THE A-TEAM SEASON 5
The fifth and final, abbreviated season that brought Mr. T,
Dwight Schultz, and George Peppard to the forefront of
stardom, and brought back an icon, Dirk Benedict(of
Battlestar Galactica fame)!!
The good part here is that the episodes are all on single
sided discs!! Yeaaaaaa!!!
And like the other seasons, 258,928 rounds of bullets fired,
not one person hit!!!!! LOL!!!!
With this final season, there are two new players: General
Hunt Stockwell, who basically takes over the A-Team by a
very nasty maneuver, and Frankie Santana, a special effects
specialist that gets pulled in after the first three part episode!!
Another change here is the beginning: The theme has been
jazzed up, and the monologue is gone!!
EPISODE 1: DISHPAN MAN(Sept. 26, 1986):
This starts out with Hannibal getting kidnapped, and then told
that if he helps out with a jet that's been hi-jacked with an
important dude aboard that he'll see about getting his crew
cleared of all charges!! The dude that's on the plane is an
ex-colonel that was there when he and the rest of the A-Team
were given the orders to rob the bank that they were
courtmartialed for! Of course, things go pretty well 'til - - -!!
Guest starring in a continuing role is Robert Vaughn(Man
From U.N.C.L.E., Bullitt, The Magnificent Seven)!! Along with
Vaughn being added to the team, is a dude callled Frankie
Santana, a SFX specialist!! A
EPISODE 2: TRIAL BY FIRE(Oct. 3, 1986):
Continued from the previous episode! With the team all in
military custody, Murdock is left alone to figure out how to
rescue them!! A
EPISODE 3: FIRING LINE(Oct. 10, 1986):
With the three A-Team members having been found guilty
and sentenced to death, you can see why this was a short
season!!(ROFLMAO)!! And Gen. Stockwell is more than happy!!
This was a really good episode, until about the last 10 minutes!
Then it just goes to pot!! A-
EPISODE 4: QUARTERBACK SNEAK(Oct. 17, 1986):
The team gets their first assignment from Stockwell, go
to East Berlin(yep, this was the 80's) and grab a scientist
and his wife who want to defect!! All this under the guise
of a football game!!
Guest starring Joe Nameth(Football star[Quarterback - NY Jets]),
Jim Brown(also a football star[Fullback - Cleveland Browns]),
John Matuszak(again, football star[Defensive Lineman - Oakland
Raiders]) & Alan Autry(Football[Green Bay Packers - Quarterback])!! A
EPISODE 5: THE THEORY OF REVOLUTION(Oct. 24, 1986):
The team is sent to a little island that's taken a couple of
Americans captive to prove a point!! They're given 24
hours to get in, get them, then get back to the rendezvous
point!!
Guest starring Alejandro Rey(The Flying Run, Dallas, Fun In
Acapulco)!
A really bad rendition of The Beatles "Revolution" is done
here, as well as The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie"!!!! A
EPISODE 6: THE SAY U.N.C.L.E AFFAIR(Oct. 31, 1986):
If you're under the age of 40, you may not catch the humor
of the title here! If so, for your edification, Robert Vaughn
was the star of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.!! Anyway, they do
more than that, this guest stars Vaughn's former partner in
that show, David McCullum(who also stars in NCIS)!! Plus,
as more humor, they divide up the sections of the episode
in the same way!! Very cute!!
Anyway, McCullum's character is from the Soviet Union
and while having a meeting with his old friend, Stockwell,
he knocks out Stockwell, and spirits him away!! And nobody
seems to know why!!
Several of Frank Sinatra's songs are featured here as Murdock
fakes like he's insane and thinks he's Sinatra!! A+
EPISODE 7: ALIVE AT FIVE(Nov. 7, 1986):
Face decides that he wants out!! So he decides the next case
he's going to run for it!! And the next case is to kidnap a reporter
who's been undercover in a mob bosses house, but her employer
wants to get her out!
Guest starring here is a man who's been in more Elvis Presley
movies than anyone else, 'ceptin' Elvis: Red West(Flaming Star,
Wild In The Country, Blue Hawaii, Follow That Dream, Kid
Galahad, Girls! Girls! Girls!, It Happened At The World's Fair,
Fun In Acapulco, Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Girl Happy
Tickle Me, Harum Scarum, Paradise Hawaiian Style, Spinout,
Clambake & Live A Little Love A Little, as well as 35 episodes
of The Wild Wild West)!! A
EPISODE 8: FAMILY REUNION(Nov. 14, 1986):
The team is sent out to find a mobster's daughter and arrange
for a holiday meeting!! Problem is, he hasn't seen her for 20
years and doesn't know what she looks like!! And one other
kink, he says that Face is his son!!!
Guest starring Jeff Corey(Star Trek: TOS episode "The Cloud
Minders", Babylon 5 episode "Z'ha'dum", Butch Cassidy
And The Sundance Kid)!! A
EPISODE 9: POINT OF NO RETURN(Nov. 21, 1986):
While on a surveillance mission Hannibal is caught and drops
out of sight!! The crew goes to Hong Kong to gather clues and
also track down some plutonium that's been smuggled into
the wrong hands!!
Guest starring here is Rosiland Chao(Star Trek: TNG & DS9),
Soon-Tek Oh(The Man With The Golden Gun, Mulan 1 & 2,
The President's Man, Babylon 5 episode "TKO",) & Nancy
Kwan(Flower Drum Song, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, The
Wrecking Crew)! Also here is a man you've seen a hundred or
more times but no one knows his name(except, of course, his
relatives and those that have worked with him, LOL) Al
Leong(Die Hard, The Scorpion King, Lethal Weapon 1 & 4,
Beverly Hills Cop III, Last Action Hero, Big Trouble In Little
China & 5(!) episodes of The A-Team)!! A
EPISODE 10: THE CRYSTAL SKULL(Nov. 28, 1986):
While later that year in Australia, the group are trying to
secure a crystal skull!! This one feels like it starts in the
middle of the episode!! Kinda strange!!! Anyway, after
securing the skull, Face, Murdock and Frankie have to
bail out because of engine trouble and end up in the
middle of some sort of feud between natives!! And
when Murdock takes out the skull, suddenly he becomes
a god!!
This one's kinda silly!! A-
EPISODE 11: THE SPY WHO MUGGED ME(Dec. 12, 1986):
Recovering from the previous episode, this one's about a man
who's a casino owner and a spy on top of it!! He's about to
make a big deal with "the most dangerous man in the world"
and the General wants to know what it's all about, stop it and
capture "The Jaguar"!! This has Murdock as Ross, Logan Ross!!
Many inside references to Bond, James Bond!! A
EPISODE 12: THE GREY TEAM(Dec. 30, 1986):
A man is overheard by his daughter that he's selling off top
secret information about the defense system called "Star
Wars"!! The team is called upon to find her, pronto!!
Guest starring my number one son's namesake, Paul Petersen
whose first name is actually Edward, my father's name(he played
Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show)!! He plays a TV interviewer
here that doesn't have a name!!
This is a cross between really cute and really silly!! It has
a good premise, and still fun!! B+
EPISODE 13: WITHOUT RESERVATIONS(Mar. 8, 1987):
Not sure why this was shown out of order!! This should have
been the second to last one, as the last one really wrapped
up the series!!
Anyway, Murdock gets a job as a waiter in a small restaurant
and talks Face and Frankie into coming to eat!! While there, they
notice a couple of the guys in there have guns, and they all
make a move to get rid of them, which turns out terrible!!
Guest starring in this final episode is Marc Alaimo(not a
household name, unless you're into Star Trek! He was in
Star Trek: DS9 as Gul Dukat, 4 episodes of Star Trek: TNG,
also in the movies Total Recall, Tango And Cash, Tne Naked
Gun 33 1/3 & Kenny Rogers As The Gambler 3: The Legend
Continues) A
SPECIALS(ALL ON DISC 1):
RUMOURS OF SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE:
A talk with Stephen J Cannell(Creator/Executive Producer)!
Pretty interesting!!!
Review from IMDb.com:
From another reviewer at IMDb.com:
"A-team"is one of the best tv-series ever. Four
veterans of Vietnam war are wrongfully accused
and now they are outlaws.Peppard is very good
in his role.He plays Hannibal,the leader of the four.
I think is the best role of Peppard!But Mr.T as B.A
is also outstanding."A_team"is not only adventure
and crime.It has also comedy and sometimes romance.
If you like "MacGyver" you are going to love "A-Team".
Also if you are fun of Robert Vaughn you must see
"A-Team" because Vaughn plays general Stockwell.
A mysterious person who is a friend and an enemy
of the four veterans. - Andy S, (anstamatopoulos@yahoo.gr)