THRUSH

Overview

U.N.C.L.E.'s primary adversary was THRUSH (WASP in the pilot movie). The original series never divulged who or what THRUSH represented, nor was it ever used as an acronym. It was, however, defined in the Expanded universe of the tie-in U.N.C.L.E. novels written by David McDaniel. The Dagger Affair, the fourth novel, stated it stood for the "Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity".

In the novels it was supposed to have been founded by Col. Sebastian Moran after the death of Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Final Problem". But in a 2nd season episode, guest star Jesse Royce Landis plays Madame Olga Nemirovitch, a character who claims that she founded THRUSH.

Thrush's principal antagonist is U.N.C.L.E.

THRUSH's aim was to conquer the world. Napoleon Solo said, in "The Green Opal Affair", "THRUSH believes in the two-party system – the masters and the slaves", and in the pilot episode ("The Vulcan Affair"), THRUSH "kills people the way people kill flies – a reflex action – a flick of the wrist." THRUSH was considered so dangerous an organization that even governments who were ideologically opposed to each other – such as the United States and the Soviet Union – had cooperated in forming and operating the U.N.C.L.E. organization. Similarly, when Solo and Kuryakin held opposing political views, the friction between them in the story was held to a minimum. Although executive producer Norman Felton and Ian Fleming conceived Napoleon Solo, it was producer Sam Rolfe who created the global U.N.C.L.E. hierarchy and included the Soviet agent, Illya Kuryakin. Unlike the CIA or Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), U.N.C.L.E. was a global organization of agents from many countries and cultures.

Background

According to a promotional booklet handed out around the time of the first season:

"...Improbable as an organization such as U.N.C.L.E. may appear, it does exist. So, too, does a nation called THRUSH.

If you were to examine the globe carefully, you would not find Thrush's name engraved anywhere on it. Yet time and time again, as you passed your hand over country after country, you would have placed your fingers (unknowingly) on territory under the domination of Thrush.

For Thrush is a supra-nation, without geographical boundaries: a series of self-contained units in various sections of many countries of the world. Those units or satrapies, may take the form of a manufacturing complex, or a school, or a chain of underground tunnels and caverns, or a department store. They exist as a functional part of the society in which they are located. But they have a shadowy existence all their own, a secret life in which their personnel dedicate their fanatic loyalty to Thrush.

Thrush's inflexible objective is to dominate the Earth.

The Capital

There is an almost governmental structure of authority in THRUSH. At the top is the Council: a group of men and women, all leaders in their various fields, almost all super-intellects. These scientists, industrialists, and intellectuals hold positions of importance in their various countries through routine channels and social living. But no matter where they reside, they pledge their allegiance to Thrush, as do their minions, the lesser men and women who execute Thrush's commands.

At regular intervals, the Council members meet at Thrush, the capital city from which the organization takes its name. This capital also is concealed under a specific "cover". But, unlike the other satrapies, it's mobile, constantly shifted from place to place, from country to country, from land to underground to sea to air and back. It never is allowed to stay in any one place long enough for any enemy to locate and destroy it.

Thrush's capital contains every necessary function to sustain human life under any condition and all the adjuncts of a government. It was its army, its clerks, its various divisions and compartments, its echelons of leadership. Variations on these elements also appear in the satrapy units of Thrush.

The Ultimate Computer

Most important of all, THRUSH has the Ultimate Computer. All decisions of the council are made by this apparatus. An almost infallible thinking machine, it has been developed by the brightest minds of Thrush. The Council collects all information on any subject or endeavor, feeds the information to The Ultimate Computer, then follows the plan of action developed by it. When Thrush fails, it is not due to any flaw in The Ultimate Computer but human failure or to superior enemy personnel.

The Enemy

With its overwhelming resources and vast reservoir of brains, money, and power, Thrush is a potent force which does not hesitate to use any form of evil to attain its ends.

While its enormous treasury is replenished constantly through illegitimate as well as legitimate enterprises, THRUSH is far more than a mere international clique of clever criminals. It is a tightly organized world-wide syndicate that has at its command all the newest weapons, methods of communication, and transportation facilities, plus research and industrial components that would do credit to any modern country.

Led by a group of super-intellectuals under the guidance of the Ultimate Computer and dedicated to a policy of self-aggrandizement at the expense of all others, this super-nation is at war with everyone. Thrush has no allies. Only enemies. If you are not on Thrush's side, you are marked to be ruled or destroyed.

External link

• Dragon Magazine #74 - Annarchiveannarchive.com Files Drmg074 tracing thrush's nest also information on uncle
• http://muncle211.dreamwidth.org/1052340.html#cutid1

References

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