By Robert Meyer Burnett
This past weekend, I was talking to this sixteen-year-old kid about films, filmmaking and DVDs. He's hoping to one day become a film editor and also happened to be a big fan of science fiction, fantasy and horror films. The discussion quickly turned to his favorite genre films. Now, because I tend to mark events in my own life based on what movies came out during various years, it occurred to me this kid wasn't even born when RE-ANIMATOR, TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA and BACK TO THE FUTURE left theaters. The kid didn't even have his second birthday when either MANHUNTER or ROBOCOP came out ... a few favorite films from my college years. He was probably six when TERMINATOR 2 morphed across the screen, so couldn't have seen it theatrically, unless he had really cool parents.
Then I realized during his lifetime, the only truly great genre films released theatrically might be SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, STARSHIP TROOPERS (yes, I'm one of those people) and THE MATRIX (BTW, I'm one of those folks who prefers the original TERMINATOR to its sequel).
I marveled at this.
During the conversation, he explained ARMY OF DARKNESS was one of his very favorite movies. After impressing him that I actually worked on the film while employed by Tony Gardner's Alterian Studios (even getting screen credit as a makeup effects assistant or something), I asked the kid what he thought of the first two films in the series?
He looks at me dumbfounded and asks, "What first two films?"
I'm like, "Dude, you know, EVIL DEAD and EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN."
No, the kid didn't know.
I couldn't believe it.
See, I became a real film fan after seeing WAR OF THE WORLDS on Seattle station Channel Eleven's Sci-Fi theater when I was probably five. Every Sunday at 2 p.m., a new genre film blazed across my corneas, sparking my imagination and solidifying a film interest which endures to this day.
But, unlike this kid, who was lucky enough to be born in the home video age, when I was a young lad, I wasn't able to choose which sci-fi movies I managed to see, because the VCR didn't exist for the American consumer yet. Back in those days, if you wanted to see a particular film, the only way was to scour TV GUIDE and hopefully sometime during the year whatever you wanted to see would eventually show up on television. Either that, or buy a truncated, 8MM version out of the back of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine.
So, I randomly stumbled across films of varying degrees of quality, from RODAN to THE TERRORNAUGHTS to THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE each and every Sunday. Each week, it was always something new and different, stimulating a different part of my imagination. One week, I was Jason fighting living skeletons with my pals the Argonauts. The next week, I boarded a space ark with the last remnants of humanity to hopefully survive on the mysterious planet Zira in George Pal's WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.
These days, kids get a film on videocassette or DVD and watch it over and over and over. The same damn movie. Why watch something else when you've already have something you know is good already? Ask any parent how many times their kids have seen THE LION KING, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST or, horrors, POKEMON.
Sure, kids can turn to cable, but again, how many times do you really need to see AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS?
So now talking with this kid I'm afforded one of life's great pleasures ... telling a wide-eyed, truly interested young intellect about the experience of a movie I've loved since I first saw it sometimes decades ago, waxing rhapsodic about its most minute details.
You should've seen this kid's face when I told him ARMY OF DARKNESS actually was the THIRD film in director Sam Raimi's venerable EVIL DEAD series, detailing the travails of Bruce Campbell's stalwart S-Mart employee Ash and the evil army of Deadites he must destroy.
Let's just say this kid was pretty stoked. I don't think he could get to LaserBlazer fast enough. I decided to allow him the joy of discovering Anchor Bay's recent EVIL DEAD Book of the Dead DVD packaging for himself.
Then I got to thinking about what the cinematic world was like back when I was around his age.
I turned fifteen in the year 1982. Wanna know what films came out between May and August of that year? CONAN THE BARBARIAN, POLTERGEIST, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, BLADE RUNNER, THE ROAD WARRIOR, E.T., TRON and JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING.
Summer movies really kicked ass back then. Every week, a film came out you'd read about for months in STARLOG and when it was over, you weren't disappointed.
Now, not so much.
But the point is, how are kids today even supposed to find out about film and television they might enjoy released before they were born? Sure, you can watch THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN on the Cartoon Network, but it's just not enough. Unless people like ourselves take the time to give the youth of America a proper pop-culture education, how can we expect them to know the difference between THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and ATTACK OF THE CLONES? Dammit folks, it's your duty to make sure your resident youngster knows PLANET OF THE APES stars the gun-toting, cigar-chomping head of the NRA and not Dirk Diggler.
Which of course brings me to UFO.
For any of you buyers of DVD box sets of television episodes, there aren't just X-FILES, BUFFY, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, MASH and SIMPSONS seasons being released.
No ... there's also companies out there like my beloved A&E Home Video.
A&E has wisely chosen to release many beloved British television series from the 1960s. They didn't have to, but after striking deals with companies like Carlton International, A&E have quietly released shows like THE SAINT, THE AVENGERS, SECRET AGENT and MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS on DVD. They've also befriended the fan of genre television by releasing THE PRISONER, THE HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR and producer Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation series THE THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLET and SPACE: 1999.
On July 30th, god bless 'em, they're releasing UFO.
I'm sure many of you are scratching your heads and asking yourself, "Dude. UFO? What the hell is that?"
And I'm here to bring the noise, as it were.
Many years before agents Scully and Mulder searched high and low for evidence of governmental knowledge of extra-terrestrial contact, an ultra-secret, multi-national organization not only had proof of such visitations, but actually waged a costly, bitter and lonely covert struggle against a dying race of alien invaders bent on plundering the Earth's greatest resource: the human race itself.
As depicted in celebrated genre producer Gerry Anderson's first live-action series UFO (which, until the debut of THE X-FILES, could easily be considered genre television's most darkly fatalistic program), the government conspirators themselves were the heroes, protecting their secrets at all costs to spare mankind from the torturous knowledge of the terrible threat it faced.
Unlike the X-FILES "Trust No One" mantra, UFO said "Trust Us," reassuring viewers that not only were the world's governments aware of the alien threat, but they managed to band together, despite international differences, to do everything in their power to prevent the aliens from succeeding with their nefarious plans. A surprising ideological underpinning considering the program was produced for one season in Britain during the tumultuous year 1969.
Although UFO only ran 26 episodes, the show represented the culmination of ideas and techniques producer Anderson perfected throughout his run of "Supermarionation" series during the '60s.
Beginning with SUPERCAR and FIREBALL XL-5, then progressing through STINGRAY, the beloved THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLET, JOE 90 and SECRET AGENT, Anderson's love of technology and its use by benevolent paramilitary organizations reached a new level with UFO. For the first time, Anderson found himself working with a sizable cast of real actors, full-scale sets and a new level of special effects from his seasoned crew, led by his frequent collaborator, the late, great miniature whiz Derek Meddings. The final result, in addition to being a bang-up action-adventure program, maintained a sort of unique continuity with his previous efforts.
Peter Carlin
Col Ed Straker
The Skydiver
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UFO made one of the first credible attempts of an hour-long genre series to establish a show-by-show continuity. The debut episode, "Identified," began with a vicious teaser sequence set in 1970. While photographing a UFO landing site in the English countryside, Peter Carlin and his sister Leila are attacked by a space-suited alien who fires upon them in a spectacular weapon's eye POV reminiscent of the latest PlayStation first-person shooter. His sister murdered, Peter escapes, and his film winds up in the hands of Colonel Ed Straker (the very intense Ed Bishop) and General Henderson (Grant Taylor), later series rivals, who present the film as irrefutable proof of the existence of UFOs. On their way to a meeting with members of other European nations to share their findings, their motorcade, in another impressive sequence, falls under UFO attack and Straker barely escapes with his life.
Flashing forward 10 years to the then-future year of 1980, where the bulk of the series takes place, Colonel Straker now commands SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization). Manned by a complement of personnel from countries around the world, SHADO runs a planet-wide network of military might, including a fleet of jet-fighter equipped submarines called "Skydivers," a squadron of tank-like "mobiles," the orbiting artifical intelligence-equipped "space intruder detector" and a network of operatives the world over. The first line of SHADO's alien defense, Moonbase, commands a squadron of Interceptors able to knock out UFOs before they're able to reach earth. In a slightly wacky conceit, SHADO's Earth-bound headquarters exists 80 feet underneath Harlington-Straker film studio, forcing Commander Straker to moonlight as a film mogul. No one working at the studio even dreams of Straker's real vocation.
By the end of the first episode, SHADO manages to obtain its first alien body, ascertaining the invaders are a sterile and dying race employing humans as organ donors to survive, explaining the long string of disappearances and mutilations following UFO incidents. In a chilling coda, Straker must inform Peter Carlin, now a high-ranking SHADO operative, that his sister's heart was discovered inside the dead alien. The episode ends with a somber voice-over by Straker at Leila's cremation. The deadly serious tone and downbeat nature of this conclusion became a series staple.
As an introductory episode, "Identified" does a marvelous job introducing the cast, characters and inner workings of SHADO, especially star Ed Bishop's portrayal of Straker. Without a doubt the focus of the series, Straker remains one of the great characters in televised science fiction. Whether faced with the daunting task of informing a friend of the fate of his sister, trying to maintain a relationship with his family or facing potential death at the hands of extra-terrestrials, Straker's unswerving sense of duty to both himself and the rest of humanity remains one of the enduring qualities of the series.
Indeed, two of the best episodes of the series, "Confetti Check A-Ok" and the shattering "A Question of Priorities" deal mostly with Straker's personal life, a bold move for a action adventure program. Both included in the first DVD set, "Confetti Check," a flashback episode, details Straker's recent marriage to perpetually suffering wife Mary (Suzannah Neve). Because absolute secrecy must be maintained, Mary can never know the truth of Straker's SHADO activities, so she suspects her husband's increasingly long stretches away from home can only mean he's having an affair. Confronting a hapless Straker, a very pregnant and distraught Mary almost kills herself and her child by falling down a flight of stairs.
The other episode, "A Question of Priorities," arguably one of the series' best, puts Straker in the unenviable position of having to chose between the life of his son or making contact with a potential Alien defector. Straker once again must choose to put the good of mankind before his personal feelings. The conclusion of the episode remains as devastating as anything ever produced for television.
Paul Foster
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If Ed Straker represents UFO's conscience and stoic sense of duty, it's Michael Billington's Paul Foster who serves as the series' requisite hunky sex symbol and punching bag. Being series stud comes with a huge price tag in the UFO Universe, and in one episode, "Court Martial," he even winds up shot in the back.
Once a suave, lady-killing test pilot, Foster, very Fox Mulder-like, becomes obsessed with discovering the existence of SHADO after inadvertently becoming involved in a fatal UFO incident. But unlike Mulder, it takes Foster only one episode, "Exposed," to track Straker and SHADO down. Given a choice, death or a commission, Foster quickly becomes a series regular.
During Foster's tenure, he takes the brunt of the war on his own shoulders. In "Survival," he finds himself shot down on the surface of the moon only to have to cooperate with an alien in order to survive. In "Ordeal," he's kidnapped by the aliens and almost transformed into one. Finally, in "Reflections in the Water," to be included in the second DVD box set, Foster almost dies in an alien base at the bottom of the ocean.
Unlike Fox Mulder, who never could seem to get a break cracking the alien conspiracy, Foster uncovers the truth only to discover his troubles are just beginning.
UFO, in addition to being the first Anderson production where the characters are actually more important than the tremendous hardware creations of Derek Medding's model shop, continues his tradition of including empowered, high-ranking (not to mention totally shagadelic) females within the principal cast. With the exception of the blatant sexism on display in "Identified" (possibly an attempt to cash in on features such as BARBARELLA), as well as the treatment of a number of Paul Foster's girlfriends, women fare quite well in the war against the extra-terrestrials. Colonel Virgina Lake (Wanda Ventham) is not only an accomplished scientist, but can hold her own against even the most dire of alien plots, the second box set's "Timelash."
Gay Ellis
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Lieutenant Gay Ellis, the purple-wigged head of Moonbase operations, along with Nina Barry (Dolores Mantex), control's SHADO's first line of defense. They also appear throughout the series performing in various other capacities for SHADO, including Barry's appearance as a member of a Skydiver crew in "Sub-Smash," also to appear in the second DVD set.
While characterization remains a strong element of UFO, far beyond any in previous Anderson productions, the contributions of the effects department were vital to the success of the program. From the rousing opening credits sequence, displaying SHADO's impressive collection of hardware from Skydiver, the mobiles, SID and the too cool for words Interceptors, it's quite apparent Anderson is continuing his tradition of an almost fetishistic love with his imaginative technology. As with THUNDERBIRDS, SHADO's amazing array of vehicles are as much a part of the show as the characters themselves. It's no wonder even today, model kits and replicas of the show's other "principal cast" are as sought-after as when England's Dinky Toys manufactured the first missle-firing Interceptor toy.
As a young boy of five, I remember watching the show on Sunday evenings at my Grandfather's house and just how gleeful I felt upon hearing the words "Interceptors...Immediate Launch!," watching those pilots shoot into their launch tubes and salivating as the Interceptors emerged from their secret positions within craters on the moon's surface. In a word, UFO just rocked.
In addition to Derek Meddings, another frequent Anderson collaborator, the late composer Barry Gray, created tremendous work for UFO, from his infectious main title (even covered by the band The Wedding Present) to his darkly melodic underscores. While his "Interceptor launch theme" remained evocative of his work on THUNDERBIRDS, Gray created some of the best music then composed for a television series.
I remember being scared to death by his eerie end title music, even having to leave the room until it was over.
The production design of the series endures even 30 years later, and arguably hasn't been surpassed by any genre program. While today's audiences might equate UFO's pop-deco '60 futurism with the AUSTIN POWERS franchise, unable to see it as anything other than comedic, everything from Sylvia Anderson's "Century 21" fashions to the design of Straker's gull-winged car were milestones of design. Heavily influenced by 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, the expansive sets and hardware illustrate a massive effort to create a viable and believable future while still maintaining a definitive "science fiction" feel.
Now, as with most television shows, the series wasn't perfect. Later episodes tended to get more surreal for the sake of surrealism, although I'd like to think this was a result of the production team gobbling hallucinogenic substances, leaving coherent storytelling behind. Then again, so did every season of X-FILES since the release of the feature.
As with most science-fiction, the science of the show seemed non-existent much of the time. One episode, "Close Up," postulates a painfully slow Earth-launched space probe is somehow able to return to the alien's home planet even though the audience already knows the UFOs travel to Earth at nearly the speed of light. It would take centuries for this probe to reach its destination, but we watch it happen over 50 minutes.
Then there's the genius who gave the Lunar Interceptors just ONE MISSILE apiece to shoot down the invading saucers. What military brain-trust came up with that idea? But they look really cool firing their one missile.
Unfortunately, as the series progresses, little is learned about the Invaders themselves. While they are constantly shown to have intimate knowledge of SHADO's movements, frequently attacking or infiltrating even SHADO headquarters itself, the methods are never properly understood. In "The Cat with Ten Lives," Dr. Doug Jackson (series regular Vladek Sheybal) advances radical new theories suggesting the aliens have no physical bodies, explaining their need to use humans as hosts. While compelling (and going a long way to explain their knowledge of SHADO activities), this is never explored further. The series conclusion, "The Long Sleep," while offering another unique perspective on the aliens' use of human subjects, answers none of the pressing questions about the aliens and their true origins, political structure (they are shown to have dissidents in "A Question of Priorities"), or ultimate plans for Earth. Perhaps if the show did run into a second season, these questions might have answers. Unfortunately, Anderson scrapped such plans, instead deciding to retool the show into what eventually became SPACE: 1999.
For myself, I've always considered both programs to be set in the same collective universe.
UFO remains a high-water mark in the history of genre television and most certainly could be considered producer Gerry Anderson's finest work. A thought-provoking and frequently difficult program, it followed THE PRISONER to become one of the best genre television series ever. Completely forgoing the pervasive optimisim of STAR TREK, the whimsy of DOCTOR WHO and lacking any of the pulp sensibilities of the state-side genre programs of Irwin Allen, such as TIME TUNNEL and LAND OF THE GIANTS, UFO offered instead a dark, nihilistic view of the world mirrored by real-world events like the war in Vietnam.
Ironically, during the time of UFO's production in the late '60s, as real anti-government sentiment peaked on both sides of the Atlantic, the series cast a secret government organization, which could act with impunity, as the protector of humanity.
Sort of strange that, over two decades later, Chris Carter's THE X-FILES cast those very same government operatives as the root of all evil.
So if you've got both V and INDEPENDENCE DAY in your DVD libraries and you plan on buying Seasons six through nine of the X-FILES, do yourself a favor and go out and buy the UFO box set, the coolest television series ever made about flying saucers.
Robert Meyer Burnett does not work for A&E Home Video, although he does sometimes make his lovely wife Yelena wear nothing around the house except a purple wig.
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