Yet another multipurpose post
So, I know it's been a while since I've made any new gifs--fallen behind on Simon Saturdays, as a result, and I've been reblogging old Rockapella posts of mine. But i_heart_rocka requested me to gif the ending of "Bad Day on Broadway" since a version with the song intact was posted recently, and so I made this gifset because Sean in a leaf crown!
I also have some more Man from UNCLE screencaps--this adorable one from "The Terbuf Affair" and these intense ones from "The Fiddlesticks Affair" here, here, and here.
...I have to say, prior to watching the series, I had a very, very low opinion of Napoleon, as I'd only seen the movie up until that point, and the movie... basically made Napoleon a jerk--an unrepentant criminal who was very selfish and self-serving, and thought so little of Illya that at one point he just sits and watches with food and wine while Illya is desperately fleeing for his life. By contrast, Illya in the movie was much more sympathetic, with all his emotional baggage and whatnot--and he was genuinely concerned for Napoleon in that aforementioned scene because he'd had no idea where he'd gone and thought he'd been shot, which makes Napoleon's lack of concern all the more worse. It's really only towards the end of the movie that Napoleon develops a conscience of any kind.
Ah, but original Napoleon...! Oh gosh, Robert Vaughn is absolutely wonderful and literally made me warm up to the character in a matter of episodes--"Summit Five Affair" was the second episode I saw, and seeing how strong the loyalty and bond between him and the original Illya was all I needed to see--and how much he depended on and trusted Illya, and it's reflected in the entire series as to how much they mean to each other, as opposed to the movie, where they mostly only just barely tolerated each other until towards the end of the movie. ...And I'm embarrassed to admit that I thought the movie was really something, only to find out now that it pales in comparison to the series; it's like what happened to me with Doctor Who--I got caught up in the "OMG, Tennant!" craze at first and only realized later that Patrick Troughton was loads and loads better. Same thing here, though I'm glad it didn't take me that long to figure it out. Ah well. But, like Tennant introducing me to Pat, I owe something to the UNCLE movie for introducing me to the wonderful series.
In addition to the original Napoleon, I also much prefer the original Illya, unencumbered by any anger issues or emotional baggage, and David McCallum is very nice indeed. Both he and Robert Vaughn have reached my second tier of favorite actors--which is about as high as they can get without my having a crush on them. Whether or not they'll make it to that top tier with the other Darlings remains to be seen--though David McCallum is certainly coming close; I ended up seeing his Clue episodes yesterday--the ones from season 2.
As much as I love Tom Baker's portrayal of Professor Plum in season 3, I have to admit I like David's Plum more--his version of Plum both looks and acts more like the version from the book series I grew up on, absentmindedness and everything--a notable moment in his first ep is him forgetting that he was handling rat poison with his bare hands before going for one of Mrs. White's freshly-baked pastries, and Mrs. White manages to stop him before he ends up poisoning himself. Eeee, that's also like the books; Plum and White did have a friendship in the books, as well, with Plum allowing her to confide in him in one book and White defending him against Green in another (who hated Plum for reasons that were never specified--I guess he found him annoying), and while the Plum-White friendship was there in Tom's season, I was thrilled to see that it was here in David's season, as well! David's Plum seemed to get along neutrally with everyone else--though Plum was supposed to serve as Mustard's best man in the episode where he was to get married, so they were clearly close, even if that never really reflected onscreen anywhere else--and that is rather like the books, as well, as Plum generally keeps to himself. Another thing I found interesting is that in the episode where David's Plum is the guilty one, he expresses some regret in having done the deed in his confession, whereas Tom's Plum was decidedly unrepentant in his confession. Plum was definitely not that malicious in the books; he was more a thief and a nuisance than a murderer--the one time (I think it was only one time) he did try to kill Mr. Boddy in the book, he had been freaked out of his mind by a haunted gargoyle statue and wasn't in his right mind at all when he attacked. And another thing that David's Plum had in common with book!Plum was that he was a musician--there's one story where book!Plum reminisces about how he used to be able to play many instruments and later plays a guitar, and David's Plum ends up playing a Beethoven piece on the piano at one point in the season.
The other characters in season 2 were much more like their book counterparts, as well--for better and for worse--Green was a bit more materialistic in S2 than S3 (which gets very eyebrow-raising, as he's supposed to be a vicar in this version, as opposed to the American version where he's a businessman; I also wasn't too thrilled that his backstory involved him getting extremely involved with an actress before joining the priesthood, as well), Mustard is short-tempered but with a soft spot for both Scarlet and Peacock (to the point of a love triangle, in fact; it's odd, because this version he flirted with both of them and end up choosing Peacock, only for their wedding to get interrupted, but in S3, he's completely chosen Scarlet with Peacock not caring, so the implication is that the seasons are not connected. Hmm). Peacock is more concerned about appearances here and gets livid when the aforementioned actress from earlier starts being rude to her and the others (rudeness is her pet peeve in the books). Scarlet is a much more brazen flirt, much like her book self (in S3, she stayed loyal to Mustard), and also like her book self, enjoys vexing Mrs. Peacock at times (they were closer in S3--but almost always getting on each other's nerves in the books). And S2 Mrs. White sometimes lines her pockets with things from the mansion, much like her book self (S3 White did not, and was very loyal).
...It's strange, though--despite the fact that everyone in S2 was more like their book counterparts, I did miss the camaraderie in S3. In S3, it was all for one, one for all, whereas, despite being friends in S2, there was a bit of backstabbing going on at times--but, then again, that happens in the books all the time. So even though S2 is like the books and I'll love it more because of that, S3 will hold a special place in my heart because of the friendship squee.
As a side note, something that intrigued me; in one of the episodes, David's Plum mentions that his only living relative is his uncle. ...And I'm wondering if that was meant to be a reference to Illya and U.N.C.L.E., just like how in S3, someone constantly refers to Tom's Plum as "Doc," which he hates, much like the Doctor does, and was clearly a reference to Tom being the Fourth Doctor.
One thing is for sure, the next time I read the books, it'll be David McCallum's voice in my head for Plum's lines. Yessss.
I also have some more Man from UNCLE screencaps--this adorable one from "The Terbuf Affair" and these intense ones from "The Fiddlesticks Affair" here, here, and here.
...I have to say, prior to watching the series, I had a very, very low opinion of Napoleon, as I'd only seen the movie up until that point, and the movie... basically made Napoleon a jerk--an unrepentant criminal who was very selfish and self-serving, and thought so little of Illya that at one point he just sits and watches with food and wine while Illya is desperately fleeing for his life. By contrast, Illya in the movie was much more sympathetic, with all his emotional baggage and whatnot--and he was genuinely concerned for Napoleon in that aforementioned scene because he'd had no idea where he'd gone and thought he'd been shot, which makes Napoleon's lack of concern all the more worse. It's really only towards the end of the movie that Napoleon develops a conscience of any kind.
Ah, but original Napoleon...! Oh gosh, Robert Vaughn is absolutely wonderful and literally made me warm up to the character in a matter of episodes--"Summit Five Affair" was the second episode I saw, and seeing how strong the loyalty and bond between him and the original Illya was all I needed to see--and how much he depended on and trusted Illya, and it's reflected in the entire series as to how much they mean to each other, as opposed to the movie, where they mostly only just barely tolerated each other until towards the end of the movie. ...And I'm embarrassed to admit that I thought the movie was really something, only to find out now that it pales in comparison to the series; it's like what happened to me with Doctor Who--I got caught up in the "OMG, Tennant!" craze at first and only realized later that Patrick Troughton was loads and loads better. Same thing here, though I'm glad it didn't take me that long to figure it out. Ah well. But, like Tennant introducing me to Pat, I owe something to the UNCLE movie for introducing me to the wonderful series.
In addition to the original Napoleon, I also much prefer the original Illya, unencumbered by any anger issues or emotional baggage, and David McCallum is very nice indeed. Both he and Robert Vaughn have reached my second tier of favorite actors--which is about as high as they can get without my having a crush on them. Whether or not they'll make it to that top tier with the other Darlings remains to be seen--though David McCallum is certainly coming close; I ended up seeing his Clue episodes yesterday--the ones from season 2.
As much as I love Tom Baker's portrayal of Professor Plum in season 3, I have to admit I like David's Plum more--his version of Plum both looks and acts more like the version from the book series I grew up on, absentmindedness and everything--a notable moment in his first ep is him forgetting that he was handling rat poison with his bare hands before going for one of Mrs. White's freshly-baked pastries, and Mrs. White manages to stop him before he ends up poisoning himself. Eeee, that's also like the books; Plum and White did have a friendship in the books, as well, with Plum allowing her to confide in him in one book and White defending him against Green in another (who hated Plum for reasons that were never specified--I guess he found him annoying), and while the Plum-White friendship was there in Tom's season, I was thrilled to see that it was here in David's season, as well! David's Plum seemed to get along neutrally with everyone else--though Plum was supposed to serve as Mustard's best man in the episode where he was to get married, so they were clearly close, even if that never really reflected onscreen anywhere else--and that is rather like the books, as well, as Plum generally keeps to himself. Another thing I found interesting is that in the episode where David's Plum is the guilty one, he expresses some regret in having done the deed in his confession, whereas Tom's Plum was decidedly unrepentant in his confession. Plum was definitely not that malicious in the books; he was more a thief and a nuisance than a murderer--the one time (I think it was only one time) he did try to kill Mr. Boddy in the book, he had been freaked out of his mind by a haunted gargoyle statue and wasn't in his right mind at all when he attacked. And another thing that David's Plum had in common with book!Plum was that he was a musician--there's one story where book!Plum reminisces about how he used to be able to play many instruments and later plays a guitar, and David's Plum ends up playing a Beethoven piece on the piano at one point in the season.
The other characters in season 2 were much more like their book counterparts, as well--for better and for worse--Green was a bit more materialistic in S2 than S3 (which gets very eyebrow-raising, as he's supposed to be a vicar in this version, as opposed to the American version where he's a businessman; I also wasn't too thrilled that his backstory involved him getting extremely involved with an actress before joining the priesthood, as well), Mustard is short-tempered but with a soft spot for both Scarlet and Peacock (to the point of a love triangle, in fact; it's odd, because this version he flirted with both of them and end up choosing Peacock, only for their wedding to get interrupted, but in S3, he's completely chosen Scarlet with Peacock not caring, so the implication is that the seasons are not connected. Hmm). Peacock is more concerned about appearances here and gets livid when the aforementioned actress from earlier starts being rude to her and the others (rudeness is her pet peeve in the books). Scarlet is a much more brazen flirt, much like her book self (in S3, she stayed loyal to Mustard), and also like her book self, enjoys vexing Mrs. Peacock at times (they were closer in S3--but almost always getting on each other's nerves in the books). And S2 Mrs. White sometimes lines her pockets with things from the mansion, much like her book self (S3 White did not, and was very loyal).
...It's strange, though--despite the fact that everyone in S2 was more like their book counterparts, I did miss the camaraderie in S3. In S3, it was all for one, one for all, whereas, despite being friends in S2, there was a bit of backstabbing going on at times--but, then again, that happens in the books all the time. So even though S2 is like the books and I'll love it more because of that, S3 will hold a special place in my heart because of the friendship squee.
As a side note, something that intrigued me; in one of the episodes, David's Plum mentions that his only living relative is his uncle. ...And I'm wondering if that was meant to be a reference to Illya and U.N.C.L.E., just like how in S3, someone constantly refers to Tom's Plum as "Doc," which he hates, much like the Doctor does, and was clearly a reference to Tom being the Fourth Doctor.
One thing is for sure, the next time I read the books, it'll be David McCallum's voice in my head for Plum's lines. Yessss.