The appeal of Gerry Anderson's shows

Posted by: Jonathan Gorse on 21 September 2009

Just been watching some episodes of UFO on DVD and have to say how much I'm enjoying the groovy sixties fashions, the unbelievably exciting decor and design and the blisteringly good quality of the picture. It knocks many modern shows into a cocked hat for image quality and colour saturation.

Further to that it seems to me that the plots and writing are a lot deeper than much of today's material. I've just watched 'The responsibility seat' and it has everything, superb character interplay, the pressure and politics of command, moral dilemmas, performances with real gravitas and oh the sets...

I've been a fan of Anderson's work since Thunderbirds fired my imagination as a child but UFO is IMHO the adult version of Thunderbirds with live actors and themes. Space 1999 it's successor remains a classic too so I'm just wondering why I find TV of that era so compelling. Am I relating in some subliminal way to the time of my birth (1969) or were the sixties shows just so much better produced and written than most of today's cheesy pap. As examples I recently watched Knowing and am just in the middle of watching the remake of the Day the Earth Stood Still but neither has drawn me in and lifted my spirits the way UFO has tonight.

I wonder too if the impact of these shows reflects a feeling that at that time technology seemed to be advancing at an incredible rate and it really did all seem feasible that there would be supersonic planes everywhere, moonbases and that technology would be a saviour not a burden to humanity.

It seems to me that Gerry's shows capture the viewer's imagination better than most and transport them to a much more exciting place where the white heat of technology still burns bright.

Anybody else a fan of these shows and anyone have a theory on why they (and 'The Avengers etc) are so appealing?

Long live ITC and Gerry Anderson, I'm sure their impact on me as a child led to me wanting to become a pilot, sadly on my airline there's no girls with impossibly short silver skirts and purple wigs!!!

Jonathan

Posted on: 21 September 2009 by fatcat

Terrahawks is a classic. Politically incorrect but very funny.

Expect The Unexpected

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Fisbey

I have box set of the UFO series and think it's excellent

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by WhatYouSeeandHear

Hi
Your right about UFO.I was only a youngster when it was first broadcast but always remember scenes,for example the episode in the sauna, where the main character in the episode is kidnapped and turned into one of the liquid breathing aliens.Recantly a customer lent me the whole series and almost 40 years since it was made the thought provoking quality and depth of the plots are apparent together with very good set and model design.As mentioned already the picture quality is superb and high definition,a result of the fact that it was fimed instead of videotaped.Its notable that while this show looks great today other quality programmes have lost clarity over the years as the economy of using videotape is now looked back on as regretable.Inspector Morse is an example and even when first broadcast in the late 1980s I felt that the image quality was grainy and pasty with weak colour.Today those Morse episodes have deterioated even further and are noticeably poor.Luckily The Avengers and The Prisoner also used optical film and are now fixed and preserved .
Another reason for UFO's and Avengers sucess.
CRUMPET!.
How could any dad not watch UFO with their kids when you were going to see Gabriell Drake.She had a figure and looks to die for and I always remember the episode where the failure of a satelite to take pictures of the alien's planet was illustrated as one of scale using Gabriell as the illustration.
Note also that there were few asian women working in TV at the time and the gorgeous Ayshea Brough has Konny Huq looks and could walk into a modern TV show without looking in any way dated.Her litte wave at Stryker at the beginning of each episide is very cute.
My journey to Beaconsfield every morning takes me through Burnham Beeches on the very roads where many outside driving shots were made,and can look up through the sunlit dappled trees to the sky above and imagine a saucer about to attack.
Great show and a shame most of the male actors have now passed away.

Colin

WYSAH Beaconsfield.

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Jonathan Gorse

Colin,

Great reminscences, thanks for those. I have taken the bicycle to Black Park a couple of times and very much enjoyed pedalling around there spotting scenes used in many of the Anderson shows as well as the New Avengers etc.

You're lucky to live so near, in fact I'm seriously considering a Sunday afternoon outing to revisit a couple of the locations used - specifically the ATV Elstree, now BBC Elstree studios used as the HQ of SHADO. I'd also like to find the cottage used as Paul Roper's residence in Flight Path (believed to be on Windsor Road in Gerrard's Cross) and later re-used as Straker's Bachelor residence in The responsibility seat - I think I'm getting nerdy!

I heard a rumour of a UFO feature film being made by ITV with Gerry as a consultant and gather this is in pre-production as we speak. Lets hope they manage to maintain the quality of the original.

A very sad loss that as you say Billington and Bishop passed away, the character of Straker was certainly one of the most memorable male leads of all time and it's hard to imagine anyone else being able to pull off the blonde barnet with such aplomb. There's a couple of very good UFO based books available I obtained recently via Amazon if you're a fan. I once turned down a job with BBC transmission after university - worst mistake of my life and one I regretted ever since because I'd have loved to immerse myself in the world of broadcasting for the past 20 years - a bit of a missed opportunity there.

Brg,

Jonathan

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly

Tidy...

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by BigH47

I was there from day one, Four Feather Falls I think, it's all a bit hazy these days.

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Bob McC

quote:
Originally posted by munch:
I was there for Supercar/Fireball XL5.
Great stuff.

Jeez I was there for 'Torchy, The Battery Boy' and 'Four Feather Falls'!

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by TomK

Anybody else remember Twizzle?

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly

Ten minutes on YouTube, Tomk. Looked earlier.
It has not worn well ...

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly

@ Bob

Cracking match, VERY unlucky to lose. I thought the booing of Tevez was very poor, it was United that did not want to pay for him.

Hope all well

Mike

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Naijeru

Space: 1999, the first season anyway, is phenomenal. The model building was amazing if kitschy and the uniforms and moon base decor were the height of 70's chic. Some episodes gave me such nightmares as a kid (Dragon's Domain) but I came right back to watch the show the next week! The writing is definitely much more mature than today's sci-fi fare but the science was really dodgy.

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by DaveBk

I started on Thunderbirds, and moved on to UFO; fantastic series. Sci Fi from this period had a quality that's never really been repeated - perhaps as it was filmed around the time of the real moon landings it all seems more possible, more real to all involved. I had a model Interceptor - it was green and fired a plastic missile! I expected it to be grey as we only had a black and white telly at the time...

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Kevin-W

I too started with Thunderbirds, then moved on to Joe 90/Captain Scarlet.

I think I was about 9 or 10 when I first saw UFO and loved it straightaway. It used to be on at about 6pm on Saturdays on ITV. My mum always used to let me watch it because she fancied Col Foster (Michael Billington) like crazy (he was very "dishy" in the paralance of the day).

I saw some episodes again recently and was really, really impressed. As many have remarked, the quality was top-notch - superb production values. For 1970, the effects were exemplary too, and the totty factor was quite high.

But I think what makes it really stand out though are the scripts, the beievable (and very human) characters and the acting. George Sewell and the late Ed Bishop particularly were first-rate actors. The central premise - that aliens were harvesting human organs for food - was very dark and some of the imagery was quite disturbing. For a sci-fi series it was very much "earthbound". There was one superb episode in which Cmdr Straker had to choose between his critically ill son and the SHADO mission to protect humanity. The choice was made, the boy died and Straker's marriage was destroyed. Affecting stuff. I'll have to get that DVD box set.

Best sci-fi series ever?

If they do make a movie I hope they don't screw it up with naff scripts, pretty boy nonentities and CGI bombast.

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Kevin-W

Here's the fantastic sequence (music by the late great Barry Gray) which used to open every episode.

Superb!

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Jono 13

quote:
Originally posted by Mike Lacey:
Tidy...

Nick's sister.

Jono

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Naijeru

quote:
Originally posted by Kevin-W:
Here's the fantastic sequence (music by the late great Barry Gray) which used to open every episode.

Superb!

Very nice! I'm going to see if I can find that show. This still trumps it though.

Posted on: 22 September 2009 by Geoff P

I agree UFO and Space 1999 were both excellent. Of course it was all visualised for you
I wonder how many here sprawled out on the living room carpet to listen to this:

It was transmitted on BBC Radio during the 1950's, with classy acrors like David Kossoff and Andrew Foulds.

I still remember some of it was quite eerie to a young lad with a good imagination. "The Red Planet" was particularly well done.

I also recall listening to a constantly fading and reappearing signal from Radio Luxemborg every week night at 7:15pm to:

Anybody else prepared to admit they are that old!!

Posted on: 23 September 2009 by Analogue

YES!

Chris N

Posted on: 23 September 2009 by BigH47

Me too!

H

Posted on: 23 September 2009 by Bob McC

And who'd have thought the Lord of the Treens would find human form in William Hague.

Mike
All well here. Worst news of the weekend for me was Len's collapse in Spain. Glad to hear he's better now.

Posted on: 24 September 2009 by Blueknowz

I thought this thread would be about!