Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine UFO (1970)

"The Cat with Ten Lives" -- 3 UFOs approach Moonbase but veer off, as a diversion for another 3 UFOs, which get into a battle with Moonbase's new ground defense tanks. (I suspect these are remote-control, as there's no evidence they're actually manned.) Interceptor pilot Jim Reagan, on leave, takes part with his wife in a friendly seance during which he goes into a trance. On the way home, they stop to pick up a stray cat-- but are then kidnapped by a pair of aliens. When he wakes up, the cat is there, but his wife is missing. Straker cold-bloodedly puts him back on active duty immediately, which shocks Col. Virginia Lake. When a UFO that got thru their defenses and disappeared rises from a lake and heads into space, Reagan again goes into a trance and fails to take it out. Straker admits he made a mistake and orders Reagan to have a 2-week furlough, and orders Dr. Jackson to do a full exam of him. Following an exam of an alien found on the wreckage of the Moon, Jackson proposes all they thought about the aliens previously may be wrong. The alien is completely human, and Jackson theorises the possibility that the aliens may not actually have physical bodies at all, and all the organ-snatching may be to keep their human "bodies" going as a way to give them "vehicles" to operate in space. Reagan clobbers Foster and takes his place on a mission to escort a returning Venus probe, but when he breaks formation and switches off his radio, Straker suspects he's being controlled by the aliens-- via the cat-- and from the film studio, borrows a pack of dogs to track the cat down. Presumably they catch and kill the cat, and Reagan awakens just in time to veer off from Moonbase, crashing and destroying only his interceptor, and himself.

This is a really downbeat episode, but unlike several of the earlier one, extremely complex and well-written. David Tomblin, who contributed so much to THE PRISONER, was both writer and director here, and I have no doubt he's responsible for the casting of Alexis Kanner, who played such an utterly bizarre character as he did in 2 episodes of that show.

The other new Interceptor pilots are Al Mancini (KELLY'S HEROES) and Steven Berkoff (who would later play a major Bond villain in OCTOPUSSY, and another villain much later on SPACE PRECINCT).

After the previous episode was so low-key, things kick into high gear and get REALLY complex here, with a dense story and extremely-intricate editing, at times nearly bringing the pacing up to the high-speed opening theme montage. Lois Maxwell (most famous as "Miss Moneypenny" in the Bond films) fills in for Miss Ealand. I can tell what a good actress she is, as in one scene, she exhibits more personality and warmth than Miss Ealand did in all her scenes up to this point! The fact that Miss Ealand is mentioned suggests that while the actress was unavailable right here, they must have know that she was coming back soon. "Miss Holland" is apparently on loan from "Section 9" and usually works for someone named "Blake"-- who we never learn any more about. It's just one more detail and example of subtle "world-building", which I imagine might have been followed up on, had the show managed to get a 2nd season. Wanda Ventham's "Virginia Lake", not seen since the pilot, returns as a regular, replacing George Sewell's "Alec Freeman". She somehow almost matches Ed Straker's unemotional intenseness here, but as the show continues, she slowly gets more and more to do.

Vladek Sheybal, in his own usual weird way, manages to show more personality than usual, and Ayshea Brough gets more to do than ever before, considering she's been in pretty much every episode up to this point. (Apparently, she's gotten a promotion since "Keith Ford" disappeared off the show.) Also in the cast are Colin Gordon (THE PINK PANTHER) and Windsor Davies (who later voiced my FAVORITE character on Anderson's TERRAHAWKS!).

Someone at the IMDB said this episode was "silly", but to me, the big problem was, as usual, having the episode order scrambled for broadcast. Here we have one of the later episodes, which clearly shows the series was getting more and more complex and intense. It's episode 19-- yet insanely, it was broadcast 3rd! That just COMPLETELY screwed over any sense of character development or continuity!

This was the 3rd episode in a row with a UFO hiding underwater. It was also developing the idea of humans under mind-control of the aliens, as seen earlier in "E.S.P."

"Destruction" -- A navy ship on a scouting mission sites a UFO and blows it out of the sky. When the event hits the news, and Henderson says it will be officially denied the next day, Straker wants to know what the ship was doing in that area, and so assigns Virginia Lake to SkyDiver. In the tradition of Irwin Allen's VOYAGE, she insists on taking the sub down far below its safety limits, until it's obvious they just can go any further. Henderson & Straker visit Adm. Sheringham about the incident, but he gets very nervous and ushers them out quickly. Then Straker has Paul Foster "investigate" the Admiral's secretary, Sarah Bosenquet, who has a professional-looking telescope set up in her flat. Col. Lake begins spying on that, and it soon becomes obvious the girl is using the telescope to send a high-frequency message into space-- especially when Interceptor pilot Steve Minto is knocked unconscious while parked in its path. It seems Sarah's father was one of the men in charge of building Moonbase, but disappeared 5 years earlier on the Moon, and Straker believes Sarah is either being forced-- or controlled-- by the aliens. Henderson then brings Adm. Sheringham right into SHADO HQ, revealing everything about the UFO threat, to get him to tell what's going on with his ship that required so much security that even SHADO couldn't find out about it! It seems the ship is being used to dump a dangerously-toxic nerve gas into a deep trench, where its casings will last long enough for the gas to eventually become non-lethal. But as Straker suspects (and then confirms) the UFOs have found a way past Moonbase radar, he fears they may attack the ship-- which could cause the death of ALL life on Earth! Sure enough, a pair of UFOs approach, and can only be detected by SIGHT. Minto takes out one, but the other gets through. The Navy ship's missile system is disabled, and it stays out of gunner range. But then SkyOne blasts out of the water, and TAKES OUT the UFO. After, a far-more-reasonable than usual Henderson talks with Straker, who wonders HOW many others like Sarah are out there being used by the aliens.

Building on the previous episode, this was the most intense and COMPLEX episode yet! (It was also the 4th in a row having a UFO hide underwater.) Once again, the broadcast schedule ruined any sense of building moment, as this 20th episode was aired 9th. They were getting better guest-casts by this time. Philip Madoc (INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D.) was the Ship's Captain. David Warbeck (TWINS OF EVIL) was the SkyDiver Captain. Edwin Richfield was Adm. Sharingham (2 years before he played virtually the same part in the DOCTOR WHO story The Sea Devils). Stephanie Beachum was Sarah Bosenquet (2 years before she played Jessica Van Helsing in DRACULA A.D. 1972).

Straker mentions that Adr. Sharingham will have to be given the amnesia drug when he leaves SHADO HQ, but nobody mentions doing the same with the entire crew of the Navy destroyer who not only saw 2 different UFOs but also SkyOne take out the 2nd UFO! Considering all the damage done to the ship during that incident, how would using the drug "explain" away things? I think it reaches a point where all this excessive "security" about SHADO and the UFOs just becomes absurd, and invoking "The Official Secrets Act" might be a more sensible way to go.

I have to rank this as one of Dennis Spooner's best writing efforts I've seen on any show he ever worked on.

I'm looking forward to reading the thread Prof.

UFO combined the superb Anderson miniatures work within a sci fi touched world, much like their live action movie Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. That also had Bishop and Sewell in it. It also had Roy Thinnes in it, known for the Invaders.

They wanted to go for a more grown up audience, showing the human cost/drama alongside, and grounding, the plot and the effects.

The stories were going that way even with Captain Scarlet. The best agent is killed and returns as a villain. Another agent, Scarlet, is also killed, but regains his personality from the bad guys. But he did die, and could become a villain too.

It might be a cultural thing, but a lot of our characters are flawed underdogs fighting uphill battles.

Straker is one such character. His personal life and overtime military career ends in that UFO attack, trying to destroy evidence of extraterrestrial visitors. Evidence that worried the Earth's governments to form the clandestine SHADO.

I rewatched Identified, and enjoyed it. It's the episode that sells the show (mainly aiming for the US market, which meant financial success - the timing of those plot breaks for ads are odd to our UK eyes).

It's well structured, with the disappearance of Carlin's sister at the start being bookended by her fate being revealed at the end.

We get to see a number of the SHADO vehicles and locations (Andersons well ahead in realising the bonus for tie ins) in the titles, and throughout the episode. The future of 1980, the glamour of a film studio, loads of sci fi vehicles combatting aliens more directly than Thinnes was ever able to and some lechery all look to draw in a wide audience.

As above we see Straker's personal struggles, and how his approach differs from Freeman's. Poor Ford is used to receive a rather clunky outburst. But Straker has a more anguished scene at the end.

The alien's are handled really well. Both the UFO and occupant are initially unseen, and are gradually revealed. SHADO has only recently in a position to seriously tackle the alien menace. It's taken years to get to this stage. They've yet to intercept one.

When they do down a craft and capture the injured occupant, they find a very similar looking humanoid. Shadows (or SHADOs) of their film, which was also released as Doppelganger.

After all these years, SHADO are still speculating on where the aliens are from and what they want. There's not too much revealed here. They breathe fluids to protect their pilots from long journeys at vast speeds. Several organs are from humans.

It adds the creepy horror that Scarlet also had, as does fighting an unknown enemy. In Scarlet, The Mysterons were arguably taking revenge after an attack from our heroes. In UFO, they could be a race like us, looking to use their advanced technology against a planet they consider inferior, in order to survive. There's some moral greyness that goes through some of Anderson's work. There's also that hard, uphill struggle ahead.

The show also touches on the UFOlogy of the time: Abductions, mutilations and organ harvesting. Also investigations such as Project Bluebook. This would continue to be polished over the years, by the likes of Tim Good giving us films like Close Encounters.

A direct descenant of UFO, would combine the later UFOlogy narratives with UFO, to give us the game UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka X-Com: UFO Defence.).

Thoth, glad to see you joining the discussion. Hoped you would as I figured with your UK background it would be a familiar topic to you.

Prof, thanks for continuing to summarise and review the episodes. There are quite a few of the later ones that I have never seen. Really motivating me to give it another go.

Your description of the ongoing wrangling between Straker and General Henderson remind me of one of my favourite comic stories from Countdown #12-18 "The New Boss". General Henderson is injured in a car crash after a UFO attack and is temporarily replaced by a General Calper who is somewhat hostile and uncertain about how SHADO is being run. After a UFO attacks the SHADO plane he is on, he argues at a conference that SHADO is being mismanaged and insists on doing a complete inspection. During the inspection he tells Straker that all the camouflage and subterfuge of hiding the alien menace are severely hindering SHADO's ability to fight and declares that he will be announcing the truth on broadcast television that evening. When Straker objects Calper pulls a gun on him saying he is under arrest. Straker knocks him down and escapes while Calper puts SHADO on high alert declaring Straker a wanted fugitive to be shot on site. When Foster tracks him down he is convinced by Straker to join him as they theorise that Calper is being influenced or mind-controlled by the aliens. That evening as the motorcade is escorting the General to the television studio they are blocked by Foster's mobile and suddenly an alien appears who is really Straker in a pretend suit. When the guards prepare to defend General Calper the alien/Straker tells him to order the guards to stop which he does saying the alien is a friend, thus demonstrating the truth to their alien influence theory. Just then a UFO turns up and kills Calper. The issue ends with confidence in Straker restored and a discussion of some of the points that Calper made about the problems of secrecy, but Straker concludes that they are fighting the aliens the only way they know how and the fact that the aliens tried to use Calper to change that proves that it's working.

It's a well told story that would have been great to see filmed with some excellent action scenes including Straker escaping in a Formula 1 car from a film the Straker Studios is making. This series of stories is illustrated by Gerry Haylock who does a terrific job. If you would like to view a summary of the stories and some of the artwork, there used to be a website dedicated to the comic depictions of Anderson properties. Although the website is gone a good copy is maintained on the Internet Archive through their Wayback Machine and the Countdown UFO stories can be viewed here:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011060...pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Upload01/UFOPt1.htm

I only found out about UFO from reading an article about the origins of X-Com. I did do a post somewhere with all the bits of X-Com sourced years later for a spiritual successor game. I'd have seen Captain Scarlet by then, so was keen to see it. Apparently UFO was a fav show of some of the team at Microprose UK. When someone suggested fighting an alien menace as something to hang their game on. it came up, and SHADO became X-Com.

When I was very young, Space 1999 might have been getting a rerun, or the toy of one of their craft was still around to be bought as a present for my older brother. I remember one being around. Actually. I fib. My brother had a starship enterprise. Another kid had a Space 1999 toy. which I thought looked cool. But not something I got to play with.

I did see some episodes of it when young, but not as a regular thing. The craft and Moonbase were timelessly awesome. Quaternass had a domed moon base with geodesic domes quite similar to the UFO/Space 1999 ideas. A lot of UK Moonbase concepts go down that route as a result, in games and comics.

I didn't read Anderson comics either. Doctor Who may have appeared in some of the anthology ones the Beeb put out. I remember getting a Doctor Who annual. The colour art was of Eagle standard for a Daleks strip. Well above the quality of the perfectly fine , later Doctor Who weekly.

Other Anderson things were before my time too. We knew about The Thunderbirds. While I might have seen the odd bit, it didn't do much for me. There was a much later national surge of interest in it. Tracey Island became a massive toy one year, decades later. I'm a fan of Captain Scarlet. Off hand I couldn't say when I first saw a repeat though.

So, I look back on childhood snippets, how our culture shaped it and the ripples it cast on other shows. So, getting to it late actually helps, as I'm a lot more aware of events, films etc around that time.

There is a UFO anthology comic. I own it volume 1, but haven't read it. There's also a SHADO technical manual. I've yet to flick through. Konami released lovely minis at some point too.

I remember Computer Affair as coming across as a clumsy attempt at supporting racial equality. But a rewatch shows there's more going on.

After all this time, SHADO are only being able to implement better detection from episode 1. But their single shot fighters still have to hit them, and find that very difficult. Having seen Battlestar Galactica as a kid, one shot craft seemed very odd. But if they could hit them in orbit, the action would never reach Earth, where much of the rest of the show was. It continues the uphill struggle of the first episode.

I enjoyed the Ellis/ Bradley relationship more this time round. Analysis shows she favoured Bradley. Nothing that definitely got the other guy killed. But it's there. Ellis ends up actually putting Bradley in more danger later on, over compensating. Neither knew of feelings for the other. Ellis pushes back on that with her actions. Freeman believes what he sees, handing in his resignation in protest against Straker's cold calculations.

Except it took the computer to make them realise they did actually have feelings after all. Straker's cold approach results in a romance. Freeman rips up his resignation, grudgingly accepting that human instincts aren't everything. Straker is humanised by the outcome.

We get to see the cast in different roles. The idea was for one of rotation. Carlin and Bradley suffer from being associated with one vehicle, limiting their involvement. Both do get more varied scenes in the opening 2 episodes. But it would have needed reasons to keep them at SHADO HQ for other episodes. Ellis would find herself on Moonbase more often than not (no coincidence that this was part of moonbase's popularity, resulting in Space 1999)

An alien is captured. His death at Straker's instruction to get more information alienates (no pun intended) Freeman. Straker is desperate to learn about the threat after 10 years. But they are beginning to at least learn about the pilot's biologies now. No big reveal. Just hopes dashed a bit as the struggle continues.

We get to see the super Shadomobiles in this episode. The miniatures were great in this show. Watching them converge on a UFO while being tracked from the Shadows control vehicle stands out even now.

Love is also key in the third episode. Roper's love for his wife costs him his life, and doesn't save her. He gives up information to another contact in order to protect her.

There's a nice combining of plots, as they realise the only person who could know to blackmail Roper would also have to be on the base. Two traitors!

The blackmailer was himself abducted. They implanted him with a small control device. Classic UFOlogy tropes, to bring in creeping horror at the aliens' plans.

Roper is a fair bit older than his wife. It comes up in the dialogue and there's some nice chemistry there, in their teasing and comfort with each other.

Just enough to get us to like them, even knowing Roper is up to no good. Freeman has known him for years and you can see he's concerned at the change in his friend. After his retracted resignation last episode, now he's thinking that age can play a factor in perhaps calling it a day.

Mrs Roper is already highly strung after a threatening appearance by the blackmailer, and nearly shooting Roper. A third appearance completely unerves her. She does shoot the blackmailer, but is rooted to the spot as her assailant inches towards his gun. Earlier we saw Roper removed the remaining shotgun cartridge, after he avoided getting shot by her. Someone must have put one back in?

I know doubt shared Prof's feeling about them only putting one man on the surface to destroy the UFO. But it wouldn't be a redemption arc if another, random soldier blew it up. Poor Roper would have to return to face a court martial and news of his wife's death. That would be bleaker still.

This one is a nice combination of a tense betrayal plot, combined with the Anderson's miniatures (interceptors. Skydiver, Moonbase etc all used) supporting the drive of the episode, which ends in an action finale on the surface of the moon. The bittersweet ending is very much in keeping with struggles of the show's cast.

When I first watched this George Cole had been Arthur Daley in Minder for so long, it was hard to think of him in anything else. He had appeared in Tom Sharpe's Blott on the Landscape (starring David Suchet) as a MP/ landowner caught in a very compromising position. That was odd to, to see him play another role.

Sewell and Bishop were remembered from the film Doppelganger because they had to adlib in one scene, and carried it off so well. In UFO, Bishop is the driven leader, a bit highly strung. Sewell the low key agent, capable and experienced agent carrying out the legwork. They have a good dynamic in these episodes.