The A-Team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The A-Team
The A-Team. Clockwise from top: Murdock, B.A. Baracus, Hannibal and Faceman.
Genre	Action/Adventure
Creator(s)	Frank Lupo Stephen J. Cannell
Starring	George Peppard Dirk Benedict Dwight Schultz Mr. T et al.
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	98 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	40-45 minutes per episode (without advertisements)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	January 23, 1983 – March 8, 1987
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The A-Team was an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces who are working as soldiers of fortune while being on the run from the military for a "crime they didn't commit". Despite being thought of as mercenaries, the A-Team always acted on the side of the good guys, helping the oppressed. The show ran for five seasons on the NBC television network, from January 23, 1983 to December 30, 1986 (with one additional, previously unbroadcast episode shown on March 8, 1987), with a total of 98 episodes.

Contents 1 Characters 1.1 Main characters 1.2 Additional team members 1.3 Supporting characters 1.4 Notable guest stars 2 Plot 2.1 Episode introduction 2.1.1 The "crime they didn't commit" 2.2 Episode formula 2.3 Recurring themes 3 The fifth season 4 Episodes 5 Impact of show on society 5.1 Popularity 5.2 Continuing cultural effects 6 Criticisms 6.1 Critical reviews 6.2 On-screen violence 7 Production notes 7.1 Trivia 7.2 Professional wrestling tie-in 7.3 The GMC van 8 International airings 8.1 DVD releases 9 External links

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

• George Peppard as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith

Main article: John "Hannibal" Smith

The leader of the A-Team, he is a brilliant tactician and a master of disguise. Hannibal is distinguished by his cigar smoking, disguises, and his catch phrase, "I love it when a plan comes together." Always "on the jazz" (a phrase coined by B.A., meaning that Hannibal thrives on adventure and life-threatening situations), he seems to genuinely enjoy every situation they get into. He also works as an actor, playing monsters in low-budget horror movies.

• Dirk Benedict as Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck

Main article: Templeton "Faceman" Peck

Suave, smooth-talking, and hugely successful with women, he serves as the team's con man and scrounger, able to get his hands on just about anything they need. Effectively second in command behind Hannibal (although technically Murdock outranks him), he is the one who arranges for supplies, equipment, and sensitive information using numerous scams and hustles. Tim Dunigan played this role in the pilot episode.

• Mr. T as Sgt. Bosco Albert "B.A." Baracus

Main article: B.A. Baracus

A highly-skilled mechanic and the A-Team's regular Mr. Fix-It, his character is basically that of the public persona of Mr. T himself. He is a skilled fighter and is easily roused to anger, earning him the nickname "Bad Attitude". Despite his reputed attitude, he is a nice guy at heart. He has a special fondness for children and, being a teetotaller, he never drinks alcohol, preferring milk instead. He is most upset by Murdock, frequently referring to him as a "crazy fool." He suffers an intense fear of flying, especially when the plane in question is flown by Murdock. This difficulty is often overcome by other members of the team drugging him, or otherwise rendering him unconscious, so he can be transported without objection.

• Dwight Schultz as Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock

Main article: H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock

The best chopper pilot of the Vietnam War, Murdock is either mentally unstable or exceptionally good at pretending to be so. Although he was their pilot on the Hanoi bank raid, he was technically not part of the A-Team and so not tried by the military. Though interned at a psychiatric hospital, he routinely escapes to accompany the A-Team on their missions. The symptoms of his "insanity" varies from episode to episode, but generally includes self-identification with fictional characters, hallucinations, belief in the "intelligence" of inanimate objects, among others. He frequently refers to his invisible dog, "Billy". Unlike B.A., the initials "H.M." were never explained in terms of Murdock's actual name, and the nickname "Howlin' Mad" is simply attributed to them. He was permanently discharged from the hospital in the fifth season.

[edit] Additional team members

• Melinda Culea as Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen — Amy was an intrepid news reporter who joined the team in its pilot episode. She was written out of the show in the middle of the second season, as a result of a conflict between Culea and the production team.^{[citation needed]} It's also said that the fact that George Peppard didn't like her also had an effect.^{[attribution needed]} It was said she found out about her firing when she was given a script and found out she had no lines.^{[attribution needed]} She played a vital role in the early episodes, but was written out when Culea wanted to become an increasingly dominant figure in action scenes. Her character was reportedly 'on foreign correspondent duty' in Jakarta.
• Marla Heasley as Tawnia Baker — Tawnia (misspelled as 'Tanya' in the episode The Battle Of Bel-Air) was a short-lived replacement for Amy during late 1983 - early 1984. She was also a reporter and helped the A-team out a few times; although she never fully incorporated herself into the team as Amy had done. She left early in the third season because she got married (with a little help from the A-Team).
• Tia Carrere as Tia - The half-Vietnamese daughter of latter 4th season antagonist General Fulbright. She was inducted into the team in the finale to season 4, after the death of her father and her own wanted status in Vietnam and illegal status in the US. However, Carrere's contractual obligations to General Hospital, made during a period when 5th season renewal for the series was uncertain, led to Tia vanishing from the story with no explanation or further mention.
• Eddie Velez as Frankie "Dishpan Man" Santana — Puerto Rican special effects expert who helps the A-Team during the final season. He was blackmailed into joining the team by Gen. Stockwell after he and Murdock helped the team escape the firing squad.

[edit] Supporting characters

• William Lucking as Colonel Lynch — Commander of Fort Bragg, which housed the stockade from which the team escaped. The Colonel pursued them throughout the first season. (He was mentioned to still be in pursuit of the team at the start of the second season, though was never actually seen). He seemed to have a personal vendetta against the A-Team which, coupled with the fact that he never managed to capture them, led to his being taken off the case. He also made a surprise return to make one last effort at catching the team in the third season episode 'Showdown!'.
• Lance LeGault as Colonel Roderick Decker — The second Colonel who tried to catch the team, he was picked for the job because of his unorthodox warfare techniques (it was revealed that in Vietnam, he was known for blowing up Viet Cong hospitals). Decker and Hannibal had a past, having gotten into a brawl at an officers' club in Vietnam. Decker was much more ruthless than Lynch, but also always got outsmarted. He seemed to equally despise and respect the A-Team for their ingenuity and teamwork.
• Carl Franklin as Captain Crane — Decker's right-hand man, he was much more naïve than Decker regarding the A-Team, and was often surprised at the team's ability to evade them.
• Charles Napier as Colonel Briggs — The third Colonel who tried to catch the team but only appeared in one early Season 3 episode ('Fire') before Colonel Decker returned.
• Jack Ging as General Harlan "Bull" Fullbright — A General who also tried to catch the team, except that when he was traveling with the team to Vietnam in the Season 4 finale, the character himself was killed (see: On-screen violence listing below). Prior to his death, Fullbright admitted to the team that he realized they were innocent, as they were willing to help him at any cost despite their being criminals on the run from him.
• Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell — The A-Team's boss during the final season. He blackmailed the team into working top-secret government missions in return for their eventual pardon. His catch phrase was "My way."

[edit] Notable guest stars

Notable guest stars included Boy George, Michael Ironside, Dean Stockwell, Yaphet Kotto, Dennis Haysbert, Hulk Hogan, Xander Berkeley, Andrew Robinson, Markie Post, Marc Alaimo, Lance Henriksen, Tia Carrere, Kurtwood Smith, Ed Lauter, Sam J. Jones, June Chadwick, Brion James, Tracy Reed, William Perry, Rick James, Isaac Hayes, Sid Haig, Pat Sajak, Red West, Dennis Franz, David McCallum, Claudia Christian,Richard Moll, Sonny Landham and Ana Obregón.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Episode introduction

Each episode of the first season began with this voiceover introduction:

“

Ten years ago, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.

”

During Seasons 2-4, the opening phrase "In 1972" replaced "Ten years ago". There was one exception to this which was Season 2 Episode 12, which has the original intro. The Intro was dropped for the final season.

The intro was narrated by John Ashley, who was also one of the show's producers.

[edit] The "crime they didn't commit"

During the Vietnam War, the A-Team's commanding officer, Colonel Morrison, gave them orders to rob the Bank of Hanoi to help bring the war to an end. They succeeded in their mission, but on returning to their base four days after the end of the war, they found their C.O. murdered by the Viet Cong and his headquarters burnt to the ground. Therefore no proof existed that the A-Team were acting under orders, and they were sent to prison by a military court.

[edit] Episode formula

A typical episode starts with the A-Team being hired by down-trodden, terrorized clients (often more than one member of the same family). The 'official' way of doing this was for the client to contact one of Hannibal's many comic aliases that were used to ensure that prospective clients were not working for the military. Just as frequently, the A-Team would be on the road and stumble across someone who needed their help. Often the A-Team would return their fee to the most needy clients or find another way to pay their expenses.

Typically (especially as the episodes progressed, and particularly in the third season), the team would have an opening brawl with the episode's opponents and win. The opponents would go away swearing to get even with the team. Later, B.A. would often lead the team in constructing a weapon, vehicle or other device out of resources at their disposal (often while held captive by the bad guys), which they would use to defeat their opponents.

Other typical elements include: Face (often paired with Murdock) running a scam to get resources that the team need; Murdock having a particular comic fixation or persona; Hannibal using another disguise to fool the bad guys; and B.A. arguing with Murdock. Every few episodes, the Military Police would catch up with the team, giving them an extra obstacle to overcome in that particular episode.

[edit] Recurring themes

Stock sequences involved the A-Team being captured and then escaping, an explosion or crash causing a vehicle driven by the antagonists to barrel onto its roof, the U.S. military turning up, having to break Murdock out of the mental hospital, or B.A. refusing to get on a plane. The team almost always engage in a fist fight with the episode's antagonists during the first half of the program (during which there is usually a camera shot of B.A. throwing one of the bad guys over his head and onto a car hood, pile of cardboard boxes, or other such surface). The A-Team win this fight rather easily, but allow their enemies to escape with a warning from Hannibal, despite being able to subdue them and accomplish their mission there and then.

Also, in nearly every episode the bad guys capture or lay siege to the A-Team, who, almost without fail, find themselves trapped in a barn/garage/warehouse etc. containing acetylene torches, sets of mechanical tools, an internal combustion engine of some sort and other materials which they use to build a contraption to finally escape and subdue their enemy in a non-lethal manner.

The show became emblematic of this kind of "fit-for-TV warfare" due to its depiction of high-octane combat scenes, with lethal weapons, wherein the participants (with the notable exception of General Fullbright) are never killed and rarely seriously injured.

[edit] The fifth season

The fourth season saw TV ratings fall dramatically, and as a result the format was changed during the show's final season in 1986-1987 in a bid to win back viewers. After years on the run from the authorities, the A-Team are finally apprehended by the military. They are given a choice between returning to prison and being executed, or being assigned to a government agency run by General Hunt Stockwell and performing secret missions. They choose to work with Stockwell.

This season marked a notable change to the show's format, in that the A-Team was no longer working for themselves, but rather working for the government, and that a new character, Frankie "Dishpan" Santana, was added as a fifth member of the team. The Team's missions in season five, somewhat reminiscent of Mission: Impossible are based more around political espionage than besting local thugs, and usually take place in foreign countries. In addition, the show's opening theme was changed, removing the introduction line, and featuring a revamped version of the theme song. However, these changes proved unsuccessful with viewers and ratings continued to decline. Only 13 episodes aired in the fifth season.

In what was supposed to be the final episode, "The Grey Team" (although it was the second-to-last aired), Hannibal, after being misled by Stockwell one time too many, tells him that the team will not work for him any more. At the end, the team discusses what they were going to do if they got their pardon, and it is implied that they would continue doing what they were doing as the A-Team.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of The A-Team episodes

[edit] Impact of show on society

[edit] Popularity

The A-Team was one of a wide variety of successful television shows from prolific television producer Stephen J. Cannell. Cannell is known for having a particular skill at capitalizing on momentary cultural trends, such as the machine guns, cartoonish violence, and joyful militarism of this series, which are now recognizable as trademarks of popular entertainment in the 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Cannell had been producing shows for ABC in the early 1980s, but was fired by the network for not producing a hit for them. His next project would be The A-Team.

It has achieved cult status through heavy U.S. syndication and enjoyed a brief revival in the 1990s when re-runs were shown in the United Kingdom. As of 2006 the show is in syndication on Sleuth, Spike TV and TV Land. Also currently each season is shown in progression in a recurring cycle on the UK satellite channel UKTV Gold.

[edit] Continuing cultural effects

Main article: Cultural effects of The A-Team

As well as having huge ratings and being especially popular amongst children, there was countless merchandise available, and many references in television and other media.

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] Critical reviews

[edit] On-screen violence

The violence presented in The A-Team is highly sanitized. People do not bleed or bruise when hit (though they might develop a limp or require a sling). The members of the A-Team do not kill people. The results of violence were only ever presented when it was required for the script. For instance, when Murdock needed to have a black eye to legitimize the effects of a staged plane crash, Peck punched him in the face to facilitate this. The methods the A-Team use to subdue their targets are deliberately non-lethal. As Hannibal tells a customer in season one: "We're not murderers."

In almost every car crash there is a short take showing the occupants of the vehicle climbing out of the mangled/burning wreck (even in helicopter crashes), although by late in the fourth season, some of these takes were dropped. In takes where there was no footage of the survivors scrambling to safety, a voiceover was sometimes employed. For instance, in the episode "The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas", a Mafia car flips over and lands on its roof during a chase. The vehicle lands in such a way that any occupants would have been instantly crushed, but a rather obvious loop-in is used of the driver asking "Hey, Cliff, are you okay?" and the passenger replying "Yeah, I'm okay" in a rather unflustered manner. This is similar to another 1980s television show, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, in which lasers were used instead of bullets and all personnel escaped from downed planes or destroyed boats.

Contrary to popular belief, however, the show did feature at least eight possible on-screen deaths, although only five are definitive, with one other being from a dream sequence and the remainder left ambiguous:

1. In Season 1's "The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas", gangster Gianni Christian is thrown from a high-rise hotel window into the fountain at the front of the hotel; a report of Gianni's death was heard by the team on the radio.
2. In Season 1's "Beast From the Belly of a Boeing", the main villain is sucked out of an aircraft to fall to his death when a bullet causes the plane to depressurize (although he was wearing a parachute, the villain was apparently trapped by his parachute rig on the emergency door as they both go out the plane together — so even if he has time to use it, he would still be too heavy to save himself).
3. In Season 1's "Pros and Cons", an inmate was shot and killed by a corrupt Warden.
4. In Season 2's "Diamonds 'n Dust" a mine-owner was shot and killed, although not seen on-screen. The characters often refer to this.
5. In Season 3's "Skins", a park ranger is ambushed and shot, later to have his sister call the A-Team.
6. In the Season 4 finale "The Sound of Thunder", General Fullbright is shot and killed. Fullbright's assailant is immediately killed thereafter when the shack he was hiding inside erupted in flames (Hannibal had fired his gun at gas barrels outside the shack. This is the only time Hannibal killed anyone in the entire series).
7. In Season 5, the A-Team escape their prison cells and have a gun battle with the MPs guarding them. One is clearly seen to be struck and killed — but the scene is revealed to be a dream sequence.
8. In Season 5 Episode # 91 "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" General Stockwell is shown in a gunfight with an old intelligence comrade (David McCallum) who crashes his truck. It is ambiguous as to whether he is killed or escapes.

The majority of the above examples do not directly involve the A-Team members themselves and instead are acts that are conducted by villains.

[edit] Production notes

[edit] Trivia

• The name of the show comes from "A-teams", the nickname for Operational Detachments Alpha (ODA). The US Army Special Forces uses the term ODA for their 12-man direct operations teams.
• Though B.A. is afraid of flying, the dress uniform he wears during his court martial contains a Master Parachutist pin.
• In the episode "A Nice Place To Visit", Hannibal's dress uniform shows that he was awarded the Medal Of Honor at some point in his military career.
• In the later second, third and fourth season opening credits, in a clip taken from the second season episode 'Steel', Face reacts to an actor dressed in a metallic Cylon centurion costume. Dirk Benedict had starred years earlier in the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. His character, Starbuck, fought against Cylons.
• A 'lost episode', "Without Reservations", aired for the first time during re-runs in March 1987. This episode was meant to air before the final episode "The Grey Team", which is reflected by the fact that in "Without Reservations" Murdock's T-shirt says "Almost Fini" while in "The Grey Team" it says "Fini". Apparently, the axe fell on the series more suddenly than expected, leaving the episode too short to be broadcast. To make it long enough to be shown, scenes from the first season episode "Holiday In The Hills" were recycled to make up the pre-opening credits section of the story. "The Grey Team" is also more likely to be the 'proper' final episode, as Hannibal tells General Stockwell that the team will not work for him any longer, and at the end of the story, the team ponders their future.
• The final episode of the fourth season at one point may have been the last, as Murdock's "All Good Things Must Come To An End" t-shirt hints. But the show returned, re-vamped, for one more season.
• In early episodes the team used M16 rifles, in later episodes they used the Mini-14's modfied with a pin-on Flash Suppressor to hide the Hollywood Blank Firing Adapter. Full auto fire was simulated by dubbing sound effects onto the action sequence.
• In "Pros and Cons", Face pretends to be Dr. Dwight Pepper, the author of a book on prison reform. The photo on the back of the book (supposedly the actual Dr. Dwight Pepper) is a photo of Stephen J. Cannell, the producer of the series. The name is a gag on the soft drink of the same name, although some have noted that Dwight is Dwight Schultz's first name, and Pepper is similar to Peppard.
• There was some talk about an A-Team reunion, a TV movie where the team would receive a full pardon. After George Peppard died, the idea was dropped.
• Tia Carrere guest starred in one episode at the end of season four, and was intended to join the principal cast of the show in its fifth season. Her character was a Vietnamese war orphan now living in the United States, and she would have provided a continuing tie to the team's inception during the war. There has been some fan speculation that her character would eventually have been revealed to have been Hannibal's illegitimate daughter, but there seems to have been no discussion about this among the producers. However, Tia was under a prior contract to General Hospital at the time, and was unable to join the cast of The A-Team. Her character was abruptly dropped as a result.
• In the United Kingdom, an A-Team comic strip appeared for several years in the 1980s as part of the children's television magazine and comic Look-In, to tie in with the British run of the series.
• The Fort Bragg stockade, which the A-Team was supposed to have escaped from, is now the home of the secretive, Special Forces-based counterterrorist unit, Delta Force.
• In Season 5 Episode # 91 "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair", David McCallum guest stars as a former comrade of Robert Vaughn's character General Stockwell. Vaughn and McCallum co-starred in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• A late episode of Stephen J. Cannell's previous hit, The Rockford Files, "The Hawaiin Headache", features a character called 'Colonel John "Howling Mad" Smith', names that would evolve into Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith and "Howling Mad" Murdock in The A-Team. Another early Rockford episode features a character called Tawnia Baker.
• Many of the episode titles (and plots) are plays on those of famous movies. For example, the early episode 'Black Day At Bad Rock', is a play on the classic 1955 movie Bad Day at Black Rock. An early Knight Rider episode, 'Good Day at White Rock' is also a similar play on the title. Both episodes also contain notable parallels, with both stories involving a biker gang terrorizing a small town.
• The series was developed as a cross between Seven Samurai (and its western remake The Magnificent Seven) and The Dirty Dozen.
• James Coburn, who co-starred in The Magnificent Seven, was considered for the role of Hannibal in The A-Team.
• George Peppard (Hannibal) was the original consideration for Vin, Steve McQueen's character.
• Robert Vaughn (Gen. Stockwell) has appeared in every incarnation of the Magnificent Seven apart from the original Japanese work, which he often jokes he wishes he could have been in because then he'd "have the full set".^{[citation needed]} He even appeared in the Science Fiction Version Battle Beyond the Stars along side - George Peppard.
• Some viewers mistakenly thought^{[citation needed]} that Airwolf appeared on the fifth season opening credits of The A-Team, with Murdock apparently piloting it. There is a brief shot of what looks like Airwolf, but it is, in fact, an unmodified black Bell 222 (taken from the feature-length fourth season opener 'Judgement Day'). It is followed by a shot of Murdock piloting what is actually a different helicopter, from a fantasy sequence taken from the fifth season episode 'Trial By Fire'.

[edit] Professional wrestling tie-in

Because this was NBC's most popular show at the time, Vince McMahon worked a deal to co-promote his World Wrestling Federation ("WWF") by allowing Hulk Hogan to make appearances on the show. It also co-promoted Wrestlemania, in which Hogan made an appearance and Mr. T was featured in a wrestling match. This show, along with The Rock n' Wrestling Connection, was a major reason why the WWF was able to go national and later become the dominant professional wrestling entity^{[citation needed]}.

In addition to Hogan, the show also featured professional wrestlers Professor Toru Tanaka, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, The Dynamite Kid, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Davey-Boy Smith, Big John Studd, and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Later, wrestler John Cena would parody the show for his music video, "Bad Bad Man".

[edit] The GMC van

The black and grey GMC van used by the A-Team, with its characteristic red stripe, black and red tire rims, and rooftop spoiler, has become an enduring pop culture icon. Less detailed stunt vans were sometimes used in certain scenes.^{[citation needed]}

One of the original six vans used for the show is displayed in the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Keswick, northern England. Another sits on the Universal Studios back lot with flat tires and faded paint and is available for tourists to photograph.^{[citation needed]}

One criticism of the show is that a group, wanted by so many law enforcement agencies, would most likely not use such a customized and eye-attracting vehicle on a consistent basis. One slight inconsistency is that, in some episodes, the Military Police recognise the van, whereas in other episodes they do not.

One common misconception is that the van is all black, but actually, the section above the red stripe is dark metallic grey.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] International airings

Main article: International airings of The A-Team

[edit] DVD releases

Universal Home Video has released all 5 Seasons of The A-Team on DVD in Region 1 & Region 2 for the very first time.

DVD Name	Cover Art	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	Season One	June 8, 2004	September 13, 2004	December 1, 2004
	Season Two	April 12, 2005	July 4, 2005	July 11, 2005
	Season Three	January 31, 2006	May 22, 2006 (R2 has different cover art)	July 12, 2006
	Season Four	April 4, 2006	September 18, 2006	September 20, 2006
	Season Five: The Final Season	October 10, 2006	February 12, 2007 (R2 has different cover art)	February 21, 2007
	Seasons One, Two & Three	N/A	November 20, 2006 (only available in R2)	N/A

Note: The Region 1 releases of Season One (during the Pilot episode) and Season Three (two instances during the episode 'Beverly Hills Assault') replace music tracks with generic music, due to copyright problems. (Confirmation needed if this is the same on the Region 2 versions).

Note: On the Region 1 release of Season Four, a number of the opening trailers, previewing the upcoming episode, are missing (Again, confirmation needed if this is the same on the Region 2 versions).

[edit] External links

• A-Team's Signature GMC van
• A-Team Feature Film News at OnTheJazz.com
• A-Team theme song
• The A-Team on TVLand.com
• The A-Team at Stage 1