U.F.O. " Here We Go Again" Episode Guide 3

[michaellevenson]

(vc 646)

" Here we go again" as Nina Barry, Moonbase Commander said as another alien attack took place in one episode of Gerry Anderson's greatest show. So here's yet another series guide, this time courtesy of Wikipedia. Gives me an excuse to dig up some new piccies. And why not?

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

Imagine a dying planet in some distant corner of the universe. Its natural resources exhausted. Its inhabitants sterile. Doomed to extinction. A situation we may one day find ourselves in, gentlemen. So they discover Earth. Abundant, fertile. Able to satisfy their needs. They look upon us not with animosity, but callousness. As we look upon our animals that we depend on for food. Yes, it appears they are driven by circumstance across a billion miles of space, driven on by the greatest force in the universe – survival.

SHADO Commander-in-chief Ed Straker, "Identified"
Two women and man come across a UFO that has landed in a wood. The man, Peter Carlin (Peter Gordeno), starts filming the craft but the threesome are fired upon by the alien occupants. One of the women is killed, Carlin is shot and injured whilst the third, Carlin's sister, is abducted.

The Earth is faced with a powerful threat from an extraterrestrial source. We've moved into an age where science fiction has become fact. We need to defend ourselves.

SHADO Commander-in-chief Ed Straker, "Identified"
Increasing UFO activity, starting in 1970, brings (as shown in the episode "Confetti Check A-O.K.") the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and West Germany together to combat the perceived threat. Whilst en route to a secret meeting with the British Prime Minister, Col. Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) and General Henderson's (Grant Taylor) Rolls-Royce Phantom VI and two escort police motorbikes are attacked by a UFO. Straker is thrown clear but Henderson is seriously wounded.

After ten years of planning the international community has paid for the construction of a secret organisation – SHADO (the Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organisation) – in Britain to track and deal with any incoming UFO threats. Straker is now in command of this organisation. SHADO is hidden beneath Harlington-Straker, a working film studio used as cover for the underground base. Straker's cover involves being a film producer.

Following a fire at Westbrook Electronics, Colonel Freeman (George Sewell) is piloting a transporter aircraft from Los Angeles which contains top secret Utronic equipment to track UFOs in deep space, plus its creator Col. Virginia Lake. SID, the Space Intruder Detector (an early warning computerised tracking satellite that detects incoming alien UFOs), detects an approaching UFO heading for the North Atlantic. Moonbase launches three interceptors which fire upon the UFO but it manages to escape destruction. SHADO control authorise Skydiver submarine to launch Sky One interceptor aircraft piloted by Capt. Peter Carlin. The UFO continues into Earth's atmosphere and tracks and fires at the transporter, but is shot down by Sky One. The UFO disintegrates in the sea.

An injured alien occupant survives the UFO crash and is examined at SHADO's medical laboratory. The effects of Earth's atmosphere cause the alien to revert to his true age and die. Following an autopsy, SHADO discover that the alien has numerous organ transplants harvested from humans. It transpires that the alien's heart comes from Carlin's sister, who disappeared in the 1970 UFO incident shown at the beginning.

 

[michaellevenson]

2. Exposed
When the Sky One interceptor aircraft intercepts and destroys a UFO, the explosion causes the nearby experimental test aircraft XV-104, whose pilot refused the order to leave the area, to crash. While the co-pilot Jim is killed, the pilot Paul Foster (Michael Billington) survives, temporarily blinded.

After waking in hospital and regaining his sight, Foster claims that the cause of the aircraft crash was a UFO but his superior at his employer Ventura Aircraft and an RAF investigator, Dr. Douglas Jackson (Vladek Sheybal), do not believe him as evidence, showing Sky One but no UFOs, points to pilot error. Believing that a cover-up is taking place, Foster undertakes his own investigation into the events surrounding the crash. He is aided by the sister (Jean Marsh) of the dead co-pilot.

Foster's investigation leads him to Commander Edward Straker (Ed Bishop). Straker agrees to meet Foster at the Harlington-Straker Studios that are used as a cover for the secret SHADO Control base located beneath. Straker is in fact testing Foster to see if he is capable of joining SHADO. Foster passes the induction and Straker reveals all about the UFO threat that Earth faces, also revealing that both Jackson and Jim's sister are actually SHADO operatives.

 

[michaellevenson]

3. Flight Path
Carol, the wife of Paul Roper, a Moonbase operative, is being threatened by Dawson, a SHADO medical operative under alien control. Roper is blackmailed into feeding false information into SID - the satellite that tracks incoming UFOs. The information being sent to SID will allow a UFO to attack Moonbase using heavy sunspot activity as cover. However, SID reports that some of Roper's data is incorrect - either accidentally or deliberately.

Carol is attacked by Dawson, and both are killed. Roper, to defend Moonbase travels out onto the lunar surface with a rocket launcher. He manages to destroy the incoming UFO but the resulting explosion punctures his space suit and he dies from oxygen starvation.

 

[michaellevenson]

4. Conflict
Lunar Module 32, commanded by Steve Maddox, departs from the Moon bound for Earth; its radar picks up an unidentified object shortly before re-entry. The audience sees that this is a small alien limpet-like UFO, hiding in the Apollo 8 space wreck, which interrupts communications with the SHADO Moonbase and modifies the spaceplane's course, causing the Lunar Module to re-enter the atmosphere at too steep an angle and leading to its destruction.

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

After Maddox's burial-in-space funeral at the Moonbase Paul Foster, convinced that it was not human error that killed his friend, blasts off in a lunar module against orders and flies on the same course to prove Maddox's innocence. As with LM 32, the limpet UFO attaches itself to Foster's module and interferes with the controls, 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.

In response a standard UFO prepares to attack the Harlington-Straker Studios but is soon destroyed by Sky One.

 

[michaellevenson]

5. The Square Triangle
Straker allows a UFO to land in Southern England in an attempt to capture the craft, and its alien crew, by sending out a fleet of SHADO mobiles. After the UFO lands safely, a lone alien survivor has a fight with a game warden and his dog, causing the alien's uniform to rip and his helmet to shatter. The alien kills the human with a machine gun-style weapon, drags the corpse to the UFO, and then self-destructs the craft in an attempt to get away by substituting the human with himself. Colonel Foster and his crew identify the charred corpse as the human and not the alien; moreover, they find a piece of the aliens uniform and use the surviving canine to track his location within the surrounding woodlands. Meantime, in a cottage close to the landing site, Liz Newton is conspiring with her lover Cass Fowler to murder Liz's husband, Jack. Liz plans to shoot Jack upon his arrival at home and then claim that she thought him to be an intruder. To that end Cass coaches her in the details of her alibi and it's made clear that he is the driving force in the plan. However, their scheme is foiled when the alien suddenly appears at the front door and is shot instead.

Foster and his investigation team arrive with the dog to find the dead alien, from which the conniving pair are taken to SHADO headquarters, where they are debriefed of the events, and eventually given an amnesia drug to make them forget everything that had occurred within the previous twelve hours.

Meanwhile Foster continues the investigation at the cottage. When Jack returns, Foster questions him to deduce the couple's murderous plan. At SHADO, Foster explains a theory that the pair originally planned to kill the husband and if released, there was no stopping them from doing it again. Straker points out that they cannot provide the body of an alien or turn over the pair to the authorities because SHADO is not in the "moralizing business", from which Straker orders Foster to get everything possible about the destroy UFO, and Colonel Freeman to check on the autopsy of the alien. The pair are released. The final shot shows Liz in the near future looking at a non-identifying gravestone during the end credits with a far shot of an approaching male that appease to be Cass.

 

[michaellevenson]

6. The Dalotek Affair
The episode is almost entirely a flashback that Colonel Foster has as he sees a woman while dining with Colonel Alec Freeman:

Unexplained communication blackouts are affecting the SHADO Moonbase. Foster believes that the nearby Dalotek Corporation lunar base may be causing the issues through use of their geological scanner. During another blackout a Lunar module crashes when trying to land, killing the crew on board.

Foster investigates Dalotek and disables a piece of their equipment thought to be the cause. However, this does not stop the blackouts. The Dalotek team discovers an alien jamming device, placed by the aliens in a lunar crater using a meteor that crashed on the Moon (a fact that Commander Straker realises while watching a TV interview with Dr. Frank Stranges). Foster sends out a team to destroy the jamming device before an incoming alien UFO attacks Moonbase. With the device destroyed, the UFO can be targeted and also destroyed.

The epilogue reveals that the woman was Jane Carson, the Dalotek employee Foster was flirting with, who had her memory wiped due to SHADO security protocol.

 

[michaellevenson]

7. Confetti Check A-O.K
The birth of Lieutenant David Grey's twins by Caesarean section brings back uncomfortable memories for Edward Straker as his own mind casts back to his wedding day....

In December of 1970, United States Air Force Colonel Edward Straker and his new wife, the former Mary Nightingale, plan to honeymoon in Athens, but the holiday is abandoned when Ed is called to an emergency meeting with United Kingdom Royal Air Force General James Henderson, who is still recovering in hospital after the UFO attack on their Rolls Royce. On Henderson's instructions, Straker flies to New York to attend a meeting with the United Nations Special Committee. He explains that Earth is under threat from extraterrestrial invasion and puts forward a proposal for a super military force to be put into operation to defend the Earth. The project finds unanimous approval, and Straker is voted Commander-In-Chief, Colonel Alec E. Freeman is the first recruit, and Henderson is promoted to Preeident of the International Astrophysical Commission, which will be holding the organisation's purse strings.

Over the next few months, even as SHADO's underground headquarters and its cover and front organisation, Harlington-Straker Film Studios, are being constructed, the long hours of working in total secrecy take their toll on Straker's marriage, with Mary becoming increasingly upset that she hardly seems to see her husband any more. Then, just as work on SHADO Control is complete, Mary announces that she is pregnant. Her joy is short-lived, however, when the evil, overbearing domineering harridan and harpy she has for a mother villainously plants a hate-filled suggestion that Straker could be having an affair. Mary confronts her husband with the accusation, demanding to know what is keeping her husband out of the house until 3 o'clock in the morning. The unfortunate need for security prevents Straker from telling Mary the truth. (In "Identified," when he bids Lieutenant Keith Ford not tell him "security is difficult," Straker thus knows whereof he speaks when he points out, "Sometimes it gets pretty close to home.")

In March of 1972, SHADO staff recruitment begins. Ed holds a meeting with the recruits at recruit Nina Barry's apartment. But Mary's mother has evilly hired a private detective, who photographs Ed and Nina together. The meeting goes on all night, and when Ed gets home the next morning, he finds Mary ready to leave him. They argue, but Mary becomes hysterical and, after Ed slaps her, she loses her balance and falls down the stairs. She is rushed to hospital, suffering from internal hemorrhage, and her doctor must perform a Caesarean section to save the baby. After an agonising wait, Straker and Mary's father are informed that Mary and the child, a boy eventually named John, are doing fine. Alas, as the evil Mrs. Nightingale has secretly planned, when Mary regains consciousness, it is her father who is at her side, as Straker has been called away on urgent SHADO business. The marriage is ruined.

 

[michaellevenson]

8. ESP
Returning home after seeing his psychiatrist, John Croxley, a man with very powerful ESP, is stopped by SHADO personnel due to an incoming UFO. The UFO crashes into Croxley's house killing his wife and injuring Col. Foster who was monitoring the UFO from a SHADO mobile.

Foster is taken to hospital and SHADO sends a team to investigate the crash site. Croxley, now under alien influence, is able to read the minds of the SHADO team and learns all about SHADO's operations. Croxley believes that Straker and Freeman caused his wife's death and sets out to kill them.

Foster believes that someone or something is watching him – a response to his mind being read by Croxley. Croxley sends Straker what looks like a film script but is instead a full, detailed description of SHADO's organisation and its operations, including places and times. After visiting Croxley's psychiatrist, Straker and Freeman learn of Croxley's ESP ability and are told to meet Croxley at his ruined house where Croxley, still under alien influence, intends to kill them both.

Foster, who has been told that revisiting the site of his injuries will help his recuperation, also arrives at the house. Although Croxley's ability allows him to be aware of Foster's presence he does not stop Foster, who shoots Croxley just as he is about to kill Straker and Freeman.

 

[michaellevenson]

9. Survival
Under the cover of a meteor shower, a UFO manages to evade SHADO's tracking and land on the moon. The alien pilot gets close enough to Moonbase to shoot out a window of the Leisure Sphere -the resulting explosive decompression kills an astronaut inside and almost kills Paul Foster.

Straker orders a search of the vicinity around Moonbase using moon mobiles and they locate the UFO in a crater. The UFO shoots at the moon mobiles whereupon the interceptors are called in. They shoot the UFO down as it tries to take off and it crashes into Foster's moon mobile. Thrown clear, Foster is injured in the explosion and his spacesuit's radio transmitter is broken. SHADO believes that he has been killed.

Foster is not alone, however, as the alien has also survived. The two adversaries realize that to survive they need to co-operate on the walk back to Moonbase. They get close to their destination but a search team locates Foster. Believing the alien to be a threat and with Foster unable to contact the search team due to his broken radio, they shoot and kill the alien.

 

[michaellevenson]

10. The Man Who Came Back
Captain Craig Collins is presumed killed when his spacecraft, Ship 534, disappears during a successful UFO attack to disable SID (the Space Intruder Detector, the early warning satellite). However, he is located on an island a few weeks later with very little memory of his craft's splashdown. After S.H.A.D.O.'s medical unit approves his return to active duty, Straker assigns Collins to pilot the NASA SID 2 shuttle and repair SID due to Collins' intimate knowledge of its systems.

Meanwhile, Cols. Lake and Grey both notice changes in Collins' behaviour: he displays aggression when he kisses Col. Lake, with whom he had a relationship before his accident; and he wins a chess game against Col. Grey in just a few moves whereas Collins had never been able to defeat Grey before. These observations are not enough to convince Straker that anything is wrong and he suggests that personal tensions may be colouring the perspective of Lake and Grey (while not admitting that his long friendship with Collins may be colouring his own judgement).

During a training weightlifting session, Collins seemingly accidentally injures his co-pilot Col. Paul Foster, leaving Straker as the only qualified person available to replace him. Collins, who has been under alien control since before his crash, plans to kill Straker but during a spacewalk Straker is warned by Foster and manages to sever Collins' oxygen supply, killing his friend instead.

 

[michaellevenson]

11. A Question Of Priorities
Commander Edward Straker's son Johnny is hit by a car and taken to hospital. Straker arrives at the hospital with his ex-wife, Mary, to find that Johnny is allergic to the antibiotics the hospital has available - Straker uses his position to order an experimental anti-allergenic antibiotic to be flown from New York to Britain by a SHADO transport.

In Ireland, an alien escapes from a crashing UFO and starts transmitting from the home of an elderly blind woman. The transmissions are intercepted by SHADO HQ and Col. Alec E. Freeman diverts the transport aircraft, unaware that it is carrying the antibiotics, to investigate the signals.

When Straker discovers this change of schedule he knows that he cannot order the transport to Britain as his duty to SHADO overrides any personal needs. But Mary challenges Straker when he tells her the transport is being delayed because of "a more important matter".

SHADO mobiles carried by the transport are sent to investigate the alien transmissions but before the mobiles can make contact, another UFO arrives and kills the alien: it appears that he was trying to defect. The transport then continues on to Britain and Straker rushes to the hospital with the antibiotics but it proves too late as his son has died, with a tearful Mary saying that she never wants to see her ex-husband again.

 

[michaellevenson]

12. The Sound Of Silence
A UFO uses a NASA craft entering Earth orbit to avoid SHADO weaponry by using it as a shield. The UFO lands near a farm where Russell Stone, Showjumper lives with his father and visiting sister. SHADO search the area and move onto the farm after Russell Stone is reported missing. He has been captured by the alien from the UFO that has landed cunningly at the bottom of a lake. The UFO in attempting to escape is destroyed by SHADO but leaves behind on the surface of the lake a cannister containing Stone. Can he be saved?

 

[michaellevenson]

13. Sub- Smash
When a freighter is sunk mid-Atlantic by an undersea UFO, Straker joins the crew on Skydiver to investigate despite his claustrophobia. As they search in the area where the ship was lost, Skydiver is attacked by the UFO and damaged, sinking to a ledge above the sea bed. However Skydiver is still able to launch Sky One, which tracks and destroys the UFO in Earth's atmosphere.

Each of Skydiver's crew except Lt. Barry must then take it in turn to use a single, faulty escape hatch that now takes 90 minutes to reset after each use. Straker orders Barry to use an alternate hatch which can only be employed once but, unbeknownst to him, it fails to open, trapping Barry. Two crew members reach the surface where Col. Freeman awaits them in an amphibious rescue aircraft but Lt. Tony Chin succumbs to his injuries on Skydiver.

Straker hears Barry's frantic yelling and frees her from the faulty hatch. They are the last two crew left on the submarine - Straker dealing with his claustrophobia - as the air is close to running out. Barry tells Straker that she's glad she won't die alone and that it's he who is with her (a reference to the episode "Confetti Check A-Ok" which reveals that Nina Barry was one of SHADO's founding operatives). Straker meanwhile has flashbacks to the significant events of his life: his marriage to Mary, the birth of their son John and John being hit by a car, as seen in the episodes "Confetti Check A-Ok" and "A Question Of Priorities". They finally manage to escape the sub when SHADO divers blow Skydiver off the ledge and they can access unblocked missile tubes.

 

[michaellevenson]

14. Court Martial
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
A Royal Navy destroyer in the Atlantic Ocean shoots down a UFO. Straker wants to know why the UFO was interested in the ship and how it managed to evade SHADO's detection. The UFO's wreckage is too deep for Skydiver One to retrieve and a Royal Navy admiral, Sheringham, refuses to divulge any information on the incident or the ship's mission.

Straker decides to see if he can get information out of the Admiral's secretary, astrophile Sarah Bonsanquet (the daughter of one of the astronauts who disappeared while building the SHADO Moonbase). He has Foster establish a relationship with Sarah and, while they're on a date with Sarah, Straker and Colonel Virginia Lake break into and search her apartment. There they discover a refracting telescope with a transmitter powerful enough to reach the aliens - she has been passing information to them.

Straker learns that the ship was going to dump nerve gas into the sea but the aliens see an opportunity to release it into the atmosphere to kill the Earth's human population. Three UFOs are then detected heading for the ship, proving that the aliens have managed to circumvent SHADO's detection systems. Moon-based SHADO Interceptors destroy one UFO but another attacks the ship, which is later saved when Skydiver One arrives and Sky One destroys the UFO.

 

[michaellevenson]

16. Ordeal
Col. Foster gets drunk at a party the night before a scheduled fitness check at a SHADO-run health farm (featured in this sequence on the soundtrack is The Beatles' single "Get Back"). He passes out in a sauna at the farm, and awakens just as aliens are kidnapping him. The aliens put Foster in a UFO and take off. Foster's friend and colleague, Captain Waterman in command of Skydiver, is ordered to destroy the UFO carrying Foster. However, Waterman, flying Sky One, cannot bring himself to do so: instead he uses Sky One to disable it, forcing a crash-landing on the Moon, where Foster is rescued by Moonbase operatives.

Inside Moonbase, they find that Foster has been put in a spacesuit and made to breathe the liquid that the aliens must breathe in order to survive the journey from their home planet. When his helmet is removed, he struggles to re-adapt to breathing air. He then awakens properly back inside the sauna, realising that he was simply imagining the abduction while all along he was safely on Earth.

The episode ends with Foster singing a rendition of Beautiful Dreamer.

 

[michaellevenson]

20. Computer Affair

An interceptor is destroyed in a collision with a UFO and Straker believes that Moonbase commander Gay Ellis may have made a misjudgment that caused the crash. He orders her and the two surviving pilots to back to Earth while SHADO ground and air forces search for crippled UFO which landed somewhere on Earth. Psychoanalyses tests seem to indicate that Lt. Ellis gave Mark Bradley evasion orders first because she was in love with him. Freeman believes Straker is relying too much on the computers and he decides to prove the data wrong when he is ordered to select a crew to go to Northern Canada to find the UFO. He takes the Moonbase crew along and they manage to capture one Alien alive before the UFO self-destructs. Straker attempts to get the Alien to talk, but he dies before he can speak. Later, Freeman learns that Lt. Ellis made a correct decision on Moonbase, any other alternative would have resulted in the loss of all three men. Straker, however, gets the last word in when Bradley calls from a restaurant to report that he and Gay have, in fact, grown fond of each other.

 

[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

Following the sinking of a freighter ship and the death of an underwater cameraman, Straker and Foster take the submarine 'Skydiver' to examine the ocean bed. They come across a vast domed building and, from a distance, think they see SHADO Lieutenant Anderson in the dome. Back at headquarters Straker interviews Anderson, who claims to know nothing of the dome. It is part of an alien plot to create doubles of the SHADO staff - including Straker - to by-pass SHADO security systems. The dome has to be destroyed with its occupants.


Critical review by Archivetvmusings.

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
Moonbase interceptor pilot James Regan is on 48 hours leave from the Moon. He and his wife are invited by an older couple, the Thompsons, who have mysteriously been given an unusual psychic board game. Whilst the two couples are playing the game, Regan starts to have strange reactions and faints. Later, as Regan and his wife are driving down a country road they stop their car to avoid a Siamese cat. They are then abducted by aliens who take them to their UFO, where he has another experience similar to the one he had at the Thompson home. Regan awakes back in his car with the cat but his wife missing, abducted by the aliens. Regan explains his story at SHADO Control but Straker sends him back to the moon. Meanwhile the cat now has free rein inside Control.

SHADO's resident doctor - Douglas Jackson - has performed an autopsy on an alien body and found it to be entirely human, not - as previously believed - an alien species that harvests human organs to extend its lifespan. He surmises that the aliens may be able to control human brains.

When piloting his SHADO Interceptor escorting the Venus probe, Regan fails to destroy a UFO that leaves Earth carrying his wife. He is recalled to Earth for an assessment. Still controlled by the cat, Regan attacks Col. Paul Foster and returns to the moon, where he puts his interceptor on a crash course with Moonbase. Straker determines that the cat is controlling Regan and has it eliminated. No longer under alien control, Regan sacrifices himself by just missing Moonbase but is unable to avoid impacting on the lunar surface.


17. Close Up
Straker wants to take the fight to the aliens and persuades the Astro- Physical Commission to back a project to launch a craft with NASA assistance into a lunar orbit, then have SHADO personnel fit the craft with am electron powered camera. The idea to track a UFO to its home planet and take pictures in high definition of the planet.
After successfully manoeuvring a UFO away from the Moon the ship retreats homeward and the SHADO craft tails it.
Unfortunately an unforeseen circumstance kiboshes the project, the explanation as to why is demonstrated using Lt. Gay Ellis in an alluring skimpy outfit !