Ufo

[Toby]

The first live-action series Gerry Anderson made after his 60's Supermarionation successes, UFO is something of an underrated gem, but also a genuine oddity.

Rather optimistically set in 1980, UFO's hardware was pure THUNDERBIRDS - tanks, submarines, spaceships, skydiving planes, a top secret moonbase and underground headquarters disguised as a film studio, but the series' subject matter was surprisingly downbeat. The heroes of UFO were a set of grim-faced, square-jawed chaps working for SHADO, an organisation dedicated to battling alien invaders who came to Earth to steal our internal organs for their own nefarious purposes. SHADO were forced to work entirely in secret to avoid worldwide panic, thus their ongoing struggle against the aliens - about whom nothing was revealed aside from their penchant for plundering our innards - always had a very ambivalent Cold War atmosphere to it.

ITV never really knew how to handle UFO and scheduled it haphazardly around the various regions. Presumably because of this, plans for a second series were shelved and instead metamorphised into SPACE: 1999. Whereas SPACE: 1999 traded in cod philosophy, UFO went for a bizarre fusion of soap opera realism - one episode deals with the broken marriage of one of the main characters with the relationship collapsing because of the secret nature of the SHADO organisation - and PRISONER-like surrealism and psychedelia, with another episode featuring a sepia-lensed full-blown acid trip. No wonder the ITV schedulers of the early 1970's hadn't a clue what to do with the show.

[Toby]

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[Toby]

In an utterly tragic coincidence, two of UFO's main stars, Ed Bishop (Straker) and Michael Billington (Foster) have both died this week.

More information here.

[Toby]

[Yellow Rose Of Texas]

Woo hoo - UFO. I don't remember much about this series, except that it was so unbelievably British. All the outside shots were done at Ellstree studios and the fight secenes were a understatedly choreographed mix of judo and schoolboy boxing - all very well behaved, as if a cosmic referee was going to come down and award penalties if someone played dirty. Also they had a big fondness for shagpile carpets and eyeline. Ed Straker wore almost as much as Joan Collins and that's saying something...

[Toby]

Woo hoo - UFO. I don't remember much about this series, except that it was so unbelievably British. All the outside shots were done at Ellstree studios and the fight secenes were a understatedly choreographed mix of judo and schoolboy boxing - all very well behaved, as if a cosmic referee was going to come down and award penalties if someone played dirty. Also they had a big fondness for shagpile carpets and eyeline. Ed Straker wore almost as much as Joan Collins and that's saying something...

UFO's most memorable/risible aspect was the fact it was supposed to be 1980, as imagined by Gerry Anderson.

Whereas the real 1980 had urban alienation, New Romantics and Maggie Thatcher, the 1980 of UFO was really swinging. Purple wigs and silver mini-skirts for the ladies, see-through string vests for the blokes and a sense of eternal grooviness about it.

[J. R.'s Piece]

Sadly, George Sewell, (Colonel Alec Freeman) in the first 17 episodes filmed, died a month ago.

Sylvia Anderson was responsible for the fashions.

The second episode filmed, 'Computer Affair', features a 1984 bottle of alcohol.

A second series was dependent on American ratings. It had strong ratings for about two-thirds of the run, prompting a second run to be prepared but then they started to drop....hence the format revamp. Anderson had done 'The Protectors' with Robert Vaughn, Nyree Dawn Porter & Tony Anholt in-between. Former UFO regulars Ed Bishop and Vladek Sheybal guested on this show.

[SERVALAN]

In an utterly tragic coincidence, two of UFO's main stars, Ed Bishop (Straker) and Michael Billington (Foster) have both died this week.

More information here.

i am now very shocked and sad about this i didnt know wow what awful news

[J. R.'s Piece]

On UFO, Ed Bishop was reunited with some of his co-stars from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Jeremy Wilkin (Captain Ochre) was the Skydiver Navigator. Martin King was with him in the first episode. Gary Files (Captain Magenta) had a small part in 'Identified'. Sylvia Anderson (Melody Angel) was part of the production team and appeared onscreen in 'Ordeal', which also featured David Healy. Charles Tingwell (Doctor Fawn) was in 'Mindbender' and Paul Maxwell (Captain Grey/World President) was in 'Subsmash'. Several other actors from Gerry's other puppet series turned up on UFO.

In 2003, Ed Bishop co-starred in a Doctor Who Unbound audio with David Collings (Silver in 'Sapphire & Steel), who had previously worked with Ed in the UFO episode, 'The Psychobombs'.

[J. R.'s Piece]

UFO's most memorable/risible aspect was the fact it was supposed to be 1980, as imagined by Gerry Anderson.

Whereas the real 1980 had urban alienation, New Romantics and Maggie Thatcher, the 1980 of UFO was really swinging. Purple wigs and silver mini-skirts for the ladies, see-through string vests for the blokes and a sense of eternal grooviness about it.

Sylvia Anderson was responsible for the fashions....the collarless suits with velcro fastening...string vests...purple wigs and silver jumpsuits.

Watched the first two episodes, 'Identified' and 'Computer Affair' last week and fell in love with the show again. John Thaw appears for about 30 seconds in the second episode as a moonbase technician.