SECTION III. THE DETAILS


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? :-)
    

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."
     
License plates on BA's van: 2L83000  2E14859
License plate on Face's vette: IHJG851

(Note: These are just the licence plate numbers I've identified so far.  There
were no doubt other numbers, and sometimes I think I spotted different #'s on
front and back plates of the van in the same episode!)


WHAT TYPE OF GUNS DID THE A-TEAM USE?
From Justin T. Huang:
"The A-Team used Ruger AC556s regularly...Hannibal carried a '7 shot 9mm
pistol' which is beyond me...most of the 9mm pistols I own or know about have
many more than 7 rounds.  The AC556 is the fully automatic version of the
Ruger Mini-14, which is available in your local gunstore for about $500 these
days, pre-ban.  The 30 round magazines (from Ruger factory) are going for
almost $80 now...they did use M16A1s occasionally."

Also, as Michele Lellouche points out, Face had a chromed .45 (see
"The Taxicab Wars" again).


 WHAT DID THE BACK OF MURDOCK'S JACKET SAY?
Da Nang 1970.


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.
     


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...


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"


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.)  


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.

FAQ maintained and compiled by Nicole Pellegrini pellegri@eniac.seas.upenn.edu