UFO

I remember this show when I was a kid in the late 70's. Every so often it was on during Saturday afternoons. Always a fan of spaceships and such, I was hooked. I couldn't remember much other than the various vehicles and Ed Straker's hair.

I recently got the entire thing on DVD and yes it's kind of campy but it's so fun to watch. I love retro stuff. I love British programming. I love SciFi. For me this was a hit.

I can echo the comments of another poster who said that he must be the only American to have seen and remembered it. I felt the same way. All through the years I when the topic came up I would describe it and the series name and NO ONE would remember it to the point of questioning if there was such a series ever on American TV. There was. U.F.O.

As far as the criticism goes... Yes some of them are a bit true but that is part of what makes this a SciFi cult classic.

I love the series with all of it's campiness and am so happy to own it on DVD. I received it as a Christmas present and still haven't watched the entire thing. I take it in small doses in order to savor every last drop.

My favorite female is Joan Harrington (Antonia Ellis - what a beautiful lady) and although Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) is an awesome character I really enjoyed the "James Bond" like smoothness and eye for the ladies of Alex Freeman. (George Sewell)

My favorite prop was the liquor dispenser in Straker's office and how they are all smoking cigarettes. I don't smoke cigarettes but it's so 60's/70's.

I LOVE IT!

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.

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.

I watched this show as a child in Canada, and I remember it fondly. It was very ambitious in its reach - the anti-alien organization had at its disposal a moon base, space craft, special land mobiles and a submarine that could also launch a manned aircraft! This involved lots of models and special effects, and was very exciting at the time. I also enjoyed the personal life conflicts of the characters in the series; the show was not just an endless series of explosions and chases, it tried for a more serious, complex approach. It's funny now to look at the odd clothes worn and bizarre hairdos (including purple wigs as part of the uniform of the female personnel on the moon base!) but the show was meant to be taking place 10 years in the future, so it is possible that the unusual costuming was meant to add an exotic, futuristic atmosphere.