The complete season one of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." that was released on Monday (3rd of August 2015), and delivered by the GPO today was a pleasant surprise when I opened up the 'box'. In my view most boxed sets are very badly designed and totally unacceptable. Without exception when I come across them I always put the disc's into spare storage cases and throw the unacceptable packaging away. However in this instance the spare triple and quad storage cases I had put to one side in advance of delivery of this set, in order to cater for no less than 7 discs, were not actually required.
The reason being that this box set is supplied in a proper DVD storage case (or box if you prefer), very much like the 6 disc DVD storage cases, despite this one being slightly narrower. Yet it caters for the 7 discs containing all 29 episodes of season one. There are 5 episodes on disc 2 and 4 episodes on all of the others, which of course gives us the complete first season.
Season one was, for the most part in B&W, however two episodes were filmed in colour as there were plans to turn them into feature films. They were the pilot episode "The Vulcan Affair", along with "The Double Affair". Both were actually broadcast on TV in B&W anyway. All subsequent seasons were in colour.
I sat through "The Vulcan Affair", this afternoon switching from 4:3 to full 16:9 modes. Eventually going back to 4:3. The entire collection has been digitally remastered, but the picture quality does show it's age a little. Still one has to make allowances for the time when the filming took place. Season one being transmitted in the USA, at least, in 1964/65. Sound is in Dolby Digital Mono in English with subtitles in English, French and German (along with English and German for the hearing impaired).
This all brings back very happy and fond memories of going out of my way to ensure that I never missed an episode of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", on the BBC on a Thursday evening as it was one of my all time favourite TV shows when I was in my late teens. About the time that I started working for a living. It should be noted that I have not rated this collection yet as I've only watched the one episode thus far. I'll need to watch a few more before I decide on a rating, but there is already a plus 1 to be added just for the packaging of this collection.
Anyway if you will excuse me... the time has come to resume my catch up with a few more of Napoleon and Illya's attempts to bring the dastardly THRUSH rabble to account for their crimes.
The reason being that this box set is supplied in a proper DVD storage case (or box if you prefer), very much like the 6 disc DVD storage cases, despite this one being slightly narrower. Yet it caters for the 7 discs containing all 29 episodes of season one. There are 5 episodes on disc 2 and 4 episodes on all of the others, which of course gives us the complete first season.
Season one was, for the most part in B&W, however two episodes were filmed in colour as there were plans to turn them into feature films. They were the pilot episode "The Vulcan Affair", along with "The Double Affair". Both were actually broadcast on TV in B&W anyway. All subsequent seasons were in colour.
I sat through "The Vulcan Affair", this afternoon switching from 4:3 to full 16:9 modes. Eventually going back to 4:3. The entire collection has been digitally remastered, but the picture quality does show it's age a little. Still one has to make allowances for the time when the filming took place. Season one being transmitted in the USA, at least, in 1964/65. Sound is in Dolby Digital Mono in English with subtitles in English, French and German (along with English and German for the hearing impaired).
This all brings back very happy and fond memories of going out of my way to ensure that I never missed an episode of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", on the BBC on a Thursday evening as it was one of my all time favourite TV shows when I was in my late teens. About the time that I started working for a living. It should be noted that I have not rated this collection yet as I've only watched the one episode thus far. I'll need to watch a few more before I decide on a rating, but there is already a plus 1 to be added just for the packaging of this collection.
Anyway if you will excuse me... the time has come to resume my catch up with a few more of Napoleon and Illya's attempts to bring the dastardly THRUSH rabble to account for their crimes.