Inspiration for Kim Possible's creation - The Man or Girl from U.N.C.L.E. ?

[jakt]

I was watching Turner Classic Movies the other day and they were running the old "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." series movies. I couldn't help but notice that there was an odd similarity between the series and Kim Possible.

The show was great. The action was exciting, the plots were engaging, the production values were extraordinary. But what really made the series sparkle with energy was the chemistry between the actors. Each character came alive when infused with the actor's own personal bag of tricks; combined, Vaughn, McCallum and Carroll gave The Man From U.N.C.L.E. a personality. Although the characters existed on paper as originally envisioned by the show's creators, the wry humor and comraderie that fans treasured was a direct development of the actors' working relationships.

The exact same could be said for the KP's series. The creator's, writer's, actor character voices, etc. all come together in much the same way.

United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (UNCLE) - Global Justice (GJ)

Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo - Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible

or

Mark Slate and April Dancer - Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible

Alexander Waverly - Wade Load/Dr. Director

[lunchmeat]

I recall the writers saying that the 60s spy shows and movies were a big influence on KP.

[cpneb]

It's bad enough (bad, in a good way) that the show pays homage to some of my favorite shows. The opening of several of season 3 and 4 shows make me think that I'm watching an animated "Jamie Bond: 007," with Wade Load as her "Q."

Regardless, seeing the names Illya Kuryakin, Napoleon Solo, April Dancer, and Alexander Waverly brought back some fond and fun memories!

Then, add in Robert Culp and William Cosby, and you have the 60s, all staring us in the face.... I SPY!

...cpneb

[jeriddian]

It's bad enough (bad, in a good way) that the show pays homage to some of my favorite shows. The opening of several of season 3 and 4 shows make me think that I'm watching an animated "Jamie Bond: 007," with Wade Load as her "Q."

Regardless, seeing the names Illya Kuryakin, Napoleon Solo, April Dancer, and Alexander Waverly brought back some fond and fun memories!

Then, add in Robert Culp and William Cosby, and you have the 60s, all staring us in the face.... I SPY!

...cpneb

Boy, talk about dating ourselves.........:P

[lunchmeat]

It sort of shocked me when I realised that David McCallum was playing the doctor on NCIS (we had a brief from them not long ago and they included the theme song in their presentation).

[campy]

It sort of shocked me when I realised that David McCallum was playing the doctor on NCIS

And meanwhile, Robert Vaughn is doing commercials for a personal injury lawyer.

[Kurt Weldon]

Pretty much anyone who grew up in that era was exposed to a steady diet of spies. They were everywhere. James Bond, Napoleon Solo, Derek Flint, Matt Helm -- even Maxwell Smart and James West. If we weren't seeing the source -- i.e. Bond -- then we were seeing the knockoffs and spoofs that worked their way into sitcoms and Saturday morning cartoons. So it's not any one influence.

[lunchmeat]

It would be cool if there could be some more movies one of these days, something on the order of ASiT, it strikes me that a real hommage to old spy flicks would do well in a 90 or 120 minute format. I read that Fururama had reassembled their crew to produce 4 straight to DVD movies, it would be pretty neat if KP got the same treatment, someday (I know the team is probably pretty tired right now and needs to do something else to recharge, but one day...). Things like the Bindesque opening in StD would be nice and much easier to do in a movie than a 22 minute episode.

[jeriddian]

Love seeing you here, Kurt.

I also remember how prevalent those spy shows were. I loved "I Spy". And it was funny how that was the only real non-comedy thing Bill Cosby did, at least that I remember. I also loved "The man from U.N.C.L.E". I thought Robert Vaughn in that role was really cool. In fact I once scored out the theme of the show, it was so neat. I was trying to think of a way to score it for a small stage band or something like that. I think it was Lalo Schiffren who composed it if I'm not mistaken. I'll have to check Wiki on that. "Matt Helm" was really a spoof, as was James Coburn's "Flint". It seemed like a response of the entertainment industry to the Cold War events of the day, and of course to Bond.

Gosh, that was so long ago......:P

[Fireand'chutes77]

"The man from U.N.C.L.E."

With an acronym like that (oooh, school word! :P), I've having a hard time not calling to mind a campy, spoofy, ridiculous show. When I looked it up on Wikipedia, I was surprised material for the show and its spinoffs actually contained depictions of explosions and real weaponry.

Napoleon Solo, Derek Flint, Matt Helm -- even Maxwell Smart and James West.

So many names I've never heard of...

The exceptions might be Smart and West. I've heard the name Smart (and "Get Smart!") bandied around before, but I've never seen original material. As for West... wasn't there a movie remake about 7 years ago?