ChicDragon
It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
WillSushyMedia
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
inkpen-30556
UFO was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson who up until then had been responsible for a range of internationally successful puppet based shows eg Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet etc. The basic conceit being that Earth was being visited by Aliens who were 'harvesting' humans for organs etc. and the travails of the defence arrangements made to respond to the threat. Set in 1980, there were two aspects to the production: the hardware as presented by model-work and the human interactions as represented by a'live' cast.Firstly, the show has an aspiration to be for 'grown-ups' with many of the stories being to do with inter-human relationships against extraordinary backgrounds. This in itself is very ambitious, and I must say not entirely successful.The nature of the alien threat is never taken beyond the flying saucer escapes interception and generates a threat to which SHADO, the defence organisation, deals with.The show is attractive to watch in terms of production values and casting. The nature of SHADO, the global defence organisation, is well established but seems very lightweight in terms of the assets and personnel it controls to deal with the threat. But to be honest, I don't think this works against the show.The main recurring characters are attractive and garner interest. The challenge of dealing with extraordinary situations is the main theme throughout the 26 episodes and in general terms the scripts superficially arrive at some kind of resolution, not always comforting or simple. The show was an ambitious one, and for it's time (1969/70) was quite successful in presenting and dealing with big issues. But it was never clear to whom the show was being presented to. Often broadcast as a kids show, even where issues involving extra-marital sex or drug addiction were plot themes, you do wonder if the broadcasting networks ever watched the show!Attractive to watch and of its time, the show retains interest and can be recommended to Anderson fans and viewers of 1960s social commentaries/dramas.
ShadeGrenade
Note To T.V. Producers - when making a sci-fi series, it is never a good idea to specify the year in which it is set. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's 'U.F.O.' was made in 1970, but set ten years in the future, meaning it now looks bizarre compared to the reality. No Margaret Thatcher, for instance ( unless she slipped in unnoticed as one of the Moonbase girls! ). My first encounter with 'U.F.O.' came in the pages of the fondly remembered 'Countdown' comic in early 1971. When the series made it to my part of the world a few months later, I was already acquainted with its format and characters.The premise is this; Earth is fighting a secret war against mysterious green-skinned aliens from an unknown planet, who travel in flying saucers that make a distinctive whirring sound. The aliens are not here to take over, but to kidnap people to use their internal organs as replacements for their own, as an unspecified catastrophe is causing them to gradually die out. Set up to defend us is S.H.A.D.O. ( Secret Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation ), headed by Commander Ed Straker ( Ed Bishop ). Its headquarters, concealed behind the facade of a film studio, is a male chauvinist's dream as its operatives are mostly female and shapely. Whenever a U.F.O. is detected entering our part of the Solar System, S.H.A.D.O. launches Interceptors from a base on the Moon. Should the pesky critters elude the Interceptors' missiles ( which was at least once a week ), the next line of defence were the Skydiver submarines ( though we only ever saw one ). Captain Peter Carlin ( Peter Gordeno ) would enter a hatch, gain access to the cockpit of 'Sky One' ( nothing to do with Rupert Murdoch, so don't worry ), the submarine tilted, and its entire front section detached itself and shot into the sky like a bullet. Should Carlin's aim be off, the U.F.O. next had to contend with Mobiles - huge, land-based vehicles not unlike tanks. The aliens knew of S.H.A.D.O.'s existence ( thanks to a number of people under their control ) and did their best to destroy it. In one episode, two of Straker's men are brainwashed and given orders to kill him. In another, a strange crystal found on the Moon drives insane anyone unlucky enough to touch it.All this was tremendously exciting to my eight-year old eyes back in 1971. A war between planets, spaceships, submarines, underground offices, ray guns, cars whose doors opened vertically ( how we all wanted to own one! ), explosions, and Gabrielle Drake looking devastatingly sexy in a purple wig ( her dallying with aliens served her in good stead when she appeared in 'Crossroads' a decade later! ). Derek Meddings once more provided the S.F.X., making this one of the few British sci-fi shows of that period to stand comparison with the better funded American ones. Dinky brought out toy Interceptors and Mobiles ( and before you ask, yes, I had both these! )Of the cast, Ed Bishop was superb as 'Straker', with George Sewell as lecherous 'Colonel Alec Freeman', and Michael Billington providing interest for the ladies as 'Colonel Paul Foster'. The guest-stars included Robin Bailey, George Cole, Adrienne Corri, Michael Jayston, Jane Merrow, Stuart Damon, and Patrick Mower.I.T.V. did not know what to do with the show; many regions dumped it in late-night slots ( including my own - H.T.V. ). The few critics who bothered to review it predictably likened it to Anderson's 'Thunderbirds'. Very unfair, but what you would expect coming from the uninformed.The last few episodes were made after a production break, and experienced film directors such as Cyril Frankel and Jeremy Summers came aboard, resulting in a superb run of stories including 'Timelash' in which Patrick Allen played a malevolent time-jumper, and 'The Long Sleep' with Tessa Wyatt. The latter episode was unusually strong for 1970 television, featuring a drug sequence and an attempted rape. Wanda Wentham replaced George Sewell as Straker's second-in-command.A few years after it ended, 'U.F.O' became a surprise hit on U.S. television, and for a while a second series looked a certainty. But it never happened, and I'm glad it did not because I think the proposed changes in format ( making the Moonbase the focal point of the plots ) would quickly have palled.As I write this, 'U.F.O.' is being screened on I.T.V.-4, and the series came out on D.V.D. some years ago. It may seem strange to young viewers ( I hope they do not think that the 1980 depicted in the show was anything like the real one! ), but I think it stands up well.
gooelf50
This was a fanciful TV program which I believe was filmed and cast in Britain. The special effects were somewhat cheesy with UFOs that looked like huge spinning metal tops from the 1930s. I don't recall ever seeing the aliens, but I believe I watched the same UFO crash repeatedly each time one was shot down. The organization that was responsible for blasting the alien spacecrafts to smithereens was SHADO which seemed to win every battle with the aliens. Each week, you'd see a huge UFO plunging to earth, totally destroyed by SHADO's defense network. What I always had a little difficulty understanding was how a race of aliens who were able to develop a craft that carried them across billions and billions of miles of the universe, was unable to come up with a weapons system that could effectively blast SHADO's defense craft. It seemed like the poor wretches were always out gunned. It would seem that such an innovative and technically capable race would realize the folly of their repeated attempts to break through SHADO's defenses and either come up with a ray gun that would atomize the defenders or cut their losses and move on to easier pickings. Having said all of this, I always watched the program and was quite entertained by it. I don't know whether that was because it was actually a good series or simply so cheesy that I just had to watch it to see just how cheesy it could get. Wow! 9 out of 11 junior space cadets with no life and no grasp of reality were unimpressed by my review. I best be careful they don't zap me with their Mattel jr. space ranger ray guns. Maybe I should have said the series was only cheesy if you're not out of touch with reality. LOL.
r-c-s
UFO ( and SPACE 1999, not by chance another Anderson-UK production ) show that low budget, non mainstream series (hollywood-wise) can have class and guts. They supplied with good acting & good plots to budget shortcomings, poor SFX etc. The most thrilling episodes (like "Confetti", portraying Straker's private life, upto his divorce & the tragic death of his son; or the last, "Responsibility seat", where Straker is absent & Freeman discovers how tough it is to be the boss; etc ) are not strictly tied to aliens & space battles, but to the character themselves...something i can't see it done with Star Wars characters like Leila or Hanakin: would anyone watch 2h movie without frills and effects only to deal with the character? I wouldn't. Some depict as shortcomings (eg the interceptors have just one missile; if they miss UFO rendez-vous by a second the UFO gets through to Earth, etc ) what was conversely trying to be realistic. Bishop & Billington recently died. I remember a second series was foreplanned in the 90's. The screenplay was ready and some producers were looking into it. Sewell & Bishop had said they would join upon request. Sadly, that wasn't a good cash cow in the producers' mind and it all got down the drain.
