This week in 1970, the cult
classic TV series, UFO, debuted. It became popular in both the UK and
the United States and a second series (season, here in the States) was planned
but it later became Space: 1999.
UFO was
the first live-action series created and produced by Gerry Anderson (Fireball-XL5,
Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett). It was dark at times, downbeat; innocent, unaware
civilians got caught in the crossfire and paid a terrible price—it was, after
all, about a secret organization fighting an invasion of organ-harvesting
aliens.
Instead of The X-Files
saying “Trust no one,” UFO said “Trust us.”
From Wikipedia:
The series’ premise is that in
1980, Earth is being visited by aliens from a dying planet, who are abducting
humans and harvesting their organs for their own bodies. The alien incursions
may also be a prelude to a possible full-scale invasion. The series' main cast
of characters are the staff of a secret, high-technology international military
agency called SHADO (an acronym for Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization)
established by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, the
Soviet Union, France and Germany (believed to be West Germany as the city of
Bonn is mentioned along with Washington, Paris and Moscow) to defend Earth and
humanity against the mysterious aliens and learn more about them, while at the
same time keeping the threat of an alien invasion hidden from the public.
Operating under the cover—as
well as literally beneath the premises—of the Harlington-Straker Studios movie
studio in England, SHADO is headed by Commander Edward Straker (Ed Bishop), a
former United States Air Force colonel and astronaut, whose "cover"
is his role as the studio's chief executive.
SHADO has a variety of
high-tech hardware and vehicles at its disposal to implement a layered defense
of Earth. Early warnings of alien attack came from SID, the Space Intruder
Detector, an unmanned computerized tracking satellite that constantly scans for
UFO incursions. The forward line of defense is Moonbase from which the three
lunar Interceptor spacecraft, that fire a single explosive warhead, are
launched. The second line of defense includes Skydiver, a submarine mated with
the submersible, undersea-launched Sky One interceptor aircraft, which attacks
UFOs in Earth's atmosphere. The last line of defense is ground units including
the armed, IFV-like SHADO Mobiles, fitted with caterpillar tracks.
On Earth, SHADO also uses two
SHADAIR aircraft, a Seagull X-ray supersonic jet; a transatlantic Lunar Carrier
with a separating Lunar Module; a helicopter (actually, a small VTOL airplane
with large rotating propellers; and a radio-controlled Space Dumper. The
Moonbase has hovercraft-like Moon Hoppers/Moon mobiles that can be deployed for
transportation or reconnaissance.
The alien race is never given
a proper name, either by themselves or by human beings; they are simply
referred to as "the aliens". They are humanoid in appearance, and the
post-mortem examination of the first alien captured reveals that they are
harvesting organs from the bodies of abducted humans to prolong their
lifespans. However, the later episode “The Cat with Ten Lives” suggests that
these "humanoids" are actually beings subject to alien mind control,
and one “alien” body recovered was suspected of being completely Homo sapiens,
"possessed" by one of the alien minds.
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In UFO, characters
bickered and, at times, it was apparent they didn’t like each other. There
was rarely any lighthearted fare or snappy, witty banter like the relationship
between Kirk, Spock and McCoy; the storylines were also played straight and serious. Despite not being Star Trek or Lost in Space, UFO
was a dark, moody and somber alternative to contemporary SF series—and I think
that’s what people loved, and still love, about it. Again, the series is set in
1980 but the fashions including the Nehru jackets—that could be cringy but the
rest of the series is still engaging. The opening theme by longtime Anderson
associate, Barry Gray, is still amazing after these years. The special effects.
The cast of British, American and Canadian actors were great—one of them, Wanda
Ventham, who was Col. Virgina Lake, is more famously known as Benedict
Cumberbatch’s mother.
It was different. Fresh. New. It’s easy to see why UFO has had a major impact on the genre and fandom for the last fifty-plus years; you can watch online and DVDs are available—yes, I have the complete series set. You can find the series here:
The series is, yes, dated. I’m
certain some will be upset by some of the sexism but, hey, it was 1970. No
reason to get one’s knickers in a bunch. Cheesy yes but, as I’ve mentioned
begore, it’s dark, paranoid and not a plucky comedic sidekick in sight.
UFO, in
my opinion, was the first of the 1970s’ renaissance of SF series. It had a big
impact on me as I a kid and I still love revisiting it over the years.
Watch and enjoy.
Be seeing you.
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