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

[Mr. Adventure]

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.

It was 40 years ago and I only got to see a few minutes of it though it seems it was in color. It was something moving across the floor and its legs looked goofy and my cousin insisted he could see the string pulling it. It sucked because my parents were divorced so it wasn't on in my area and that few minutes was all I got to see for years.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Oh, there would be strings, no doubt. I doubt the BBC would pay for sophisticated animatronics in 1974.

 

[Marc]

Just take a look at "Killer" for one of the worst examples.

the brown things (not sure what you'd call them) or the michillen men outfits?

Still better then the cyber-cricket gloves from Silver Nemesis.

 

[Redfern]

Still better then the cyber-cricket gloves from Silver Nemesis.

For a viewership far more familiar with Cricket, yeah, that would be off-putting. However, as I'm a "bloody yank", I'm able to suspend my disbelief a bit easier with that detail, perceiving them as hydraulic appendages strong enough to crush bowling balls.

 

[valkyrie013]

I've found SEVEN suggested viewing orders

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

Yeah, it was weird .. Just went with whatever order Tubi had it in, but as I read up, they changed studios mid stream, and half the cast hit the door, but the order had cast members through out the season, even the black pilot, was there for like 2 episodes, through stock footage was in like 7 episodes.. Unreal.

 

[Skipper]

Yeah, it was weird .. Just went with whatever order Tubi had it in, but as I read up, they changed studios mid stream, and half the cast hit the door, but the order had cast members through out the season, even the black pilot, was there for like 2 episodes, through stock footage was in like 7 episodes.. Unreal.

Yeah, and it seems it isn't completely episodic. There are some references to previous episodes.

 

[Starkers]

the brown things (not sure what you'd call them) or the michillen men outfits?

Still better then the cyber-cricket gloves from Silver Nemesis.

The brown plastic ponchos. The Michelin men outfits are silly but they work better than the plastic stuff everyone else is wearing.

 

[Marc]

The brown plastic ponchos. The Michelin men outfits are silly but they work better than the plastic stuff everyone else is wearing.

with matching headbands even!!

 

[Starkers]

with matching headbands even!!

Yes it's like someone went "These are awful, how can we make them worse?"

Don't get me wrong, sometimes the show went too far the other way. Dressing most Aurons in drab utilitarian, outfits felt equally wrong.

 

[Starkers]

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.

They they just used to stand at it. To be fair it wasn't a station anyone spent a lot of time at, but no not ergonomically great!

 

[Marc]

They they just used to stand at it. To be fair it wasn't a station anyone spent a lot of time at, but no not ergonomically great!

While the other stations weren't particularly well defined that one at the front seem to be for whatever the plot needed. Fired weapons in Shadow, communications in several and activating Avon's force wall (Harvest of Kairos?).

From a production point of view was probably to set up for shots.

 

[Starkers]

While the other stations weren't particularly well defined that one at the front seem to be for whatever the plot needed. Fired weapons in Shadow, communications in several and activating Avon's force wall (Harvest of Kairos?).

From a production point of view was probably to set up for shots.

It's definitely used multiple times for communications and force wall activation. Not sure off the top of my head what else it's used for?

I think the flight stations were fairly interchangeable, although Jenna always took the same one which I took as the pilot's seat and Vila was usually on weapons and again tended to necessitate the same seat every time.

 

[Marc]

Not sure off the top of my head what else it's used for?

the aforementioned firing of weapons in Shadow is the only other thing I can recall it being used for.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I pulled out my 'Blake's 7 - The Inside Story' and this is what Producer Vere Lorrimer had to say about the Scorpio set.

"We decided in the fourth series, we would give them a less magnificent ship. I always visualized it like a tramp steamer compared with a battleship, but we didn't quite get the design I wanted. I visualized chains hanging all over the place, like a cargo ship, with oil and steam seeping out of it, rather like the spaceship in 'Alien'. Instead, what we got was the usual clean-as-anything spaceship."

'Vere had decided what sort of ship it should be," continues director Mary Ridge, "and he wanted it to be totally different from the Liberator, to be utilitarian, a real old banger, but of course, this was not going to appeal to many people. On the other hand, I think Roger Cann's design for the studio set worked very well. It was very nice to shoot, and you could certainly get a much wider variety of shots than on the Liberator, which was bigger, but more restrictive. The eye-lines on the Liberator flight deck were very difficult, so many of the actors were shot in profile. On the Scorpio, we made from to be able to get a great variety of angles. The cameras had room to move around within the set, and therefore get better shots of the cast. We also built in traps - a trapdoor we could open or slide so the camera could shoot through - and it gave the director far more scope to work."

Edit to add - The Scorpio model was farmed out to a talented modelmaker named Ron Thornton, who would one day win a Emmy Award in America for his groundbreaking computer-generated spaceships in 'Babylon 5'.

 

[Marc]

I pulled out my 'Blake's 7 - The Inside Story' and this is what Producer Vere Lorrimer had to say about the Scorpio set.

"We decided in the fourth series, we would give them a less magnificent ship. I always visualized it like a tramp steamer compared with a battleship, but we didn't quite get the design I wanted. I visualized chains hanging all over the place, like a cargo ship, with oil and steam seeping out of it, rather like the spaceship in 'Alien'. Instead, what we got was the usual clean-as-anything spaceship."

'Vere had decided what sort of ship it should be," continues director Mary Ridge, "and he wanted it to be totally different from the Liberator, to be utilitarian, a real old banger, but of course, this was not going to appeal to many people. On the other hand, I think Roger Cann's design for the studio set worked very well. It was very nice to shoot, and you could certainly get a much wider variety of shots than on the Liberator., which was bigger, but more restrictive. The eye-lines on the Liberator flight deck were very difficult, so many of the actors were shot in profile. On the Scorpio, we made from to be able to get a great variety of angles. The cameras had room to move around within the set, and therefore get better shots of the cast. We also built in traps - a trapdoor we could open or slide so the camera could shoot through - and it gave the director far more scope to work."

Edit to add - The Scorpio model was farmed out to a talented modelmaker named Ron Thornton, who would one day win a Emmy Award in America for his groundbreaking computer-generated spaceships in 'Babylon 5'.

never thought about it but that makes sense. The Liberators flight deck was all different levels and that layout would have made it fun trying to get close up front on shots of actors either side of the pilot.

In Shadow when Callie has her little tet-a-tet with Space City, there’s a brief shot where the camera is in font but at the 7 o’clock position but the rest is side on.

 

[Shawnster]

I'd reboot both and have the rebooted UFO series dovetail into a Space 2099 series. UFO would depict the unification of Earth in the face of alien invasion (more like strafing or probing attacks as depicted in the original UFO). Space 2099 starts off with a human FTL drive accident/malfunction being responsible hurtling the Moon (populated by both Moonbase Alpha and a small human city called Lunagrad) into a distant region of the galaxy. During their attempts to return the Moon to Earth, the Lunar inhabitants encounter and resolve the antagonist situation caused by the aliens first encountered during the reboot of UFO.

I like the idea of UFO being in the format of For All Mankind and jumping a decade a season.

 

[Starkers]

I pulled out my 'Blake's 7 - The Inside Story' and this is what Producer Vere Lorrimer had to say about the Scorpio set.

"We decided in the fourth series, we would give them a less magnificent ship. I always visualized it like a tramp steamer compared with a battleship, but we didn't quite get the design I wanted. I visualized chains hanging all over the place, like a cargo ship, with oil and steam seeping out of it, rather like the spaceship in 'Alien'. Instead, what we got was the usual clean-as-anything spaceship."

'Vere had decided what sort of ship it should be," continues director Mary Ridge, "and he wanted it to be totally different from the Liberator, to be utilitarian, a real old banger, but of course, this was not going to appeal to many people. On the other hand, I think Roger Cann's design for the studio set worked very well. It was very nice to shoot, and you could certainly get a much wider variety of shots than on the Liberator, which was bigger, but more restrictive. The eye-lines on the Liberator flight deck were very difficult, so many of the actors were shot in profile. On the Scorpio, we made from to be able to get a great variety of angles. The cameras had room to move around within the set, and therefore get better shots of the cast. We also built in traps - a trapdoor we could open or slide so the camera could shoot through - and it gave the director far more scope to work."

Edit to add - The Scorpio model was farmed out to a talented modelmaker named Ron Thornton, who would one day win a Emmy Award in America for his groundbreaking computer-generated spaceships in 'Babylon 5'.

Excellent stuff.

Have to say, much as I wish the Scorpio interior was somewhat different (and it would have been nice if they could have found a halfway house between the two) I love the external, even if it is a trifle Star Destroyer'ish

 

[valkyrie013]

I'd reboot both and have the rebooted UFO series dovetail into a Space 2099 series. UFO would depict the unification of Earth in the face of alien invasion (more like strafing or probing attacks as depicted in the original UFO). Space 2099 starts off with a human FTL drive accident/malfunction being responsible hurtling the Moon (populated by both Moonbase Alpha and a small human city called Lunagrad) into a distant region of the galaxy. During their attempts to return the Moon to Earth, the Lunar inhabitants encounter and resolve the antagonist situation caused by the aliens first encountered during the reboot of UFO.

I like the idea of UFO being in the format of For All Mankind and jumping a decade a season.

I like this idea.
Start with 1960s, or maybe "Today"
Series would be a bit more "Grounded" in real physics, less.. "Hippy" 1999 stories?

Show the start of the "Invasion" and the setting up of SHADO in the first season. Straker hitting up the UN for funds, going for a talent search, finding Foster, Freeman, Ellis, etc. Using current technology to attack the UFO's. Showing that current jets etc. are no match for the UFO's.
Maybe show Foster encountering one by chance, and destroying it, getting on Strakers radar and recruited as an ace pilot. Freeman as a General Hammond type of no nonsense, get it done attitude general. Ellis as a survivor of an alien abduction. finding other characters as the show progresses.

General Henderson as a competing agency like the NID and Maybourne from Stargate. that wants to lead the UFO charge instead of Straker.
Chunk of the series is just Straker going around, around mid season he gets the "Film Studio" office. The UFO invasion is not known to the public as of yet.
Ending with Straker and SHADO being formed and plans for a moon base, skydivers, SiD being finalized.

2nd season, time jump to show Shado as shown in the original series, moon base active, interceptors etc. Henderson part of the overseeing board of SHADO, at odds with Straker, but acknowledges strakers talent, but still adversary's on budget etc.
Story outlines like the original series, we're putting up a fight but the UFO's are still coming.
Film Studio base, Public still in the dark, but by end of the season, the secret comes out and the public knows.
Start showing the aliens side, by showing them on there planet, and ships, slowly showing the why's and hows of there invasion.
Ends with a large invasion force being stopped by SHADO.

3rd season, another time jump, Public knows, but are okay since SHADO has stopped the UFOs, any ship is destroyed by the moon base, which is now headed by General Henderson, and a now Major Elis, on approach by an automatic defense grid of satellites, drone interceptors, moon based lasers, so the aliens decide to incapacitate the moon. They cant destroy the moon as it would destroy the earth, so they use a large one way wormhole to relocate the moon, the aliens leave the destination open ended as they don't care where it ends up, just far away from Earth. This large wormhole used most of the power generation and capacitors of the whole fleets motherships, and due to the power, the moon is flung 120 light years away, and in the confusion on Earth, they invade.

This season would show the events on the moon and on Earth, the Earth wouldn't be destroyed by the moon leaving, but it wouldn't be pretty, some Tsunami's, and alot of confusion.

So by this season, its a duo story like Battlestar Galactica where they show SHADO on earth and the Moon getting there act together after being flung out. By this time we show that not all the aliens are onboard with the Invasion, and have Maya be an alien that helps the moonbase restore the FTL/wormhole drive so they can get back home, or atleast jump the moon from system to system using the moons power generation, and a capacitors They can't stop the moons direction or inherent velocity, so system stops are short.

Show SHADO and earth getting itself back together, but the aliens have committed to an all out invasion.
End the season with the aliens shown having gained control of Earth Orbit, and have landed and taken territory for there own bases, and the moon discovering a habitable planet, somewhat of a cliffhanger.

4th Season, no time jump, or a short one of like a year or 6 months, , the invasion on Earth is ongoing, with SHADO losing a war of attrition, aliens using small asteroids to bombard earth from Orbit.
Some moon citizens decide to settle the planet while the moon continues to the alien homeworld.

The moon through trial and error, or the alien takes them there, finds the alien homeworld. They discover that most have already left the planet with the invasion fleet, and all thats left is a handful ( 1000 or so) of "peaceful" aliens that would rather live on here than invade an inhabited planet. The water on the planet is pretty much gone, and the temperatures go above 140 degrees in the daylight.
Alpha takes the left behind aliens to the newly discovered habitable planet on there way back to Earth.
The moon arrives back in the Sol System, with Earth having fallen to the aliens, and they tell them about the habitable planet and offer to take them there if they leave Earth in peace.
Some hardliners say no, but some of the aliens we have been watching/following kill the hardliners, and then make a peaceful withdrawal from Earth.

Time jump 6 months, the aliens and moon colonists strive to co exist together on the new planet, the Earth is picking up the pieces, and the moon is slowly being nudged in to the proper orbit around the Earth.

Reason for Alien Invasion: Find a new home, there world is steadily heating up do to there sun slowly expanding into a red giant, this has been going on for millennia , there world developed life latter in there solar systems life cycle. ( have to have a plausible reason to invade!!)

Technologically about 300 years ahead of Earth ?, capable of slow FTL travel, short jumps then recharge there capacitors. ( 1,2 light year a month or so), this is more of a power generation problem, they could possibly go farther faster with better power generators. Robotic probes found Earth, and found that it is compatible, and it is the only planet in a 100 light year radius that has the right balance. Earth is about 20 light years away.
They have been warring over dwindling resources for 1000's of years, so there a war like race, and instead of coming peacefully they come to invade.
They find the human body compatible with there own bodies, so can reproduce with humans, with there genes being dominant and use them as body parts. Using the humans to repair themselves, and repopulate there dwindling species.
After the discovery of Earth, they send more robotic probes, and an advance scout force, with the UFO's and a larger mothership.
Over the years most of there people/fleet join in on the invasion.
When the Earth has fortified there system and no UFO's can make it to the planet, they use one of there mother ships to fling the moon out of the system to remove there defenses.


1999 was originally envisioned as a S2 of UFO, with an expanded moon base as the main area.
If i remember correctly, the UFO moonbase was NOT the only moon base on the moon, they defiantly had a Russian base, so maybe instead of just 2 cities, have Alpha and maybe a scattering of various other cities around the moon, Russian, Chinese, etc. or have alpha broke down into sections like the ISS, maybe even by that time some moon hotels for regular people, making it Alot more people on the moon instead of the 300+ on alpha in the 1999 series.
I would think they would be marginally self sufficient, growing own food, but needing certain items from earth.

EDIT: edited to include more stuff when I had a moment

 

[DarrenTR1970]

never thought about it but that makes sense. The Liberators flight deck was all different levels and that layout would have made it fun trying to get close up front on shots of actors either side of the pilot.

In Shadow when Callie has her little tet-a-tet with Space City, there’s a brief shot where the camera is in font but at the 7 o’clock position but the rest is side on.

After having typed the previous paragraph, I went and re-watched some YouTube reaction videos of the first three seasons and, yeah, there does seem to be a lot of profile and partial shots of the actors faces, even when the actors are standing talking to Zen, you don't really get many straight on shots of their faces. It's especially noticeable when the actors are situated on the upper level of Liberator's bridge. Then, it's mostly long shots with some profiles worked in; as though the director couldn't get the camera close due to the console being in the way.

 

[Marc]

If i remember correctly, the UFO moonbase was NOT the only moon base on the moon, they defiantly had a Russian base,

yeah they had to contend with the russian base which had an out of control moon vehicle (crew were suffering in from hypoxia) and there was also a commercial operation featuring an attractive woman who of course Paul Foster had a thing for