UFO 

The missions of the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organization, which defends Earth from extra-terrestrial threats.

Creators:

Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson

Stars:

Ed Bishop, Dolores Mantez, Michael Billington

Cast

Series cast summary:
Ed Bishop	...	Cmdr. Ed Straker / ... 26 episodes, 1970-1971
Dolores Mantez	...	Nina Barry 23 episodes, 1970-1971
Michael Billington	...	Col. Paul Foster / ... 21 episodes, 1970-1971
Ayshea Brough	...	SHADO Operative / ... 19 episodes, 1970-1971
George Sewell	...	Col. Freeman / ... 17 episodes, 1970-1971
Keith Alexander	...	Shado Radio Operator / ... 15 episodes, 1970-1971
Antonia Ellis	...	Joan Harrington 13 episodes, 1970-1971

Storyline

In 1980, the Earth is threatened by an alien race who kidnap and kill humans and use them for body parts. A highly secret military organization is set up in the hope of defending the Earth from this alien threat. This organization is named SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organization) and operates from a secret location beneath a film studio. They also operate a fleet of submarines and have a base on the moon as well as an early warning satellite that detects inbound UFOs. UFOs can be destroyed in space by Interceptors which are launched from Moonbase. If one gets through it can be attacked in the Earth's atmosphere by a high altitude aircraft launched from one of the submarines. If a UFO also avoids this and manages to land it can be tracked and destroyed by a number of Mobiles (armored vehicles) which are deployed throughout the world.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | alien race | alien invasion | organ harvesting | top secret | 

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the UK, people drive on the left side of the road and steering wheels are on the right side of the vehicle. However, in UFO's version of 1980s Britain, both of these have been reversed. The show's creators were simply going along with what was being predicted at the time, which was that the UK would switch its driving system sometime in the near future. That change never happened.

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Goofs

Although set (and filmed) in England, all the futuristic cars are left-hand drive, and everyone drives on the right-hand side of the road. Several other series by the Andersons featured the same driving system, presumably because England was predicted to switch over sometime before the future events depicted. Flashback scenes showed the "normal" English driving arrangement.

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Quotes

[ep: The Square Triangle]
Ed Straker: It's just lucky for her that an alien came through that door instead of her husband.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits of every episode include "Century 21 fashions by Sylvia Anderson". It is uncommon for such a credit to appear at the start of a TV episode (usually such credits appear at the end).

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Alternate Versions

For the German dubbed version many episodes were altered to remove references to death (i.e. the death of Straker's son; the funeral of Bill; Straker seeing a dead alien). Additionaly, all captions showing the year the events take place (1980) were deleted.

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Connections

Featured in 70s: The Best of Bad TV (2015)

User Reviews

Brilliant, just brilliant

I recently had a chance to review ALL of the UFO episodes in the order that they were numbered. Now I realize that this is not the order that they were originally presented, however they were great. Just great. I saw Star Wars in the theater. I have been weaned on science-fiction, so I think that I can say when I see good stuff and when I don't. Another reviewer said that the basic premise of this story could go for at least FIVE YEARS. I agree. 100%. Even the LAST episode (which was obviously not meant to be THE last episode) was very high quality and an appropriate ending, where it referenced the original pilot.

My friend highly recommended this show to me, and I cannot say that I'm disappointed. I've seen people complain about the acting? Unreal. The acting is top-notch, and many of the principals have been (or were) involved in high-end British acting gigs at the time. To me, the characters and the story were the driving forces. At the time they were very original. In fact, I am not surprised that many of the 'key elements' have been recycled in other places.

If Hollywood were to make a movie of this series they had best hold true to the original notion(s). As I said before, one review said that this idea could go for 5 years. It could. They could have COUNTLESS plots with the Moon Base, SkyDiver, the Mobiles, people from the past, people about to expose SHADO, budget funding, and so forth. Frankly, I think that they quit while they were FAR AHEAD. I'm sure that the fans would salivate for more, but only if the quality was as good. More often than not any sort of revival is often met with disdain. It would be unfortunate if UFO was met with that sort of inane fandom. It was far classier than that.

To me, probably one of classiest sci-fi show I've ever seen. Awesome. Truly awesome. Don't ruin it. Please! Cheers! PAYROLL

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 September 1970 (UK)

Also Known As:

UFO

Filming Locations:

MGM British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Century 21 Television, Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min (26 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1