UFO: Set 1

 

 

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If you look up "cool" in the dictionary, you will find a cast photo from Gerry Anderson's 1969-1970 cult classic TV series "UFO." It's too bad this series lasted only one season. It's an unusual mix of American and British ideas, something that doesn't happen much in British or American TV.

At first I thought the series (especially the pilot episode) was like watching Austin Powers played straight, but it soon became evident that there was much more to the series than that. Sure, it has the Sixties look with clothes and decor and cool cars, but the overall storyline contains depth. And as it progresses, the stories become darker and more multi-layered.

Set 2, which contains the last 13 episodes, deals with more kidnappings and multilations by the aliens who are out to harvest the organs of earthlings, but all this just proves the point of how important SHADO was (is?) to the protection of planet Earth and to the human race.

So buy Set 1 and give yourself some time to get into the characters and it won't take long before you find yourself on a roller coaster ride enjoying some first class sci-fi adventures. I have a feeling that by the time you get to episode 13 in Set 1, you will have to have Set 2 of "UFO" in your collection so you can see the whole ball of wax.

Long live Commander Straker (Ed Bishop), sci-fi guru Gerry Anderson and all the other talented people who brought "UFO" to life in the distant future of... 1980. Yep, you heard right, 1980!

"U.F.O." was a short-lived sci-fi fantasy TV series created by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson. The premise of the show was that the governments of the nations of the Earth discover that a dying, extraterrestrial civlization has been paying clandestine visits to Earth with the sole purpose of kidnapping & killing humans to harvest their body parts. The United Nations authorizes and funds a highly secretive international organization nicknamed SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organiztion) to combat the alien threat.

Under the command of Colonel Ed Straker (played by Ed Bishop), SHADO creates several different means of protecting Earth from the aliens:
1. A sosphistaced underground computerized headquarters pretending to be a major film studio in the heart of London.
2. A manned base on the moon (called Moonbase) armed with three fighters to attack UFOs before they reach Earth.
3. A sophisticated control & radar tracking satellite called SID (Space Intruder Detector) orbitting the Earth to detect incoming UFOs.
4. A fleet of submarine fighter carriers (called Skydivers) called upon to attack UFOs in Earth's atmosphere should the Moonbase fighters fail to destroy UFOs in space. Each Skydiver is capable of launching a single fighter called Sky One (or using some other numbered designation).
5. A fleet of sophisticated armored personnel carriers called Mobiles to seek out and destroy UFOs that manage to land.
6. Other support craft like moon rovers, the Lunar Module (used to shuttle Moonbase personnel between the Earth & moon), and other support aircraft.

The 26 episodes of the series focus on several recurring themes:
1. SHADO's continual attempts to avert the alien's plans & attacks.
2. The various ways in which the aliens attempt to destroy SHADO or its commander, Colonel Ed Straker.
3. The effect that being a SHADO operative has on one's personal life, often focusing on Straker's personal life, but also Colonel Paul Foster's (played by Michael Billington).
4. SHADO's attempts to obtain more information about the aliens.
5. Security threats to the secrecy of SHADO.
6. Ongoing funding issues for very costly SHADO expenses (usually battles between Straker and General Henderson, played by Grant Taylor).

"U.F.O." very much has the look, music and feel of the 1960's, since that is when it was filmed: the infamous purple wigs that female Moonbase personnel wear, the occassional hippy party, the exuberant use of bright colors in homes and go-go boots. None of that takes away from the quality of the writing. The dialog may not have always been top notch, but the consistency with the plot as well as the revisiting of previous storylines made for a very engaging, character-driven series. In comparison with the Anderson's later TV series "Space 1999", "U.F.O." was far more consistent and interesting. "Space 1999", which was originally set to be a the second season of "U.F.O.", never achieved the same level of character development or consistency, though its special effects were improved.

As for the episodes in the first set, I rate them as follows:

* "Identified" 4/5. Ten years after the alien threat to humanity is discovered in a confirmed UFO incident, SHADO becomes fully operational and an alien is captured.

* "Computer Affair" 4/5. Lieutenant Ellis' (played by Gabrielle Drake) position of Moonbase commander is questioned after an Interceptor pilot is killed with whom she had an emotional attachment. Colonel Alec Freeman (played by George Sewell) has Lt. Ellis participate in destoying the landed UFO in a Mobile.

* "Flight Path" 4/5. A shadow operative is blackmailed by an alien to force him to make Moonbase vulnerable to attack. He volunteers to defend Moonbase himself.

* "Exposed" 5/5. A test pilot accidentally witnesses Sky One shooting down a UFO. He can't convince anyone of what he saw, but is finally brought before Straker. Will be killed or allowed to join SHADO himself?

* "Conflict" 4/5. An alien device is causing havoc for Lunar Modules, even commanded by Colonel Foster himself. Will the device be discovered in time, as well as the real alien target?

* "Survival" 5/5. Colonel Foster is assumed dead after having to fight a UFO on the lunar surface on foot. He is assisted by an alien to survive. Will the SHADO rescuers find him?

* "The Dalotek Affair" 5/5. The Dalotek company is operating a base of its own on the moon near Moonbase to the chagrin of SHADO

* "A Question of Priorities" 5/5. Straker is faced with the dilemna of getting life-saving medication to his son, or to searching for a crashed UFO. Will his son survive?

* "Ordeal" 5/5. Colonel Foster is sent to SHADO's health farm. While in the sauna, he hears a fight and is captured by an alien force. He is taken on board a UFO and placed inside of an alien liquid-filled space suit for travel to their planet. Will Foster be rescued, or does he really need to be?

* "The Square Triangle" 3/5. Two lovers plot the murder of the woman's husband, but an alien from a crashed UFO shows up instead and is killed. Will the husband survive the plot in the end? One of the only UFO episode that uses a different ending scene.

* "Court Martial" 5/5. Colonel Foster is accused of leaking secret SHADO information to the press. Would Foster really commit treason?

* "Close Up" 5/5, SHADO begins one of its most ambitious projects--to get pictures of the aliens' home planet. Will the information they receive answer their questions or add to them?

* "Confetti Check A.O.K." 5/5. Straker revisits his marriage ten years earlier and the impact that his leadership of SHADO has on it. No UFO action in this episode, but excellent character development.

People more accustomed to expensive, computerized special effects of today may not enjoy "U.F.O." as much because its special effects are far less sophisticated; but don't let the lack of funds and lack of technology spoil your enjoyment of this well made TV series.

I very much look forward to the release of the second DVD set containing the remaining 13 "U.F.O." episodes.

The time is 1980, a scant ten years from the show's inception. Technology has leapfrogged. There is now a base on the moon. It's unclear from the show whose base it is, since the commander of all the SHADO forces is American, yet all the personnel are British. Maybe it's a joint effort. Space travel is relatively effortless--people trek from the earth to the moon the same way they go out to the store for groceries, or at least the military types do. The head of SHADO is a crusty chain-smoking military type named Ed Straker, though we are not sure exactly which government he works for. Maybe he's an Independent Contractor. Anyway, Eddie has never smiled in his life. He always seems to have the world on his shoulders. (Well, he does, literally.) Eddie has so many personality disorders that it's amazing he's trusted with billions of dollars of equipment that can destroy the world. I mean, don't high-ranking military types have to pass some sort of psychological test before they let them play with H-bombs? One thing's for sure: he sure has a lot of toys at his disposal: there's Skydiver, which is a submarine fitted with an airplane that blasts off. Considering Newton's Second Law, I don't know how the rocket doesn't blow the submarine backwards into the continental shelf, but somehow it doesn't. I also don't know how the heck it links back up again later--they never show you that part. But back to Ed's toys: he has three interceptors that hunt for UFOs on the moon. Each interceptor is equipped with exactly *one* missile. I know the Carter Administration cut back the military in the 70s, but this is ridiculous! The aliens are always considerate, however, and rarely send more than three ships at a time, so as not to overwhelm the human defenses. They wouldn't be unsporting and send, maybe, 100 UFOs and wipe us out. Finally in the artillary collection there are the "mobiles," which are giant trucks with radar and lots of flashing lights. All the action is monitored by SID, a forerunner of HAL, a giant orbiting observatory that apparently has Sir Ian McKellen locked inside. ("Eeeuu-eff-ooh heading for earth at four-decimal-threee...") You expect SID to launch into a soliloquy from Hamlet, but he never does.

Now, the world at large doesn't know earth is being attacked by aliens, who want to, alternately, steal our organs, cohabitate with us, or make us breathe green liquid. The world thinks Ed Straker is a movie producer (!!) who goes to work in a studio in London every morning in his cool aerodynamic car. Actually he does, and then he locks himself in his office, announces his name, and *the whole office* lowers itself underground, to his secret SHADO base. Once he forgot his lunch, and his secretary had to go to the empty elevator shaft and throw it down to him, but it's still not clear if she knows he's leading a double life. His ex-wife certainly didn't know. She thought he was spending too much time at the office and divorced him. In reality he may have been spending too much time with the chicks with purple hair. Eddie is always finding excuses to visit these moon-babes, because, as I said, this is about as easy as running to the store for a quart of milk. No explanation for the purple wigs is given. There's been speculation over the years--was it a code for lesbianism? Just some oh-so-mod 60s fashion thing? Producer Gerry Anderson and his fashion-designer wife Sylvia insist there's no hidding meaning, but that hasn't stopped suspicion, even though the women don't have colored handkerchiefs sticking out of their back pockets. At any rate, the sole purpose of the four chicks on the moon seems to be to walk about in silver go-go boots and micro-minis while the camera lingers at thigh-level. I'm surprised they aren't shown dancing in cages. Judging from the costumes all the women wear and the fact that all female personnel are young and babe-like (and wear more mascara than a hooker at the Nevada Hilton), one would conclude the attitude around SHADO was extremely sexist, and would not be tolerated in these more enlightened times of skin-tight jeans and cropped baby-tees.

The tone of the show is pretty heavy. By that I mean everyone stands around looking at each other grimly saying things like, "The aliens are evading our defenses." "Yes. That must mean they're getting through." "Yes." "And if they're getting through, they must want to come here pretty badly." "Yes." "But why? What do they want?" "I don't know." "Well, d---it! You're supposed to know! Go lock yourself in your office with a miniskirted go-go girl and don't come out until you have an answer for me, Colonel!" Robert Towne it isn't.

Some have said the special effects are cheesy. I think they are actually quite respectable considering the budget, and the fact that this was only a few years after Star Trek (talk about cheesy effects). What's perhaps most effective about the whole show, that I've never seen commented on, is that there are often long sequences where no words are spoken, where the viewer has to put things together or divine the aliens' intentions. I wonder how much of a Kubrick 2001 influence there was when it comes to this, but some of the most memorable bits are when there is no dialogue at all, and it usually involves something the aliens are up to. We never do conclusively find out what they want with us. Maybe they're being driven to conquer earth by a crusty chain-smoking commander on their planet who says, "Why are they wearing go-go boots on the MOON? I want answers, d---it!"

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5.0 out of 5 stars Blast from the Past
I remember loving UFO in all its cheeky, kitsch glory when it first came out. Lightyears beyond FIREBALL XL-5 and THUNDERBIRDS yet keeping their sense of gosh-wow Popular Science... Read more

Published on Aug 24 2003 by Gregorator

5.0 out of 5 stars Back To The Past
I remember watching UFO when it came out in 1970. To a 9 year old into sc-fi it was a show worth watching and I looked foward to watching it every week. Read more

Published on May 21 2003 by Rich The Reviewer

4.0 out of 5 stars UFO Set 1
UFO was a good tv series back in the 1970s. it was a show before its time. I own it on dvd and it is still fun to watch. Read more

Published on May 12 2003 by Tom Sawyer Fan

5.0 out of 5 stars impressive sci-fi series
wow. i've only watched a couple of the episodes so far. but this is one impressive sci-fi series.

some of the dialogue was stilted and the acting wooden... Read more

Published on May 7 2003 by David S. Locicero

4.0 out of 5 stars TREKKIES BE DAMNED!! THIS WAS THE SCI-FI SHOW TO WATCH
this cult classic sci-fi series is entertaing from begining to end. in the opener you are treated to some stock footage from previous epidsodes accompanied with the cool intro... Read more

Published on Jan 25 2003 by DESTRO ATTACKS

4.0 out of 5 stars Invasion Earth 1980!
As you sit down to watch this set of DVDs, prepare yourself for cheesy special effects, outlandish costumes, horribly dated 70? Read more

Published on Jan 16 2003 by Paul S. White

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking forward to Vol 2
This is a great series and well worth the wait.
The sound & quality of these shows are fantastic!!
The DVDs are lovely....... Read more

Published on Jan 12 2003 by erayna

3.0 out of 5 stars Fashionwise, it was years before its time!
What I recall most of this series were the black girls with blue hair. Who would've thought that three decades later, my sisters would be sporting some hair colors to rival the... Read more

Published on Jan 5 2003 by Reginald D. Garrard

5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes the older shows are the best.
I use to watch this show when I was a kid, and was quite suprised that it was taken off the air. This show had a lot of insight, even while some of the plots were way out, some of... Read more

Published on Jan 3 2003 by David Schleifer

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic DVD film transfers
I saw this series when I was about 10 years old and have always enjoyed it. Even today, it has a flair that you don't see anymore. Read more

Published on Dec 24 2002

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