The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
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| Name: | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. |
| Abbreviation(s): | MFU, Man from UNCLE, MUNCLE |
| Creator: | Sam Rolfe, Norman Felton |
| Date(s): | 1964-1968 |
| Medium: | television |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Wikipedia The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. on Wikipedia The Fans from U.N.C.L.E. |
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was one of the big hits of the '60s, and one of the earlier and influential TV fandom series, thanks in a large part to the appeal of David McCallum's Illya Kuryakin with fangirls of all ages.
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Canon Overview
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was part cold war spy thriller, part idealistic world history, and part campy escapist entertainment. U.N.C.L.E., the United Network Command for Law Enforcement, was a multi-national organization under United Nations control and its primary purpose was to deal with THRUSH, essentially an Illuminati-style organization that was breaking out of the whole 'power behind the throne' role and going straight for the the throne itself, frequently using convoluted 'Bond Villain' plots. An innocent bystander was always drawn into the plot somehow, while Napoleon and Illya dealt with the threat.
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. was a spin-off of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. that lasted one season.
The Characters
A brief overview of the main characters. For more information, see the The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Wikipedia and The Fans from U.N.C.L.E..
- Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn): lead Enforcement agent, American who served in the Korean War.
- Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum): Napoleon's partner, Russian.
- Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll): Section One, Number One of U.N.C.L.E.
- April Dancer, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
- Mark Slate, April's partner
The Fandom
Anecdotal stories give MFU the nod for first publishing fan fiction, though no copies of those early stories have been found. Nancy Kippax said in Reminisce With Me that Man From UNCLE had been around in the U.S. and the U.K. as long as Star Trek, but without significant fan fiction. According to her the first stand-alone Man From UNCLE zine (a novel) was published in 1975.
As The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was an early fandom, there are lots (and LOTS) of zines. A few of them have been kept in print all these years; others are available used at conventions. SithDragon (sithdrgn on lj) tried to set up a MFU traveling zine library, and collected zines from fans, but nothing apparently came of it.
Fandom History
As MFU did not go into continuous reruns the way Star Trek did, the fandom ebbed and flowed depending on the syndication. There was a big resurgence in the early 1990s when TNT began broadcasting it again, and fans could once again get clean VCR copies to pass around to interested parties. In 2007 the series was released on DVD, and while this did not spark a fandom renaissance, the accessibility allows for a low but steady influx of new fans, as well as older fans revisiting their childhood crushes.
Fic trends
Slash MFU is a very OTP fandom, with Napoleon/Illya the dominant pairing. Gen case-story MFU is more common than Het MFU, which is usually BOTW, or occasionally crossed over with The Girl from Uncle.
Notable Fanworks
- Poor, Poor Pitiful me (Illya) by Katharine on Media Cannibals/Tape5
- Perestroika by Elizabeth Urich -- a beautiful Man from Uncle slash zine (with a gorgeous cover). A wonderful example of MPDJK: Napoleon goes to Russia to visit Illya's "grave", only to find Illya is very much alive, and in need of rescue.
- City of Byzantium by Eros, overwrought but beautiful first time novel with fantasy elements.
- The Kuryakin File Twenty-five issues and counting, gen and het stories that put Illya front and center
Online Resources
Mailing Lists
As an older fandom, much of MFU online fandom started on lists. In the late 90s, there were two primary mailing lists, Channel D for general interest, and Channel L for adult and slash conversation, both co-run by Jan and Marion. These are still active as of 2009, as well as a few others:
Archives
- U.N.C.L.E. File 40
- Chrome and Gunmetal archive - automated slash fic
- The Raven's Lair - slash & gen
Livejournal Communities
- network_command ("the one stop UNCLE shop for all your fic and fannish needs.")
- muncle (slash community)
- thrushies (crack)
- mfuwss - MFU Writers Survival School (fanfic advice and discussion, drabble challenges)
- mfu_canteen (general discussion)
- mfuficfind (fic-finding comm)
- mfu_shortstorie (daily fanfic recs)
- mfu_weekly (newsletter comm)
Fansites
- The Fans from U.N.C.L.E. (canon and fandom overview)
- Partner Mine (Napoleon/Illya slanted site with ep recaps and fic)
- The Network - website for the longest running UNCLE newsletter and the annual Arundel Affair, a fan run convention held in the UK.
Zine Resources
There are many providers of MFU zines, both new and used.
- NorthCoast Press publishes The Kuryakin File as well as a number of other MFU zines.
- Agent With Style has a sizeable MFU section.
- MFU Zine Search is a low-traffic list featuring some sales of used zines as well as information on zine sellers.
See the list of MFU zines for listings of specific titles and publishers.
Other Spy Shows of fannish interest
For whatever reasons, spy shows seem less likely to spawn a fandom than cop shows. Perhaps this is due to the increased plotting issues with spy stories; perhaps because spy shows tend to rely on the BOTW even more than cop shows; or perhaps there are simply many many more cop shows than spy shows.
