier than Ilya Kuryakin, of course, but she's not much of an actress and she's ill-suited to the role," but that "Harrison tends to steal scenes from Miss Powers, and [makes] an agreeable impression"[2] A review in Newsday reported that "Miss Powers, for all of her sweater appeal, is a trifle limited."[3]Kay Gardella of the New York Daily News opined that Powers "display[ed] less than undergraduate skill in the fine art of spying", with the performance of co-star Harrison being "the understatement of the new season. One suspected he was given a dose of Apathy."[4] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette commented that "Powers [is] somewhat of a timid UNCLE agent," that Harrison "gave evidence of stealing most of the credits," and that "the series is [...] only for UNCLE fans."[5]
Episodes
Backdoor pilot (1966)
The backdoor pilot, titled "The Moonglow Affair", originally aired as 52nd episode (S02E23) of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on February 25, 1966.
Sarah Arini is on her way to a Greek island with a dog whose fleas contain the antidote to a drug developed by THRUSH. A man named Fromage sits next to April on the plane and, suspecting he is a THRUSH agent, she contacts Mark and attaches a parachute to the dog, throwing it from the plane. Mark is captured briefly, but the dog escapes. Later, Mark and April meet and using a dog whistle April attracts the dog. However, it escapes again and when April gives chase, she is karate-chopped on the neck, faints and is kidnapped. When she revives, she is questioned by Zakinthios, who leads the mission for THRUSH. Refusing to talk, April is quickly knocked out again. She wakes up tied to a swing over a pool of piranhas, but escapes in the nick of time, manages to retrieve the dog yet again, and Mark defeats Zakinthios in a fight. April and Mark eventually hand the dog over to the authorities to enable them to make the antidote.
Beginning in 1968, reruns of all 29 episodes of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., including 99 of 105 of its parent series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., were combined into a 128-episode syndication package in the United States.[6] Years later, a few more episodes were added to the package, rounding it out to 132.[7]
Home media
On August 23, 2011, Warner Bros. released the complete series in two parts on DVD in Region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. The two 4-disc collections contain all 29 episodes of the series.
These are Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) releases, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the United States.[8][9]
Soundtrack
Jerry Goldsmith's theme for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was adapted for the series by Dave Grusin in an energetic variation. Of the 29 episodes, eight had complete original scores and six were partial scores, with the rest being tracked by the previously written material.[10]
Grusin wrote four complete scores ("The Dog-Gone Affair", "The Mother Muffin Affair", "The Mata Hari Affair" and "The Furnace Flats Affair"), Richard Shores — who would be the principal composer for The Man from U.N.C.L.E the following season — wrote three ("The Montori Device Affair," "The Prisoner of Zalamar Affair" and "The Danish Blue Affair") and Jack Marshall composed his only score for either U.N.C.L.E. series with "The Horns-of-the-Dilemma Affair". Jeff Alexander, also writing his only U.N.C.L.E. music, provided a partial score for "The Garden of Evil Affair", sharing "Music Score by" credit with Grusin and Shores, the latter two sharing the credit on all the other episodes, tracked and partial score alike. The opening and closing title themes and suites from the episodes "The Dog-Gone Affair", "The Prisoner of Zalamar Affair", "The Mother Muffin Affair", "The Mata Hari Affair", "The Montori Device Affair" and "The Horns-of-the-Dilemma Affair" are included on the third FSM album of music from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Original novels
First Girl from U.N.C.L.E. novel. Pictured: Stefanie Powers as April Dancer. Note misspelling of Powers' first name.
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. was featured in five original novels, only two of which were published in the United States:
The Global Globules Affair – Simon Latter (published in United Kingdom, and in France as L'affaire des Globules)
The Golden Boats of Taradata Affair – Simon Latter (published in United Kingdom only)
The Cornish Pixie Affair – Peter Leslie (published in United Kingdom only)
Unlike the series, the novels were quite serious, with the plot of The Birds of a Feather Affair ending in tragedy for April when the "innocent" character usually featured in the TV show dies, despite what April does to stop the villains. In addition, the prohibition on April using deadly force on the TV series (described earlier) did not apply to the novels.[11]
A The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Annual was published for three issues in the UK, which included novellas not published elsewhere.[12]Gold Key Comics also published a short-lived, five-issue comic book.[13][14]
References
^Heitland, Jon (2003). Man from U.N.C.L.E. Book: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of a Television Classic. Griffin. ISBN9780312292157.
^Kirkley, Donald (26 September 1966). "New Attack Opened". The Baltimore Sun. Newspapers.com by Ancestry. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
^Delatiner, Barbara (14 September 1966). "'UNCLE' Girl is Weak Sister". Newsday (Suffolk Edition). Newspapers.com by Ancestry. p. 58. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
^Gardella, Kay (14 September 1966). "Power Play by UNCLE". Daily News. Newspapers.com by Ancestry. p. 638. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
^Fanning, Win (16 September 1966). "Girl from UNCLE". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Newspapers.com by Ancestry. p. 35. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
