Evidently in the future, we will all have extra bad taste in apparel, hair and make-up. But, we will get to live under the sea, on a space station, and on a moonbase, and people who seem to run movie studios, will actually be top level commanders of a super-dee-duper secret force to fight the alien invasion named: S.H.A.D.O.

OK. I can deal with that.

“Stop this! You and I are the only ones who even REMEMBER Logan’s Run!”

However, after seeing some “UFO” reruns in recent years, I’ve felt inspired to make a new, original film or video portraying a similarly bright technological future, with everything we were always promised before, and also set it in the year 1980

You’re such a tootie, Steve.

Anyway, I particularly enjoy UFO because it consistently showed Straker as a cold-as-ice hardass who is in charge of SHADO primarily because he can make hard decisions. The UFOs couldn’t break lightspeed (much better than Space: 1999, at the very least), the aliens could theoretically be sympathetic, and it’s all in 1980! 1980! 1980!

I agree that a reimagining–from its traditional British standpoint–would be interesting, especially in modern times. How does SHADO keep itself a secret from amateur astronomers, the Internet, government transparency groups, et al? Just how heartless is the organization (whistleblowers are conveniently driven mad, threats quietly liquidated)? And why the hell would aliens travel bajillions of kilometers to steal organs? That’s probably the toughest nut to crack: why would SHADO exist? Realspace does tend towards the Stainless Steel Rat concept of interstellar invasions being completely implausible as the energy and wealth expended would probably never be reasonably recouped… that and the aliens never seem to come in full force, so it’s possible they don’t have the resources for a proper invasion.

One of the drivers of such a show could be wondering exactly why the aliens are doing what they’re doing, and throw in some intrigue. Conquering by force may be out of the question, but what about conquering from within, a la The Invaders? Throw in a little paranoia aspect, and a shadow war between the alien-sympathizers and SHADO. Nice and dark.

Nuclear-tipped Interceptors on the Moon are still cool, although they should probably be blocky unmanned drones. SkyDiver could be reverted into a surface-to-orbit missile-launching SSBN, but that would require SHADO to have a sub pen. Which does bring up the question of where exactly SkyDiver’s home port was…

UFO was super-damn-funky. Chauvanistic? Yes, and not the only Anderson series that was. But if you can accept that flaw as a tragic sign of the times, UFO was stylistically an excellent show. I loved it. I can understand, however, why some parents wouldn’t have let their young kids watch it. Between the miniskirts and the sometimes-scary plots, it could have been a little much for the munchkins.

It rerun some time ago, but unfortunately during my regular working hours. I was able to watch one or two episodes.

Andre

The UFO idea comes around again every few years anyway in some new form, like X-Files, or the War of the Worlds show that came out in the 80s. Another UFO “type” show will come out soon enough, I’m sure of it.

It’s not orchestra but the Rocket Scientists covered the theme on their most recent double CD “Revolution Road”. If you like new prog rock with old prog instruments you’ll enjoy the rest. Saw them live at this year’s RoSFest.

http://www.thetank.com/rocketscientists.htm

Oh, geeze, I remember getting the Supercar toy. Used a ‘replaceable cam’ to change the pattern it would go (on the ground, of course).
Plus XL-5 lunchbox
Didn’t watch the Thunderbirds first run, only saw them a couple? years ago when they ran on -geeze, was it TechTV? -
Didn’t see STINGRAY, either…. did watch SPACE:1999, and recently got MST3K’s riff from their ‘zero’ season Space Princess.
UFO was probably my favorite, adjusting for my age at the times of the original

J/P=?

That was a fun series.

earlier series by the Anderson’s were puppet based – Fireball XL-5, Stingray, Thunderbirds etc.

These were also the people responsible for Moonbase 1999 (sigh)

cheers,
Robert.

The only specific part of “UFO” that I recall is one of the humans being helped by an alien while on the Moon, only to have the alien killed by another human because he was unable to tell him “stop”.

Now, what was the SciFi series with marionettes? “Thunderbirds”? I had some of the (metal?) models of the spaceships.

I was willing to spot them that as a donnée. I was even willing to spot them the basic evil-twinness of the plot. (After all, I’m willing to spot J. K. Rowling the use of magic, and nearly everybody the use of FTL.) But I was not willing to spot them an /ending/ based on the supposed unresolvability of a physics problem any well educated twelve-year old can work out in under a minute.

“UFO” had good points and bad. For “bad”, there’s the basic premise, and the Andersons’ usual passion for ultra-toyetic transport devices and sooper-secret headquarters. For “good”, it was far more adult on the human side than virtually all US screen SF not created by Joe Straczynski, though not particularly remarkable for a British effort (cf. “Moonbase 3″ and “Star Cops”).

In the 90′s there was a PC game called X-COM: UFO Defense, that had a very similar premise. The player was tasked with defending the globe from alien terrorist attacks. It used two modes: the strategic mode had the player build up bases to scan from and launch interceptors, then a tactical mode where the player directed a squad of soldiers around a UFO crash (that you shot down) or an alien terrorism site. It eventually led up to an invasion of Cydonia.

Also, the intro to Neon Genesis Evangelion, a very popular anime in the 90′s, seems to pull a lot from UFO’s intro, stylistically. About a minute in, it kicks into this quick-cut sequence of people and gear striking action poses, with bits of exciting text spliced in. (Couldn’t find a version with subtitles, unfortunately.)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EgATlhZFAfs

Or that after 400 years of analytical astronomy on this Earth, we still wouldn’t have detected another Earth-sized planet through gravitational perturbations.

- Jack

I’ll do you one better. I just got the full set of “Supercar” from amazon for about $60 (with shipping).

I guess I’m too old for this crowd, re: Gerry Anderson shows, but Supercar was my very favorite show as an 8-year-old. Funny, I never saw it in syndication (probably because it was B&W) so I’ve not seen it in over 45 years. I was filled with trepidation sliding that first disc in that I’d now find the show embarrassingly juvenile. Just the opposite! I was amazed at how sophisticated it was for a kiddy show. The plots unfold slowly with lots of exposition, and the jargon, especially the ground control to aircraft conversations is unapologetically complex.

It really shows Anderson’s love of aircraft and the people who build and fly them (as is the case in all his shows).

I have a major chapter on him in Spaceship Handbook. While the subject is “Thunderbirds”, the front part covers all of his shows from “Torchy the Battery Boy” through some of his non-SciFi shows in the ’80s.

- Jack

Thanks, buddy. Sheesh.

(But… Wanda Ventham. Gabrielle Drake. Swoon.)

http://ufoseries.com/index.html

And yes Phil, get the DVD set. It’s well worth it.

And now that they released a “30th Anniversary” set of Space:1999 for under $75, I’m going to get that as well.

UFO (Science Fiction)
Syndicated only
60 minutes
Produced: 1970 (26 episodes)
Released (U.S.): Fall 1972

Cast:
Cdr. Edward Straker………….Ed Bishop
Col. Alec Freeman…………….George Sewell
Capt. Peter Karlin……………..Peter Gordeno
Lt. Gay Ellis…………………….Gabrielle Drake
Col. Paul Foster………………..Michael Billington
Gen. Henderson……………….Grant Taylor

This science-fiction adventure was set 10 years in the future–in the year 1980–when it was discovered that unidentified flying objects posed an imminent threat to Earth. The general public was not yet aware of this unfortunate development, so a secret multinational defense command was set up under a movie studio(!) and called SHADO–Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defense Organization. Its commander was Edward Straker, whose “cover” was that of a movie producer. Others included Col. Freeman, his second-in-command; Capt. Karlin, pilot of the “remarkable” Seagull X-ray craft; and Lt. Ellis, in charge of SHADO’s Moon Base Control.
The stories were filled with violence, green-faced aliens, a number of very sexy females, and the usual array of scientific hardware. Among the gimmicks were an underwater airplane launcher, the ultra-futuristic Moon Base, and a Space Intruder Detector called SID.
The series was produced in England.