You are probably wondering why I’ve called you all together, n’est-ce pas? Is it possible I’m here to announce tomorrow night’s Death on the Nile Live Tweet event? Mais non; that job has already been fulfilled by Monsieur @007Hertzrumble. He simply asked if I might throw up something about the film, as he has not seen it. So it falls to me, Mesdames et Monsieurs, to illuminate how this film came to be a #Bond_age_Choice.
Its appearance on our schedule is due mostly to the fact that some of us on Twitter had a conversation about wanting to livetweet it, and #Bond_age_ seemed the best fit for it. Hercule Poirot is, in his own inimitable way, as much a spy as James Bond. Indeed, he has acted for numerous governments in his long and remarkable career. However, unlike the blunt instrument that is James Bond, Hercule Poirot prided himself on using his “little grey cells” to solve the problems placed before him. In Death on the Nile, Poirot is brought to life by the wonderful actor Peter Ustinov, a man whom I grew up watching on TV in his travel shows, as well as the old cartoon Doctor Snuggles (Oi, you! Stop giggling!).
Ustinov alone makes anything worth watching, but Death on the Nile offers a stellar cast, including David Niven (Casino Royale ’67), Angela Lansbury (Murder She Wrote), Olivia Hussey (Black Christmas), George Kennedy (Airport), and Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey). Of particular interest to the #Bond_age_ crowd would be the casting of Lois Chiles (Moonraker), Harry Andrews (The Internecine Project, Modesty Blaise), and Simon MacCorkindale, TV’s Manimal (and who also starred in the Canadian Mission:Impossible-style series Counterstrike with Christopher Plummer.)
Add to that cast the wonderful backdrop of Egypt (and Pinewood Studios, home of James Bond), and there really is no mystery why Death on the Nile will be our #Bond_age_Choice tomorrow night starting at 9pm EST. I hope you will exercise your little grey cells, and join us for some vintage sleuthing from the world’s foremost Belgian detective.
It has been a rather bittersweet week here at #Bond_age_TV HQ. This past Wednesday, the first appearance of The Avengers in our programming seemed to be a rousing success. It was a fitting tribute to both the show and guest star Christopher Lee. I looked forward to bringing it into the programming full time later this year. It came as a massive shock, then, to find out the next day that Patrick Macnee, the bedrock on which The Avengers was built, passed away at the age of 93. I cannot express how profoundly sad that made me.
Growing up as a fan of spy films and TV, I’d always fantasized about living that life. But I never wanted to be James Bond; I wanted to be John Steed. I wanted to wear bowler hats and wield an umbrella. I wanted to be funny and witty and charming, always ready with a quick bon mot. Now, 30-odd years later, I like to think I’m funny, but I’m pretty sure the rest will never happen. This is understandable, though, because no one could be as funny or as charming as Patrick Macnee. There was just something so fun and wonderful about watching him act, you couldn’t help but wish you either were him or knew him. Knowing that such a wonderful talent has been lost to us is saddening, but we know that he left us a legacy to admire, and for that, we must be grateful.
To show our appreciation, this coming Wednesday #Bond_age_TV is celebrating the life and career of Patrick Macnee with a special Avengers double-shot livetweet event. @krissy_myers has graciously foregone her Prisoner livetweet slot so we can livetweet two early Avengers episodes. First up at 9pm EST will be Death At Bargain Prices. Steed and Emma investigate the death of an agent which ties in to the strange goings-on in a department store. Then, at 10pm EST, we’ll feature What The Butler Saw. There’s a leak in the War Office, with three potential candidates to be investigated. Can Steed and Emma uncover the traitor? Find out by joining us this coming Wednesday, as #Bond_age_TV presents the Patrick Macnee Memorial Livetweet. Please use the hashtag #Bond_age_TV to join in. Also, if so inclined, feel free to use the hashtag #Macnee. See you there.
It’s #Bond_age_TV time again, and I had planned to start Man from UNCLE season 4 this month with The Prince of Darkness Affair two-parter, but life has a way of disrupting plans. Christopher Lee’s passing hit us all so hard, we had to celebrate his life with The Man With the Golden Gun. It was, as always, enjoyable to watch Christopher Lee ooze charm and menace as Scaramanga. I wanted to use #Bond_age_TV to celebrate his legend as well, but the question remained how to do it. He never appeared in Man from UNCLE, so there was no episode I could turn to. The Prince of Darkness Affair would be somewhat fitting, but not what I wanted. I wanted the man himself. Luckily, plans were afoot which made my choice of episode easy.
With Season 4 being UNCLE’s last, I’ve had to work on plans for what was to come after. My short list of replacement series really only consisted of one show: The Avengers. In terms of 60s spy cool, it has few equals. John Steed and Emma Peel are two of the quintessential 60s TV characters, and display a Britishness James Bond would envy. Indeed, The Avengers have arguably as much of a Bond pedigree as UNCLE does, if not more. The Avengers was a logical choice for #Bond_age_TV, and it feels right to move on to it after UNCLE. Christopher Lee appeared in The Avengers twice, his first appearance being in Never, Never Say Die, which aired on Mar. 31, 1967. So I’m pleased to announce that The Avengers will be making their #Bond_age_TV debut this week as the first episode of our livetweet.
The second episode of this week’s livetweet remains Man from UNCLE season 4, but it too sets the tone for what comes after UNCLE on #Bond_age_TV. This week’s episode is The Master’s Touch Affair, which features another name familiar to Bond fans: Jack Lord. He plays Mandor, a high-up THRUSH traitor who is selling out his organization to UNCLE. I’d initially planned to show this episode after UNCLE season 4 concluded its #Bond_age_TV run because Lord is playing a huge part in my post-UNCLE plans. The year after The Master’s Touch Affair, Lord began what is arguably the most successful of the 60s spy shows: Hawaii Five-0. Though ostensibly a police show, Five-O had the spy genre covered as well, blending the two together into a TV juggernaut that paved the way for future Hawaii TV productions. I’m pleased to announce that, once UNCLE is done, Hawaii Five-0 will be taking the 10 pm livetweet slot, following The Avengers.
So this Wednesday, please join me as we celebrate the past and look to the future with a special Avengers/UNCLE livetweet event. It features Christopher Lee in Never, Never Say Die at 9 pm EST, and Jack Lord at 10 pm EST in The Master’s Touch Affair. The hashtag for both shows will be #BondageTV.
Hello again, everyone! We’ve finally reached the end of season 3 for Man from UNCLE, but do we have a treat in store for us. This week on #Bond_age_TV we’re livetweeting The Five Daughters Affair, parts 1 and 2! A scientist discovers the means of creating gold out of seawater, but dies before UNCLE can secure the secret. The scientist has sent parts of his formula to his daughters living all over the world. It’s a race against time as Napoleon and Illya look to collect the formula before THRUSH can get their hands on it. Like the expansive storyline, this movie also boasts one of the larger guest casts in UNCLE history. Herbert Lom (The Pink Panther) guest stars as Randolph, the THRUSH agent after the formula. The cast also features Joan Crawford (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), Kim Darby, Jill Ireland, and Terry-Thomas. Finally, to top off this cast, the episodes feature not one, but two, Bond villains: Curd Jurgens (The Spy Who Loved Me), and Blofeld himself, Telly Savalas! I hope you’ll join me this Wednesday, May 13th for The Five Daughters Affair! Use the hashtag #UNCLEtweet!
It’s hard to say exactly when the idea of doing WarGames as a livetweet first came into being, as the evolution of #Bond_age_ as a livetweeting event has been an ongoing process for a while. Twittering as we do, discussions of how to change things up a bit pop up every once and a while. I’m positive it was well over a year ago, though. A discussion of the spy genre eventually led us into a discussion of the teen spy films of the 80s. You know the story: an innocent teen somehow gets caught up in the spy lifestyle of fast cars, gorgeous women, and beating the bad guys. If you’re wondering, “just how many of those movies could there be?”, off the top of my head, I can name: Target; Gotcha!; The Manhattan Project; Cloak and Dagger; and TAG: The Assassination Game. I’m sure there are a few more I could come up with if I started digging, but who has time for that?
But I digress.
WarGames, you’ll note, is not in the list of films I mentioned above. That’s because it, unlike most of the other movies above, didn’t really follow the spy lifestyle. WarGames instead focused on a young man, David, played by Matthew Broderick, who had far too much time on his hands. He spent most of his time playing video games and, when that got boring, hacked his way into a military computer. Needless to say, no one really appreciates his efforts, especially when he realizes that he’s started the countdown to nuclear war. He eventually finds himself on the run, bringing along his girlfriend, Jennifer (Ally Sheedy), as he desperately tries to find a way to put the genie back into the bottle.
There is one other truly remarkable thing about WarGames that other movies of the genre probably can’t say; it’s Oscar nominated. Also BAFTA nominated, Saturn and Hugo Award nominated. Granted, it didn’t win very many awards out of those nominations, but I think there’s no shame in that. It’s a neat little film, and I’m quite happy to make it the first #Bond_age_Choice program selection.
