# Man from uncle vrs. The avengers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2018, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931 "2018-09-07T06:28:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/21 "2018-09-08T00:15:15Z")
> [@Tapiotar](#): > > Yep. My cousins and I had such crushes on Ilya Kuryakin, and even though we were kids and not allowed to see the spy films it was spoofing, we enjoyed the humor. We also loved The Avengers, wanted to be Diana Rigg. We recognized the greater intelligence and wit in the Avengers, too. We watched and enjoyed Secret Agent (I think it was called Danger Man in its British home) (and it made me a lifelong fan of Patrick McGoohan) and The Prisoner. > > Back to the OP: The Avengers, definitely. > > Gotta go play some Johnny Rivers now. The original theme was pretty cool, too! [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4u6jYfJgj-o/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AGwBIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgUyhKMA8=&rs=AOn4CLACzYI2HPtrQxRJRfktf90KxRXs-Q "Danger Man Theme - Edwin Astley Orchestra - 1965 45rpm") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6jYfJgj-o) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/22 "2018-09-08T02:48:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I always thought I was the only person to like **The New Avengers**. As for the others, since IIRC the first 3 series never aired in the US during their original runs, they don’t count. Tara King was an embarrassment and should remain in purdah, as opposed to Purdy. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The Tara season was a waste of photons. Steed needed an equal, not an acolyte. _The New Avengers_ had that in Purdey and Gambit; Steed might have come in and mopped things up at the end but they did the heavy lifting. And Joanna Lumley could run full speed in high heels. Diana Rigg never did that! I saw some of the Tara King episodes recently, and they weren’t as bad as I had heard and remembered. Steed and Peel working together as peers was great, and Macnee and Rigg were the perfect actors to make it work. Nobody could have followed that. It took me a while to recognize Linda Thorson in other roles. She did guest roles in a fair number of American series, including an episode of _Law & Order_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/23 "2018-09-08T03:07:46Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The Avengers also had Venus Smith, Cathy Gale, and Tara King. And we shouldn’t forget the original avenger, David Keel. Who was the only one who was actually avenging. The murder of his fiancée Peggy, who was played by Kate “Natira” Woodville, who later married Patrick MacNee. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/24 "2018-09-08T03:13:55Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It took me a while to recognize Linda Thorson in other roles. She did guest roles in a fair number of American series, including an episode of _Law & Order_ In the '70s, she was also very big in France, where _ **The Avengers** _ is known as “Leather Boots and Bowler Hat.” MacNee was first approached about doing \*\*\*The New Avengers \*\*\* when he was in France filming a commercial with Thorson (don’t remember for which product), in which he had to learn his lines by rote. “Well,” he said when asked if he was willing to be in the new series, “I certainly can’t do it in French!” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/25 "2018-09-08T14:51:16Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Not if you were a teenaged girl. 😉 If you’ve only seen [David McCallum](https://goo.gl/images/WSKr33) on NCIS, you missed something. \ You dames are suckers for a black turtleneck. That’s why “Archer” is so popular. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/26 "2018-09-08T14:53:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In the '70s, she was also very big in France, where _ **The Avengers** _ is known as “Leather Boots and Bowler Hat.” \ Now THAT is a great title! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/27 "2018-09-08T15:54:36Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Now THAT is a great title! Actually, it’s the other way around: [http://www.declassified.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk/images/wonders/fr\_vhs/partwork\_monument\_02.jpg](http://www.declassified.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk/images/wonders/fr_vhs/partwork_monument_02.jpg) Mea culpa! :o ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/28 "2018-09-08T16:04:15Z")
The Avengers was, hands down, the better show, but I sure wish I still had my Man From UNCLE lunchbox from the fourth grade. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/29 "2018-09-09T00:45:45Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/30 "2018-09-09T01:46:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Actually, it’s the other way around: > > [http://www.declassified.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk/images/wonders/fr\_vhs/partwork\_monument\_02.jpg](http://www.declassified.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk/images/wonders/fr_vhs/partwork_monument_02.jpg) > > Mea culpa! :o No harm, no foul; just as good t’other way! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/31 "2018-09-09T02:36:00Z")
Although I watched both and preferred _The Avengers_, my friends and I were more interested in _Callan_. Gloomy types I guess. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/32 "2018-09-09T02:52:03Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > The Avengers was, hands down, the better show, but I sure wish I still had my Man From UNCLE lunchbox from the fourth grade. I see the UNCLE lunchbox quite often in antique shops. They’re out there if you really want one. If you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, you can get a UNCLE lunchbox magnet on Etsy for $3.50. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931/33 "2018-09-10T13:55:25Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I see the UNCLE lunchbox quite often in antique shops. They’re out there if you really want one. If you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, you can get a UNCLE lunchbox magnet on Etsy for $3.50. I’m not interested in acquiring one - my 1966(?) lunchbox would have been something I already owned that a collector would have paid big bucks for. But Google tells me that UNCLE lunchboxes in good shape are selling for about $300 plus, which isn’t enough to get rid of what would by now be a nostalgic item for me. It would probably end up as an item of interest at the estate sale after I die 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-from-uncle-vrs-the-avengers/820931.md?page=1)