The A-Team/Characters

The A-Team

John "Hannibal" Smith

Played by: George Peppard (series), Liam Neeson (film)

The leader of the team.

Tropes:

• Catch Phrase: "I love it when a plan comes together"!
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Or as Face puts it:

"That's not even a real smile. It's just a bunch of teeth messing with my mind!"

• Cool Old Guy
• Magnificent Bastard
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: His nickname.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His first name is seldom spoken, not even by his own teammates.
• Same Face, Different Name: George Peppard also played a crook in the fourth season's opener "Judgement Day".

Templeton "Faceman" Peck

Played by: Dirk Benedict (Tim Dunigan in the pilot) (series), Bradley Cooper (film)

The team's con man, who would get whatever you needed. A true womanizer.

Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: The episode "Steel" featured a homage to Battlestar Galactica Classic, in which Dirk Benedict starred as Lt. Starbuck. In "Steel", the team visits Universal Studios, where Face sees a Cylon passing by, with a "Don't I know you from some place"-look on his face.
• The Charmer
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
• Put on a Bus: Tim Dunigan as the first Face.
• Shout-Out: See Actor Allusion.
• The Other Darrin: Dirk Benedict was creator Stephen J. Cannell's first choice for the role of Face, but the producers hired Tim Dunigan to play the character in the pilot. After the episode was broadcasted, critics found him too young for a person who fought in Vietnam, and the actor was also too tall. So the producers, having heard of Cannell's choice of Benedict, then hired the latter instead.
• The Scrounger

H.M. "Howling Mad Murdock"

Played by Dwight Schultz (series) Sharlto Copley (film)

Tropes:

• Ace Pilot
• Berserk Button: "THRASHBAGS!!"
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Crazy Awesome
• Executive Meddling: Schultz hardly appeared in "Children of Jamestown" (the first episode after the pilot") as he was on the edge of being written out. After seeing the pilot, critics found the character of Murdock too childish and unrealistic for a show like this. However test audiences loved the character too much, he was saved.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Schultz had a recurring role as Barclay on Star Trek. He's also provided voices for a lot of video game characters at this point.
  • In the film, he is Wikus
• Only Known by Their Nickname: H.M. not only stands for his nickname, but also his real name, which we are never told.
• Once an Episode: Breaking him out of the asylum. Until the final season, in which he was devastated to learn that he'd been declared sane and released permanently.

Bosco Albert "Bad Attitude" Baracus

Played by: Mr. T (series) Rampage Jackson (film)

Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: Many of B.A.'s characteristics are based on that of Mr. T himself, such as the mohawk cut and the gold chains.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty: "I ain't getting on no plane!"
• Berserk Button: Murdock mostly
• Catch Phrase: "Shut up fool!" to Murdock. And "He's on the jazz" about Hannibal.
• Embarrassing First Name: "Scooter", the nickname his mother gave to him. It only appears in that episode though.
• Only Known by Their Nickname
• Put on a Bus: IT ALMOST HAPPENED. Around season 4, which was a hard time for the show, Mr. T many times threatened to quit. Rumors say that NFL Player William "The Refrigerator" Perry would replaced him. Luckily, Mr. T decided to stay.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Hates flying. Giving him drugged milk to knock him out so they can get him on a plane is a Running Gag.

Allied members

Amy "Amanda" Allen

Played by: Melinda Culea (seasons 1 and 2)

Tropes:

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Besides the episode after her departure, in which Decker mentions she's working in Jakarta, Indonesia, Amy just vanished from the series. The final episode of the second season was "Curtain Cull" in which Murdock was seriously wounded. While saving his life, we see flashbacks from previous episodes. And NONE of these flashbacks have Amy in them. They never even mention her again.
• Put on a Bus

Tawnia Baker

Played by: Marla Heasly (seasons 2 and 3 (1 episode))

Tropes:

• And Starring: Every episode in which she appears. Unlike Amy, she never was added into the intro.
• Put on a Bus
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: is one for Amy
• You Look Familiar: Marla Heasly appeared in an earlier episode, as Cherise, one of Face's yacht companions.

Frankie "Dishpan" Santana

Played by: Eddie Velez (season 5)

Became a fifth member of the team in the final season.

Tropes:

• Promoted to Opening Titles: In the first two episodes of that season, Frankie was only a guest star, as he was credited with "And Eddie Velez as Frankie Santana"
• Remember the New Guy?: Supposedly, Frankie had worked at the film studio for a long time. But before the fifth season, Hannibal, who also worked at the studio, never mentioned a special effects guy named Frankie Santana.
• The Sixth Ranger
• What Could Have Been: His name was originally going to be Frankie Sanchez.

US Army

Col. Lynch

Played by: Bill Lucking (season 1 (2 episodes) and season 3 (1 episode))

Tropes:

• Put on a Bus: He made a comeback in season 3's episode "Showdown!"

Col. Roderick Decker (seasons 2-4, and 1 episode in season 5)

Played by: Lance LeGault.

Tropes:

• Jerkass
• Put on a Bus: But he came back in the fifth season's "Trial on fire"

Capt. Crane

Played by: Carl Franklin

Decker's right hand.

Tropes:

• Put on a Bus

Col. Briggs

Played by: Charles Napier (season 3, 1 episode)

Tropes:

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He only appeared in the episode "Fire!". Originally, Decker was suppose to appear, but actor Lance LeGault was unable because he was currently working on Magnum PI. Briggs really looked and almost sounds like Decker.
• Put on a Bus: After only one episode.
• What Could Have Been: When this episode first showed up, people thought that Brigss was a permanent character, and that each season would have a different antagonist (Lynch in season 1 and Decker and season 2, and Briggs for this season.), but it turned out different.

Gen. Harlan "Bull" Fullbright"

Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: Jack Ging played the villain in two episodes on the same show before his role as Fullbright.
• Heel Face Turn
• Killed Off for Real
• Real Men Wear Pink: Gen. Fullbright's trademark white scarf. He luckily he didn't wear it when he died.

US Government

Gen. Hunt Stockwell

Played by: Robert Vaughn (season 5)

Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: Stockwell was very much the same as Robert Vaughn's Napoleon Solo from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• Catch Phrase: "Do it... my way!"
• Cool Old Guy
• Promoted to Opening Titles: Unlike the other recurring militaries who chased the A-team during the series, Stockwell would be the first (and only) to be become a main character. It may have something to do with that he's played by the great Robert Vaughn and/or that his character was more important to the storyline than his predecessors.
• The Un-Reveal: Unfortunately, the series was canceled before we would know if he really was a bad guy who only used the team for his own good, or actually wanted to clear their names.
• Batman Gambit

Lt. Sosa

Played by: Jessica Biel (film only)

Tsundere: To Faceman.

Other

Col. Morrison

Played by: Various

Tropes:

• Did Not Do the Research: In the season 4 finale, his first name is Steve. The fifth season's three-episode story arc, "The Court Martial" however reveals his first name as Samuel.
• Killed Off for Real: Happened offscreen.
• Posthumous Character

Ray Brenner

Played by: None

Was actually a fifth member of the A-Team during the Vietnam war.

Tropes:

• The Faceless
• Posthumous Character

The Narrator

Voiced by: John Ashley (seasons 1-4, intro's only)

John Ashley, who was the show's producer during the entire show, did the infamous voice in the intro who said "In 1972..."

Tropes:

• Opening Narration: "In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit..." And you know the rest.
• The Faceless
• Put on a Bus: Sort of. He didn't do the opening narration anymore for the fifth and final season since its intro was heavily changed. (Respectively, now the team is finally arrested and working for Stockwell, it became useless to say these lines.)

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