"The final episodes were very fast moving. The acting, the dialogue, the cutting were all a lot quicker and the storylines much stronger. They stretched the brain buds a lot more with time warps and such. We got away from being stuck on Moonbase with guys scrambling down the laundry chutes each week. We got out of the studio a lot more and on location. The storylines were into the more mind-bending aspects of science-fiction, which I do enjoy watching whenever I do go to science-fiction films, which isn't a great deal."
- UFO star Ed Bishop discusses the series' format adjustment in the latter half with interviewer David Hirsch, in Starlog #55 (February 1982: "Commander Straker Speaks.")
I used to love "UFO". I recall watching it on public television when I was in my single digits. I've considered buying the series on DVD but I'm concerned that I'll be underwhelmed by the models and miniatures. I know that Gerry Anderson is a master with these effects but I have never really gotten into his programs. But I do remember UFO being one of my fondest childhood TV watching memories. My biggest concern will be just what Ed Bishop states, "guys scrambling down laundry chutes".
ReplyDeleteI also just set myself a note to try and watch "Journey To the Far Side of the Sun" also. I've never tried Space:1999, either.
Memories are often best left as memories, of course, but UFO is even more enjoyable when viewed through adult eyes. It has a richness of character and darkness of soul, more often than not. I highly recommend you try it again. Yes, the series was not meant to last long; it works today because it was a limited run program. Interceptors launching and intercepting "U-FOs" gets bloody tiring, in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteYou never saw Space: 1999 as a little one, so you would be crashing in with adult eyes; from today. I liked it, more of less, when it first ran -- I was fourteen -- but I had not seen it for years. About six years ago I bought the "Mega Set" of the series and re-explored. I was taken aback by how much more crude and basic it was than my memory of it: Lots of episodes with curtain backdrops, and foam-core-looking control panels. The models are generally good (that was Anderson and Co's main bag, after all), if overused, and the stories are often not well thought out; they were at their best when they were plain weird. I should say that I do like the series -- it's its own thing.