MUSINGS OF A SCI-FI FANATIC: UFO E1: Identified

FAB FRIDAY
presents:

UFO, Episode One, Identified.

It's fascinating to think UFO (1970) had essentially been cancelled whilst interest by CBS and America had generated potential in a second season that never fully materialized.

All efforts to render a second season sequel to UFO eventually shifted and went to a complete reboot of the show inevitably materializing into a little known space series named Space:1999 (1975-1977).

Funny though, as different as the two series are, there is something about UFO (1970-1973) and Space:1999's DNA that links the two shows for me.

Take some of the colors and production design contrasts away and there was a dramatic tone to the two shows that gave them both a weight and credibility for repeat viewing.

This fan of all things Gerry and Sylvia Anderson often liberally, perhaps incorrectly, links the series in his own mad way. It's as if UFO works as a bit of a prequel to the more metaphysical and heady extension of this more pulpy space take of UFO. Yet, the two of them are very much siblings sharing qualities to be greatly admired. And both have endured as a result.

Officially Space:1999 landed its two year status short alongside the likes of Stargate Universe (2009-2011), but unofficially, and armed with the reality that many of UFO's resources, props and other designs were employed for Space:1999 (against orders mind you), giving Space:1999 and UFO both a kind of three year residency. UFO becomes something of a three chapter book instead of its much underrated single season as a result. Both Space:1999 and UFO deserved so much more life and a proper UFO second season could have been truly outstanding.

I know I'm stretching it with regard to the reality of these two distinct series with their respective missions and very different story arcs and circumstances. As it stands, without UFO we might never have had the wonderful classic that is Space:1999. UFO may be more of a footnote and the lesser known science fiction oddity, of the two, but it is extraordinary in its own right and filled with wonders all its own from performances to thoughtful ideas and stories that hinted of the more serious variety that would take even deeper root in Space:1999.

With UFO released as a Blu-Ray pressing in the United Kingdom, a region free player followed and a proper look back at that series was in order yet again from the beginning.

Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic originally looked at a number of the episodes from its single season on DVD. At some expense this site has taken liberties to obtain the Blu-Ray edition to give the entire 26 season another look. It's so worthwhile as the series is glorious in all its color and imagination. Further, as I've discovered, the upgrade to high definition was a marked improvement and it looks remarkable.

Looking at UFO, Episode 1, Identified again this writer decided to listen and watch with the accompanying Gerry Anderson commentary.

Anderson directed this first episode and it is a spectacle of good fun establishing the series.

Identified has some incredibly inspired ideas right out of the gate including a kind of first person shooter sequence by the aliens long before there were first person shooters.

Special effects are by the wondrous Derek Meddings (Thunderbirds) and music by Barry Gray (Space:1999 Year One). It is truly a grade A production despite any flaws one might find in Anderson's very first foray into live action following his Supermarionation work on Thunderbirds (1965-1966) and others.

Identified would introduce first and foremost Ed Bishop as Colonel Edward Straker commander of SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization). Though Bishop performed the voice role of Captain Blue in Anderson's Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons (1967-1968). Anderson, in the commentary track, called Bishop his "favorite actor" and was disappointed he did not achieve international stardom. Bishop is terrific throughout the UFO series as Straker. Complete with a wig and Nehru jacket the commanding presence of Straker was almost otherworldly. He looked so interesting and strong in the role and truly has such presence on that screen. He would be the glue to the show holding it together as the only character to appear in all twenty-six (26) episodes.

As introductory pilot installments go, Identified hits all the marks of a great piece of genre television.

There are some stunningly thrilling sequences in the entry too. The opening attack on Straker in the Rolls-Royce is the kind of shot across the bow a creative director like Anderson wanted to make in establishing his hero and what to expect in his series going forward. It is an all out James Bondian-like action sequence. Irwin Allen had an exciting chase sequence in his Eleven Days To Zero, the opening pilot episode for Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea (1964-1968). Anderson delivers two sequences in the form of a foot chase and a car chase.

All of this excitement is complemented by the handsome lead of Ed Bishop and, most of all for the little boys at home, a bevvy of enticingly gorgeous women. How can you not miss the 1960s and 1970s and how the camera loved its actresses? Not only are the women to die for, even scantily clothed in spots, but they wore strangely foreign purple wigs. These ladies were giving new meaning to strange (in a good way). In typical Anderson fashion Identified is loaded with visual markers that establish the look of the series and what to expect in his wonderfully underappreciated UFO.

In full disclosure, growing up, I missed UFO. I never caught it in syndication like so many others. This writer was raised and reared on Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969) and Space:1999, but UFO remained elusive.

I never missed an episode of Space:1999. Had I known about UFO I likely wouldn't have missed this one either. It's too bad because one can see the potential in continuing this series as it was constituted for at least one more year. Who doesn't want more of a great series? UFO was a great candidate.

Seeing UFO later in life I didn't appreciate it upon a first viewing and was unusually harsh upon it. With a more discerning eye and an open mind I've come to appreciate Anderson, Meddings and Keith Wilson's contributions here and the art on display for Anderson's first foray into live action. UFO has easily taken residence among my favorites from the 1970s.

There are some impressive designs here and the Skydiver with its Sky 1 nose is a great example of the fun on display, a submersible turned air craft style version of the former Thunderbird 4. The UFOs themselves are a bit underwhelming and I'm not quite sure about those Interceptors to this day, but that Skydiver is a gem and those monster SHADO Mobiles are as solid as they come. No doubt producer Reg Hill turned to Thunderbirds for resources maybe even the treads of The Mole to further generate more amazing vehicles for Anderson's universe. Part of me wishes the craft were in color like so many other aspects of this series, but the grittier, earthy tones of the vehicles served to accentuate the serious mission of an elite agency steeped in live action. But then why the purple wigs right? Just go with it.

Also notable is the way the series is shot by Anderson. There's actually an episode of UFO called Close-Up (E13) reminding me here as I watched that Anderson never shies away from extreme close ups and getting intimate emotionally with its characters' anguish and what amounts to literally the weight of the world on the shoulders of its SHADO agents. There are some wonderful shots throughout the series.

Identified takes on the sci-fi genre amidst circumstances that are played for life and death giving the series a gravity and weight amidst all of the color and vibrancy of its ideas and concepts.

It's a bit odd to think that the dissolution and destruction of UFO as a series gave rise to Space:1999, the series I know and love as perhaps my favorite in the genre. Without the failure of UFO to continue, because the series was a success as an artistic enterprise, Space:1999 may not have been. You see everything was and is as it had to be, despite the unfortunate loss of UFO after a single season. While I personally would have loved a second season of UFO, I'm not sure Space:1999 would have been the mature creation it was or have existed at all.

The title of an article in Starlog Magazine #5 said it best, UFO: The Operation Was A Success, But The Patient Died.

In retrospect, we have Space:1999 and its spiritual brother, a prequel of sorts called UFO. Both stand mighty and on their own as unique science fiction enterprises.

UFO, like Space:1999, is a stellar, out-of-this-world production from the world of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. It's a shame some simply were unable to identify its many strengths that could easily have delivered a second season.