In early 1966, 'Batman' debuted on U.S. television. Starring Adam West and Burt Ward, the campy spoof threatened to displace 'M.F.U.' as 'T.V.'s coolest show'. Determined to upstage the newcomer, the 'U.N.C.L.E.' producers hired several key personnel from that show, such as composer Nelson Riddle and writers Stanford Sherman and Stanley Ralph Ross.
Surprisingly the Ross episodes are among the least campy of Season 3. 'The Thor Affair' ( co-written with Don Richman, author of the horrendous 'My Friend The Gorilla Affair' ) begins in India, where Solo and Kuryakin foil an assassination attempt on the life of Prime Minister Dr.Nahdi ( Harry Davis ).
The man who wants Dr.Nahdi dead is one Brutus Thor ( Bernard Fox ), a munitions dealer out to preserve his livelihood. The Prime Minister is due to attend a disarmament conference in Geneva. Thor has arranged for him to have a handkerchief in his pocket which will explode when he next sneezes into it. Entering this bizarre scenario is Nellie Canford ( Linda Foster ), a school teacher who...don't ask me to explain this...is able to pick up radio broadcasts on her fillings...
This is more in line with Season 2 than 3. At least three of the cast had appeared in the previous year's two-parter 'The Bridge Of Lions Affair' - Bernard Fox, Harry Davis and Anthony Eustrel. Fox was also in one of my favourite 'Girl From U.N.C.L.E.' episodes - 'The Mother Muffin Affair'. He makes 'Thor' into one of the show's more classy villains. The exploding hankie idea was first seen in 'The Foxes & Hounds Affair'.
Ross' humour is still in evidence - a butler is named 'Rhett'. And was it coincidental that the actor playing an announcer was named Larry Thor? If the episode is remembered at all, it is probably for the superb scene where Illya breaks into Thor's house, only to be menaced by an army of dolls equipped with built-in guns. As they blast away, they chant 'Mama!'.
Surprisingly the Ross episodes are among the least campy of Season 3. 'The Thor Affair' ( co-written with Don Richman, author of the horrendous 'My Friend The Gorilla Affair' ) begins in India, where Solo and Kuryakin foil an assassination attempt on the life of Prime Minister Dr.Nahdi ( Harry Davis ).
The man who wants Dr.Nahdi dead is one Brutus Thor ( Bernard Fox ), a munitions dealer out to preserve his livelihood. The Prime Minister is due to attend a disarmament conference in Geneva. Thor has arranged for him to have a handkerchief in his pocket which will explode when he next sneezes into it. Entering this bizarre scenario is Nellie Canford ( Linda Foster ), a school teacher who...don't ask me to explain this...is able to pick up radio broadcasts on her fillings...
This is more in line with Season 2 than 3. At least three of the cast had appeared in the previous year's two-parter 'The Bridge Of Lions Affair' - Bernard Fox, Harry Davis and Anthony Eustrel. Fox was also in one of my favourite 'Girl From U.N.C.L.E.' episodes - 'The Mother Muffin Affair'. He makes 'Thor' into one of the show's more classy villains. The exploding hankie idea was first seen in 'The Foxes & Hounds Affair'.
Ross' humour is still in evidence - a butler is named 'Rhett'. And was it coincidental that the actor playing an announcer was named Larry Thor? If the episode is remembered at all, it is probably for the superb scene where Illya breaks into Thor's house, only to be menaced by an army of dolls equipped with built-in guns. As they blast away, they chant 'Mama!'.