U.F.O-( guide 2) Full Disclosure ( fandom written " full plot" episode guide+ new pics)

[michaellevenson]

Fan written episode guides , from various sources plus as many pictures that I've not used previously in guides.

Since posting this I've had a rejig of episode order which I now believe is the best possible order. Hence I've renumbered some of them here, but not completely redone this guide, so the episodes jump about a bit here. My first guide I have redone it so it's all in order, link below;

U.F.O. EPISODE GUIDE (1)

This is my preferred episode order, the rationale behind some of my reasons can be found here; https://www.imdforums.com/threads/ufo-order-order.6959/ 1. IDENTIFIED SHADO - an acronym for Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organization - is located beneath a supposed film studio in the English...

www.imdforums.com

1. IDENTIFIED


Late 1970, evening, England: Royal Navy Officer Peter Carlin, his sister, Leila, and their friend, Jean, discover a UFO in the woods. Peter films the craft on his cine camera, but the trio are attacked by the spacecraft's pilot. Jean is killed, Peter is severely injured and Leila is cornered by the alien.

7th October, 1970. US Air Force Colonel Edward Straker and General James Henderson arrive in England for a meting with the Prime Minister to present conclusive evidence on recent UFO sightings--an enlarged single from from Peter's cine film, which was found undeveloped, still in the camera, after the UFO incident. Rendezvousing with Cabinet Minister Sir Eric Coulson, they head for Chequers aboard his Rolls-Royce. But they then come under attack from a UFO, under which he car is forced off the road and crashes, killing Sir Eric and his security guard, badly injuring both General Henderson and the chauffeur, and burning up the papers, but Straker himself is thrown clear.

24th August, 1980: Edward Straker is now Commander-in-Chief of S.H.A.D.O., the Supreme Headquarters of the Alien Defence Organisation), situated 80 feet below the Harlington-Straker Film Studios. He informs his second-in-command, Colonel Alec Freeman that, although a fire at Westbrook Electronics has destroyed the building, the new utronic tracking equipment that was being developed there is safe. The utronic equipment is a major breakthrough that will enable SHADO to track UFOs; thus, Straker assigns Freeman to safeguard the equipment, and its design team, during the transfer from the United States.

Freeman pilots the Seagull X-Ray "SHADAir" Supersonic Transport aircraft as it leaves Stevenson Base in Los Angeles with the design team, led by Colonel Dr. Virginia Lake, aboard. Suddenly, the satellite computer S.I.D., the Space Intruder Detector. detects an incoming UFO, which evades the MoonBase Interceptors and launches an attack on Seagull X-Ray. But Peter Carlin, now captain of the SHADO submarine SkyDiver, intercepts the craft in Sky One. The UFO crashes into the sea and one of its occupants is recovered from the water.

The alien is examined back at SHADO HQ and is discovered to have had several organ and gland transplants, the donor body parts having originated on Earth. The alien expires, ageing rapidly, but the report on the examination leads Straker to conclude that the aliens are from a dying race and are coming to Earth to obtain organ replacements.
Electronic tissue analysis of the alien's donor heart reveals that it originally belonged to Leila Carlin, who has been missing since the incident in the woods ten years earlier. Straker has the painful task of informing Carlin that his sister is dead--and that his parents can never know the truth about how she died.



2. EXPOSED

During a UFO alert, an experimental XV-104 fighter-bomber from the Ventura Aircraft Corporation strays into the area of the UFO's trajectory termination. The pilot, Paul Foster, sights the UFO and violates orders to leave the area so as to capture the alien craft on film. But when Sky One intercepts the UFO, the XV-104 is hit by the blast and falls to Earth out of control. Paul manages to eject just in time, but Jim, his co-pilot, is killed when the aircraft crashes. After making a full recovery from his injuries, Paul meets with Ventura President William Kofax, who dismisses Paul's UFO story as ridiculous and warns him that if he pursues the matter any further, he will never fly again.

Paul calls for a hearing into the incident and is taken aboard a World Air Force jet to be interviewed by Dr. Doug Jackson, a military intelligence officer. Jackson shows Paul the video footage from the XV-104's reconnaissance camera, but the film shows nothing out of the ordinary and Paul realizes that the film has been doctored. Later, back at his flat, Paul meets his co-pilot's sister, Janna Wade and tries to convince her that what he saw is true. After Paul's apartment is trashed by a pair of thugs, Janna agrees to help Paul find proof and, with her help, Paul discovers after breaking into a safe at Ventura that the cover-up leads to Ed Straker, ex Colonel now a film studio boss. Paul confronts Ed on the studio lot, accusing him of doctoring the film and sending the thugs to scare him off. Ed invites Paul to show him one shred of evidence to show that he is right, but Paul refuses to back down.

Ed takes Paul underground to SHADO HQ and introduces him to Alec and other SHADO personnel, including, to Paul's surprise, Dr. Jackson and Janna Wade. Ed reveals that Paul was undergoing a series of tests to see if he possesses the certain qualities to be an operative of SHADO and then he offers Paul a place in the organization. Without hesitation, Paul accepts.

 

[michaellevenson]

3. FLIGHT PATH
SYNOPSIS: A man's devotion to his wife is used as a weapon to force him to turn traitor. But how can forces from another planet achieve this?

The link between Paul Roper of S.H.A.D.O. Moonbase and a S.H.A.D.O. H.Q. medical technician named Dawson is remote, but it spells drama and tragedy for Roper from the day Dawson is the victim of a UFO attack. Roper is a worried man when he leaves the Moon for a spell of leave, and he arrives home to find his wife Carol in a terrified state after an intruder has entered her home. A telephone call to Roper later that night convinces him that the mystery man who has been threatening him is in earnest and that Carol is in danger unless he obeys the instructions he has received.

The first indication Commander Straker and Colonel Freeman have that something is wrong with Roper is when he reports to H.Q. for normal de-briefing tests, and stress factors are discovered. Under close observation, he is heard telephoning a set of figures to a contact - but what they mean is a mystery, except that they suggest he is a traitor. Freeman suspects that Carol is being used to force his hand. It is not until later that the significance of the figures becomes clear. They represent the flight path for a major UFO attack. But Roper has got two of the figures wrong, either accidentally or deliberately. It means that the aliens have received false information, which they would rapidly detect. And they'll be seeking a reckoning with Roper ... which they do, through his wife. Carol pays the penalty.
But, as she is being attacked, she shoots her assailant. He is revealed as Dawson, the innocent traitor who, during that earlier UFO attack, was indoctrinated with an electronic probe inserted into his temple. It now appears that the big attack will coincide with sunspot activity which would make the UFO undetectable. But one man, on his own and stationed at a predetermined position on the Moon's surface, could change the whole pattern and wreck the planned attack. That one man is Roper. It's his chance to even the score . . .

 

[michaellevenson]

4. CONFLICT
While departing from the Moon, Lunar Module 32, commanded by Steve Maddox, intercepts in its radar an unidentified object shortly before re-entry. The audience sees that this is a small alien limpet-like UFO, hiding in the wreck of the Apollo 8 space wreck, which interrupts communications with the SHADO Moonbase and modifies the spaceplane's course, disintegrating the module.

Meanwhile, Straker is trying to convince General Henderson, head of the International Astro-Physical Commission, to increase debris-eliminating space missions, as he thinks that "his pilots risk more in a month than Henderson's ones in a year". Henderson mockingly accepts, but asks to activate the "Washington Square" protocol: the cancelation of all lunar spaceflights.

After Maddox's burial-at-space funeral at the Moonbase, Foster, convinced that it was not a human error that killed his friend, steals a lunar module and flies on the same course to prove Maddox's innocence, despite Henderson's orders. The limpet UFO tries to disintegrate Foster's module, proving his theory. Straker issues orders to destroy all space wrecks where the UFO might be located and invites Henderson to SHADO Control, having deduced that the limpet craft was some sort of lure.
Henderson set up SHADO via the Astro- physical Commission and is a powerful man. He instructs Foster to take command and he relieves Straker of command, but Foster refuses. Straker reveals the alien plot and that space junk was used to hide their craft.
A standard UFO then attacks the Harlington-Straker Studios; it is soon destroyed by Sky One.
Henderson relents and agrees to a space junk clearance.

 

[michaellevenson]

5. THE SQUARE TRIANGLE
SYNOPSIS: An eternal triangle becomes a square when a woman finds that she has killed an alien from outer space instead of her husband.

Commander Straker little suspects when he deliberately allows a UFO to land in England - in the hope of capturing an intact craft and its live pilot - that he will be stepping straight into a sordid love affair between a couple who are planning murder. The UFO crashes into a forest. Not far away, Liz Newton and her lover Cass Fowler are awaiting the arrival of Liz's husband, Jack Newton. The cottage is quiet and remote. When Newton arrives, Liz will shoot him and claim that she thought he was an intruder.
In the woods nearby an alien is on the loose, he kills a game warden and puts the body in the UFO and blowing the craft up, ending the possibility of SHADO getting it.
Meanwhile at the cottage Liz's husband Jack phones to sat he's almost there, and Liz gets cold feet about killing him. But Cass is persuasive and when they hear the gate creek open, it's decision time. Liz shoots as the door opens, but...IT'S THE ALIEN!
Liz and Fowler are appalled and baffled, but it is not long before they have further visitors - Paul Foster and a S.H.A.D.O. search party. The couple are taken to S.H.A.D.O. H.Q., while Foster waits to explain to Newton on his arrival that there has been an accident, but that his wife is still all right. But as Jack tells Foster his wife was expecting him, the plot becomes clear. Cmdr. Straker and Col. Freeman are now in a quandary, after learning the truth. Cass Fowler and Liz Newton have seen an alien and must therefore have all recollections of him eradicated with the amnesia drug. This means that they will remember nothing of the past 24 hours and will be back where they were - planning Jack Newton's murder. Straker realises their involvement has turned an eternal triangle into a square, but it isn't SHADO's business, so he orders Liz and Cass's release. Will they try again to kill Jack?

 

[michaellevenson]

6. THE DALOTEK AFFAIR

SYNOPSIS: Disaster threatens when the Moonbase radio and video link with Earth fails. But what has caused it?

The sudden failure of all the radio and video equipment on Moonbase is an alarming mystery. It means that the video link with Earth has broken down and that detection of alien intruders is threatened. A check of the equipment reveals that nothing is wrong, and there is no unusual solar activity. Then the equipment returns to working order of its own accord.

Colonel Paul Foster Moonbase Commander at present suspects that it might have been caused by the presence on the Moon of a private business corporation's team which has been given permission to carry out a lunar survey, despite violent opposition from Commander Straker. The team consists of Jane Carson, Tanner and Mitchell, who have just had a very narrow escape when a meteorite has crashed on the Moon, leaving a deep crater. The team seem to be in the clear. The only possible cause of the trouble could come from its geological scanner. Plans are made to check that it is not working if any further emergency occurs while the surveyors are still there, by installing a direct phone cable between Moonbase and Dalotek base.

Once again, the Moonbase radio equipment fails, this time when a Moonship is coming in. Radio contact is lost, the Moonship's equipment goes haywire, and the craft crashes. Yet once again, the equipment check shows nothing wrong; and the Dalotek people confirm that the geological scanner was not working, however with no other explanation apparent Foster orders it to be removed and this means the end of the survey.

But when the radio equipment fails for a third time, just as a UFO has been sighted, it's clear that the scanner could not have been responsible. This time, though, there is a solution to the mystery, thanks to Jane Carson and her colleagues reporting that they have seen some strange equipment at the bottom of the crater . . .

 

[michaellevenson]

7. CONFETTI CHECK A-O.K
SYNOPSIS: Security proves to be "the other woman" in the tragic triangle that breaks up Ed Straker's marriage.

The birth of twins to a S.H.A.D.O. Operative's wife brings back very sad memories for Commander Ed Straker. He remembers the day, early in the 1970's, when he was still in the USAF: a Colonel in Military Intelligence, marrying the lovely young English girl, Mary. Life was good; the future promising.

Bitterly, he recalls the first day of their honeymoon and can see Mary and himself waiting at the airport for the plane that will take them to Athens, Greece. Then an urgent message for him, he is to report immediately to General Henderson, who is still in hospital after a UFO attack on his car. A UN meeting is to be held immediately to consider setting up a defence organisation to protect Earth from potential danger from outer space. The man chosen to command the organisation, S.H.A.D.O. is Ed Straker. From that moment, his marriage is threatened. As the organisation takes shape and its headquarters are being built and personnel recruited, there is little time for home life: and he daren't tell Mary why.

Mary becomes more and more worried, and then suspicious, her mother hires a detective to follow Ed. And, just before her baby is due, she learns that he has been seen leaving a girl's flat late at night. Ed cannot tell her that the girl is a member of S.H.A.D.O., and that the meeting has been a vitally important one. In the confrontation at home Mary falls down the stairs and her life is in danger as the baby son is born. She wants to live only for the baby . . . Ed has no part in her future . . .

 

[michaellevenson]

John Croxley has always been " gifted" or cursed as he sees it with Extra Sensory Perception. Even as a kid he could guess the contents of other kids sandwich boxes at school. Now a middle-aged married man his power is growing and it is destroying him. He seeks medical help but his mind is slowly coming under another influence...an alien one.
A UFO crashes deliberately into Croxley's house killing his wife, and injuring the nearby Paul Foster who was part of the SHADO search team tracking the UFO at ground level. Foster is in hospital with superficial shrapnel injuries from.the exploding UFO, and unbeknown is visited by Croxley disguised as a hospital staff member. Croxley uses his ESP to read Foster's mind and gain all the secret Information about SHADO.
Croxley sends the information to Straker who is dumbfounded that the husband of the woman killed by a crashing UFO should have this knowledge.
Discovering Croxley was visiting a psychiatrist Straker and Freeman realise the aliens are using Croxley, especially when Croxley using ESP knew Straker was going to visit the doctor and has left a message for him that the doctor passes on. Croxley wants to meet Straker at the ruins of his house. Straker and Freeman go and confront Croxley who now is totally under alien control. The aliens have manoeuvred Croxley into this position to kill Straker.

 

[michaellevenson]

9. SURVIVAL
Under cover of a heavy meteor storm, a UFO evades SHADO's defences and lands on the Moon undetected. An alien sniper approaches Moonbase on foot and shoots at a window in the astronaut ready room, causing an explosive decompression, killing one of the Interceptor pilots. Col. Foster, who has survived the attack, returns to Earth, where he and Straker deduce that the UFO is still hiding on the lunar surface. After a brief furlough, Foster and Straker return to Moonbase, hoping that this might be their first real chance to capture a UFO intact, a feat they have been unable to achieve on Earth, since the alien ships disintegrate rapidly if they are exposed to the Earth's atmosphere for too long.

Foster leads a team onto the surface to try and capture the UFO, but they are detected by the alien; the UFO opens fire, pinning the SHADO team down, Foster injures his leg, his radio is knocked out, and he becomes separated from his team. The UFO then takes off and tries to escape, but is shot down by the Interceptors, crashing into and totally destroying one of the Moon Hoppers.

Believing Foster has been killed by the crashing UFO, the assault team returns to Moonbase, leaving Foster stranded miles from safety with no radio, and his air supply running perilously low. As he tries to make his way back he encounters an alien who has also survived the crash. It captures Foster, but after some initial hostility the allen's manner softens and he helps the stricken earthman, replenishing his air. The pair attempt to get back to Moonbase but become trapped in a crevasse field, but when all seem lost they are spotted by a search team. Foster attempts to warn the rescue team that the alien is friendly, but they cannot hear him properly because of his faulty radio, and when they see the alien, they immediately kill it, believing it to be hostile.

 

[michaellevenson]

10. THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
SYNOPSIS: What has happened to a spaceship pilot during a two months’ disappearance? His return spells menace for members of the S.H.A.D.O. Organisation and a shock for his girl-friend.

Spaceship pilot Craig Collins disappears when making a re-entry after a UFO attack has put the satellite computer SID out of action. He is believed to be dead. Two months pass before he is found, alive and apparently well, in the South Pacific.

As Collins knows more about SID than most other technicians, he is immediately given the task of restoring SID’s powers, working with Colonel Grey, who is in charge of the repair assignment. But there is something strange about Collins. This becomes apparent when he attacks Virginia Lake, who was on very close terms with him before his disappearance.

Then Collins, during a grim training programme with Paul Foster, puts Foster out of action, which means that Ed Straker himself will have to replace him. Another sinister incident is when an attempt is made on Colonel Grey’s life, and Grey suspects that Collins is responsible. When Grey studies medical tests made on Collins after his return by Dr. Jackson, he makes a startling discovery. Something strange indeed has happened to him. There are all the signs that his personality centres have been destroyed by laser beam surgery and that he has been programmed so that the aliens responsible can control him by sound waves. But when Colonel Grey challenges him with this, Collins overcomes him and then embarks on a menacing journey to SID with the unsuspecting Ed Straker as his companion, utterly unaware that Collins has been programmed to kill him. Only Grey can save him - if he can regain consciousness in time - and if he can make contact with Ed Straker . . .

 

[michaellevenson]

11. A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
SYNOPSIS: Ed Straker faces a searing problem when he has to choose between his duty to protect Earth and risking his son's life!

S.H.A.D.O. Commander Ed Straker has one contact left with the girl he loved, married but neglected in the zealous pursuit of creating the organisation to defend the world from threats from outer space. Their son John brings them together briefly once a month when John spends a day with his father. When taking him home, Straker meets his divorced wife Mary, although she has now remarried. It's a moment to which he looks forward, for his feelings towards her have never changed. But he has never been able to tell her the truth behind his apparent neglect.

This time... tragedy. Young John runs into the road and is knocked down by a car. His condition is soon critical because of an allergy to antibiotics. But, there is one drug which could save him, and it would have to be collected in America. Straker promptly orders a S.H.A.D.O. Air Transporter to collect the drug.

Simultaneously, Colonel Freeman is puzzled by the actions of the two UFO's which have been sighted. One suddenly veers off; the other hurtles towards Earth at a speed which soon makes it clear that it will have to crash. Crash it does, in Ireland, but no-one sees the alien pilot eject safely and make his way towards a lonely cottage occupied by a blind old lady named Mrs. O'Connor. Through her, the alien tries to make contact with S.H.A.D.O., and Straker and Freeman realise that he must be a defector from his own planet.

The second UFO is again sighted and appears to be homing-in on the deserter. Meanwhile, Freeman has realised that there is just one hope of S.H.A.D.O. getting there first, and that is to divert the transporter which is on its way from America carrying, though he doesn't know this, the life-saving drugs for Straker's son. When Straker discovers what has happened, he faces a terrible choice - to cancel Freeman's instructions or to do his duty to protect the world at the expense of his own son's life. And he knows that he would never be able to explain it to Mary.

A Question of Priorities is a key Straker episode. Ed Bishop always had a difficult role to play in UFO, since Straker is usually such a single-minded, humourless man. A Question of Priorities is one of two episodes (Confetti Check A-Ok is the other) which helps to shine a light on his personal life.

After returning his son, Johnny, home to his ex-wife Mary after a day out, the boy is hit by a car. He’s in a critical condition and requires a special anti-allergenic antibiotic that is still on the experimental list. Straker orders that a supply of the drug be flown on a SHADO craft from the USA.

However, news of a crashed UFO in Ireland causes Freeman to divert the craft. Mary is understandably distraught when she learns that something has delayed the arrival of the drugs. So what is the top priority for Straker? Capturing the alien or the life of his son?

This is one of the best stories in the whole run and manages to juggle both plot threads – the rush to save Johnny’s life as well as the mystery of the alien – very well.

As mentioned previously, it brings the human side of Straker into sharp relief. His ex-wife Mary (an excellent performance by Suzanne Neve) clearly has many resentments still lingering (which will be explained in a later episode) and expresses some of this frustration when Straker tells her that something important has delayed the delivery of the antibiotics: “Important!? What can be more important than your own son’s life!?”

The ever-dependable Philip Madoc hasn’t much to do as Mary’s new partner except glower (although he’ll have a better role as a different character in a forthcoming episode).

After visiting his son in the hospital, Straker returns to SHADO HQ. He hasn’t told anyone, not even Freeman, about his son’s accident although Freeman senses that something is amiss. This is another sign of the rigid compartmentalisation of Straker’s life – when he’s at SHADO then nothing else, not even the fact his son is fighting for his life, is allowed to interfere with the job.

The Ireland sub-plot is interesting, we see the alien set up a transmitter in the house of an elderly blind woman (Mary Merrell). The alien apparently wanted SHADO to pick up his transmissions as it seems he wished to defect, an interesting story development.

The ending of the story is bleak beyond belief. The alien is killed by another UFO and Johnny dies as well. Straker’s juggling of priorities couldn’t have turned out worse, SHADO failed to get any information from the alien and he has also lost his son.

If A Question of Priorites tells us anything, it’s that whilst Straker has ordinary, human feelings, his devotion to duty and to SHADO would appear to be his overriding motivation. And it cost him his marriage and now the life of his son.

Whilst the modelwork and the bright day-glo nature of the settings have caused many to bracket UFO along with Anderson’s 1960’s Supermarionation series, there are often much more adult themes running through the series than anything he previously produced. Some of the episodes are fine kids fare, but others, like this one, do certainly pack an emotional punch.

 

[michaellevenson]

12. THE SOUND OF SILENCE

A UFO follows a NASA craft towards Earth and is so close that SHADO daren't attack it, so they have to let it land.
A missing person report in the vicinity of where SHADO believe the UFO has landed leads the search team headed by Foster to the family farm of International Showjumping champion Russel Stone who mysteriously disappeared after he was thrown from his horse. Stone's father and sister Anne fear that Stone has met foul play at the hands of a local tramp as previously Stone used his horse to drive the tramp and his dog off their land. Foster joins Anne in searching for Russell and is certain of an alien presence when both the tramp and his dog turn up horribly murdered. Foster's search takes him to a nearby lake where he finds it odd that the birds are ominously quiet. Acting on a hunch, he orders in the Mobiles and they depth charge the lake. The missing UFO is forced to the surface in the ensuing battle. As the wreckage settles, Foster notices a cylinder rise to the surface of the lake. It is recovered and taken back to SHADO HQ where they discover a regular pulse beat. Is it a bomb or.... ?

The Sound of Silence has some good moments, but it’s never been a favourite of mine. The main problem is that since Russell Stone (Michael Jayston) is such an unlikable character, when he’s captured by the alien it’s difficult to be particularly bothered about whether he’s going to be returned safely to his family or taken away to be sliced and diced.

His sister (Susan Jameson) and father (Richard Vernon) are more personable though, so it is possible to feel a little empathy for them as they search for answers but Russell Stone is presented, right from his opening scene, as a cold, officious character. He chases Culley (Nigel Gregory) off their land at the start of the episode (and poor Culley seemed to be doing nothing worse than living rough in the woods).

The unfortunate Culley and his dog are later found dead, murdered by the alien. It seems that both were mutilated, but whatever the alien was looking for he didn’t seem to find it in them. However, Russell Stone is captured intact and placed inside a cylinder, presumably to be flown back to the alien’s planet.

After the UFO is destroyed (another fabulous example of the series’ model-work) the cylinder is recovered and the question faced by SHADO is whether they will be able extract Stone from the cylinder alive and well.

The Sound of Silence is notable since it’s the first episode from the second production block. The first seventeen episodes were recorded at MGM Borehamwood between April – November 1969. After the studio was closed, production was put on hiatus until the middle of the next year when a further nine episodes were recorded at Pinewood between May – September 1970.

These nine episodes do feel somewhat different for a number of reasons. New writers, such as Dennis Spooner and David Tomblin, were brought in and a number of regulars are conspicuous by their absence. George Sewell (Alec Freeman), Gabrielle Drake (Gay Ellis), Keith Alexander (Keith Ford), Gary Myers (Lew Waterman) and Antonia Ellis (Joan Harrington) are all absent from the second production block due to work commitments elsewhere.

But although some familiar faces are gone, overall the second production block is of a very high standard and sees the programme take some risks as it ventures into previously uncharted territories. There’s certainly some interesting episodes ahead.

 

[michaellevenson]

13. SUB-SMASH
SYNOPSIS: Commander Straker discovers that the perils of the deep are even worse than the hazards from outer space - yet one danger is caused by the other. A new menace appears from Outer Space - a UFO that can fly underwater and remain there long enough to be a threat to shipping. Commander Straker therefore orders a systematic search of the area in which a freighter has just been sunk, and he himself joins SkyDiver to lead the search. Nina Barry is one of the crew, too: switched from Moonbase Control to do similar work in SkyDiver.

As a surface search is being made, Nina picks up a sonar echo and judges it to be a fast-moving metallic object. SkyDiver crash dives, but it is not long before Nina picks up echoes of an underwater craft ahead of them. Then it disappears from her screen. The alien craft has in fact, moved into a cavern entrance. SkyDiver, reaching it rocks violently as it is hit by external explosives, and is so badly damaged that it sinks to the bottom. Sky One is launched, with Captain Waterman piloting, and he sets in motion efforts to rescue the stricken submarine. But the situation is desperate: it seems impossible to reach SkyDiver. Straker gives instructions for members of the crew to be evacuated through the escape hatch, but it jams and Nina - in the tube - is trapped. By the time she gets back in a terribly injured state, Straker is close to death. In what both think must be their last moments, they come very close to each other, breaking through the barrier of reserve and differences of rank that have separated them through the years they have been together with S.H.A.D.O.

But salvation comes, just in time when the rescuers hit on a new method of bringing SkyDiver to the surface. Straker and Barry find themselves in hospital with their lives once again in front of them. Nina can't help wondering though, if in that moment when they were so close to death, she had said too much . . .

 

[michaellevenson]

14. COURT MARTIAL
SYNOPSIS: The worlds of film-making and Security blend together in a strange way when Paul Foster is accused of espionage.

Though he doesn't realise it at the time, his very life is in jeopardy when Colonel Paul Foster - in his cover capacity as a movie executive - interviews a young actress and her agent. For it is very soon afterwards that he is accused of espionage. Commander Straker is staggered when everything points to Foster having given away secrets of a SkyDiver rendezvous with a supply ship. He is court-martialled, and the evidence against him is sufficient for him to be found guilty and sentenced to death, pending an appeal.

Still unable to believe that Foster would be capable of committing such a crime, Straker makes further investigations and with Colonel Freeman visits Foster's apartment. They are intrigued by an indoor garden - and find a bugging device in it. About a mile away from the apartment, a tape recorder with a built-in radio receiver is discovered. To add to the mystery, a film director named Mason tackles Straker with an accusation that Paul Foster has been indulging in industrial espionage, giving away secrets concerning a film Mason is making. Straker is even more worried by damning evidence against Foster that a large sum of money has been paid into his bank, though Foster denies any knowledge of this.

Thanks to finding the man who provided the radio receiver found near Foster's apartment, Straker is able to trace its owner and identify the real industrial saboteur who has unsuspectingly stepped into the world of Security. But what of the money paid into Foster's account? An agent's attempted "backhander" to help his client win a film contract has nearly cost Paul Foster his life .

 

[michaellevenson]

15. DESTRUCTION
SYNOPSIS: A beautiful secretary, working in the Admiralty is the mystery girl in a strange drama kept secret even from S.H.A.D.O. . . . and if anything goes wrong, every known form of life on Earth could be destroyed.

The Captain of a naval cruiser spots a high-flying UFO which he succeeds in bringing down. The UFO disappears into the sea, but Commander Straker tries to investigate the report, he meets with evasive reactions from the Naval authorities. The whole matter - he is told - must be kept secret. But it is the duty of S.H.A.D.O. to investigate every reported sighting of alien objects, and he is determined to seek out the truth. Paul Foster finds himself with the not unpleasant task of trying to penetrate the mystery through the very attractive Sarah Bosanquet who works at the Admiralty as secretary to Admiral Sheringham, under whose command the cruiser came.

Commander Straker wants to know what the cruiser was doing in this particular area. It could not have been on routine duties. But he can get no cooperation from Sheringham or anyone else. Sarah Bosanquet is his only real hope and besides sending Paul Foster to try to extract the secret from her, he has her closely watched. Sarah appears to have one unusual pastime for a girl. She studies the stars and has a very expensive telescope in her apartment. This telescope seems to be the key to the mystery. The significance of this becomes clear when it is found that she is sending information to the aliens, under whose control she has fallen, but in a bemused state which makes her an innocent victim.

How grim the situation is can be judged when Admiral Sheringham has to admit that the cruiser's task is to dump into the sea containers of an experimental nerve gas which proved to be far too dangerous ever to be used. If aliens can prevent it being jettisoned and release it, every form of life on Earth would be destroyed. The Earth's future depends on preventing this happening.

 

[michaellevenson]

16. ORDEAL
While Moonbase responds to a UFO sighting, Colonel Paul Foster arrives at the SHADO Research Centre to take part in a mandatory fitness training programme. Tired and hung-over from an all-night party the evening before, he undergoes a gruelling exercise regime supervised by Dr. Frazer, after which he eagerly volunteers for a bath, until he discovers that it is a sauna bath. Setting the timer, Foster falls asleep, but when he wakes up and tries to leave the sauna, he finds that the door is jammed and the temperature control has been turned up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. He collapses from the heat and is unable to defend himself when two of the Aliens burst in, drag him from the sauna and beat him senseless. The Aliens then take Foster to their craft, where he is knitted out in an Alien spacesuit and a helmet filled with green oxygenating liquid.

When SHADO discovers a break in communications with the Research Centre, Colonel Alec Freeman is sent to investigate. When he gets there, he finds everyone else dead and Foster missing. Freeman realizes that the Aliens have captured Foster, but SHADO Commander Edward Straker gives orders for the escaping UFO to be destroyed on sight, explaining to Freeman that the Aliens will undoubtedly interrogate Foster to reveal SHADO secrets. However, when the UFO breaks cover, Captain Lew Waterman cannot bring himself to shoot the craft down in Sky One, knowing that Foster is aboard. The UFO leaves Earth on an anti-lunar trajectory, but then apparently damaged, the craft changes course back towards the Moon. The UFO crash-lands just 40 km (25 miles) from Moonbase and explodes, but Foster is thrown clear; Lieutenant Gay Ellis rescues him in a Moonmobile. Back at Moonbase, an attempt is made to remove Foster's Alien helmet and get him back to normal breathing, but as Ellis starts to lift the helmet clear, Foster panics and falls to the floor, choking as he coughs up the liquid...

...whereupon Foster regains consciousness to find himself back in the sauna at the Research Centre. Frazer explains to him that he had passed out for a few minutes, the effect of too much drink and not enough sleep.

 

[michaellevenson]

20. COMPUTER AFFAIR
SYNOPSIS: Can a computer identify love? The death of an astronaut when intercepting a UFO has strange implications.

Red alert: SID (the Space Intruder Detector) in orbit around the Earth on the opposite side of the Moon has confirmed that a UFO is flying towards Earth. Three interceptors are immediately launched, then SID's prediction, "UFO on collision course with interceptors... " is tragically followed by one of the interceptors being destroyed, and the UFO getting through outer defences.

Gay Ellis of Moonbase Control is suspected of having made a wrong judgement when issuing evasive instructions and is ordered to report to Commander Straker at S.H.A.D.O. headquarters, together with the two surviving interceptor pilots, Mark Bradley and Lew Waterman. They are psychoanalysed and the reports fed into a computer, which comes up with the astonishing verdict that both Mark Bradley and Gay Ellis show abnormal emotional counts, and also that Gay is showing an ultra-excessive stress factor. The inference is that they're in love and that Gay's misjudgment was caused by worry over Mark's safety.

Neither Mark nor Gay will believe it, and Colonel Freeman tells them he can do nothing to help them unless they can disprove the computer's findings. Meanwhile, they are to be given separate postings. Freeman is assigned to lead the search for the UFO, which is reported to have landed in Northern Canada. Gay goes with him in command of Mobile Control... and finds that she has to prove to herself, in dramatic circumstances, whether or not the computer's findings have any basis in fact. It means risking Mark's life. Knowing the truth, which only the computer has spotted, means that they have to work things out for themselves . . .

 

[michaellevenson]

23. THE RESPONSIBILITY SEAT
In his role as a film studio executive, Edward Straker is interviewed by reporter Josephine 'Jo' Fraser of the Global Press Agency. She records the interview using a microphone in the front of her purse, but when she leaves the purse in Straker's office while he walks her to her car, the microphone records Lieutenant Keith Ford's voice on the intercom, referring to Straker as "Commander Straker," information that is NOT supposed to be known to the general public! While Ed tours the studio lot, Fraser returns to the office to collect her bag, and when Straker discovers what has happened, he realises that the S.H.A.D.O. may have a security leak, particularly as the GPA has never heard of her. Taking the responsibility for his own mistake, he leaves Alec Freeman in charge as he tracks Jo down to recover the tape.

Straker traces Fraser to her motel and demands the tape from her handbag, but she knocks him down with a heavy ashtray and flees in her car. Straker pursues her in his car and forces her off the road, badly damaging her car. They call a truce, and Straker takes Fraser for a drink to get to know her better, later inviting her to dinner at his home. However, he has Miss Ealand run a voice-print and background check on Fraser; this reveals that she has a criminal record and has been vindicated five times for extortion. When he finds Fraser stripped to her underwear in his bedroom, Straker accuses her of attempting to get him into a compromised position which she may be able to use to her advantage later. She tries to deny this, but the damage has been done, and Straker throws her out of his house.

Meanwhile, MoonBase has tracked a mobile rig, a commercial mining vehicle used by the Sovatek Company moving across the lunar surface. The rig is following an erratic course that will eventually lead it into a collision with MoonBase. When Sovatek Commander Dudzinski admits that he has been unable to establish radio contact with the rig's crew, Paul Foster takes a MoonMobile to intercept the rig and boards it to find the two men suffering from anoxia, a state of drunkenness brought on by oxygen starvation. Foster is attacked by the rig crewman, but finally manages to throw the master switch, bringing the rig to a halt just inches from the MoonBase Control Sphere. Freeman is happy to hand the responsibility seat back to Straker when the latter returns to S.H.A.D.O. HQ the following morning. It is speculated that Fraser will not stay out of trouble long; "her kind never do."

 

[michaellevenson]

25. REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER
SYNOPSIS: Commander Straker and Colonel Foster find themselves in a strange underwater double-world in which they come face to face with their own apparent twins.

Two incidents take Ed Straker and Paul Foster to a volcanic island in the Atlantic. One is when a freighter is sunk by a mysterious object in the shape of a flying fish. The other is when a film cameraman meets his death while photographing fish from that same area which have found their way to the English coast. At the same time, a report comes in from one of the S.H.A.D.O. personnel, named Lieutenant Anderson that a mass attack by UFO's is imminent.

When Straker and Foster, following reports from a SkyDiver captain investigate, they find an underwater cable which the flying fish, now identified as a UFO, was using as a power source. Following this, they come to a huge dome, which they investigate, but find impossible to enter. Clearing a section of the outer coating, they look in and to their amazement see Lt. Anderson inside. Yet when they return to S.H.A.D.O. headquarters, they find Lt. Anderson already there. He denies any knowledge of the dome but, as a precaution, he is put under detention while Straker and Foster go back again to investigate the mysterious dome more closely. A watch has been kept on it all the time by SkyDiver.

This time, when they lean against it, they suddenly find themselves on the inside. Beginning their search, they go separate ways, but when they come face to face again Foster launches a surprise attack on Straker. Defending himself, Straker kills his opponent. Then, to his bewilderment, Foster himself appears and they realise that the body on the floor is an exact double. Investigating still further, they make another astonishing discovery. As they go through a door, they find themselves in an identical replica of S.H.A.D.O. Control, and doubles of all the staff appear. When they overhear instructions being given to Moonbase to allow the missed UFO's through without interception, the truth dawns on them. Aliens have hit on a plan to fool Moonbase into believing that instructions are coming from the real S.H.A.D.O. Control. There is little time to spare. The SkyDiver crew have been told to destroy the dome if Straker and Foster have not returned in an hour: and the hour is almost up . . .



It seems an unwritten law that every science fiction/fantasy series has to have a doppelganger episode – and Reflections in the Water is UFO’s contribution to this genre. But though it’s a decent run-around, there are some whacking plot holes which are difficult to ignore.

When a freighter in the Mid-Atlantic is destroyed by an underwater UFO, Straker sends Skydiver to investigate. They discover the aliens have established a substantial underwater base (although why it’s underwater is a bit of a mystery). Straker and Foster fly out to investigate personally (which is something else that’s difficult to find entirely credible. Straker’s the head of SHADO, why does he need to endanger himself on a reconnaissance mission?).

Anyway, Straker and Foster pop on some diving suits and go for a swim. While they can’t find a way into the dome on their first attempt, they are able to see inside and observe Lt Anderson (James Cosmo). The pair head back to SHADO HQ to interrogate Anderson, which gives us yet another example of how ruthless Straker is. He has no qualms in authorising Anderson to be injected with drugs in order to establish the truth and interestingly Anderson doesn’t argue about this too much.

Even after the truth drug, Anderson continues to protest his innocence so Straker and Foster go back and manage to infiltrate the dome. Once inside, Straker and Foster split up and shortly afterwards Straker is attacked by Foster. But it’s not Foster, it’s a double!

One of the main attractions of a doppelganger story is when the two identical parties meet, but we never see it here. After Straker defeats the faux-Foster, the real Foster appears and is shown his duplicate. We linger a little too long on a shot of Foster looking at someone that clearly isn’t him, which makes you wonder why they didn’t use a little split screen filming to have the two of them on screen at the same time.

We now come to the part of the episode which stretches credulity to breaking point. The aliens have recreated SHADO HQ (how?) and recruited look-alikes for all the main SHADO personnel (plastic surgery apparently). Although the aliens have clearly spent a packet on getting the likenesses spot on, they obviously couldn’t afford a voice coach, so we see the doubles practicing by miming to the real voices of the SHADO staff which have been recorded on tape.

The aliens’ plan is to try and fool Moonbase into thinking this is the real SHADO HQ and then order them not to destroy the massed UFOs which are poised to attack. It’s clever that the aliens have somehow been able to sample the voices and produce exactly the words they need to say, but what would happen if Moonbase asked a question that wasn’t recorded? They’d be a little stuck.

A whopping explosion destorys the dome, so there’s just the 25 or so UFOs to worry about. And via a load of stock footage (Interceptors, Moonbase rocket-launchers, Sky One) they are all dealt with. This is the last thing that’s difficult to swallow. We’ve seen SHADO struggle to stop one or two UFOs getting through in plenty of episodes so far, so could they really have shot down all 25?

Although the story makes little sense, it’s still as watchable as most episodes in the series. It’s just that you have to disengage your critical facilities somewhat before starting.

 

[michaellevenson]

19.THE CAT WITH TEN LIVES
SYNOPSIS: A Siamese cat brings sinister drama into the lives of a S.H.A.D.O. Interceptor pilot and his wife.

Jim Regan, a S.H.A.D.O. interceptor pilot who has just returned from a battle with UFO’s, is driving home after a visit to friends with his wife Jean when they pick up a Siamese cat which they see in the road. While doing so, Jean spots a UFO hidden in the trees. They try to get away but are captured and taken into the craft, where they are subjected to an examination by the aliens. Regan is barely conscious, vaguely aware of a blinding light and strange pulsations. Then the light takes the shape of a cat’s eye, and the next thing Regan knows is that he is back again in his car. The cat is still with him, but there is no sign of the UFO: and Jean is missing.

Regan returns to S.H.A.D.O. Headquarters and tells Commander Straker what has happened, but fails to realise that the cat has slipped into S.H.A.D.O. with him. It is believed at first that the aliens have been after transplant organs: this is why they have taken Jean. But the capture of an alien suggests that, in this case, the aliens may not be humanoid at all. They are abducting humans and re-programming their brains with their own thought patterns.

The UFO that has taken Jean is still around, and after one failure to destroy it, Regan makes a second attempt, though realising that if he shoots it down, it will mean death for his wife. If he doesn’t, a terrifying future on a far-off planet could be her fate...

But, Regan no longer seems to be in control of his own reactions, and matters reach a climax when, in a frenzy, he attacks Colonel Foster, leaving him unconscious. He then rejoins the interceptor force, completely unaware that the cat is, in fact, an 'alien being' and that he is being turned into an automaton controlled by the cat’s brain. It is Straker who realises what has happened. But where is the cat? It has escaped, and there is only one thing to do, and that is to send a pack of hounds after it . . .

 

[michaellevenson]

17.CLOSE UP
Straker has a idea about how to be proactive in the fight against the aliens. He plans to place a highly advanced new camera in a probe which will follow a UFO back to its home planet. They will therefore be able to see, for the first time, pictures of the mysterious home-world of their deadly enemies.

Straker needs a billion dollars for this project, but seems totally confident that he’ll get it. As he tells Kelly (Neil Hallett) “It’s a space project”. This helps to anchor UFO very firmly in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s (when the series was made) rather than the early 1980’s (the date the programme was meant to be set). At the time of the first Moon landings, space was seen as the future but as the 1970’s wore on, interest declined and the real-life possibility of a Moonbase, for example, seems remote today.

If the basic story premise of a space camera doesn’t sound particularly interesting, you wouldn’t be far wrong as Close Up is quite a slow moving and uninvolving story. There’s the odd flash of excitement and, as always, some gorgeous modelwork but overall it’s a damp squib.

It does have a few plus points though. Although it doesn’t seem to connect to the main story in any way, we spend the first five or so minutes with Skydiver. We get to see the Skydiver submerge and there’s plenty of time to take a good look at the craft. Another indication that the episode was underunning, maybe?

The other chief item of interest is the conflict between Straker and Lt Ellis. Straker has gone to Moonbase in order to keep an eye on the probe and clashes with Ellis. This is a little odd, since there’s never been any hint of conflict before and to be honest, Straker doesn’t come off well here particularly when he tries to win her around with such compliments as “don’t ever forget, you’re a very attractive girl”. However this does mean that Gabrielle Drake gets some decent screen time, which even in an undistinguished episode like this, is welcome.

Eventually the pictures come back, but they’re worthless. An onboard fault has prevented transmission of the range and magnification so there’s no way of judging the size of anything captured.

This then leads us into the closing scene, another odd one, in which Kelly demonstrates to Straker the problem with the pictures by showing him a shot of Lt Ellis, posing very nicely for him in the next room, magnified a thousand times. Straker seems convinced, especially when he tries it for himself, by zooming into Ellis’ crotch area!

Tony Barwick wrote some of UFO’s best episodes, but he was also responsible for some pretty indifferent stories such as this one. But much better from him was just around the corner.