Review of A Team, The: Series 3

Introduction

Hurrah! PR company in listening to reviewer shocker! They`ve actually sent a full season of The A Team to review rather than a paltry few episodes. I love it when a plan comes together....

In 1972 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...(cue gunshots)...

Da da da, da da daa...

Ah, The A Team. Quality Saturday night entertainment on ITV, ideal for when Dr Who wasn`t on (yes, there was a time when even I watched ITV for something other than football). Great programmes for kids (who loved the whole army/always build their way out of a crisis part) and also adults (who enjoyed that bit, with the Dads appreciating Amy, Tawnia and other females in the show). The main characters were (as if you really need telling):-

Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard)
Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Dirk Benedict)
Howling Mad Murdock (Dwight Schultz)
Bad Attitude Baracus (Mr. T).

Season 3 consisted of the following 24 episodes:-

Bullets And Bikinis - Bad dudes are trying to take over a Florida hotel

The Bend In The River - A 2 parter sees the team venturing into the Amazon to look for an explorer

Fire - The team have to help out when a fire service start getting bullied - don`t call the Army, call the A Team

The Bells Of St Mary`s - This time a nasty record label start to get heavy when a group won`t re-sign their contract

Timber! A bullying union hassles some lumberjacks

Double Heat - More mobsters involved, this time in the search for a kidnap victim

Trouble On Wheels - A car plant is losing spare parts - who`s on the take?

The Island - Off to an island being plagued by a gang intent on taking over

Showdown! Colonel Lynch thinks he can lure the team into his latest trap.

Sheriffs Of Rivertown - The A Team ride into town to take over at the sheriff`s office after suspicious accidents at a nearby power plant.

Hot Styles - Another girl who swoons over Face gets herself in trouble....

Breakout! - The ever incompetent Decker is after the team again....

Cup A` Joe - A dodgy restaurant owner wants to take over a small time diner....

The Big Squeeze - Staying with restaurants, the team open up one of their own with the help of a loan shark they want to bring down

Champ! BA returns to the boxing ring to deliver a knockout blow to drug dealers.

Skins - A trip to Kenya (real international jet-setters these fugitives) sees the team going after some poachers.

Road Games - A big gambling ring is the latest target for the team

Moving Targets - The team are called in to protect a bride to be, who is not too happy with the whole wedding idea

Knights Of The Road - A mechanic needs the team`s help to stay afloat

Waste `Em - Nasty toxic waste taxes the team as they stumble across a plan to dump it somewhere it shouldn`t be dumped

Bounty - Murdock is kidnapped. Will the team fall into the kidnapper`s trap?

Beverly Hills Assault - A dodgy art dealer is switching prints and getting away with it....

Trouble Brewing - A family soft drink firm is threatened by a conversion to a brewery (how is that a threat?)

Incident At Crystal Lake - The bumbling Colonel Decker tries once again to capture the team...

Video

A standard 4:3 transfer as you would expect. It looks pretty good for a 20 year old TV programme. Like much US TV of this era, The A Team was shot on film, so this means that the image doesn`t look too bad, but there`s still damage to the source material, in the form of dust and dirt.

If you weren`t sure that this was the 1980s, just check out the female characters with their big hair and shoulder pads. Regular A Team helper Tawnia Baker (a reporter) is a prime example of this.

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which sounds like the original mono replayed over both channels. Like most other TV discs of this era, it`s functional, does the job, and there`s not much more to say about it.

Except for that wonderful theme tune by Mike Post. It still lives on today, with plenty of mobile phones blaring it out wherever you go. And of course it was borrowed for one of the 118-118 campaigns...

Features

A few trailers for other TV box sets.

Conclusion

"I love it when a plan comes together"

This was another fun journey back to childhood. The A Team was (and still is) great fun to watch, even though you always knew everything would work out, and they would escape from the locked barn because of the old tractor which they converted into a tank that fired cabbages at the enemy. The inventiveness of the engineering is still seen today in more serious programmes like Scrapheap Challenge.

Series 3 continues to progress, with Decker still around, as well as some other army types who have designs on catching the team. The episodes move around a lot too, crossing America from week to week and even leaving the country a good few times.

A great nostalgia trip, and one to watch after a few beers with the lads. I`m sure the kids will love it too, and there`s nothing too offensive in it, even by today`s standards. Just make sure you don`t let them into the garage or shed after watching it, else they might start building their own crazy contraptions.

Great fun! I pity the fool who doesn`t want to watch this show again!