The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

This article is about 60's spy fiction television series. For the 2015 film of the same name, see The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015 film).

Fandom
Name:	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Abbreviation(s):	MFU, Man from UNCLE, MUNCLE
Creator:	Sam Rolfe, Norman Felton
Date(s):	September 22, 1964 – January 15, 1968
Medium:	television
Country of Origin:	USA
External Links:	The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (tv series) at Wikipedia The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. at Wikipedia The Fans from U.N.C.L.E.
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Needs Updating: This page is out of date. Editors are encouraged to add more recent information.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC in 1964, following secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret international counterespionage and law-enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement).

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was one of the big hit television series of the '60s, and one of the earlier and influential TV media fandom series, thanks in a large part to the appeal of Illya Kuryakin, and his partner Napoleon Solo, with fangirls and fanboys of all ages. The program led the spy-fiction craze on television, and by 1966 there were nearly a dozen imitators.

The series, noted Steve Rubin, author of The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia, was "appointment television. You had to be watching Man From U.N.C.L.E., like today you have to be watching Game of Thrones."

Several episodes were successfully released to theaters as B movies or double features. There was also a spin-off series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., novel and comic book series, and merchandising.

Canon Overview

art cover of 11 & 2 #4 gen zine by Paulie

The Old World Affair's art by Vanya

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 implied to be under United Nations control; 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 the heroes—two U.N.C.L.E. agents named Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin—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 Fifteen Years Later Affair was a 1983 TV reunion movie.

A feature film based on the series and set in the 1960s, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015 film), was released in August 2015.

Other spin-offs included numerous books, comics, and magazines.

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 (Stefanie Powers): the Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
• Mark Slate (Noel Harrison): April's partner

cover of True Colours by Kitty Fisher, artist is Chris

Fandom History

When the show first aired in the 1960s, it was a hit and very popular with teenagers:

"But if Trek was the Big Bang [of media fandom], MFU was the primer. Many Trek fans started first in MFU. Not in an organized way: in those days, you just hung around with your friends in the neighborhood. Or wrote pen pals. (And you couldn't call outside the local area: kids wouldn't even think of asking to use long distance.)

And sometimes, you wrote letters to Norman Felton, who created the series. And lo and behold: he wrote back!! A lot of these letters ---hundreds of the many thousands --- are still preserved in the Special Collections at the U of Iowa. Some of the people who wrote those letters are *still* in MFU fandom.....

But if you're talking *Media* Fandom, it all began right here: when an entire generation of teenagers sat down to watch The Man From U.N.C.L.E. every week on their black and white livingroom console television sets and dreamed themselves into the fantasy world of the series. MFU lent itself to such dreaming; it was canon.

Man From U.N.C.L.E. hit at the right time. Noted Ron Simon, curator of television and radio at the Paley Center for Media in New York, "The same excitement seeing the Beatles live on television which happened a few months before, I think the same thing happened when Man From U.N.C.L.E. debuted in fall 1964. There was something cool about it. It created an emotional resonance for TV. It became the most popular show on campus in 1964, '65 and '66 — the first two seasons. It was a cultural phenomenon."

Considerable evidence exists to support the claim that The Man From UNCLE pre-dated Star Trek as the first media fandom. Many science fiction writers and fans who embraced Star Trek had begun as Man From UNCLE fans. Many episodes were written by established science fiction authors, among them Harlan Ellison who worked on continuity and polishing in the same manner as Dorothy Fontana later did for Star Trek. Science fiction novelists were also hired to write novelizations, among them Buck Coulson, the husband of Juanita Coulson.

There were other links to Star Trek. James Doohan was in "The Shark Affair" (October 13, 1964). William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appeared together in "The Project Strigas Affair" (Nov. 24, 1964). Numerous Star Trek guest stars appeared in other episodes. Some episodes were directed by Trek directors Marc Daniels, Jud Taylor, and Vincent McEveety. Like Star Trek, the show portrayed American and Russian heroes working together, but in the present.

However, because 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.

The zine fandom successfully transitioned online in the 1990s with 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 Davies, Marion McChesney, and Laurel Richards. These were still active as of 2009, as well as a few others. and moved to Yahoo!Groups in 1998. As of 2011 it was still active, with several hundred posts a month.

In Those Children: Case Studies from the Inner-city School (1970) by Donald Clark, Arlene Goldsmith and Clementine Pugh, school children with "mental problems" were described. Among them were two teenagers, Susan Wu and Sarah Vaquero, who wrote and acted out stories based on the show, but from the perspective of THRUSH. They were described as having "built a huge network of fantasy." When they killed off a favorite character (based on the brother of one of the girls), they wore black mourning armbands to school and authorities became "concerned about their fantasy life". This is one of the earliest descriptions of fandom in professional literature.

Early Fanfic

The Gen

cover of Eyes Only, artist is Romanse

Anecdotal stories give MFU the nod for first publishing fanfiction, though no copies of those early stories have been found. Nancy Kippax said in Reminisce With Me that The 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. It was called The Blue Curtain Affair and was written by Pat Munson, the then head of UNCLE HQ, a fan club. Munson also published some of the very first MUNCLE short fiction in the UNCLE HQ newsletter. Another early gen MUNCLE zine was The M.U.N.C.L.E. Book which was published in 1977. Muncle fanfiction also appeared in multi-fandom zines such as "The Princess Royal Affair" which appeared in Warped Space #40 in 1979. However, the majority of MUNCLE fanzines were not published until 1983.

Some early fanfic trends: what was Illya's role? Was he a Soviet defector, reflecting the political climate of the time? Fanfic during the late 1970s and early 1980s also had a very noticeable lack of Napoleon Solo: sometimes he was completely absent, and if portrayed, was often as Illya's subordinate and often as a bit of a buffoon. These two fanons were perhaps due to the fact the show was not being rerun anywhere, and that fans' exposure to the characters was through the pro books. The latter trend of Illya-centric fiction may also be due to the fact that David McCallum was cast as the "Russian Beatle." He appealed to the same demographic. One fan writes: "I suppose I can’t do an essay on Napoleon Solo without making at least brief mention of the fact that for a time in MFU’s fanfiction history, U.N.C.L.E. Chief of Enforcement became a sort of nonentity. About ten years ago, I did a survey of MFU fandom for an academic paper and discovered that, while Solo was a favorite of male fans, almost three-quarters of the female fans preferred Illya. In fact, for the first decade that followed the series’ cancellation, they preferred Illya so much that in most of the stories written during that period, Solo is either a supporting player or he doesn’t appear at all.

Another fanfic trend occurred in the late 1980s. It was at that time the fic began to change in tone. Napoleon and Illya are portrayed more often as equals, Illya as clearly Soviet, the fics themselves became grittier and more realistic regarding the world of spies and political espionage. Factors for this change in tone may have been the popularity of the televisions shows The Equalizer, The Sandbaggers, and John le Carré novels.

A fan in 1987 wrote:

The 60's — and especially the TV shows from that decade — seem immortal. The shows live on in syndication, especially since the great expansion of cable in the last few years. Sometimes it can lead to too much of a mediocre thing. For example, I could watch 15 Monkees episodes a week here, though, please God, I never will.

But one excellent series that had not been in rerun much until recently is The fen from U.N.C.L.E., a spy/adventure show that I'm sure most TCTS readers are familiar with.

What they may not realize, however, is that there is quite a body of fan fiction available and quite a bit is remarkably good. Give it time, and perhaps it will mire itself in the "so much character there's no room for plot" rut that so much Trek fiction is now in, but currently it's a refreshing change from endless scenes of K/S weeping and clutching and whatnot.

Many fans' favorite character is not Napoleon Solo, the intended "star," but rather Illya Kuryakin — originally a secondary character who quickly took over, much as Spock did. Illya is highly intelligent, an alien (at least outside of Russia), has a mysterious background, doesn't smile very often, and is as self-contained as a cat. So, needless to say, he's utterly captivating to women.

The Slash

Harry Chess: The Man from A.U.N.T.I.E, from Drum magazine

The series had been popular with the gay underground since it began. As early as 1965, Man from UNCLE parodies started showing up in gay magazines. However, there was little connection between that community and the fanfic communities.

The first Man from U.N.C.L.E. zine advertised in a major publication that announced it would accept slash was by Karen F in 1983. From Datazine #28's "In the Planning Stages": "The Fanzine Affair: Napoleon Solo and Kuryakin return! This is a fanzine in the making and accepting stories, artwork, non-fiction, and poetry... All themes accepted -- the title says it all." While this zine never made it off the ground, the precedent was out in the open.

The first fanzine to actually publish MUNCLE slash was possibly Mobile Ghettos in 1985. "E.D. Productions were the first people to actually publish UNCLE slash material. There is quite an underground of N/I, some of it much better that was actually published, but this could be true to the fact that E.D. Productions simply didn't know how to get in touch with the proper sources."

Some fans feel that fannish debates and discussion of the time was less concerned with slash, and more focused on whether or not Illya was a Soviet defector or not, a topic made all the more relevant by current events of the time.

Circuit Stories and Preservation

Like Pros fandom, there was an underground circuit of fan fiction, copied and exchanged from person to person. Some of that fanfiction involved slash which was not universally accepted with media fandom for many years: "Slash was very much underground for many years. Even when it moved from circuit stories to zines, you couldn't find them all that easily. They were distributed more or less "under the table", and you had to know whom to ask. That was changing even before the Internet became a major locus for fandom, but echoes of the "underground" status persisted for a long time, simply because there were a lot of fans who had been there and remembered it."

Unlike the Pros fandom which has expended considerable effort to preserve and archive their circuit stories, little is known about the MUNCLE circuit, even among dedicated fans.

A few Man from U.N.C.L.E. zines 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.

Relationship with TPTB

When MUNCLE fandom finally did begin publishing their stand alone zines in the early 1980s, they enjoyed a very positive relationship with Norm Felton, one of TPTB on the series: "When I was publishing "U is for UNCLE" Norm Felton had copies of every issue and would send back letters to me about them, wanting to discuss this or that plot action. Sigh, the good old days....... He used to give me pointers and he also had a very sly sense of humor. It made Napoleon make more sense to me."

That easy relationship changed when, in 2005, Lionheart Distribution received two C&D notices from Warner Brothers for selling MUNCLE fanzines, among other Warner TV shows.

Slash and Gen Fandoms

art from The Heart of the Matter Affair, artist is KOZ

Like many of the early TV fandoms, slash and gen fandoms have co-existed - but not always peacefully. Slash is disparaged by many fans, who believe it distorts the characters. Slash Controversies has more on these complex aspects of fandom.

The slash "aha moment' varies among fans - some fans saw it immediately, others felt it did not happen until after the first season.

Even when fans were open to idea of slash, the actual introduction to the genre did not always go well:

"Still, [slash] was an interesting idea and I was curious, so I went to the Mediawest reading room and read an MFU slash zine. The story I read had Solo raping Illya with an U.N.C.L.E. Special. This was, indeed, the dark side. Some other stories I found were similar. It was not an appealing introduction."

A fan in 1994 wrote:

UNCLE slash has always been a bit weird. I suspect the 60's atmosphere and timing of the show leads to some of it. This may be the slash couple that comes closest to sitcom behavior and style (especially in the silliest third seasons shows), although those who are familiar with I Spy are invited to comment. As such, domesticity and weddings are slightly more apropos than in, say, Professionals. One strong vein of N/I for a long time was and is extremely "romantic," which tends to lead to formal lifetime commitments instead of a quickie behind the weapons arsenal, time permitting. Perhaps, too, it should not be ignored that Napoleon has a general resemblance to Darren Stevens, which come to think of it might explain a lot about why Illya is so much the more numinous and put-upon of the two, as well as account for the plotlines of several well-known fan stories.

Still, the overall perception of slash within MUNCLE fandom has been one of relative acceptance, interspersed with periods of agitation:

"As someone who writes gen, I have seen intolerance travel in both directions. While slash is evil, gen can be stupid and clueless. Some folks won't read slash; some won't read gen. To my mind, they're both missing out.

But you're right: MFU has historically been a tolerant fandom in this area, and those of us who've lived through decades [decades!!!] together, have worked hard to keep it that way. We've sat on panels at MediaWest together, shared rooms as well as ideas, and read and beta'd each other's stories.

But it keeps coming back and sometimes I feel like I'm living through Groundhog Day. It's like someone shows up dragging a cannon long after the war is over. When they lob a lone cannonball, it's best to ignore it so it just plunks down, unnoticed and undramatic,like in an old Warner Brothers cartoon. Just a blip on the radar...

To my mind, all the genres can exist side by side [especially in MFU where there's only one OTP! No 'ship wars!] just like schools of thought can exist in a discipline or aesthetics in art. Sure, we can discuss and argue, but in the end, we all live in the same small town and have for almost half a century. We all have to exist together and it makes it so much more pleasant when we can still get together over drinks."

A fan in 2015 wrote:

When I joined MFU fandom in March it was a very quiet and cute little place where most people knew each other for years and everything was quite long established. But many things changed in these nine months (I bet there wasn’t so much action in the fandom for years). The reboot was released and many new viewers joined the fandom. There appeared a new way of percieving the show, now it’s seen by people who watch it because of the reboot with different expectations and different points of interest.

It is the time of changes.

Slash was the most attractive part of the show for many years starting with the 80s when the fandom was reborn because the show was rerun which didn’t happen since 1968 because the show was blocked by parents’ groups, officially, due to violence which is a complete nonsense.

(This is also the thing that explains why the show was almost forgotten, MFU was the most popular show of the 60s (compared to Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Avengers and other shows from the time that are still remembered), but after it got cancelled it couldn`t possibly gain any new fans untill the 80s when it wasn’t seen too aged, but still, quite aged. And afterwards it became more or less popular only this year.)

(Also, if you want my opinion, MFU gets misjudged very easily, that’s why it’s not watched by more people. Many people expect it to be James Bond on TV or a boring patriotic American show with a forced Russian character. It is neither of these things.)

So, there were 30 years of the MFU slash fandom, but I believe (though I’m not too well acquainted with the fandom’s heritage, but I read quite a lot of articles and never saw anything that would really dig the subject) that only this year I was able to nearly prove that Napoleon/Illya is canon. It means that years and years of speculations whether the creators of the show knew what they were doing or were we faced with a big pile of mere coincedences are gone. These years are gone. I declare the beginning of a new era.

I, who spent 9 months in this 50 years old fandom. It means that the fandom is still in need of new ways of seeing it. It doesn’t have everything that could be done in it. It doesn’t have all the possible theories, headcanons and points of view. It needs new ideas, new analysises, new loud voices. Especially now, when we no longer must hesitate to ship or not to ship.

No fan is too new for this fandom. It’s the fandom that is new, in fact. You don’t need to feel the burden of 50 years on your sholders, it’s not Doctor Who or Star Trek, it doesn’t have thousands of researches. Making the fandom alive is up to us. There are things to be discovered.

Can we say that it is the greatest love story of spy genre? Or maybe even more, the greatest love story set on Earth? Can we? Can we not? Why? We need to explore it all!

We possibly have on our hands the first gay love story on mainstream television! Why not? Make your points, dear friends! We need more thoughts. More brains. More hearts.

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.

There is also a small trend of futurefic fusion of MFU with with NCIS and/or Hustle. The premise is usually that Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard from NCIS is actually, secretly an older Illya Kuryakin (both characters are played by David McCallum), and/or that Albert Stroller from Hustle is actually an older Napoleon Solo (both characters are played by Robert Vaughn).

After the 2015 film was released we see a separation between the original series and the new spin off. The fandom is still active in the original series side, although there has been a huge influx of fic and art for the 2015 film side as well. As a mention, there has been a small trend of crossovers with Doctor Who .

Conventions

The only Muncle fan run convention held in the US

There have been few fan run Muncle conventions - most Muncle fans attended larger multi-media conventions such as MediaWest and Zebracon.

A small fan-run convention takes place in the UK every year. The Arundel Affair was first held in 1997 with the latest gathering taking place in 2010.

In 2006 fans planned to hold a small US convention in October in Washington DC called The Thirty-Eight Years Later Affair. It is unclear if the event took place however a website was set up, initial programming was developed and a hotel was reserved.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

For a list of fanfiction see: Category:Man from U.N.C.L.E. Fanfiction

• Brief Candle by Suzan Lovett (appeared in the zine We Have Each Other 1) (Slash) (1996)
• The Arctic Nights Affair by Rosemary C. (appeared in We Have Each Other II) (Slash) (1997)
• The Fake Affair Affair by Linda White (appeared in Classified Affairs 3 (1997)
• Standing Stones by Kate Drummond (appeared in the zine Relative Secrecy 3) (1999)
• The Shadow of the Hawke by Chajka (1999)
• The Mirror, Mirror Affair by Nix (2003 or before)
• The Answer to My Friend Affair by Joel Davis (2003)
• The Children's Night Affair by T. Gabrielle (2004 or before)
• Room Temperature by Nyssa (2004 or earlier)
• The Black Dragon River Affair by Jill Thomasson (2006)
• Necessary Lies by C.W.W. Walker (2007)
• Kolya's Son (appeared in the zine Relative Secrecy 5)
• The Grand Illusion Affair by Jill Thomasson (2000s)
• The Friend in Need Affair by Jill Thomasson (2000s)
• The Wail of the Banshee Affair by Jill Thomasson (2011)
• The Fear in the Night Affair by Jill Thomasson (2012)

Zines

cover of Perestroika, artist is Suzan Lovett

For a list of fanzines see: Category:Man from U.N.C.L.E. Zines or List of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Fanzines

• The Curse of the Round Robin, author unknown, slash (1989)
• Perestroika by Elizabeth Urich. Slash zine (with a gorgeous cover). An 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. An overwrought but beautiful first time novel with fantasy elements.
• The Kuryakin File. Thirty-six issues, gen and het stories that put Illya front and center.
• The Nowhere Man Affair by Paulie. A gen novel, winner of several fannish writing awards. Illya is captured, tortured, and his memory wiped, then dumped in New Orleans during Mardi Gras where he's taken in by a group of hippies who soon realize there's more to him than meets the eye. Meanwhile, Napoleon is searching for his lost partner, refusing to believe Illya may be dead.
• The St. Crispin's Day Society by C.W. Walker. Beautifully written, but rather crisp, or even dry, set of gen/het stories. Believed by many to be a fandom-reset after an era of more floridly written MFU.
• Rose Tint My World. The first "romantic" slash anthology zine focusing on Illya/Napoleon, from Bodacious Press.
• Sex, Lies and U.N.C.L.E. by Ann Higgins. Slash.
• The Perfect Affair by Hesphestian. Slash.
• White Nights by Alexi Tesla. Slash.
• Against the Wind. Het/Gen.
• The Solo Files. Non-fiction gen.
• The Man from UNCLE Fandom Directory. Resource zine (1990)
• The Vaughn Guard. Newsletter following actor Robert Vaughan

Vids

For a list of fanvids see: Category:Man from U.N.C.L.E. Vids

• Poor, Poor Pitiful Me (Illya) by Katharine Scarritt on Media Cannibals/Tape5
• You're So Vain (Napoleon Solo vid) (appeared on the Central Consortium 2000 songtape
• Winds of Change by DeeJay
• The U.N.C.L.E. Knights Affair by Spiritedshadow
• The Steve McQueen Affair by dreamybluemeany
• The Dr Kuryakin or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Illya Affair by dreamybluemeany
• The Pride Affair by Spiritedshadow
• The Blackest Velvet Affair
• Music To Watch Girls By
• Waterloo
• It's Not Unusual by Vysila
• Charmed Life by tomfooltook28
• Glances by Serenaar
• Grow Old With You by Pavlowsdog
• I Can't Speak French by Athenamsp
• The Shadow Government by dearratboy

Fanart

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Art by Suzan Lovett is here and here. Much of it was used in print zines.

• 

Tumblr

• Related to Illya/Napoleon

art by zecs_bunny 1

art by zecs_bunny 2

art by arrrhe

Archives

MUNCLE fanfiction was slow to embrace online posting. In 1998, when U.N.C.L.E. File 40 was launched, there were three known stories posted online, mainly at private websites. U.N.C.L.E. File 40 helped change that by bringing zine writers and online readers together and eventually, over time, more online fic began to be added. The Channel-F mailing list was created in 2000 to capture some of this online fan fiction as it was being posted.

• U.N.C.L.E. File 40
• Chrome and Gunmetal archive - automated slash fic
• The Raven's Lair - slash & gen
• The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Fiction Archive - slash, het & gen
• Man from UNCLE Slash Fiction (slash index page)
• Stories by Jean Graham

Man From U.N.C.L.E. sections can be found in these multi-fandom archives:

• Archive of Our Own - slash, het & gen
• Wonderful World of MakeBelieve - slash & gen, and challenge fiction

Mailing Lists

Yahoo! Groups

• Channel D (discussion, etc.) (founded 1995)
• Channel F Channel F(fiction)
• Channel J Channel J (artists) (founded after Dec 1998)
• Channel-L Channel-L (slash)(mostly inactive) (founded after Dec 1998)
• Channel M Channel M (McCallum/Illya) (founded after Dec 1998)
• Channel V Channel V (Vaughn/Napoleon) (founded after Dec 1998)
• Channel-W Channel-W (gen and slash writers, one of the earliest yahoo mailing lists) (founded after Dec 1998)
• MFUfic MFUfic (slash and gen fic) "A mailing list, designed to assist writers in both the slash (over 18 please) and gen genre. Welcome to the Man from Uncle fan fiction mailing list. MFUfic has been specifically designed to assist and encourage authors to establish a plausible canon universe. We cater to all mediums from Slash (over 18 please) Gen, and Smarm. From filk, to essays, from serials to short pwp's, from AU to canon stories, all are welcome." (Founded: Apr 4, 1999)
• MFU slash MFU slash "Welcome to MFUSlash! We provide a forum for discussing slash fan fiction based on the 60's TV Spy show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. if you are not interested in Slash fiction or are under the age of consent in your area, please don't ask to join." (Founded: Feb 5, 2002)

Other

• Man From UNCLE Chat and Fic Man From UNCLE Chat and Fic "Napoleon and Illya may have gone off the air, but they are still loved by a group of die-hard fans. This list is for discussion and fanfiction regarding this wonderful, cult show."

Journal Communities

an issue of Can You Get Channel D?

MFU also has an active presence on livejournal. The slash community muncle was founded by Sithdragn in Sept 2002 and welcomes all fans and any fanning about the show, whether slash-focused or not. It also hosts the annual Down the Chimney Affair holiday gift exchange, starting in 2004 based on other fandoms' exchanges , and becoming an anonymous exchange in 2005 in the spirit of a spy fandom. 2005 also marked the exclusion of het in the exchange due to the difficulty of finding matching recipients; since then the exchange has been limited to gen & slash. The 8th DTC Exchange happened in Dec 2011 with 22 participants.

Other communities include mfuwss, the MFU Writers Survival School, founded in 2005 to support MFU authors; like muncle, it has a slash/gen bent. network_command, founded in Jan 2008, is explicitly open to all genres and ratings, with no preferences stated. Both artwork and stories are accepted. mfu_canteen was spun off of mfuwss in May 2009; founded by spikesgirl58, it is devoted to all variety of MFU-focused discussions, from the serious to the ridiculous. Daily questions from the mods, as well as contributions from other members, keeps the comm lively (if not always on topic!); themes include Slash Thursdays and Sunday recipe exchanges.

mfu-yumdaily, "A Daily Dose of U.N.C.L.E." was created as a site to share pictures. A wide variety of pictures is posted each day, some with a high drool factor. The newest community, mfu-delflorias,"your single-stop shop for all your rec needs," is designed so that readers can share recommendations of their favorite stories, videos and art.

mfuficfind "I Know I Read It Somewhere..." was started by Periwinkle as a resource for fans who were trying to locate an author or a story.

The groups are summarized four times a week in mfu_weekly, "A Man From U.N.C.L.E. round-up" which consolidates posts from all the other groups into one site.

• 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 short fanfics to read)
• mfu_weekly (newsletter comm)
• Del Floria's (link) (fiction, videos, art recs)

Fansites

• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Fanfiction by Kate D.
• The Fans from U.N.C.L.E.- canon and fandom overview
• Partner Mine (offline, archived) - 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.

External Sources/Further Reading

• U.N.C.L.E. in Retrospect: Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Life, I Learned from U.N.C.L.E. by C.W. Walker
• The Squee Heard Round the World by C.W. Walker, September 22, 2012
• The Basics, ^{Archived version}, by rallamajoop (2016)
• The Characters: Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, ^{Archived version}, by rallamajoop (2016)
• Changing With the Seasons, ^{Archived version}, by rallamajoop (2016)
• Writing U.N.C.L.E.: The Three-Corner Structure, an essay by C. W. Walker