Customer Ratings & Reviews

If you are a serious personal collector of ground breaking, classic television series, or an avid fan of the espionage/counter-espionage entertainment genre, then this is one set to seriously consider buying.

Man from U.N.C.L.E. is the wildly successful series of the 1960s that brought James Bond-ian escapades, with a North American twist, to weekly televsion audiences. If you weren't around for the wild ride at the time, you should read about it over at Wikipedia and IMDB. MfU set the stage for later "spy shows" on TV, like I Spy, Get Smart, Wild Wild West and Mission Impossible.

The original series never looked as good as it does in this boxed DVD set. All of the episodes were shot in color, but Season 1 was broadcast in B&W. Seasons 2-4 are presented here in color. I don't have a problem with the Season 1 disc set being presented in B&W. Sooner or later, the various MfU theatrical films, all of them in color, spliced together from episodes of the original series, will become the subject of another boxed set. In the meanwhile, there is plenty of eye and mind candy to savor for now.

The gadgets and tech of the show are well dated by now, but the series concepts, characters and their back stories all endure the tests of time well. I personally enjoy Seasons 1 and 4 the most (for thier grittiness) and was very annoyed, at the time, with the gratuitous campiness of Season 3. I can watch Season 3, today, and enjoy it along the same lines as the Batman TV series, which also aired back then.

MfU sports a who's who of actors, directors and writers, which is another big draw.

This collector's set includes everything that was in the Time-Life exclusive set (which lists for US$250.00), except this time the packaging is improved. In this set, the cardboard attache case packaging is more durable and rigid. Each disc of each Season gets its own album page which is also more durable, instead of two discs to a page with fragile spindle tabs. The companion season booklets are the same. Between the two sets, this is one to buy.

The one complaint I have is that this set could have been packaged more like last year's Blade Runner Final Director's Cut collectors edition. That set came in a nicely done plastic attache case, with several value-added collectable nick-knacks included inside.

I also don't understand why BestBuy didn't promote this item in the weekly ad. This is a boxed set to crow about.