The Plot Podcast - Episode 6 - 1960s Spy Shows and ... Creatures?

Martin Landau as Count Zark in The Man From UNCLE’s “The Bat Cave Affair.”

As part of When It Was Cool’s Hallowe’en Month, the pod looks at some of its favorite 1960s spy TV shows and what happens when they run into some creatures. Or do they?

First, we have the Man from UNCLE and the second season episode “The Bat Cave Affair.” What is THRUSH’s “Operation Night Flight” and why does the agent behind it, Count Zark (Martin Landau using his Bela Lugosi impression 30 years before Ed Wood), seem to be dressed as a certain Transylvanian nobleman? Can Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Ilya Kuryakin) stop him from grounding the world’s aircrafts?

Next up, it’s the Avengers and the fifth season episode "Never Never Say Die.” When a man hit by a car doesn’t stay dead, it’s up to Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg) to find out how and what does it have to do with the secret government lab run by Professor Frank N. Stone (Christopher Lee)?

Finally, we go full on spy spoof with Get Smart and the first season episode “Weekend Vampire” (not to be confused with the band of a very similar name). When CONTROL agents are being found dead with two puncture marks on their necks, Max (Don Adams) and 99 (Barbara Feldon) are sent to investigate the disgraced scientist Dr. Drago (Martin Kosleck).

We’ll be back soon with a slightly more serious look at spies and the undead in the 1999 British TV show Ultraviolet starring Jack Davenport, Susannah Harker and a young Idris Elba. It’s The X-Files plus Blade vs Vampires in the next episode of the podcast.

Episode Ninety-Nine - The Night of the Affair Affair

Barbara Feldon and Robert Vaughn from the Man from UNCLE

There were two choices for what to do for episode 99 - hockey or female spies, so we chose the latter. To talk about Agent 99, Mrs. Peel, April Danger and lots others, we’re happy to welcome back to the pod John Champion (@DVDGeeks) from the Mission Log Podcast amongst other shows.

We start, of course, with Agent 99 herself, Barbara Feldon and Get Smart, including the start of the show, her role as straight woman/love interest, the evolution of the show , the 90s Fox sequel/revival and the Numb Bomb movie which noticably did not have Feldon in the cast.

Feldon’s appearonce on the Man from UNCLE led us into discussing The Girl From UNCLE, the one-season spiin-off starring Stefanie Powers. This segues nicely into a chat about the number one female TV spy, Mrs. Peel, played by Diana Rigg on the Avengers. We talk about what made her so special and tallk about some memorable episodes.

Naturally, this brings us to James Bond, where we start with the whole notion of “the Bond Girl,” and how the term has outlived its usefulness in 2021. We discuss our favorite from the movies, whether they were leading ladies or dastardly femme fatales. And that includes some of the lesser-known characters over the years, not just the obvious ones.

(editor’s note: Shamefully, we forgot to discuss Barbara Bain and Mission: Impossible. My apologies)

We end the show with some brief Star Trek talk. Mission Log recently reviews the Deep Space Nine episode “Far Beyond the Stars,” so we discuss how that episode still holds up 30 years later. There’s also some brief chat about season two of Star Trek Picard and the new Roddenberry podcast “Sci Fi 5.:”

As we mentioned on the show, episode 100 is next and hopefully we will be having someone as a very special, after literally years of them asking to do the show. Tune in next time to see if they are here.