The A-Team: Season Three

Audiences seem to love a story about the underdogs coming back stronger than ever. One prime example of this is the eighties television hit, the A-Team. Here we had four heroes convicted of a crime they never committed who escaped and now live in the Los Angles area helping the down trodden as soldiers for hire. The opening states that they will help you if you can find them. Fortunately, this was not has difficult as they inferred, week after week regular people where able to locate and hire the A-Team. Heading the team is Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard) who is the man with a plan and master of disguise. When there is a need for someone to be conned out of something the team would look to Templeton "Face Man" Peck (Dirk Benedict). His smooth and glib style enabled Face to talk his way out of almost any situation, especially with the ladies. Since tanks and armored vehicles are in rather short supply in the Los Angles area B.A."Bad Attitude" Baracas (Mister T) is always there to come to the rescue. He can build a tank out of any scraps of metal that happened to be lying around. Every team needs a member that is just a little insane. For the A-Team that position was held by Captain H.M. (Howling Mad) Murdock (Dwight Schultz). He usually spent his down time in a veteran’s mental health facility requiring the team to devise a means to get him out for the missions. While this may seem to be a very derivative basis for a television series the fact is the formula worked mostly because the cast had excellent chemistry. This is a perfect case of synergy, where the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

With so much testosterone flying around each week there was a need for a little feminine touch. Up to the middle of the second season this was provided by aspiring reporter Melinda Culea as Amy Amanda Allen or Triple A. Yes the A-Team is rather infatuated with nick names. Replacing Amy in the third season was Marla Heasley as Tawnia Baker. In the second episode of the season she asks the team to help find her fiancé who happens to be an archaeologist working in the Amazon where he was attacked by pirates. It was plots like this that may have been evidence that the writers where indulging in some mind altering substances but you have to admit, they where not the stories you saw on a dozen other action series.

Much to the chagrin of BA, who was afraid of flying, many of the missions required going off to some remote location. One example is when the doctor who saved BA’s life in Vietnam calls in his marker when crooks take over his medical practice which just happens to be on a tropical island paradise. In another episode the team travels to South America where they have to become the de facto law in a town that houses workers for a power plant that has been experiencing an unusually large number of fatal accidents. The fearless foursome even winds up in Kenya to take on poachers. This change in scenery helped to keep the story lines fresh and different from the other series that are centered in one location. While the locations where just the same back lots dressed up but it was the concept of travel that worked well here.

Every so often the writers felt obligated to remind the audience that the A-Team was on the run. They did have a reoccurring nemesis in the person of Col. Roderick Decker (Lance LeGault). Decker would pop up several times almost at the point of catching our heroes. LeGault was an excellent choice in this role. He was a veteran of numerous Universal action series such as Magnum, Rockford and McGyver. In this season there was also another army officer after the team, Col, Lynch played by William Lucking. In one episode he stakes out a Wild West show that is being terrorized by A-Team impersonators. Lynch knows that such an insult to the Team’s reputation and egos would force them to show up.

There are times when a cast gathered for a television show just clicks. To our delight this is one such case. Each member of the cast brings something special to their characters. George Peppard had already made a name for himself in drama when he took on this tongue in cheek series. Unlike many actors he does not let vanity get in the way. Peppard actually seemed to enjoy putting on a putty nose or wearing a fat suit in his almost weekly disguises. He has a natural sense of comic timing that often carries the story. Dirk Benedict is one of those television actors that set him above the pack by finding a niche for himself ad excelling in it. For Benedict it was a handsome bad boy that the ladies just can’t resist. Whether it was here as Face or in the old Battlestar Galatica as the rambunctious Strarbuck, he carries himself with the self assured swagger needed for the character. My favorite A-Team member was always Murdock. It takes a sane and professional actor of considerable talent to pull off insane so well. Dwight Schultz pushed his character in wonderful bizarre directions and added a lot more to humanize the team than just providing comic relief. Mister T was the tough guy with the heart of gold. Although it looked like he could bench press any two members of the cast he was the heart of the team, always caring about others.

Universal continues to give the public classic television series from their vaults. Unlike studios that let years go by between season sets Universal is fairly consistent which their releases putting out full seasons of the A-Team synchronized with two other beloved series, Magnum PI and Knight Rider. The full screen video here shows a few signs of age but not many. There is the occasional speck or white streak that shows up but over all the video is better than televised syndication. The audio is a mono re-mixed to Dolby two channels. As such the separation is not the greatest but it was clear and mixed at the right level. Unlike other sets released in this batch there is no extras, not even a preview episode from season four. This is the perfect set to break out with the whole family and enjoy. There is action enough for everyone and a cast that will make you laugh.

Posted 2/3/06