"ON POSITIVE TRACK..." (Remembering ITC's "U.F.O.")

When on mentions the names of producers Gerry & Sylvia Anderson, it's inevitable that the first two words you will hear are "puppets" and "THUNDERBIRDS". Yet it was in 1970, that this husband and wife team who had made their names with big hits like "THUNDERBIRDS" made an about turn and made the first big budget live-action Sci-fi show to be made in Britain. This was "U.F.O." and it was a show which was forever to be brushed off and considered the very NADIR of their work by many at the time, only to make somewhat BIGGER waves abroad. To this day in 2012, "U.F.O." has still never had a  proper networked and UNCUT showing in Britain.     

      

                

 The Show followed the cases of "S.H.A.D.O." (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation) - a United Nations task force set up to combat a wave of Alien space-craft secretly visiting the Earth for reasons unknown.  It starred American actor, Ed Bishop as Supreme Commander Ed Straker (complete with a futuristic bleached blonde haircut and gull-wing door car) - along with easy-going George Sewell as Alec Freeman (his second), and attractive newcomer, Michael Billington as "romantic lead" Col. Paul Foster.

                             

On the surface, "U.F.O." must have seemed like a typical Gerry Anderson series, with submarines which could launch interceptors from underwater, and mobile tanks which kicked ass just to look at them. Yet upon watching, it never took long for one to see that this was VERY different in texture and approach to anything they had done before. This was ADULT drama, with multi-layered plot-lines and Straker's character in particular soon being shown to be a man of intense depth - with Ed Bishop's portrayal soon being slated

higher things upon the shows' demise. 

                     

The Show kicked off production with straight-forward action stories like "COMPUTER AFFAIR" & the show's pilot, "IDENTIFIED". However, even here at the very beginning, one could easily see a very dark and uneasy background to the show which - although long-since popular and accepted now in 2012, was quite the other thing in 1970  when it simply stood out like a sore thumb.

                         

 Without a doubt, it was this more unsettling quality which not only caused many viewers to dislike it upon it's showing in 1970, but which also upset ITC Boss-man  Sir Lew Grade, when he professed to openly DISLIKING the show upon seeing the pilot before it's initial screening.  He wanted a live-action "THUNDERBIRDS", and a cold, sometimes disturbing Sci-fi tale about Aliens abducting and mutilating human beings for their own evil ways was most definitely NOT on the agenda. 

                          

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS "U.F.O." ??

 OK - to start with it's this.... it's a Science Fiction Action/Drama show set in the future of what was THEN THOUGHT would be the 1980's - BUT FROM a 1970 STAND-POINT. In 1970, we were still in the 1960's. Everyone dressed more wildly and exotic than they have since for a long time. Hot pants and free love were IN, and girls frequently wore wigs as part of the dressing-up process of going to a Nightclub. The world of 1970 thought that in 1980 all this would not only still be around, but also to the point of being the accepted norm. As we all know now however, the REAL 1980's were to be far from how they were thought they MIGHT be in 1970, and this is a point well worth remembering because when many more MODERN viewers switch on the show, they get very confused watching something SET in the 1980's yet LOOKING like the late 60's!

                           

 

So it's the early 80's but seen from an early 70's stand-point.

It's also practically the only Sci-fi adventure to OPENLY feature "Soap" elements in several episodes. A move which was ultimately to

backfire in some respects on the Anderson s  as many fans as well as the CBS Television Network in the U.S. let them know (in no UN-certain

terms). But the Anderson's were having FUN with "U.F.O." - this was still the era when one could make a show ART FOR ART'S SAKE, without having pressure groups, or Networks on their backs dictating from the get-go. It was an era soon to end. Yet in "U.F.O."'s case it actually worked in it's favour - all going onto make a show which was as much fun as it was daring, outrageous and dramatic. The so-called "dreaded" soap elements in question related mostly to Commander Straker's previous marriage, how it ended and at one point became an important point in a certain incident.

                         
Yet I venture to say that these scenes (mostly in the story, "A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES ) did the show as a whole no harm at all, and only helped to broaden Straker's character for future development.

                       
  Looking at the show today in the puritanical 21st Century, it DOES include things which to some are considered "Sexist". SHADO's Moonbase crew for instance upon the Moon was mostly sexy attractive girls in silver Spandex and purple wigs. But remember this was made in 1970, when such things were considered the OPPOSITE.  The sight of a sexy girl dressed in such a way  was not only "sexy", but also LIBERATING. Ten years before, Women had little say and were considered only there to have babies and do as they were told. In 1970, a woman suddenly HAD SAY, her opinion now mattered a lot - and to be SEEN - and ACCEPTED as taking pride in herself as a sexy vibrant creature, PROUD of her own body was by no means a sin. That said, it DID also engender some humour from those who looked at the show simply as "Sex on the moon".  Personally, I'd rather have THAT than the puritanical views of today. That at least is just good fun.

                                         

Away from the drama though, every good Sci-fi needs GOOD special effects. Luckily as many will tell you, the Andersons's had the services of some of the best in the business - headed of course by Derek Meddings. As it turned out, this was to be Meddings' final show for the Anderson team. Throughout it's production he committed some beautiful work to film, claiming that the hardest part was filming the Ufo's themselves. 

                               
As work on the shows' production progressed, so did the shows' shift of plot development. Cast members also changed for the last 9 episodes, as Sewell was replaced by sexy Wanda Ventham as Col. Virginia Lake - and Billington's Foster was given more screen-time. So far as plot-development was concerned though - whereas the first 18 stories had focused on straight-forward action-drama with a growing sense of the unknown - the final nine stories focused more and more ON THE UNKNOWN element and LESS on the straight & narrow. To explain this, one must always bear in mind ( as I said earlier) this was made at a time when one could have more fun in the making of the show....as long as it didn't detract from the shows' quality, all would be well. In the case of "U.F.O." it had just simply progressed. 

The show eventually premiered on UK screens in September 1970, on Wednesday nights after "Coronation Street". As luck would have it, just as the ratings were on the "up", ITC pulled the show after Episode-8 ("A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES ) - then re-started it in the New Year of 1971 on Saturday evenings to compete against "DOCTOR WHO" on the BBC. Predictably, "U.F.O." lost out. It was out of step with it's time, and many found it UN-settling. Also, it was NEVER to attain a full screening anyway as certain episodes from the LATTER end of the show (such as "THE LONG SLEEP" & "  "MINDBENDER") had been deemed in the UK to be unsuitable. Scenes such as two hippies getting high on LSD and the effects of a Space rock on Straker's mind did not go down well. And so, after one false start, "U.F.O." was taken off EARLY, with several episodes never shown. It was then relegated to the old ITC game of only being pulled out of mothballs as "filler" when the schedules were

a bit flat. Even then, it was often the earlier stories which got shown, and the whole show was considered a bust. 

                            

Then in 1972, a strange thing happened when ITC sold the show as an extra to CBS, who then put it on prime-time on the PBS network in North America. It was then that "U.F.O." had it's otherwise BELATED day, when it suddenly became a huge American hit coast to coast. This also ensured that it also had a COMPLETE SHOWING without cuts

and went on also to be a hit in Italy, Australia and Japan.

The success of this showing in 1972/3 in the U.S. then of course brought up the demand from the American office for a further series the following year. Plans were put into operation and new sets  and miniatures were designed for what was to have been "U.F.O.: 1999". During the shows' run in America, it was noted that the most

 popular shows were those usually set on the moon. to that end then, the next series was to have seen the whole SHADO organisation shuttled onto the moon in twenty-five years on a new larger base named Moonbase Alpha, where the Aliens then proceed to plant a bomb on the moon which then sends the moon and Alpha OUT into deep space. As I say though, this next series was later on CANCELLED when the Americans noticed that the final few stories had dropped from the No.1 spot, and changed their minds. Such is the way with Americans. 

                            

Never again would a British Science Fiction show be quite as different, chancy or ultimately REWARDING. In 2012 however, it STILL has to attain a proper UK-uncut screening. 

Makes you wonder what they're all afraid of...?

COMPLETE "U.F.O." EPISODE LISTING -
loosely in order of production 1969/70


   1. IDENTIFIED
   2. EXPOSED
   3. FLIGHT PATH
   4. COMPUTER AFFAIR
   5. THE DALOTEK AFFAIR
   6. CONFLICT
   7. SURVIVAL
   8. CONFETTI CHECK A-O.K.
   9. COURT MARTIAL
   10.E.S.P.
   11.THE RESPONSIBILITY SEAT
   12.THE SQUARE TRIANGLE
   13.CLOSE UP
   14.A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
   15.KILL STRAKER!  
   16.ORDEAL
   17.SUB-SMASH
   18.THE SOUND OF SILENCE
   19.THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
   20.REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER
   21.THE CAT WITH TEN LIVES
   22.DESTRUCTION
   23.TIMELASH
   24.MINDBENDER
   25.THE PSYCHO BOMBS
   26.THE LONG SLEEP