Spoilers U.F.O. TV Series (1970) Discussion Thread.

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Not only the sets and props were done on the cheap, much of the costuming was as well - apart from perhaps Servalan's outfits. Bizarre. Anyway, we used to enjoy the stories in spite of the tattiness. Also enjoyable was the BBC publicity department's claim that no expense had been spared. How we laughed...

 

[Relayer1]

Yeah, some people appear either to have a poor grasp of how to interpret fiction or to have been conditioned to accept verbatim the word of authoritarian governments - even imaginary ones. I hope it's just that they don't like the outdated effects and graphics, which even at the time looked super cheaply done compared to what Gerry Anderson's crew had pulled off.

It would have been nice to have the Blake's scripts made by Anderson. The writing in Space 1999 and U.F.O. wasn't always that good, but they still look fantastic.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I would have liked to see UFO get a multi-year treatment.

Know what would be cool? A UFO show that does things the same way For All Mankind does: Write a five season story arc, and have it skip a decade between each season. Start with Earth in the late 70's getting somewhat overwhelmed, then jumping through seasons to the mid-21st Century when we've learned a LOT about the aliens, reverse-engineered their tech, and we're ready to actually go on the offensive.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I believe Joshua Jackson was trying to get a reboot of UFO going. Seemingly, it didn't come to anything.

 

[Marc]

I would have liked to see UFO get a multi-year treatment.

Seems part of the problem (going by comments and interviews) was getting money for a new series was a lot easier than for a second season.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Many of the visuals stand up quite well, especially in space.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I hope it's just that they don't like the outdated effects and graphics, which even at the time looked super cheaply done compared to what Gerry Anderson's crew had pulled off.

I'd be really surprised if the effects were the only thing limiting the show's appeal to audiences.

 

[Marc]

Many of the visuals stand up quite well, especially in space.

saw one interview where Gerry Anderson was worried about the appearance of the lunar surface as the series was in production just before the Apollo 11 mission and was afraid it would be revealed as totally different.

 

[publiusr]

By then, most knew the surface wasn’t as craggy as in earlier art.

Miranda may have that…and be a better setting for U.F.O. It looks strip-mined.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_(moon)

I would have this massive Big Muskie type Anderson crawler chasing characters.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Muskie

On Miranda, running is difficult, but massive crawlers can drive faster than you could run…better jump.


Polyhemnia as a star gate/Tipler cylinder:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Polyhymnia
Phobos has the opposite problem in mass.

Some even thought “planet 9” might be a small black hole.

Lots of story ideas.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Not only the sets and props were done on the cheap, much of the costuming was as well - apart from perhaps Servalan's outfits. Bizarre. Anyway, we used to enjoy the stories in spite of the tattiness. Also enjoyable was the BBC publicity department's claim that no expense had been spared. How we laughed...

They had a budget that was equivalent to the show that they were replacing in that time slot, and then they went and spent most of it on the sfx for the first two episodes, meaning the rest of the first series had to be done on the cheap.

I find that by the time we get to the fourth series, the producers/directors have found a way to stretch the budget so things look marginally better, especially shots of Scorpio taking off and landing.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I'd be really surprised if the effects were the only thing limiting the show's appeal to audiences.

Blakes 7 was really popular in the UK - audience figures that programme makers would not believe today, approaching Quatermass and A for Andromeda levels. For all the popular appeal of sci-fi series, the BBC's management has always seemed to be reluctant to support them - which probably came from it being a license-fee funded organisation run by snooty, public school educated toffs, who would rather spend the money on people like Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ I do remember the very first time I saw Doctor Who which would've been around 84 maybe(?) visiting and my dad and cousin just dying over some bad spider effect whereas I was quite transfixed by everything. After that I could never get enough pull to watch it again until years later at home. So maybe there is something to the whole effects thing.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The Web Planet from 1965 (Hartnell era in B&W), perhaps, or Planet of the Spiders from 1974 (Pertwee era in colour)? The former was done on a shoestring budget and it showed. The spiders of Metebilis III were good effects for the time, I thought.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I'm not sure you ever recapture the magic with Blake's 7. And there is no way in today's environment you float a show whose lead character is a pedophile.

Hal Jordan.

Angel was 200 when he fell in love with a 15 year old Buffy, in a flash back, before season one. Of course, Buffy is a necrophiliac... Which is worse?

 

[Skipper]

I imagine that in every era viewers adjusted their expectations to the standards of FX contemporary to them, until something groundbreaking came along that raised those standards (2001, Star Wars, Jurassic Park). Now that FX can visualize virtually anything you can think of, viewers are left unsatisfied by anything below the level of "perfect realism."

 

[publiusr]

I love the early Twilight Zones because they were not just better…but on film. Motion smoothing ruins the look of the earlier episodes…yet the all-film first appearance of Pertwee was jarring to me. Blake’s Seven and most of Doctor Who used the same type cameras the nightly news did—so while that look hurt Twilight Zone—-a program that had that from the start may look more homely…as soap operas do.

There are lots of factors hard to describe…1982 being such a great year for movies…perhaps different frame rates push different emotional buttons.

I had an idea of a COVID documentary as an art exhibit…different screens. Pre-COVID New York on film…24 fps…as deaths come…videotape of bags moved…crappy digital cameras…and a Daguerreotype of empty New York streets.

Post COVID New York would be that ultra high-def 8k…something that should be MORE true to life…to me looks surreal. We drop it down to 4k but things don’t have the same look as the film start.

Different cameras have their own language. 16 mm for Chainsaw Massacres maybe…but the first season of COPS with the videotape that helped sodium and mercury vapor lights make the night hideous—that had its own look. Digital cameras and LED streetlights make the night sterile….

 

[Starkers]

They had a budget that was equivalent to the show that they were replacing in that time slot, and then they went and spent most of it on the sfx for the first two episodes, meaning the rest of the first series had to be done on the cheap.

I find that by the time we get to the fourth series, the producers/directors have found a way to stretch the budget so things look marginally better, especially shots of Scorpio taking off and landing.

Indeed Blakes 7 was very popular. The final episode, Blake, aired in December 1981 and had an audience of 9 million. For comparison Tom Baker's last episode of Dr Who aired in March '81 and attracted an audience of a little over 6 million.

Blakes 7 never got less than 6 million viewers and often attracted over 10 million. Given the population of the UK at the time that meant more than 10% of Brits were watching. Now to be fair there were only three channels at this point so people didn't have a huge choice, but still great numbers and not bad for a show that reportedly had the budget of a cop show.

You could argue they got better at stretching the budget, but also I guess technology improved in just the space of a few years. That said the Liberator flight deck is a work of art while Scorpio's is not (and yes Liberator is a state of the art advanced starship and Scorpio is a broken down old freighter but it still looks like it was made out of cardboard boxes. If remaking the series today I wouldn't change much about the design and layout of Liberator's flight deck, but I'd definitely give Scorpio more of an industrial, Nostromo feel.

Costume wise the show veered from great to terrible without much in between. Servalan's outfits were always wonderful (but let's be honest Jacqui Pearce could have made a bin bag look glamorous) the look of the Federation troopers were perfect and most of the outfits the main cast wore worked well. Guest stars of the week however were often dressed terribly. Just take a look at "Killer" for one of the worst examples.

 

[Skipper]

That said the Liberator flight deck is a work of art

You made me curious so I googled it

How was one supposed to use the console to the right of the couch? Standing? It doesn't seem very comfortable to me.

 

[valkyrie013]

Reminds me of Michael Caine, I belive he said that whatever movie he was on he gave it his all, In Muppets Christmas he played it like he was doing Dickens seriously. Paul Darrow to me played Avon on B7 like that.. Yes im yelling at a blinking clear box, but damn it, i'm doing it!
Really was a good cast that carried that show, if it had a crap cast with the Meh effects, it wouldn't have lasted.

One quip on UFO, is that it was TOO Episodic. I mean they just broadcasted the show all out of production order and it didn't matter. One of the things that could have made it better would be a bit more serialization, some things carrying over, them making progress on the UFO threat. Not just a reset at the end.

 

[Skipper]

One quip on UFO, is that it was TOO Episodic. I mean they just broadcasted the show all out of production order and it didn't matter. One of the things that could have made it better would be a bit more serialization, some things carrying over, them making progress on the UFO threat. Not just a reset at the end.

I've found SEVEN suggested viewing orders

https://www.ufoseries.com/faq.html#16