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

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964)

87 mistakes in season 3

(6 votes)

The Apple A Day Affair - S3-E27

Revealing mistake: Gardner and Illya are chained to a mine shaft post and the Thrush bad guys trigger a cave-in to seal them in. As the debris falls, you can see the entire "stone" wall behind them rock and wobble flimsily from side to side. (00:23:50)

Jean G

The Pop Art Affair - S3-E6

Factual error: Ole and all the Thrush baddies call the missing chemical component a "catalyzer," repeating the term throughout the episode. This was a scriptwriter's error, which only David McCallum, to his credit, corrected: he had Illya say "catalyst," which is what the writer meant. "Catalyzer" isn't a word. (00:10:45)

Jean G

The Super-Colossal Affair - S3-E4

Plot hole: Bound and chained, Illya is dropped into a huge vat of wet plaster. Yet he's able to miraculously produce a 5-foot-long straw from somewhere (where was he hiding that?) to breathe through while the plaster dries around him. (00:36:45)

Jean G

The Matterhorn Affair - S3-E24

Continuity mistake: Illya slams the door on the approaching gunman and holds it with his foot until the lock is turned, then lowers his leg. Cut to a wider shot, and he takes his foot off the door all over again. (00:35:45)

Jean G

The It's All Greek to Me Affair - S3-E21

Continuity mistake: The table with the code papers resting on it is smashed during the fight in the final act. Yet, when the fight is nearly over, the table has restored itself with the papers still on it, only to be squashed all over again. (00:45:00 - 00:47:05)

Jean G

The Pop Art Affair - S3-E6

Continuity mistake: The Thrush assassins have an armed golf cart (with a machine gun that handily spews both flames and bullets at the same time). When the cart overturns, the two men fall into a sand trap and tumble several feet away from the vehicle. In the very next shot, they're lying right beside the cart again. (00:02:40)

Jean G

The Cap and Gown Affair - S3-E30

Continuity mistake: Solo picks up a book, The History of Pacifism, and shows it to Illya, holding it at the bottom. Cut to a close-up insert and his fingers have instantly migrated up to the middle of the book. Cut back to the wider shot, and he's no longer holding the book at all. It's back on the table. (00:19:10)

Jean G

The Cap and Gown Affair - S3-E30

Factual error: The jailed student protestors are dancing in their cell to a jazzy tune. But they have no radio or record player - just one guy with a guitar. They seem to have conjured the accompanying saxophone, jazz clarinets and percussion section out of thin air. (00:11:00)

Jean G

The Monks of St. Thomas Affair - S3-E5

Factual error: Illya leaps onto the rope in the monastery tower, causing the bell to ring. After sliding down the rope to the floor, he then identifies the tone as "B Major 7th." But the musically-literate Illya should know better. B Major 7th is a chord (B, D-sharp, F-sharp, A-sharp), not a single note. (00:41:45)

Jean G

The Off Broadway Affair - S3-E10

Plot hole: U.N.C.L.E.'s pen communicators worked much like modern cell phones: when one agent called another, they "rang" with a 2-tone signal. For some reason in this episode, Solo's pen, which isn't on an open circuit, transmits Illya's voice without ringing first. It signals normally a few scenes later, though. (00:27:55 - 00:34:15)

Jean G

Napoleon Solo: My name is Napoleon Solo. I'm an enforcement agent in Section Two here. That's operations and enforcement.
Illya Kuryakin: I am Illya Kuryakin. I am also an enforcement agent. Like my friend Napoleon, I go and I do whatever I am told to by our chief.
Alexander Waverly: Hmm? Oh, yes. Alexander Waverly. Number One in Section One. In charge of this, our New York headquarters. It's from here that I send these young men on their various missions.

More quotes from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Trivia: Thrush, U.N.C.L.E.'s nemesis organization, was an international bad-guy conglomerate with the single-minded goal of taking over the world. Though "Thrush" was never an acronym on the show itself, U.N.C.L.E. novelist David McDaniel assigned it a meaning that became fan canon: he called it the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. That pretty much described Thrush's nefarious ambitions to a T.

Jean G

More trivia for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Answer: He must have ridden in an Eaton's store elevator while he was in Canada at some point. For some reason, this elevator reminds him of it. The show's original concept had Solo being a Canadian, so this may be a minor nod to that fact.

raywest

More questions & answers from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.