# Why remake "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548 "2015-08-11T14:17:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/1 "2015-08-11T14:17:18Z")
I mean, I understand the logic behind remakes. Taking old TV shows and remaking them into movies seems like scraping the bottom of the cultural barrel, but I get it to a point-- take an established concept that worked at one time, that may have some nostalgia value associated with it, and recycle it. But is there any lingering nostalgia remaining for TMFU? When they made the “Wild Wild West” movie back in 1999, there was roughly a 35 year span from the TV show, and that seemed pointless. Did anybody remember the show in 1999? Why not just recycle the concept- “James Bond in a Western movie” with cartoonish villains and steampunky gadgets? Now there’s a 50 year span between TMFU show/movie. I’m 50, and I barely remember watching reruns of the show. Aren’t action movies primarily marketed to younger people? Why not just reuse the general concept, which I gather is “American and Soviet secret agents reluctantly team up in an odd-couple pairing during the height of the Cold War to fight a common enemy”, and not bother with resurrecting the name? What do they get out of that? There was roughly a mere 20 year span between “The Dukes of Hazzard” show/movie, and the show had been widely rerun, with a lot of pop cultural references remaining to this day (everybody knows what Daisy Dukes are) so I can understand that one a little better (I’m not comparing the quality of TDOH to the other movies, they all seem to be mediocre cash-grabs, just the logic of reusing the ‘brand’ in that case). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/2 "2015-08-11T14:25:44Z")
It’s a question I’ve always wondered. Why make remake of a TV show so old the current audience doesn’t have any memory of the original? There has been Mission Impossible, I Spy, The Man from UNCLE, The Wild Wild West, and I’m sure others. Mission Impossible has been successful as a movie franchise, but it isn’t very similar to the show, so why not just make a spy movie for Tom Cruise and call it something else? Like you, I barely remember the Man from UNCLE and I’m 48. It was something my older brother watched, but he can’t be their target audience. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/3 "2015-08-11T14:26:52Z")
I don’t have any nostalgia for the thing, in fact I don’t remember anything about it all. Was it a TV show back in the day? A movie? A comic? What was it about? No idea. But I vaguely recognize the name. So when I see the movie mentioned, it gets my attention for a second. Which I suspect is all it takes these days. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/4 "2015-08-11T14:31:21Z")
A stylish remake of a show old enough that 90% of its original audience is long dead, and which could begin a new franchise, is sound thinking in the entertainment department. There are some remakes which I think are awful ideas, or completely unnecessary, such as this new _Ghostbusters_. But there are others which I think could totally rock and breathe new life into an old idea, such as the UK _Avengers_, _Sapphire and Steel_, or _Blake’s 7_\*. One of the things that the original series has against it is it’s very dated. Think of it as potentially being as successful as the _Mission Impossible_ movies, but thankfully remaining in its original 60s era. \*The new Syfy shows _Dark Matter_ and _Killjoys_ have a kind of updated _Blake’s 7_ feel to them, actually. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/5 "2015-08-11T14:31:46Z")
Its being rerun on Decades and MeTV so its probably getting a modern audience. Also it isnt an American and a Soviet reluctantly partnering; they are both agents working for the agency UNCLE. Its unlikely that the movie will successfully combine the unique combination of action. comedy and 60’s sensibility that made the show so good in the first place; and Im just watching this show in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/6 "2015-08-11T14:33:21Z")
I loved _The Man From U.N.C.L.E._ - watched it as a junior high school student. We’d walk around talking into our pens “Open Channel D.” But Iliya has grown up and become a medical examiner for NCIS, and Napoleon Solo is the pitchman for an ambulance chaser. I may watch it when it comes to cable or Netflix, but it can’t possibly match the magic it held for 13-y/o me. How sad that there are no original idea to make movies any more… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/7 "2015-08-11T14:34:26Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > A > > One of the things that the original series has against it is it’s very dated. I couldnt disagree more. It had an American, a Russian and an Englishman working together in an agency trying to bring justice to the world. How is this dated? ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/8 "2015-08-11T14:51:06Z")
I figure it’s a good deal for whoever holds the rights. Capitalizing on the name recognition of the old series makes the movie title more memorable and boosts the value of the tv show. It’s a win win. For them anyhow. > [@madsircool](#): > > Its being rerun on Decades and MeTV so its probably getting a modern audience. Also it isnt an American and a Soviet reluctantly partnering; they are both agents working for the agency UNCLE. Its unlikely that the movie will successfully combine the unique combination of action. comedy and 60’s sensibility that made the show so good in the first place; and Im just watching this show in 2015. Yeah, this is the first time I’m actually watching the show and it’s pretty good. I knew of it more from the parody “Get Smart” and that’s a show I didn’t really know either until “The Nude Bomb” movie. I knew about “The Saint” before the movie but I don’t think I ever saw it. I watched it later and think the tv series was better. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/9 "2015-08-11T14:58:44Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > I couldnt disagree more. It had an American, a Russian and an Englishman working together in an agency trying to bring justice to the world. How is this dated? It’s not a dated idea (they’re maintaining all that in the movie), it’s dated in production values. Still fun to watch, of course, but a lot of modern audiences won’t look at anything as old as a 60s show. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/10 "2015-08-11T15:04:05Z")
90% of TV shows are crap, 1% are brilliant, and the other 9% are reasonably good. “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” falls into that last 9%. The new version could be good if they get it right, and in the midst of “Bachelor,” “Extreme Weight Loss,” and reruns of “Baywatch” I welcome good TV with open arms. The “Wild, Wild West” movie got too carried away with big explosions and such. “Mission Impossible” copied some of the gimmicks from the original but totally missed the spirit of it. “The Dukes of Hazzard” was – well, let’s say it had a firm position in the 90%. The point being, those remakes had problems that won’t necessarily affect this project. “UNCLE” has the potential to be worthwhile, which is more than enough reason to make it. Here’s hoping. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/11 "2015-08-11T15:05:59Z")
One of the big selling points of the original series was Ilya Kuryakin. He was the opposite of a stupid Russian thug, which was the stereotype. He was smallish, thoughtful, brainy (did you know he had a Ph.D. in quantum mechanics?), and cute. Try to imagine Armie Hammer with those adjectives. He’s a Russian thug who’s forced to team up with the enemy. So they’re taking away everything that made the original show and the original characters but keeping the original title. Only Hollywood could possibly expect this to work. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/12 "2015-08-11T15:15:40Z")
But since the only point IS the title, as in “I think I heard this was a TV show or something?”, it doesn’t matter how different the movie is from the show. It is literally just slapping an old title onto a new movie. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/13 "2015-08-11T15:34:09Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But since the only point IS the title, as in “I think I heard this was a TV show or something?”, it doesn’t matter how different the movie is from the show. It is literally just slapping an old title onto a new movie. …and someone else has already done all the work of creating characters and relationships, developing a “universe,” writing theme music, etc. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/14 "2015-08-11T15:53:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > …and someone else has already done all the work of creating characters and relationships, developing a “universe,” writing theme music, etc. A good point. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/15 "2015-08-11T16:06:58Z")
If I were to write the script, I’d set it back in the Cold War 60’s or 70’s when there were good guys and bad guys. I’d try to capture some of the prescient story lines like _The Americans_ does (or _Deutschland 83_ if anyone’s familiar with that show). I don’t know if TMFU is set in the present time, but perhaps Putin, China and North Korea would be good real-life adversaries. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/16 "2015-08-11T16:11:01Z")
I have no idea other than to make money. I do have a strong aversion to beach balls though. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/17 "2015-08-11T16:19:34Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Now there’s a 50 year span between TMFU show/movie. I’m 50, and I barely remember watching reruns of the show. Aren’t action movies primarily marketed to younger people? Why not just reuse the general concept, which I gather is “American and Soviet secret agents reluctantly team up in an odd-couple pairing during the height of the Cold War to fight a common enemy”, and not bother with resurrecting the name? What do they get out of that? Well, you got two audiences for a _Man from UNCLE Movie_. People who have heard of the show, and people who haven’t. The people in the first group are, presumably, slightly more likely to see the film than the people in the second group, based on name recognition. The people who haven’t heard of the show, of course, are neither encouraged nor discouraged from seeing it - they’ve never heard of it before, so the name means nothing one way or the other to them. If you make a wholly original spy thriller, you’ve got one audience: people who have never heard of the show before. There’s no segment that’s getting that name recognition boost. So, why not use the existing property, and get that extra nostalgia bump from the people who recognize it, even if that’s a relatively small group? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/18 "2015-08-11T16:23:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > So, why not use the existing property, and get that extra nostalgia bump from the people who recognize it, even if that’s a relatively small group? Well, there’s also a third group, although it’s probably not worth taking into account because I may be only one in it: People who refuse who see the movie because they’ve had it up to here with freaking remakes that sponge off old brands, and have started boycotting anything that can’t be arsed to come up with an original idea. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/19 "2015-08-11T16:26:03Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Well, there’s also a third group, although it’s probably not worth taking into account because I may be only one in it: People who refuse who see the movie because they’ve had it up to here with freaking remakes that sponge off old brands, and have started boycotting anything that can’t be arsed to come up with an original idea. You guys only matter if you’re bigger than the group that will see a reboot. Which, apparently, you aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548/20 "2015-08-11T16:46:57Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Well, you got two audiences for a _Man from UNCLE Movie_. People who have heard of the show, and people who haven’t. The people in the first group are, presumably, slightly more likely to see the film than the people in the second group, based on name recognition. The people who haven’t heard of the show, of course, are neither encouraged nor discouraged from seeing it - they’ve never heard of it before, so the name means nothing one way or the other to them. > > If you make a wholly original spy thriller, you’ve got one audience: people who have never heard of the show before. There’s no segment that’s getting that name recognition boost. So, why not use the existing property, and get that extra nostalgia bump from the people who recognize it, even if that’s a relatively small group? See: [Ocean’s Eleven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean%27s_Eleven) A wildly successful remake of a 40 year old movie. I doubt that success came from people who were fans of the original. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-remake-the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e/727548.md?page=2)