Producers:  Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill
Format:  Gerry et Sylvia Anderson
Century 21 Fashions:  Sylvia Anderson
Special Effects:   Derek Meddings
Art Director:   Bob Bell
Production Supervisor:   Norman Foster
Assistant to Producer:   Des Saunders
Lighting Cameraman:   Brendon Stafford
Music:   Barry Gray
Script Editor:  Tony Barwick

UFO © 1969-70 Century 21 Pictures Ltd.
An ITC World Wide Distribution
British / 26 episodes / 50 minutes / color
Filmed at MGM Borehamwood and Pinewood Studios, England.

U.F.O. was the first series done by Gerry Anderson that didn't use any puppets but used real actors instead.  Filmed in 1969, the plot took place in the near future of the nineteen eighties.  I have very vague memories of the series.  I do remember watching it religiously when I was young.  Like most Quebecers, I've watched it as often in English as in French and I cannot recall which episodes I saw in English and which I saw in French.

It is while watching the movie Men in Black that the U.F.O. nostalgia hit me.  I must say I've always been an admirer of the work of the Gerry and Sylvia Andersons team, from Fireball XL-5 to Space 1999, including the likes of the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.  The U.F.O. story line was quite simple.  In 1980, aliens attack Earth with the intent to kidnap humans.  A secret organisation named S.H.A.D.O. (Supreme Headquarter Alien Defense Organization) was created to battle the intruders.  Acting like the American men in black, the S.H.A.D.O. would use hypnotic drugs to cause amnesia in witnesses to keep the alien visits and invasion under wraps.

The S.H.A.D.O. headquarters was cleverly camouflaged under the Harlington-Straker film studio in England.  The film studio was a great cover for the vehicles and weird happenings.  The organization also had a detachment on the moon (Moonbase) and a submarine flotilla (skydivers).  The flying saucers were first detected by the S.I.D. (Space Intruder Detector).  The first intercept attempt was done by three moon-based interceptors, each armed with one supermissile.  If the aliens managed to cross the first line of defense, they were then intercepted in high atmosphere by a submarine-launched jet fighter (Skyone).  If the saucers ever did reach the ground, they would be hunted by tracked vehicles (S.H.A.D.O. Mobile).

The S.H.A.D.O. was under the command of commander Ed Straker played by Ed Bishop.  He was supervised by general James Henderson (played by Grant Taylor) and assisted by colonel Paul Foster (played by Micheal Billington), colonel Virginia Lake (played by Wanda Ventham) and by colonel Alex Freeman (played by George Sewell).  The Moonbase was under the command of leftenant Gay Ellis (played by Gabrielle Drache) at first and then replaced by leftenant Nina Barry (played by Dolores Mandez).  The Skydiver submarine was under the command of either captain Lew Waterman (played by Gary Myers) or Captain Peter Carlin (played by Peter Gordeno).¹

Most episode story lines were on the efforts of S.H.A.D.O. to curtail the flying saucer invasion or to counteract the alien attempt to undermine the S.H.A.D.O. or to kill its commander.  Some stories were about the difficulties of maintaining the S.H.A.D.O. properly funded or on the effect of secrets on the lives of its operatives.¹

The show managed to create an atmosphere of mystery and ambiguity where we never knew the real reason behind the alien invasion attempt and where some humans were working with the invaders, a real fifth column attempting to undermine the survival of mankind.  Reflecting the sixties' society, the series showed the fears and apprehensions of the cold war, where the brave soldiers hidden in the shadows were fighting an uncatchable enemy. Their efforts often undermined by the likes of Philby and Burgess².

The series also showed the spirit of a time were people had faith that the State was there to protect them; when all the secret agencies worked for the government without attempting to overthrow it or conspire against the citizens.  We were far from the cancer man and his thugs hunting the mulders and scullys of our world.

Even though the work of Gerry Anderson and his team was greatly superior in technical quality to Star Trek, its realistic vision and lack of fantastic caused the public to snob the series.  More an anticipation piece than science-fiction, it will remain a far superior fiction than Space 1999, which followed it.

Indeed, in the middle of the seventies, a project to revive the U.F.O. series was brought up and the Anderson team started work on preproduction.  When it was finally abandoned, Gerry Anderson proposed to save the preproduction work and make a new series. The action would take place on a moonbase while the Moon itself was drifting through space following a nuclear mishap.  It promised to be better than Star Trek since you had a full Moon to travel with.  It was a deception.  The absence of qualified sci-fi writers made the series way inferior to the precedent U.F.O.

In conclusion, I must say that, notwithstanding the unpolished effect common to all shows of that period, U.F.O. remains one of the best written and filmed series.  At a time when people watched the lunar landing live, U.F.O. managed to incorporate all the elements it needed to become a cult series.  Shall we ever see a new movie inspired by the series ?  Why not !  The uninspired Hollywood establishment is still rampaging through old series to redo in film, eventually they are bound to find U.F.O. the series.

1.  Some of this information comes from Marc Martin's site.

2.  Two soviet moles who rocked the western establishment during the sixties.