UFO (TV Series) Sub-Smash (1970) User Reviews

Straker should have asked Alec to handle this one...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 9 May 2010]

The show begins with Straker telling Alec that he'll be making a trip on SHADO's sub. Alec is surprised, as apparently Straker has claustrophobia. But, since Straker is a tough and somewhat robotic guy, he won't let his fear get the best of him.

Unfortunately, Straker picked a crappy time to go on a sub voyage, as there is an alien craft waiting for them. It fires on them and the ship is disabled--tumbling to a ledge where it remains wedged in for much of the show. The ship is running low on air and power--and it looks like not everyone is going to make it out alive. Amazingly, despite Straker's fear, he holds together like a rock! This episode seems awfully familiar.

It all boils down to the SHADO sub getting sunk by the aliens and the crew are all waiting and waiting and might not make it. I've seen a lot of submarine movies with similar plots and while it's handled well, it's not exactly original. Now this isn't to say the episode is bad--it just isn't that new or surprising, so it loses a couple points for that.

The Enter- uh, Skydiver

[bmcraec · 8/10 · 19 June 2021]

Skydiver, having been damaged by a new type of alien probe, means the MOST ST:TOS episode ever assembled. The casting is perfect, if you're doing an homage. Or a direct steal. Sulu & Uhura, the hidden problem that puts extra pressure on the key character. Also to return the favour, we've got Foster checking out Uhura's (uh, Lt. Something or other) diving gear, which reminded me immediately of Trip and T'Paul in Enterprise. Except without the blue goo and the Star Fleet underwear. Brilliant to look forward and back like that.

Lt. Uhura

[richard.fuller1 · 10/10 · 2 July 2011]

All I can say is Nichelle Nichols really kicked some doors in, didn't she, as Lt. Uhura on Star Trek.

An insignificant character but with a purpose who wasn't blonde sitting in the back, so we all saw her.

UFO essentially followed suit with Dolores Montez here, clearly a woman of color, portraying Nina Barry. Nine times out of ten, she is seen on Moonbase, sporting a purple wig. Like Uhura, she is an communications operator.

For whatever reason, she is assigned to the submarine mission here (sans wig), which finds the sub and its five occupants trapped underwater.

Straker's claustrophobia really does amount to next-to-nothing with the story. Okay, it emerges a bit at the end.

The plan was to have Nina escape thru the torpedo shoot and everyone else, one at a time, would go out another shaft.

What they don't know is the torpedo shoot doesn't open, so now Nina, in much tighter confinements than anything Straker is enduring (perhaps why it was impossible to focus on his claustrophobia) has to crawl backwards, all the while no doubt contemplating the guys are all leaving one by one, thinking she has made it to the surface.

But they know on the surface she hasn't appeared, and amusingly enough, they don't seem to think about her anymore.

Finally, only Straker is left and when he hears Nina's calls for help, he thinks he is hallucinating from slowly lacking oxygen.

He does eventually discover Nina, exhausted and breathing heavy herself, and shades of Captain James T. Kirk and Lt. Uhura, they must contemplate dying together if not discovered soon.

The ending is cut and dry, if for nothing else, to prevent any hint of a romance as we did get with Kirk and Uhura. Somehow it does seem inappropriate then, to think Straker and Nina must be a couple.

Still the episode has its pluses, in the guise of Nina out of the wig and pretty much off the moon. Just seeing her doing something else and very effectively too.

Tries hard to build the drama!

[Drat1964 · 5/10 · 2 February 2024]

Clearly what is often referred to as a 'bottle show', set mostly on one set. Tries to build the drama after their sub is damaged by a UFO and sinks to the bottom with 5 crew members and with only two ways out, a torpedo tube exit (that doesn't actually work) and an escape hatch that takes 90 minutes to reset after each use. To add insult to injury 'Straker' tells 'Nina' the torpedo tube is much easier than the escape hatch, we then see poor Nina struggle to crawl along the very long torpedo tube, while the crewman using the escape hatch simply steps in, has a little trouble turning the release handle and then is out. The problem with all this is the escape hatch is so large you could easily fit 2-3 people in it at a time. The 90 minute wait to empty the escape hatch of water also doesn't make sense as it would make much more sense to simply open the inner hatch once the outer hatch is closed and let the water from the escape hatch into the much much larger inner cabin (they would only have to do this once), instead of waiting 90 minutes, had they done this all 5 crew could have been out in just 2 tries and less than 5 minutes.

Truly awful

[lor_ · 28 August 2023]

Nice model work/explosions highlight this lousy segment, with Ed plunged into the action on a SHADO submarine battling an underwater UFO. Unfortunately the process shots for cast in the studio against an ocean backdrop are poor.

Actress Dolores Mantez gets a real role for a change rather than just a technician, and doesn't have to wear her purple wig (on the earth rather than moon for a change).

Low-budget episode plays more like it was written for a puppet series by the Andersons, as the humans have little acting to do till late in the scene, other than Ed pantomiming his claustrophobia -he literally seems like a fish out of water here. The story's life and death escape is meant to be tense but just plays as utterly dull and way too gimmicky.