ALL SCI-FI Forum Index ALL SCI-FI
The place to “find your people”.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

UFO (1970 - 1973)
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Sci-Fi on Television from 1970 to 2000
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Look out there, young man! You're thinking like a writer, and that will make you wonder why most folks don't seem as smart as you are. Laughing

Concerning those satellites, I suspect the writers of the show agreed with you on this matter, but they simplified things on the show because the knew that Joe Q. Public thought that one nice space station could keep an eye on the entire Earth while seeing out into space in every direction at once! Rolling Eyes

My motto is, "Being the smartest person in the room is only fun if the other folks are at least smart enough to give you an intelligent conversation." Sad

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Dec 16, 2022 2:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3401
Location: New York

PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2022 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent points Fearless Leader.

The other nutty-buddy issue for me with the nifty looking SID was it possessed zero offensive/defensive capabilities.

So this costly, critical, one-of-a-kind satellite was a sitting duck to any alien space craft that could attack it. In fact, one episode did have SID struck by an alien ship's energy beam. It was kind of amusing, although I don't think the producers intended it.

The scene shows SID spinning over the earth and saying, "I've been hit, I've been hit."

A reboot of UFO would absolutely necessitate SID being able to defend itself adequately. Its A.I. should be such that it could handle defensive/offensive functions. Another thought would be to have a series of drones nearby SID designed to protect it at all costs.

Manning SID might also be a possibility. In addition to being trained to protect SID with its on board arsenal, they could also be performing routine maintenance, repair, and upgrades. However, doing all that still might not leave the crew with enough to do day-in & day-out. Perhaps someone could create other jobs for them to perform?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2022 2:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Right on, brother! Cool

If Earth was being threatened by aliens, we'd need at least four defensive space stations in geosynchronous orbits around the equator, positioned equal distances apart.

The armament would be positioned all around the perimeter, and each cannon would be capable of tilting to fire at various angles, instead of just straight outward from the station's rim.




_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ralfy
Mission Specialist


Joined: 23 Sep 2014
Posts: 488

PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2022 7:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"When Commander Straker's car landed in a garage in the middle of Darlington in 1971"

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/17457917.commander-strakers-car-landed-garage-middle-darlington-1971/


Quote:
In 1971, the supercool cars – valued at £8,500 each – toured Ford garages, and so came to the Skippers garage beside Darlington’s inner ring road to draw in the UFO fans.
...

“On closer inspection, you could see the cut down rear wheel arches at the back of the fibreglass body shell,” says Tony. “I remember that several of the control knobs on the interior were the cap tops from a popular brand of ladies’ hairspray.”
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3401
Location: New York

PostPosted: Sat May 06, 2023 12:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SHADO Transport:

The Valkyrie heavy military transport aircraft is large enough and fast enough to transport four SHADO Mobiles to most airports and bases around the world. Should no landing site be available near the UFO incident, Mobiles can be loaded onto platforms and airdropped with reasonable accuracy. S.H.A.D.O. Technical Operations Manual.

Had UFO managed to be renewed for a second season, this would have been an exciting visual for an episode. Imagine seeing the Mobiles descend from the Valkyrie and float down to an area whose terrain won't allow the Valkyrie to land, or where there isn't an airport or base close enough for the Valkyrie.

An entire episode could be set up around this operation alone. What if the chute failed for a Mobile? Does the Mobile crew parachute separately from the vehicle? If so, what if they're blown off course? What other dangers are lurking in such hostile terrain besides the UFO itself? There are numerous story possibilities with this type of operation.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mach7
Quantum Engineer


Joined: 23 Apr 2015
Posts: 333

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2023 9:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The military does not airdrop equipment with crew inside, too low survival rate.

Maybe the crew could airdrop out after.

But knowing Gerry Andersen they would come up with a flyable rocket platform that could be dropped out of the lunar module atmospheric carrier. The crew could then fly down to a soft, vertical landing.

That would be cool to see on film!

As an aside, the model company R2 has the license for kits. The first are expected out later this year.

I'm hoping for a 1/25 Mobile.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3401
Location: New York

PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

INTERCEPTOR. S.H.A.D.O. Technical Operations Manual.

UFOs have to travel relativistic distances at the speed of light in order to make the journey from their home planet to Earth. However, SHADO forces utilizing the latest utronic technology can spot and track the alien craft with a reasonable degree of accuracy. UFOs are forced to decelerate to avoid hitting the Earth's atmosphere at fatal relativistic speeds, and it was observed that during this process, their ability to manoeuvre is severely compromised. This means their course, speed and an intercept point can be calculated.

Unfortunately, even the most powerful computer would not be accurate enough to provide a firing solution for conventional weapons to create a blast close enough to destroy or damage a UFO.

In the first year of SHADO's operation, nuclear warheads were used, but this led to numerous political, environmental and ethical issues. And while effective when detonated close to the target, at longer distances it appeared that a UFO's shielding was quite capable of repelling much of the energy produced by the atomic explosion. In addition, the use of nuclear weapons was prohibited when UFOs were close to assets such as Moonbase or SID. Nuclear weapons are also expensive, and SHADO was quickly encountering supply issues.

A solution was found when it became clear that UFOs had a weakness to SHADO's less advanced kinetic weaponry. It was decided that instead of using a single warhead, the missile would use a payload fitted with six smaller missiles that would disperse and detonate simultaneously blanketing the target area, creating cones of shrapnel over a wide area which the UFO would then impact into at sublight speeds, damaging or destroying it. The cluster payload can be rendered inert at close ranges in order to protect nearby SHADO units.

In addition, each Interceptor has an Autocannon located inside the center of the front of the craft. The cannon can be raised to fire upon damaged or downed UFOs in case they are required for close combat.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3401
Location: New York

PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 8:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TV Guide Review of UFO by Cleveland Amory, March 10, 1973.

"Have you ever thought," one character asks in the premiere episode here, "about the victims of UFO incidents---their loved ones, brothers, sisters?"

Frankly, we never had, but now, having been a victim of this show, we see no reason to confine our thoughts to loved ones, brothers and sisters. There's trouble enough here even for total strangers. And speaking of strangers, UFO is one more of those syndicated jobs made in Europe.

When we were a lad, in the days of The Forsythe Saga, "Made in Europe" used to stand for something. Now it seems to stand for I-can-get-it-for-you-wholesale.

Not that the younger set won't find plenty to like here---they will. It's all very futuristic---it takes place in 1980---and is full of terrific hardware: a submarine which launches airplanes, a Moon Base complete with bug-like moon mobiles, a Space Intruder Detector called SID for short, etc.

The trouble comes with the software---the people, the stories and the dialogue.

Commander Edward Striker (Ed Bishop) is apparently the star---at least he's the crossest of the group. In any case, with him---or at least not actively against him---is a plaster cast consisting of Colonel Alec Freeman (George Sewell), Colonel Paul Foster (Michael Billington), the captain of the Seagull X-Ray (Paul Gordeno), and the girl in charge of Moon Base Control Gay Ellis (Gabrielle Drake).

All of these people work for something called S.H.A.D.O., which stands for Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization and is enough to put you immediately on the side of the other guys (who, by the way, are green faced, have pink eyes and breathe liquid).

To combat them, the girls on our side wear purple hair.

The first episode revolved around aliens running short on vital organs---you know, things like hearts, livers, lungs, thyroid gland---so they come down to kind of an earth supermarket. "They look upon us," one of our guys said, "not with animosity but with callousness, the way we look upon animals."

In another episode, Colonel Foster is apparently captured by alien people who un-air him and make him breathe liquid. In the nick of time, our guys rescue him and re-air him, only to find out the whole thing is a dream.

In still another show a guy a who is wounded and helpless against an alien is befriended by the alien who, when human rescuers come, is of course shot.

The idea that anything in outer space must be an enemy is perhaps one of the most offensive things here. But its got a lot of company. For one thing, although we are told that race prejudice burned itself out "five years ago," outer space, even in 1980, is still crawling with male chauvinist pigs. In fairness, though, some of the girls do have very important jobs.

One of them, dressed in a silver mesh leotard catsuit, had the job of checking boosters. She sure had all the right equipment.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2024 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________________

I'm not really a fan of this show. In fact, I've never bothered to watch all the episodes on the DVD set which the last Randy Everette generously sent me.

But Mr. Cleveland Amory's TV Guide article above is not only poorly written, it sounds like the kind of whiny complaint Eddie Haskll would say to Wally Cleaver. Rolling Eyes

Instead of describing the series' faults and then offering intelligent suggestions for improvements, Mr. Amory makes jokes like this one.


Quote:
For one thing, although we are told that race prejudice burned itself out "five years ago," outer space in 1980 is still crawling with male chauvinist pigs.

In fairness, though, some of the girls do have very important jobs. One of them, dressed in a silver mesh leotard catsuit, had the job of checking boosters. She sure had all the right equipment.

Gee, Mr. Amory, who's the male chauvinist pig now? Confused
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3401
Location: New York

PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2024 4:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm of mixed feelings about Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's UFO series.

On the one hand, it was awesome in its ambitious scope for a weekly TV show. It gave us S.H.D.O. Headquarters, a Moon Base, futuristic space craft, submarines, and gadgets galore. The hardware was indeed impressive. No American TV series had ever had anything as epic as UFO. The Invaders was a fine show, but it simply wasn't on the scale as UFO. When UFO was first broadcast, American science fiction television offered: The Immortal, The Sixth Sense. Decent enough series, but relatively easy to produce in that both shows took place in the present day. The Immortal rarely required any visual effects; The Sixth Sense, of which I am a fan, did use more interesting visuals from time-to-time. But neither show could compare to UFO for its vast sweep. UFO had to create numerous original futuristic sets, miniatures, costumes, contraptions. It really should have been a feature film with so much going on in it. It deserved to much more than the Andersons Journey to the Far Side of the Sun.

I also liked the cast. The problem were the mediocre scripts the show had. There were occasional intriguing ideas, as well as a decent episode here and there. It just wasn't consistent. The Moon Base women's suits & purple wigs, the SHADO HQ women in their skin tight outfits, the sexist, smarmy dialogue by the men, certainly hurt the show.

I look at UFO as a science fiction series that possessed tremendous potential, but its execution was a letdown. One issue is that the Andersons appear to have never hired talented, solid science fiction script editors or writers for UFO. Nor did they do so again for their expensive Space: 1999. This was a serious mistake on their parts.

Derek Meddings and his visual effects designers and team rarely disappoint us here. Although, I never cared at all for the alien starships on the show. So UFO is still fun and entertaining to watch visually. It merely lacked the clever & imaginative writing to propel it into becoming a terrific and classic SF TV series.

Like you, Bud, I also could not but help notice Amory's railing against chauvinism in his review, then ending it with his cheeky final comment. Naughty, naughty Cleveland.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Sci-Fi on Television from 1970 to 2000 All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Page 5 of 5

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group