UFO

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.

Everything you need to know about the show is contained in the opening credits; and they're some of the most eye popping and in your face since "Hawaii 5-0". Lots of quick cuts, flash frames, printouts and action shots showing you that aliens are attacking and that SHADO, Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation are on the case. All this is set to a thumping and groovy Barry Gray theme tune.

As a child, we loved the models, the action and the gimmicks. Sometimes we'd go to anywhere where there was a tube (like a waterslide or even a building site) and imagine us going down the chutes to enter our interceptors like the SHADO pilots did. As an adult, I never realized that under the mod fashions and shiny sets, there were some grim and downbeat stories in that show. Ed Straker was probably the first truly mean bastard to be a TV series main character. There was nothing he wouldn't do to stop the aliens, sacrificing his troops and even his family for the cause. Gerry Anderson said that Ed Bishop was the most talented actor he's ever worked with, and Bishop certainly is powerful in the role of Straker. Michael Billington was the man who might have been James Bond; he tested for the role 4 times and certainly you can imagine him in the part when you see him as Paul Foster here. Poor old Foster, every other week he was being set up by one side or the other.

The show has it's faults, what show doesn't? But UFO was a darker series than it's contemporary, Star Trek, because it had major characters arguing with each other, episodes where the aliens beat SHADO, personal tragedy and downbeat endings; all of which caused problems. A second series was going to be made, and the new moonbase sets were designed, new craft called "Eagles" were made when the network said that sci-fi set on Earth was a thing of the past; from now on it had to be about space exploration and lots of different aliens. So series two of UFO was canned and we got "Space:1999" instead. Ever feel short changed? The end credits of UFO were genuinely chilling which left the viewer feeling even more down! In the end, shows like "Blake's 7", "Babylon 5" and the new version of "Battlestar Galactica" owe a lot to Ed Straker and SHADO, with its charismatic yet ruthless characters, its interpersonal conflicts and humanity. My favourite episode? "Court Martial". Favourite line? Straker: "I'll listen to any reasonable suggestion, then I'm going to tell you how it's going to be"

Really, nobody did it better than the Andersons. But when that thing you do is so delieriously unique, that's understandable. In 1970, the "UFO" series was end of an era. It was the last production to carry the legend A GERRY ANDERSON CENTURY 21 PRODUCTION. With the passing of his studio operation, a little of the magic fell away from the Anderson production line. Certainly the loss of Derek Meddings was noticeable on "Space:1999" which has some wonderfil model work (courtesy of Martin Bower) but found the talents of Brian Johnson (SPX) lacking the elan and sophistication of Meddings. You only have to see a UFO exploding and compare that to an Eagle doing likewise to see that, when it came to the big pyrotechnic display, Meddings really was the master. "UFO" was the greatest work the Century 21 team ever produced. By the end of the 26 epsode run it had progressed from a slightly plodding live action take on "Captain Scarlet" to become one of the best science fiction series over produced in the UK, period. Check out the deranged final 9 episodes for proof of this. They are almost as good as "The Prisoner" in their way. If you haven't discovered the series yet, or haven't seen it for many years, now is most certainly the time. The new DVDs from Carlton show "UFO" in a shimmering new light. It was quite simply one of the best looking series ever made. So, welcome back "UFO" and thank you Gerry and Sylvia making our childhoods that little bit sweeter.

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.

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.