Round Table - Speaking In Russian

[glennagirl]

leethet has a conversation going on HERE regarding the backgrounds of the agents of the U.N.C.L.E.  That made me wonder about how the characters were developed, or the lack of development, in the series itself.

Comments

[alynwa]

In the episode wherein the guys are attempting to open a safe in a casino somewhere in the Caribbean, NS calls someone "tovarisch." He is not speaking to Illya who isn't in the scene and I don't remember him ever saying it again. In my head, NS understands and can read Russian, but is not completely fluent.

I think this is also the only episode where you actually see them practicing for the mission.

[glennagirl]

The Fiddlesticks Affair, and yes, the opening scene is the 'practice'. The deliciously smudged up Russian ... sigh ...
Anyway, doesn't Napoleon use tovarisch in Turbuf?

[ssclassof56]

In Terbuf, the caption files have soldiers saying Tovarich twice. The caption files have Napoleon saying it once to Nazarone in reference to Illya.

[laurose8]

Of the newspaper: he could be very much a beginner and be trying to improve his Russian?

[glennagirl]

Could be. It seems April speaks Russian, but I don't know the reference to it since I haven't watched the series since I was a kid.

[threecee]

I can't make out much of Napoleon's newspaper except that the title seems to be "New Dawn" which I suspect was made up for the show. He could be reading it to keep up with what was happening in his partner's homeland and to brush up his Russian, or else the newspaper is hiding the most recent issue of Playboy. With Napoleon, I wouldn't bet either way.

[leethet]

I always wondered what newspaper he was reading. Thanks for translating it. Guess it was a play on Novaya Gazeta?

It's funny how the show often made Napoleon kind of dopey such that you see him reading this paper and it's hard to believe he can and would actually read Russian. I choose to believe that he faked the dopiness and was really a competent and hardened spy, and I think for American spies reading and speaking Russian would be de rigeur (so to speak) - even though technically he wasn't an "American" spy but a universal spy.