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This weekend I had the pleasure of a visit from my oldest friend. We were
at school together in the UK when UFO debuted and, although I watched all the
episodes about 2 years ago, he hadn't seen it since although he is a Gerry
Anderson fan. When he learned I had it all on VHS, he wanted to watch the
first episode and a few others while we sat and chatted (and drank) on Satuday
night.
So we watched: Identified, Responibility Seat and Destruction ( the one with
the RN ship and the ltehal gas disposal stuff). Now the wine might have
helped but now he wants to borrow the whole set of tapes and I have to admit I
will be sitting through the whole lot again before he gets them!!
The effects don't compare to modern stuff (except the space scenes which
benefit from lack of water, land or other referential cues) but they are their
own little art form. The scripts vary in quality and continuity pretty badly
but some are quite intelligent for TV Sci FI. The acting can be poor (no
names to protect the guilty) but can also be great ( especially Bishop and
Sewell ) . The overall effect is still a very solid effort that is trying to
reach excellence.
Since this was the first real Anderson TV series with live actors, it is an
impressive achievement that was only surpassed by Space 1999 series one (not
series two which was mostly awful despite the presence of Catherine Schell!! )
Still a pleasure to watch and that is a real test of quality in my book.
David Womby
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