PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Maddyclassicfilms UFO was a live action series created by Gerry Anderson and his wife Sylvia. The series ran from 1970-1973. The series stars Ed Bishop, George Sewell, Gabrielle Drake and Michael Billington.The Earth is under threat by Aliens who are abducting humans and harvesting their body parts. SHADO is a secret military organisation whose sole mission is to fight the Alien invaders and protect humanity. The SHADO headquarters are based underneath a film studio.The head of SHADO is Commander Ed Straker(Ed Bishop), his deputy and closest friend is Colonel Alec Freeman(George Sewell). Together these two are in charge of a team on Earth and of a team on their Moonbase. Up on Moonbase you have Lt. Gay Ellis(Gabrielle Drake)and her team of purple haired colleagues, why they have purple hair is never explained and is utterly bizarre. The Moonbase crew track incoming UFO's and warn the SHADO Earth base.Other team members include Colonel Paul Foster(Michael Billington), Colonel Virginia Lake(Wanda Ventham)and Captain Peter Carlin(Peter Gordeno).An episode called A Question of Priorities shows Straker faced with an impossible choice, does he use a SHADO craft to fetch medical supplies that can save his dying son? Or does he use it to help defend Earth against an incoming UFO? This is a very memorable episode and Bishop does such a good job of showing how this choice tears Straker apart.A very good series with a very catchy theme tune and memorable title sequence. Many of the episodes feature some quite dark content and creepy moments. I've never been a fan of Anderson's puppet series but I've recently seen this for the first time and love it. I wish it had lasted longer. I'm not a fan of remakes or reboots but I think a new series of this set now would work well.

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.

johngraham64 UFO is undoubtedly a slick and glossy show, ahead of it's time maybe - and unfortunately cancelled before it's time...OK so some of the episodes had flimsy plots - and some had plot holes large enough to swim Skydiver through - but I enjoyed it none-the-less.SHADO hides under the Harlington-Straker film studios. Ed Straker appears to head the studio - but it's all a cover. Passing the efficient Miss Ealand, Straker enters his office only for it to sink into the ground to SHADO proper. Personnel in incredibly tight jump suits patrol the corridors and control room. All to track and destroy invaders from outer space who are coming here to kidnap people for organ transplant (a nice plot device which seems to get lost along the way).Aided by submarines that have jet planes attached to the front, the Space Intruder Detector satellite, mobiles, lunar modules and the wonderfully-designed moonbase with it's interceptors and proper sci-fi-silver-suited personnel, the series is set up for some dramatic battles and intriguing story lines.Oh and the moonbase ladies have purple wigs on...Ed Bishop excels as Straker, ably supported by all the cast. Can I put in a vote here for Keith Alexander (playing Lt Ford)? He was used well in more than one story. And another vote for Delores Mantez (playing Nina Barry). The episode when she is stuck underwater with Straker is a real classic and gives one of the ladies (sans purple wig) more to do.My favourite episode has to be the one where Staker and Virginia Lake (Wanda Ventham looking superb!) find themselves stuck in time. I loved all the frozen things around the studio - and people. Cleverly filmed. Perhaps someone will explain what it was all about to me one day - but I love it.As a child I had a corgi or dinky or whatever die-cast moonbase interceptor that actually fired it's plastic missile at the touch of a button. Don't tell health and safety! Oh and I loved the UFO's themselves.Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's visions of the future were often stunning and beautifully realised through props (Straker's car with it's gull-wing doors), models (moonbase, interceptors, SID, Skydiver etc), fashion (purple wigs again!) and plausible story lines. This was another credit to them.Interceptors - immediate launch!!!

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.