Sometime way back in 1970 or '71 I started catching episodes of what unbeknownst to me were reruns of an exciting show: UFO. Like Star Trek that I was already discovering UFO was unlike the other sci-fi on television. It was mostly straight drama with a distinct hint of dark edge to it. It also had one helluva catchy theme song that I found myself humming. That said beyond the opening theme the soundtrack really dates the show. What was once modern now seems rather cheesy. 
It also had sci-fi hardware galore and girls in miniskirts and catsuits (of a kind). What I didn't know at the time was that UFO was created by the same guy who done Stingray and The Thunderbirds and others. I had no idea that this show was similar in spirit to those earlier shows only now done with live actors rather than marionettes.
So here I am four decades later revisiting a show I have seen next to nothing of since.
Right off this is very different than the other show I'd just revisited, Lost In Space. Although different I must say I like the Jupiter 2 generally better than the UFO vehicles, but thats splitting hairs because UFO has got some damn cool stuff even after all these years. My favourite remains the Interceptor even if it seems rather shortsighted in design: fire one missile and then your defenceless. SID---the automated Space Intruder Detector---is still cool. And then there's the simple yet still cool UFO itself with it's wicked space traveling sound effect. On a slight down note is the obviousness of these vehicles---to the eyes of a twelve year old they were awesome, but to the eyes of an adult they look rather toy like overall.
That said the Interceptors moved like they were in real zero-g and totally unlike spacecraft are often shown in sic-fi. Throughout the episode you get a sense of a helluva lot of detailed thinking put into it. There is hardly any obvious camp to be seen. That isn't to say there aren't gratuitous elements: the lingering shots on the female form and dialogue dripping with barely veiled innuendo make Star Trek and its miniskirts look chaste in comparison.
One of the show's characters, Alex Freeman, comes across as a barely restrained hound dog. Star Trek's Captain Kirk seems a boy scout in comparison.
Any humour in this show seems mostly contextual rather than worn on the sleeve like LIS. It comes across as quite earnest in its overall execution.
"Identified" ****
SHADOW Commander Straker overseas operations that downs a UFO and retrieves its pilot.
Overlooking the obvious sexism and dated music there's still quite a bit to recommend this. It's played totally straight. And when Straker deduces what the aliens appear to be after in coming to Earth the show gets something of a dark and edgy feel to it. Suffice to say I felt that a lot of this suitably tweaked could still work today in a new and more contemporary version.
I didn't laugh, but it was amusing to see what Gerry Anderson's idea of Earth of 1980 could look like. The most obvious things were the cars, the level of space technology and presence on the Moon, the furniture as well as fashion in clothes. And the colour palette! Whoa! You may need sun glasses! The palette in UFO makes Star Trek look restrained. Speaking of fashion seeing men as well as women wearing some sort of fishnet tunic while on submarine duty is just bizarre. And I remember thinking it seemed bizarre back in 1971.
Perhaps taking a cue from Star Trek in UFO we see characters of multiracial origin. And to one up Star Trek we see a woman in command of SHADOW's moon base...silver jumpsuit (that converts to a miniskirt!) along with purple wig! The future is colourful.
All the window dressing is amusing to contemporary sensibilities, but UFO's strength is its straightforward approach to the subject matter. It's easy to see how SF fans could appreciate it even if the window dressing is a little overly flashy and elaborate.
And I still find myself humming that opening theme...
It also had sci-fi hardware galore and girls in miniskirts and catsuits (of a kind). What I didn't know at the time was that UFO was created by the same guy who done Stingray and The Thunderbirds and others. I had no idea that this show was similar in spirit to those earlier shows only now done with live actors rather than marionettes.
So here I am four decades later revisiting a show I have seen next to nothing of since.
Right off this is very different than the other show I'd just revisited, Lost In Space. Although different I must say I like the Jupiter 2 generally better than the UFO vehicles, but thats splitting hairs because UFO has got some damn cool stuff even after all these years. My favourite remains the Interceptor even if it seems rather shortsighted in design: fire one missile and then your defenceless. SID---the automated Space Intruder Detector---is still cool. And then there's the simple yet still cool UFO itself with it's wicked space traveling sound effect. On a slight down note is the obviousness of these vehicles---to the eyes of a twelve year old they were awesome, but to the eyes of an adult they look rather toy like overall.
That said the Interceptors moved like they were in real zero-g and totally unlike spacecraft are often shown in sic-fi. Throughout the episode you get a sense of a helluva lot of detailed thinking put into it. There is hardly any obvious camp to be seen. That isn't to say there aren't gratuitous elements: the lingering shots on the female form and dialogue dripping with barely veiled innuendo make Star Trek and its miniskirts look chaste in comparison.
One of the show's characters, Alex Freeman, comes across as a barely restrained hound dog. Star Trek's Captain Kirk seems a boy scout in comparison. Any humour in this show seems mostly contextual rather than worn on the sleeve like LIS. It comes across as quite earnest in its overall execution.
"Identified" ****
SHADOW Commander Straker overseas operations that downs a UFO and retrieves its pilot.
Overlooking the obvious sexism and dated music there's still quite a bit to recommend this. It's played totally straight. And when Straker deduces what the aliens appear to be after in coming to Earth the show gets something of a dark and edgy feel to it. Suffice to say I felt that a lot of this suitably tweaked could still work today in a new and more contemporary version.
I didn't laugh, but it was amusing to see what Gerry Anderson's idea of Earth of 1980 could look like. The most obvious things were the cars, the level of space technology and presence on the Moon, the furniture as well as fashion in clothes. And the colour palette! Whoa! You may need sun glasses!
The palette in UFO makes Star Trek look restrained. Speaking of fashion seeing men as well as women wearing some sort of fishnet tunic while on submarine duty is just bizarre. And I remember thinking it seemed bizarre back in 1971. Perhaps taking a cue from Star Trek in UFO we see characters of multiracial origin. And to one up Star Trek we see a woman in command of SHADOW's moon base...silver jumpsuit (that converts to a miniskirt!) along with purple wig! The future is colourful.
All the window dressing is amusing to contemporary sensibilities, but UFO's strength is its straightforward approach to the subject matter. It's easy to see how SF fans could appreciate it even if the window dressing is a little overly flashy and elaborate.
And I still find myself humming that opening theme...
