This TV movie featured Robert Vaughn and David McCallum returning as their popular espionage characters Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, agents of the U.S. branch of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. In this movie which obviously takes place a number of years after the series ended. Napoleon Solo had inexplicably left or been let go years ago, and after he left Illya also mysteriously quit the force. Illya has gone to work in a store where he designs women's outfits - some of which are pretty offensive and revealing. This was a disappointment for the production as well as Illya's character. I liked that the fictitious character JB (presumably James Bond) made a brief guest appearance, assisting Solo in a car chase who he referred to as "a colleague." I enjoyed that when the program went to commercial the last frame was frozen and then blurred out - just like in the original series. I did not like the altered music which slightly resembled the original TV show theme. There were a few funny parts in this movie which bring back memories of the old series, but The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. is not a favorite. Many of the original episodes were significantly better.

I saw this on television when it first aired , and remembered it as being terrible. But with the recent DVD issue , I had to Return To The Man From U.N.C.L.E....One cannot deny the natural chemistry between Macallum & Vaughn , but it's a shame the writers didn't give them a decent script.This is the lamest U.N.C.L.E. venture ever! ( Yes , even worse than some of Season 2 & 3's worst episodes. ) The trouble begins with a terrible "updated" version of the theme song , and spirals from there! ( Apparently they couldn't find the original logo or typeface either - how do you ignore something so iconic? ).There is far too much time wasted on setting up the affair - which in itself is far too simplistic and easily resolved - and not enough time developing...well...anything else. The writers would rather spend every other scene with one character or another mentioning that "15 Years" have passed...read the title , got it. There's also just a plethora of terrible jokes - including the lame James Bond inclusion, ( Yeah , Ian Flemming , co-creator , got it , back in the 60's , carry on! ), and the typical "Oh you're so out of step" gags ,and throw in a few "old guys teaching the new pups a lesson" gags , and you've got a confused stew that is neither comedy nor drama. Also , since this is the 1980's , all car wrecks or "dangerous scenes" , have to show the bad guys running to safety just before the big bang! ( Makes you miss the days of the sleeper darts! )The acting is fairly plastic , including an appalling role for Gayle Hunnicut. ( As a "Russian" operative , the writers weren't even clever enough to have her and Illya interact! ). And a major waste comes by way of getting Solo & Kuriyakin back together only to spend most of the Affair in different countries and not performing as a team! A waste of time. A waste of Vaughn & Macallum. A waste of Anthony Zerbe & Keenan Wynn! CLOSE CHANNEL D!

Good for a reunion show that deserves special allowances for auld lang syne that otherwise would not fly for a regular show, a time to reminisce on the impossibility of twenty years flying by! and even worse another twenty since that yet again to 2006! Will someone quit turning the calendar instead of the second hand! Though McNee was truly good as Sir John, the sorrowful part was the loss fourteen years before, in '72, of inestimable and quite irreplaceable stellar veteran Leo G. Carroll/Mr. Waverly they were kind enough to acknowledge. What wasn't mentioned in other descriptions of the film was how Sir John's entrance into the fray was due to the death of Mr. Waverly whom he was replacing (I believe he was supposedly killed in a THRUSH attack, which while stretching the bonds of credibility that they only just now managed to kill him after so many years is still a well-deserved tribute to dear old Leo G.). As sharp as Carroll was, he deserved a larger role had the oversexed dolts of that age not been such abysmal failures at appreciating the treasure in their midst, though perhaps Vaughn & McCallum may have.A fascinating connection most don't realize, including me, until today, thanks to the IMDb, is that in the '50s show Topper in which Carroll starred as Cosmo Topper, Robert Sterling played George Kerby, the debonair husband of the ghost couple that could be so frustrating for Cosmo, wife Anne Jeffreys playing Mrs. (Marion) Kerby, but Sterling also later played Captain Lee Craine in the Irwin Allen's movie, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, the part later taken by David Hedison in the TV version as Richard Baseheart took Walter Pigeon's place! Interesting connection: Man from UNCLE and Voyage to the Bottowm of the Sea by way of Topper! What Topper!

Agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuriyakin are called back to UNCLE after fifteen years to do battle with THRUSH once more who are holding the United States to ransom with a stolen nuclear bomb.Enjoyable revival movie with Robert Vaughn and David McCallam looking a bit older and a bit thicker around the middle, but still wonderful as Solo and Kuriyakin. The chemistry between them hasn't faded after so many years. Good supporting cast includes Anthony Zerbe as an evil THRUSH chief, Carolyn Seymour as a Russian ballerina who is blackmailed by THRUSH to do their bidding and Patrick Macnee (ex-Avengers) makes a satisfactory replacement for Leo G Carroll as the new UNCLE chief, the latter sadly died in 1972. The film is directed by Ray Austin who worked on The Avengers as initially stunt arranger and later as a director. Austin made his directorial debut on an episode from the latter entitled "All Done With Mirrors."This was intended as the pilot for a new series, but sadly it never materialised. Interestingly, there has been rumours of a big budget movie of the series being made, probably like Mission Impossible, but as The Return Of The Man From UNCLE shows without Vaughn and McCallam it will be a disaster.