UFO and Space: 1999/UFO
UFO was a British television series originally aired on the Associated Television (ATV) and on ITV from 16 September 1970 to 24 July 1971. The series, produced by Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill, was set in a futuristic view of the 1980s in Great Britain.
The series focused on United States Air Force (USAF) Colonel Edward "Ed" Straker (played by Ed Bishop, which participated in the Andersons's TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterions and film Doppelgänger/Journey to the Far Side to the Sun and Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey and was about to participate to the Andersons's The Day After Tomorrow/Into Infinity), Commander-in-chief of the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation (SHADO), a military movement born in the 1970s from Project Angel, a secret joint American, Soviet, British, German and French (almost all the "great powers") project to create a military organization against a dying extraterrestrial species which needs Earth and the Terrestrials to survive from their hostile and sterile planet.
Episodes (in airing order)
[edit | edit source]The episodes, together with a brief synopsis and their writer or writers are listed below:
- "Identified" (by Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson and Tony Barwick)
- After ten years of planning, SHADO is now operational and captures its first alien UFO, which's target is a (Concorde-like) Seagull X-ray supersonic airplane carrying essential space scanners designed by Colonel Virginia Lake. After the almost dead alien is recovered from the destroyed UFO, SHADO doctors see many trasplanted Terrestrial organs, including one from SHADO pilot Captain Peter Carlin's sister.
- "Exposed" (by Tony Barwick)
- After a civilian test pilot, Paul J. Foster, accidentally attends at a dogfight between a UFO and SHADO's Sky One plane, Straker must decide if he must join SHADO or die.
- "The Cat With Ten Lives" (by David Tomblin)
- As SHADO operative Dr. Douglas "Doug" Jackson discovers that the aliens are actually incorporean and they can control other individuals, an alien-controlled Siamese cat conditions SHADO pilot Jim Regan.
- "Conflict" (by Ruric Powell)
- While Straker is protesting with the International Astrophysical Commission's President, General James L. Henderson about space junk, an alien device (the so-called "Limpet UFO") that hijacks SHADO Lunar modules is hidden on Apollo 8's abandoned S-IVB/SLA[1] stage.
- "A Question of Priorities" (by Tony Barwick)
- Straker's son, John "Johnny" Rutland, is critically injured and he needs a special medicine from New York, that will be delivered by a SHADAIR (the air transports division of SHADO) airplane, but, as a UFO with an alien defector on lands in Ireland, Colonel Alec E. Freeman (acting Commander-in-chief of SHADO as Straker is in the hospital) orders to the plane's pilot to go there before going to the hospital (as only Straker knows what the plane transports).
- "E.S.P." (by Alan Fennell)
- John Croxley (a man with extrasensorial perception, or "ESP", that knows of SHADO because of his ability) is controlled by the aliens and attemps to kill Commander Straker and Freeman and destroy SHADO.
- "Kill Straker!" (by Donald James)
- Foster, now a SHADO Moonbase operative, an his Lunar module copilot, Captain Frank Craig, are hypnotized by the aliens to kill Straker. Craig dies during his attempt and Foster tries to kill the Commander, but SHADO specialist Dr. Douglas "Doug" Jackson eliminates the wish to kill the Commander from his head.
- "Sub-Smash" (by Alan Fennell)
- A strange alien watercraft destroys a ship from underwater and SHADO's Skydiver One submarine, with Straker and Foster in, is forced to investigate. The alien object damages Skydiver One, sinking it in the ocean, with the Sky One aircraft capable of carrying only one person and only one airlock working, requiring three hours after any use. The last one to leave the submarine (or so he thinks), Straker must face his claustrophobia.
- "Destruction" (by Dennis Spooner)
- A Royal Navy destroyer ship with an unknown purpose is approached by an aircraft, which is destroyed with a missile shortly before contact. Rumors about an extraterrestrial attack to the ship begun circling and SHADO is forced to investigate in top secret affairs, extraterrestrial technology, family issues and love interests.
- "The Square Triangle" (by Alan Pattillo)
- As two lovers accidentally kill an alien instead of Liz Newton (the female lover)'s husband, SHADO becomes involved in a love triangle, forced to investigate[2].
- "Close Up" (by Tony Barwick)
- SHADO lieutenants Gary Myers and John Masters develop a special "electron telescope" camera, which is mounted by Foster and Masters on a NASA B142 space probe, which tracks an UFO to the aliens's homeworld, sending to Earth pictures of it. Unfortunately for SHADO, the altimeters go broken and the project becomes futile.
- "The Sound of Silence" (by David Lane and Bob Bell)
- After a showjumper and a hippie are killed by an alien, SHADO must secretly solve the case, sending Colonel Foster at the showjumper's farm.
Order
[edit | edit source]- Prod: The studio production order.
- ATV: "Official" ITC sequence. This is the sequence in which the episodes were originally scheduled to be broadcast in the UK by ATV Midlands.
- UFO Series: Recommended order by Marc Martin of http:www.ufoseries.com.
- Fanderson: Recommended by Fanderson and used on British DVDs.
- ITC: Order used for VHS release in the UK.
| Title | Original UK airdate | Prod | ATV | UFOS | Fanderson | ITC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Identified" | 16 September 1970 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| "Computer Affair" | 15 May 1971 | 2 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
| "Flight Path" | 20 January 1971 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| "Survival" | 6 January 1971 | 4 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| "Exposed" | 23 September 1970 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| "Conflict" | 7 October 1970 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| "The Dalotek Affair" | 10 February 1971 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| "A Question of Priorities" | 14 October 1970 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
| "Ordeal" | 24 April 1971 | 9 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| "The Responsibility Seat" | 8 March 1973 | 10 | 25 | 10 | 10 | 17 |
| "The Square Triangle" | 9 December 1970 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| "Court Martial" | 1 May 1971 | 12 | 20 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| "Close Up" | 16 December 1970 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 9 |
| "Confetti Check A-O.K." | 10 July 1971 | 14 | 22 | 14 | 14 | 11 |
| "E.S.P." | 21 October 1970 | 15 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 8 |
| "Kill Straker!" | 4 November 1970 | 16 | 7 | 16 | 16 | 12 |
| "Sub-Smash" | 11 November 1970 | 17 | 8 | 17 | 17 | 13 |
| "The Sound of Silence" | 17 July 1971 | 18 | 23 | 18 | 18 | 19 |
| "The Cat with Ten Lives" | 30 September 1970 | 19 | 3 | 19 | 19 | 18 |
| "Destruction" | 2 December 1970 | 20 | 9 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| "The Man Who Came Back" | 3 February 1971 | 21 | 16 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| "The Psychobombs" | 30 December 1970 | 22 | 12 | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| "Reflections In The Water" | 24 July 1971 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 24 |
| "Timelash" | 17 February 1971 | 24 | 18 | 24 | 24 | 26 |
| "Mindbender" | 13 January 1971 | 25 | 14 | 25 | 25 | 23 |
| "The Long Sleep" | 15 March 1973 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 25 |
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ The Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) should actually be detached by years from the third stage (S-IVB) of the Saturn V launch vehicle, but it is still there in this episode.
- ↑ This is the only episode with Lieutenant Keith Ford dubbed and with a different background for the end credits, as the others have a shot of outer space (beginning with Earth, then including a small celestial body, then the Sun and the Moon) as background, but this one has got Liz watching her husband's gravestone.