|
III. The Details
- What does the "A" in the "A-Team" stand for anyway?
- What were the makes and models of the A-Team van and Face's corvette?
- What type of guns did the A-Team use?
- What is written on the back of Murdock's jacket?
- Did anyone ever get killed on "The A-Team"?
- For the first four seasons, I thought the Team was a Special Forces unit. Why were they wearing Air Cavalry uniforms in the Trial episodes?
- What famous people guest-starred on "The A-Team"?
- Didn't a Cylon make an appearance on "The A-Team" once?
- Who was Colonel Briggs?
- What cigars did Hannibal smoke?
- In the episode "The Crystall Skull" the views hears the native people shout "Who wrote this?"?
- How did "The A-Team" end?
1. WHAT DOES THE "A" IN THE "A-TEAM" STAND FOR ANYWAY?
A couple of different people have supposed answers for this. From Adam Marti:
"The A, or rather A-Team is a military term used to denote the first team in a miltary squad. The long version of it is Alpha Team. The second is Bravo Team. An instance of it's use in a simple squad ambush the A-team would be the assault element and the B-team would be the support element, covering the objective as the A-team assaults it."
From Michele Lellouche:
"According to the Special Forces histories I read, an A-Team was usually twelve guys, and the Team's uniforms were correct in the first season..."
This agrees with another account I have read on the designation "A-Team", in that they were generally large units which would be lead by someone with a higher rank than colonel. Accordingly, it might actually be true that our A-Team was actually what was referred to as a "greek letter Team," - The Alpha Team, perhaps - which were in fact the small, special forces units used during 'Nam. But "Alpha Team" just doesn't sound as cool for TV as "A-Team,"does it?
2. WHAT ARE THE MAKES AND MODELS OF THE A-TEAM VAN AND FACE'S CORVETTE?
From Christopher Bender:
"The A-Team van, as mentioned in the credits, is made by GMC truck. That model is simply called a "G-Series" van. They come in G-15 (half ton), G-25 (3/4 ton), and G-35 (one ton) configurations. Typically for a passenger use van, such as B.A.'s, a G-15 is used. Since that body style was introduced around 1974, and is still available today, it is difficult to judge the year of the vehicle. I would suspect that the first van (Keep in mind that they destroyed many vans during all of the stunts) was a new van when the show first came on, so that would make it a 1983." "Face's 'Vette is clearly a 1984. This is evidenced by it's color and wheel style, and by the time at which it showed up in the series [first in the episode "The Taxicab Wars," which aired on 11/01/83. Remember that car models are dated a year ahead of when they are released - NP]. 1984 was the first year for the current 'Vette body style. There was no 'Vette in 1983, and the 1982's and earlier were much different in appearance."
Also, Michele Lellouche informs us: "Face's vette was always rented from an LA agency that had a sideline in movie cars (it was a regular rental agency--I can't find the article where I had the name of it). The vette was white and Cannell Productions applied the stripe every time it was used, so the red stripe was not a permanent paint job."
3. WHAT TYPE OF GUNS DID THE A-TEAM USE?
Please visit the weapons-section.
4. WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF MURDOCK'S JACKET?
Da Nang 1970. Da Nang is a vietnamese city. The first US-forces landed on China-beach in 1965 south of Danang.
5. DID ANYONE EVER GET KILLED ON "THE A-TEAM"?
As far as actual, on-screen deaths, there was only one, in "The Sound of Thunder," when General Fulbright was shot and killed (in the same episode the bunker where the Cong general who shot Fulbright was in was blown up, so we can assume he bit the dust as well). Several episodes referred to deaths of characters off-screen either during or usually before the start of the episode (such as, for instance, Ray Brenner's death in "A Nice Place to Visit.") Also, one of the Mafia bad guys in the episode "The Rabbit That Ate Las Vegas" was seen to fall from a high rise window, presumably to his death, although it wasn't clear if he had been killed before the fall of as a result of it.
6. FOR THE FIRST FOUR SEASONS, I THOUGHT THE TEAM WAS A SPECIAL FORCES UNIT. WHY WERE THEY WEARING AIR CAVALRY UNIFORMS IN THE TRIAL EPISODES?
Put it down to a dumb mistake by the continuity patrol at Cannell Productions. It wouldn't be a first in the show's history...
I received this email regarding this:
FYI- in 'Trial by Fire" the A-team are NOT wearing 1st Cav uniforms. One wears the patch of the current (or last) unit on the LEFT upper arm. One is allowed to wear on the RIGHT upper arm the patch of a "unit of distinction" in which one served. If you look carefully, the A-team wears the 1st Cav patch on their right sleeve, indicating that at one time in their individual military careers, they served in the 1st Cav. This just happens to be a huge, eye-catching, obnoxious patch (the largest one in the Army) that jumps out at people, and it is one of the best known patches. The guys do wear 5th Special Forces patches on the correct shoulder.
Now, if BA would only learn to put on his branch insignia *sigh*
Thanks to morgainne@new.rr.com for this information.
7. WHAT FAMOUS PEOPLE GUEST-STARRED ON "THE A-TEAM"?
Here is a partial list:
Tia Carrere in "The Sound of Thunder"
Dennis Franz in "Chopping Spree" and "Beverly Hills Assault"
Boy George in "Cowboy George"
Issac Hayes in "The Heart of Rock N' Roll"
Hulk Hogan in "Body Slam" and "The Trouble with Harry"
Bo Hopkins in "Pure-Dee Poison"
Ernie Hudson in "The Taxicab Wars"
Rick James in "The Heart of Rock N' Roll"
Yaphet Kotto in "The Out-of-Towners"
Stephanie Kramer in "Fire"
David McCallum in "The Say Uncle Affair"
Joe Namath in "Quarterback Sneak"
William "The Refrigerator" Perry in "The Trouble with Harry"
Mitch Pileggi in "The Road to Hope"
Markie Post in "The Only Church in Town" and "Hot Styles"
Della Reese in "Lease with an Option to Die"
Andrew Robinson in "The Beast from the Belly of a Boeing" and "The White Ballot"
Dean Stockwell in "A Small and Deadly War"
8. DIDN'T A CYLON MAKE AN APPEARANCE ON "THE A-TEAM" ONCE?
Yes, in the episode "Steel." There was a scene at the Universal Studios movie lot in Hollywood where a Cylon walks along in front of Face, who looks at him with a "haven't I seen you before?" expression. (In case you don't know, Cylons were the "bad guys" on "Battlestar Galactica," which Dirk Benedict had been a main character on.)
9. WHO WAS COLONEL BRIGGS?
Colonel Briggs, like his predecessors, was with the US Army and supposed to arrest the A-Team. He only appeared in one episode, "Fire" (season 3) and was supposed to be a substitute for Decker. His performance was not appreciated and Decker brought back.
10. WHAT CIGARS DID HANNIBAL SMOKE?
Braniff No 3, produced by Villiger Söhne AG located in Pfeffikon, Luzern (Switzerland). Even Mr. T said: "I pity the fool who doesn't try one of these cigars!"
11. IN THE EPISODE "THE CRYSTALL SKULL" THE VIEWER HEARS THE NATIVE PEOPLE SHOUT "WHO WROTE THIS?"?
Yes, indeed they did, when the statue of Murdock is revealed. It is supposed to be a hint by the cast of how bad they thought the script of this particular episode was. To be honest, it is. It is also said that writer Bill Nuss was trying to get himself mentioned by adding those lines. One will never really find out.
12. HOW DID "THE A-TEAM" END?
While "Without Reservations" was the last episode that aired, it appears that "The Gray Team" was probably meant to be the final episode, based on the closing dialogue (and the fact that Murdock wears a t-shirt saying "Fini" in "The Gray Team" and one saying "Almost Fini" in "Without Reservations." The Team speculate on the fact that they may be nearing the end of their
"contract" with Stockwell and wonder what they will end up doing if they ever get their pardons. They decide they will likely end up doing the same thing they've been doing for the past fifteen years, helping people and beating up bad guys.
|
