Customer Reviews

UFO Set 2

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once upon a time I was so into this show that I would have called all the episodes great on their own level. In fact, truth be told there are only a few really brilliant episodes in the first half of the series, the rest vary between good and rather dull and ordinary. However...THIS is the second and best half of the series where the whole production team really do seem to hit their stride in a big way.
Great episodes follow in rapid succession in this half of UFO, Subsmash, Mindbender, Cat With Ten Lives, Destruction, Reflections in the Water, Psychobombs, Long Sleep and the startlingly good Timelash. They also achieve a unique style and favour of TV Science Fiction, reminiscent of both Thunderbirds and Patrick McGoohan's cult series The Prisoner, but focused on a very serious and very human hero, Straker, played to perfection by the charismatic and energetic Ed Bishop. Its an edgey, surrealistic series, reminiscent of Twilight Zone or The Invaders, at times, with its possessed humans and mind-bending, time-twisting plots.
UFO is perhaps one of the ultimate cult series, and a precursor to the underrated but more famous Space:1999. It belongs in the DVD collection of any true SF fan. Highly recommended!

UFO was ahead of its time; the real-life counterpart to Captain Scarlet in terms of sophistication of plot and technical excellence. Considering how long ago this series was made the models and special effects were truly superb. I often wonder what might have been if Gerry Anderson and Gene Rodenberry had gotten together.

Where UFO set 1 started a little awkwardly with the characters finding their feet, UFO 2 represents more sophisticated plot lines and characterisations. The series kinda ran out of steam in no small part because the entire premise was a little too far fetched to stand the light of scientific scrutiny, but it's still better than most of the drivel produced today. The Aliens are really a vehicle for stories that revealed human strengths, weaknesses and falibilities.

One point. This series was made in an era when smoking was 'cool'. Hard bitten professionals always smoked because they were "Real Men". So you'll need to look beyond this glaring example of Political Incorrectness.

UFO deserves to be reborn but I don't know where they'd find the script writers to do a decent job. Overall this DVD collection is a must-have for sci-fi buffs and I will always feel grateful to Gerry Andersen for his vision, energy and immense talent.

UFO Set 2 is as good as set 1. I realy liked the UFO tv series. I think it was a good tv series. When it left the air I was unhappy because I liked the series very much. Now I own both dvd sets and I watch them a lot. I am glad that the series is out on dvd.

UFO Set 2 is as good as set 1. I realy liked the UFO tv series. I think it was a good tv series. When it left the air I was unhappy because I liked the series very much. No I own both dvd sets and I watch them a lot. I am glad that the series is out on dvd.

This is the science fiction series the Andersons made before Space 1999, and an early prototype to the X-Files. Its visually stunning and well photographed,and the stories are very series and grim- alien conspiracies, zombies, mind altering weapons and all sorts of wild crazy things happening. There are purple wigs and silver mini-skirts and really cool mod fashions. If youre a fan of the X-files check this show out.

"U.F.O." was a short-lived sci-fi TV series created by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson. The premise of the show was simple: following the discovery that an extraterrestrial civilization has been paying clandestine visits to Earth to kidnap & kill humans to harvest their body parts, the United Nations funds a highly secretive international organization nicknamed SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization) to combat the alien threat. SHADO's commander, Colonel Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) is assisted by Col. Alec Freeman (George Sewell), Col. Paul Foster (Michael Billington) and Col. Virgina Lake (Wanda Ventham).

SHADO utilizes various resources to combat the aliens:
1. A sophisticated, underground headquarters pretending to be a major film studio in London.
2. A manned lunar base (Moonbase) armed with three fighters (Interceptors) to attack UFOs before they reach Earth, and usually commanded by Lt. Gay Ellis (Gabrielle Drake) or Lt. Nina Barry (Dolores Mantez).
3. A sophisticated control & radar tracking satellite called SID (Space Intruder Detector) orbiting the Earth to detect incoming UFOs.
4. A fleet of submarine fighter carriers (Skydivers) called upon to attack UFOs in Earth's atmosphere should the Moonbase Interceptors 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 (Mobiles) to seek out and destroy UFOs that land.
6. Other support craft including moon rovers and the Lunar Module (used to shuttle personnel between the Earth & moon).

Recurring themes in the 26 total episodes include:
1. SHADO's continual attempts to avert the alien's plans & attacks.
2. The aliens' various attempts to destroy SHADO, Straker or both.
3. The effect that being a SHADO operative has on personal lives (usually Straker's or Foster's life).
4. SHADO's attempts to obtain more information about the aliens.
5. Security threats to SHADO's secrecy.
6. Ongoing funding issues for SHADO's very costly expenses.

With the infamous purple wigs that female Moonbase personnel wear, hippies, exuberant usage of bright colors and go-go boots, "U.F.O." has the look and feel of the late 1960's, especially since when it was filmed between 1969 and 1970. However, none of that takes away from the quality of the writing. Dialog wasn't always great, but plot consistency and the revisiting of previous storylines made for a very engaging and 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 another season of "U.F.O.", never achieved the same level of character development or consistency, though its special effects were improved.

I rate the 13 episodes contained in this 4-DVD set as follows:

* "The Responsibility Seat" 5+/5. A beautiful reporter interviews Straker and leaves her purse with a running tape recorder in Straker's office. With Straker busy, Freeman is in charge of SHADO and contends with multiple issues including a runaway Russian moon mobile on a colision course with Moonbase.

* "E.S.P." 4.5/5. A man, John Cruxley (John Stratton), is going mad because he can read other people's thoughts and foresees his wife killed when a UFO crashes into their house. What threat does Cruxley pose to SHADO?

* "Kill Straker!" 4.5/5. A UFO takes over the minds of Foster and another pilot on the moon with a single purpose: to kill Straker. Will they succeed? Will Straker keep confidence in Foster?

* "Sub Smash" 4/5. Straker and Nina Barry go on board Skydiver to hunt down a rogue UFO, but it disables Skydiver, forcing Straker to contend with claustrophobia. Will they get out alive?

* "The Sound of Silence" 4.5/5. Avoiding interception, a UFO lands near the home of champion horse trainers. After one person disappears, will Foster be able to find and destroy the UFO, and what will be found inside of an alien-made cylinder?

* "The Cat With Ten Lives" 4/5. When on leave, SHADO Interceptor pilot James Regan (Alexis Kanner) and his wife are ambushed by a UFO after stopping their car to avoid hitting a cat. Regan's wife disappears, but Regan keeps the cat, which is under alien control.

* "Destruction" 5/5. After a naval ship destroys a UFO, SHADO and the Navy argue over each other's secrecy; but has someone's security been undermined by the aliens?

* "The Man Who Came Back" 4/5. Weeks after SID is disabled by a UFO attack and a spaceship disappears, the pilot of the missing spaceship mysteriously reappears. Can the reappeared pilot repair SID or does he have other intentions?

* "The Psychobombs" 5+/5. A landed UFO hypnotically controls 3 nearby people and gives them seemingly superhuman strength. Can SHADO stop them before they destroy SHADO?

* "Reflections in the Water" 4/5. A large underwater dome is found by Skydiver. What will Foster and Straker find inside?

* "Timelash" 5++/5. Straker and Lake are trapped within a moment of time. Will they be able to stop a UFO from attacking SHADO headquarters that gained assistance from a crazed SHADO traitor?

* "Mindbender" 5/5. After a UFO mysteriously self-destructs near Moonbase, a few SHADO operatives begin to hallucinate with deadly results, including Straker.

* "The Long Sleep" 5+/5. A comatose woman awakens after 10 years to waiting SHADO personnel. She saw a UFO and two aliens plotting something. Can she remember where she dropped a critical alien component?

People more accustomed to modern computerized special effects may not enjoy "U.F.O." as much because its special effects aren't as expensive or sophisticated; but don't let lack of funds or lack of technology spoil your enjoyment of this underrated TV series that I rate with 5 out of 5 stars!

If you're a fan of the series or you bought the first set and liked what you saw, and you are now considering whether or not to spring for the second, the quick answer is yes. It should be said that the series changed as it went along. The original premise--that the aliens were harvesting transplant organs from humans--gave way to a new concept, that the aliens reprogram the minds of humans for use as zombie servants.

This resulted in a radical shift in the series, from a space operatic, us-against-them concept, a la "Star Trek" or "Star Wars", to a psychological horror, us-against-ourselves concept, a la "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or "X-Files." Whether or not this is an improvement depends on your tastes.

Sadly, Alec Freeman, Gay Ellis, and Peter Carlin faded away as the series progressed. On the plus side, Nina Barry gets more to do, and Virginia Lake, whom we met in the pilot episode, becomes a regular.

Even if these changes are not to your taste, you should buy the set, as it contains three memorable episodes, and one absolute, not-to-be-missed corker:

"The Resonsibility Seat": An uncharacteristic lapse in judgment on Ed Straker's part leads to a security problem. Ed decides to go out into the field to deal with it himself, leaving Alec Freeman in command at SHADO. As Ed's adventure veers between security problem and romantic entanglement, Alec struggles to cope with a series of crises, some of which prove to be trivial, and some serious, without succumbing to the temptation to phone the boss and ask for advice. An unusual episode that veers from funny to tense to romantic and back again.

"Sub Smash": A compelling episode depicting Ed Straker, Paul Foster, Nina Barry, and two other crew members trapped on the seabed inside a Skydiver that's been disabled by a UFO.

"Mindbender": The aliens plant a hallucinogenic booby trap on the Moon which causes SHADO personnel to imagine first, that Mexican bandits have taken over Moonbase, then, that aliens have taken over SHADO HQ. When it finds its way into Ed Straker's hands, he hallucinates that he is an actor in a television series. Guess what it's about.

"Timelash": The gem of this set. The aliens manage to freeze SHADO HQ (and the movie studio above it) in time, with the assistance of a traitor named Turner. Only Ed Straker and Virginia Lake are unaffected. They must find a way to stop the aliens and save their colleagues, but first they must beat Turner at his own game of cat and mouse, complicated by the fact that Turner has the ability to slip forward or backward in time. The movie studio above SHADO was always a bit surreal, but it was never used to such good effect as in this episode, where the eerieness is compounded by the time freeze. Studio hands are frozen in the act of tossing a stool, a bird hangs motionless in midair, so does cigar smoke. Great stuff.

Awesome set I waited to see these episodes again since it was on TV in the early 70's. The stories are great, I hope someone makes a movie. I higly recommend this set as well as Set 1.

With the second set, UFO is now familiar again in its completion. Contained are a few of the riskier plot devices and the better locations.
As most fans know, the series was shot 17-9. George Sewell was replaced by Wanda Ventham who was also in Identified. As good as UFO is for true fans, it can't really compete with some modern works. The acting is iffy in places and the politics show their age.
The viewer already knows this when they buy, so it shouldn't be a big surprise. It is possible to analyze this series to death, coming to the conclusion that we as people are repressed xenophobes. When viewed within the context of the late 60s and in the similar context of a producer of children's shows via marionettes, UFO looks like a vast improvement in cinematic genius. Viewers may also contrast this short lived series with the updated and debatable Space1999 which essentially reinvented itself in its second season. For this reason alone, UFO in its compact 26 episode run will forever be the cult favorite of the emerging space/alien genre.
As for the DVD itself, the packaging leaves much to be desired. The best stuff is on the media. The viewer will have to overlook a few mishaps in the transfer process, notably the slowed down voice. Yet for the price, this completion set does the trick.

I remebeer watching this show since the early seventees when there was only sci-fi sows like star trek. UFO had what trek lacked, style and flash. whether it's the cool intro theme, the skydiver (half sub half fighter craft) and not to mention the moonbase cuties with the purple wigs i guess it's only to match their silver skirts. ha ha!

the stories are ahead of their time and much more sureal than the tv shows during that era.my favourite epidsodesfrom set 2 are:
SUBSMASH were stake confronts his fear of claustaphobia) REFLECTIONS I TH WATER (shado discovers an aien underwater base that mrrors thier own HQ)

MINDBENDER (a mysterius rock with brainwashing efets, this epidsode also gives a inse look behid the sets of UFO)

TIMELASH (te last epidsode of UFO with commentary from actress wanda wentham and sylvia anderson) and The cLAssic epidsde THE LONG SLEEP (this epidode was too contraversial to air on television for awhile mainly due to the subjects :drug abuse and rape. the last minute of THE LONG SLEEP was a tear jerker and is rightfully aired as "the last epidsode" of UFO) unfortunetly it only lasted one bloody season. needless to say, ufo had paved the way for the lame SPACE 1999 series. this is the case of "if it aint broke.."

UFO had the coolest gadgets that were believable Even for asci-fi series (electric tothbrushes,cordless phones,text pager ETC.)
as a matter of fact, we have these things today. te andersons had a go idea of what the future would be

I remember watching his show as a kid, and with this DVDS i can relive my childhood...