Alerte dans l'espace

I had vague memories of this show from when I was a kid. No one I asked could remember it and I wasn't sure it really existed. Fast forward to now and a search of the good ol' IMDb and there it was. even more surprising was it was (is) available on DVD. I rolled me own smokes and didn't buy any video games for the month of July and half of August. I bought a pre-paid VISA and ordered it. Oh, happy happy joy joy!! It arrived on a Friday, allowing me to hole up and spend the weekend with it. WOW! It was worth every crappy self-rolled cigarette. Some complicated characters, great writing, and lots of fun make it more than a treat. It also shows black characters as members of the team, no more and no less. Isn't that what equality is all about? Anglophiles, sci-fi buffs, and wanna-be film makers (myself included) should watch every minute. The models are great and the fashions for 1980 are hip, slick, and cool. By all means, check it out. You won't be disappointed.

In ones opinion this is the best of the Gerry Anderson productions. The various plot lines go into many different aspects of the personal lives of the characters, marriage break-ups, blackmail, interracial and sexual tensions (very new on TV in 1970), the loneliness of command and the mundane arguing of budgetry cuts. The acting is as good as anything seen today particularly Ed Bishop, Michael Billington and George Sewell. Excellent direction, marvellous sets and special effects on limited TV budgets. The programme stands the test of time and one thinks that young people of today would find it just as exciting as people did in 1970.

I recently had a chance to review ALL of the UFO episodes in the order that they were numbered. Now I realize that this is not the order that they were originally presented, however they were great. Just great. I saw Star Wars in the theater. I have been weaned on science-fiction, so I think that I can say when I see good stuff and when I don't. Another reviewer said that the basic premise of this story could go for at least FIVE YEARS. I agree. 100%. Even the LAST episode (which was obviously not meant to be THE last episode) was very high quality and an appropriate ending, where it referenced the original pilot.

My friend highly recommended this show to me, and I cannot say that I'm disappointed. I've seen people complain about the acting? Unreal. The acting is top-notch, and many of the principals have been (or were) involved in high-end British acting gigs at the time. To me, the characters and the story were the driving forces. At the time they were very original. In fact, I am not surprised that many of the 'key elements' have been recycled in other places.

If Hollywood were to make a movie of this series they had best hold true to the original notion(s). As I said before, one review said that this idea could go for 5 years. It could. They could have COUNTLESS plots with the Moon Base, SkyDiver, the Mobiles, people from the past, people about to expose SHADO, budget funding, and so forth. Frankly, I think that they quit while they were FAR AHEAD. I'm sure that the fans would salivate for more, but only if the quality was as good. More often than not any sort of revival is often met with disdain. It would be unfortunate if UFO was met with that sort of inane fandom. It was far classier than that.

To me, probably one of classiest sci-fi show I've ever seen. Awesome. Truly awesome. Don't ruin it. Please! Cheers! PAYROLL

UFO was one of the most ambitious science fiction series ever produced for television. The array of hardware ran from a base on the moon with interceptor space ships to submarines with a jet aircraft that could detatch itself from the bow & rocket through the ocean depts & into the sky. In between the S.H.A.D.O. organization had S.I.D., the satellite in space to detect enemy/alien saucers, to mobiles that were futuristic tank-like vehicles,and much, much more.These were all employed by the secret Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Org. which was a collection of earth governments whose mission was to defend the planet from an unknown & hostile alien race invading us.Gerry Anderson created an epic series for TV that I doubt could be done these days for television due to what would be an enormous cost. If this premise is ever revived, it would be better served as a multi-million dollar feature film.I can't think of many U.S. series that had so much hardware, models, & fx all going on in them. To be sure it had its flaws.The Shado h.q. hidden beneath an operating movie studio hardly seemed the best choice for covert ops.The Interceptors, the first line of defense against the alien saucers, only had one missile to fire with no other weaponry on board,& the design for the alien saucers made it look more like a kid's toy.But you certainly got your money's worth & then some every week with this show.

Gerry Anderson was the creator of 'The Thunderbirds' and several other hugely successful children's SF/adventure puppet shows that enthralled generations of British and Australian kids and kept them glued to their TV sets. Anderson eventually grew tired of the format and wanted to branch out into live action drama. He made the hugely underrated movie 'Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun' in 1969, and used several members of the supporting cast in his next project 'UFO', most notably the super cool Ed Bishop. Bishop had a small role in Anderson's movie, and had previously had a bit part in '2001', but he became the central character of 'UFO', playing Com. Ed Straker leader of SHADO a secret organisation fighting a group of mysterious and hostile aliens. Anderson believed the series would lead on to bigger and better things for Bishop and make a major star, but sadly this was not to be. Watching 'UFO' now is a very strange experience because it combines lots of hilarious kitschy moments with some quite serious dramatic touches e.g. characters actually die, even children, and many episodes have very downbeat endings, something not all that common in say, the usually optimistic (original) 'Star Trek'. Despite being continually told we are watching events set in 1980, there are many bits of 1960s fashions, hair style and attitudes on display. This is particularly amusing in one episode where Col. Foster (Paul Billington) is on leave and goes to a party where everybody is frugging and grooving to The Beatles 'Get Back', or another great episode where two hippies take acid and meet a couple of spacemen. The whole series mixes and matches styles from the time it was made with ideas of what it was going to be like ten years in the future , which of course, is now over twenty years ago... This means that 'UFO's 1980 is very unlike OUR 1980! So the show has a unique retro-futuristic feel, quite unlike anything else before or since. Another odd thing about the show was that the supporting cast changed back and forth without a word of explanation. Early on the extremely foxy Gabrielle Drake (sister of doomed cult singer Nick Drake!) is in charge of the moonbase, then it's Foster, then someone else. And Straker (Bishop)'s second in command changes from the craggy faced George Sewell (Col. Freeman) to the more aesthetically pleasing Wanda Ventham (Col. Lake), and nothing is mentioned about it. Fans of British TV and movies from the 1960s will see several familiar faces as semi-regulars or guest stars, including David Warbeck, Steven Berkoff, Anoushka Hempel, Lois Maxwell, Shane Rimmer, and others. Also keep an eye out for 60s cult babe Ayshea, who is in just about every episode but hardly says half a page of dialogue throughout the whole series. She mainly wanders around holding a clip board and looking beautiful. The real sex symbol of the show however was the utterly gorgeous Gabrielle Drake, complete with silver jumpsuit and purple wig. Hundreds of middle aged men around the world are still in love with her I'm sure. I know I am! The early episodes of the series are sometimes a bit uneven, but the quality improved as the series went on. Unfortunately the series didn't continue, but Anderson went on to make 'Space 1999', a more commercially successful series, but not necessarily a better program. 'UFO' is highly recommended to all SF fans, especially those that dig the 1960s. It is by no means as mind-blowing and innovative as 'The Prisoner', or as consistently enjoyable as 'The Avengers', but personally I still prefer it to original Trek.