Does anyone remember U.F.O. by Gerry Anderson in 1969?

[Forbin]

Emma Watson as Gay Ellis? Emma "looks like a 12-year-old-boy" Watson?

I'm gonna hafta disagree there.

 

[Procutus]

^

Well, Em is 21, and at the rate this film is taking to get to the production stage... Just throwing it out there. In reality, I'm guessing we may get a number of slightly less known actors in the roles when it gets down to it.

 

[Marc]

Joshua Jackson? Too young to play a full Colonel, methinks...

no they breathed liquid and it was theorised that was help them during space travel.

I thought it was so the acceleration didn't crush their lungs (or the lungs of their host bodies). 'Breathing' a super-oxygenated liquid would be the answer to that.

yes and that's helping them with space travel - I just couldn't remember the exact details.

 

[Procutus]

^


I wonder how much of that concept will be retained in the movie, or if they'll completely re-imagine the aliens? I'd still like to see humanoids, but ones that differ from us enough that they would stand out in a crowd, with or without a spacesuit.

 

[Australis]

Loved UFO when it first came out in Australia. Went on a holiday to the UK in '74, and brought back the Dinky Toy Interceptor and the SHADO tracked vehicle, which sat on my bookshelf for many years. Only thing that ever puzzled me was why the DT Interceptor was green when the series ones were white.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Later Dinky versions of Thunderbird 2 were the wrong color, as were some of the Eagles.

 

[Marc]

Later Dinky versions of Thunderbird 2 were the wrong color, as were some of the Eagles.

TB2 did change colour during production. In an interview once, Derek Meddings mentioned the model got repainted several times during production because the model shop never managed to reproduce the original colour - so what chance did DT have

Fwiw it's worth had both the TB2 and Eagle toys and can't remember the colour of the former.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I have two TB2's. The earlier one is smaller and green; the later one is larger and blue.

 

[Procutus]

^


Were there ever toy versions of the UFO itself? If so, I never saw them over here/

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

You'd think that Dinky would have produced one to go with the Interceptor and SHADO mobile vehicle, but it seems not.

Dinky UFO toys

ETA: Ah, but Konami and Product Enterprise did.

Konami even produced a model of Gay Ellis.

 

[Procutus]

^


Very nice! Thanks for that; I love the two Skydiver models. Someone did nice work on those.

 

[Steve Roby]

I loved UFO as a kid. I managed to find a few episodes on VHS 20 years ago and was surprised by how mature some of the stories were. Having seen more episodes more recently, I have to agree that a lot of the surface details date the show, but many of the stories are intelligent, complex, and still worth watching today.

 

[RAMA]

I re-watched it last year...I had vague recollections of it in 1970s reruns but not much else. It doesn't make much sense really, and its very much a product of it's time...younger kids might like it.

RAMA

 

[Procutus]

its very much a product of it's time

That is it, but then so many of the shows and movies that we remember fondly often are. The fact that there are a number of fans of UFO in this BBS shows that despite being only one season, it had an impact we've all remembered.

Which is why I'm so eager to see a modern take on it, but one that treats the source material with respect. The comments I've read from Gratzner indicates this is the way they're approaching it.

 

[Steve Roby]

younger kids might like it.

Start them with the episode about Straker's divorce because of his devotion to his job, and then the one about his having to choose between using one of his aircraft to save his son's life or stop a UFO that only that craft can reach in time, and then the one about the couple that encounters aliens in the countryside while they're tripping their faces off on acid.

 

[Procutus]

younger kids might like it.

Start them with the episode about Straker's divorce because of his devotion to his job, and then the one about his having to choose between using one of his aircraft to save his son's life or stop a UFO that only that craft can reach in time, and then the one about the couple that encounters aliens in the countryside while they're tripping their faces off on acid.

Agreed, good eps to start with that were very solid stories.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

That will mean a lot to younger kids! And also that set a good example.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

That will mean a lot to younger kids! And also that set a good example.

Yeah, take drugs and you'll have your body parts harvested by ETs.

There was a rumour going about that the movie would be based on a combination of "The Long Sleep" and "Exposed" episodes.

 

[Forbin]

I'm finding things like "product of its time" and "dated" to be annoying descriptions lately (no offense intended). I'd think if anybody watched a show or movie made decades ago, those descriptions would be automatically assumed, and we could move on to how the show/movie was quality-wise, never mind when it was made.

Or maybe I'm just cranky this morning.

 

[Chris_Johnston]

This show is definitely not obscure. It was a major series at the time, and remains a major part of the Gerry Anderson canon. It was also an early case of programmers not knowing how to handle a series; Anderson's previous series were all for kids, but UFO - forget the wigs - had some extremely adult storylines. One was about marital infidelity, another was about Straker having to make a choice involving the life of a loved one (Torchwood Children of Earth had to have been influenced by it), and I've pointed out before how the US series Threshold of a few years back borrowed things almost beat for beat from UFO.

UFO was cancelled after the first season because US syndicators didn't know what to do with it, so Anderson took his original plan for Season 2, which was going to focus more on the Moonbase, and came up with Space: 1999.

There are a few clunky bits, as is the case with any old show, but I highly recommend the DVD (I hope in the wake of The Prisoner and Space: 1999 going to Blu-ray that UFO follows suit).

My only disappointment is Wanda Ventham, who plays Colonel Veronica Lake, is only in a handful of episodes (there were two production blocks, and for the second block a number of cast members were changed and Wanda's character was added to give a stronger female presence on earth). But Gabrielle Drake rocks the purple wig. One of the early episodes also features Jean Marsh. Interesting someone above also mentions The Prisoner, as Alexis Kanner from that series (he played a bunch of characters include the Dem Bones-singing No. 48) appears in one of the strongest episodes of the season.

Alex

This.
I was 6 when the show first aired, and I watched the DVDs just a couple years ago, and it's astonishing how much more I liked it this time around. The episodes that put me to sleep as a tyke I can now appreciate.