Survival School

[leethet]

I was just reading tgabrielle's most interesting old post about Survival School here and it got me thinking about two things. 1) Napoleon's student A-number one, top dog, big cheese, etc., at Survival School. That gets me all girly inside, initially, about how entirely sexy and cool he is, but you know what? Given what's required to be top dog at Survival School, it kind of makes Napoleon an asshole, doesn't it? Or at least, not really very admirable as a human being. Cunning, ruthless, underhanded, manipulative ... hm. Good UNCLE agent, not so good person. 2) tgabrielle points out that we see only the physical training and wonders if they simply didn't show the intellectual stuff because it's hard to film, which makes sense. But it got me thinking ... what if Survival School is just that? A physical survival school. And there's other schools, maybe one or more than one, with courses the agents must pass to enter the field. There's nothing indicating for sure that agents only take Survival School and no other training, is there? So there could be History School and Intelligence School and all that other stuff (or, one school for the physical stuff and one for the intellectual/psychological stuff). And what would that other school/those other schools be like? So ... that's all. I was just thinkin. :)

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

tgabrielle points out that we see only the physical training and wonders if they simply didn't show the intellectual stuff because it's hard to film, which makes sense. But it got me thinking ... what if Survival School is just that? A physical survival school. And there's other schools, maybe one or more than one, with courses the agents must pass to enter the field. There's nothing indicating for sure that agents only take Survival School and no other training, is there? So there could be History School and Intelligence School and all that other stuff (or, one school for the physical stuff and one for the intellectual/psychological stuff). And what would that other school/those other schools be like? So ... that's all. I was just thinkin. :)

Actually, that does make more sense, to have the intellectual courses somewhere else. It wouldn't seem the island would be all that conducive to learning. And, as you say, it is called Survival school.

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

I always thought that there were more things taught there, we just didn't see the boring stuff. What was filmed was a result of a tight budget as well.

(BTW: in the script, the school looks far more formidable ---castle-like if I remember ---and far more sinister). I'm at the Jersey Shore right now, but when I get home, I'll dig up the script and post the description.

Because to be an agent, 'survival' depends on more than being physcially tough and even being a good marksman. The psychological stuff would be important too, and in the end, that's what I think Solo excelled at. He probably impressed Cutter in a way Cuttern never expected, and that's why Cutter still remembered him for years to come.