A MAN CALLED SLOANE (1979) – Robert Conrad, often called the ultimate man’s man, was famous for several television series over the decades, especially The Wild Wild West and Black Sheep Squadron. Here is a look at his modern-day spy series from 1979, the last Quinn Martin Production.
Conrad starred as American superspy Thomas Remington Sloane III aka T.R. Sloane, who worked for an espionage outfit called UNIT. (Go ahead and write T.R. Sloane/ Doctor Who fan fiction. Or not.) The evil organization opposed to our hero’s agency was called KARTEL.
Ji-Tu Cumbuka from blaxploitation films played Torque, a brawny mercenary with an artificial arm which could be outfitted with flamethrowers and other weaponry. (Arm? Torque? See what they did there?) Torque started out as a Jaws-like foe of T.R. Sloane but joined UNIT as Sloane’s partner.
Sultry Michelle Carey, daughter of MacDonald Carey and a veteran of many Wild Wild West episodes herself, provided the voice of EFFIE, the supercomputer at UNIT headquarters. Dan O’Herlihy played UNIT’s director.
A Man Called Sloane was fun but not spectacular and it only lasted 12 episodes in addition to a tv movie produced as a pilot for the series. That film wound up not being broadcast until AFTER the show was already canceled. Robert Logan portrayed Sloane in that telefilm but was replaced by Robert Conrad for the show.
THE PILOT MOVIE AND EPISODES: Continue reading
WORLD OF GIANTS (1959) – Don’t confuse this program with Land of the Giants, the later Irwin Allen series about normal-sized people trapped in the title land. For that matter, don’t confuse it with the old spy series Man in a Suitcase, either. World of Giants involved secret agent Mel Hunter (Marshall Thompson), who was accidentally shrunk down to six inches in height by radiation while on a mission behind the Iron Curtain.
Balladeer's Blog 