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A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry Commentary!

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Marc Martin

A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry Commentary!

Administrator

Hi all,

I hear that A&E has commissioned a new commentary track for
the UFO episode KILL STRAKER, and this commentary will feature
actor Mike Billington and director Alan Perry! This will be
recorded TOMORROW (Sunday 26 May). This all came about after
I put the A&E consultant in contact with Jeff Smart (the fellow
who has been working on the video THE FUTURE WAS FANTASTIC).

So, with some rather short notice, Jeff would like to know
the following:

* does anyone have any questions or subjects that they'd
like discussed on the KILL STRAKER commentary?

* does anyone have the script to EXPOSED, or more specifically,
the missing lines of dialog on those two deleted scenes
on the Carlton UFO DVDs? If we had the dialog, Mike is
willing to redub his lines!

* He's also looking for the KILL STRAKER script, but
I don't see any way that we could even find a copy
of it for him on such short notice.

Again, any responses are needed TODAY!

Thanks!

Marc

P.S. Also thanks to Lisa Williams -- Jeff requested to
get her KILL STRAKER frame capture library so he could
provide hardcopy frame capture reference material to
the director & actor (and save him a couple of hours
in making the frame captures himself)

jamesgibbon

Re: A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry Commentary!

Marc Martin wrote:

> So, with some rather short notice, Jeff would like to know
> the following:
>
> * does anyone have any questions or subjects that they'd
> like discussed on the KILL STRAKER commentary?
>

On this - I would love to hear Mike comment again on KILL
STRAKER's homo-erotic subtext in his commentary, personally.

James

andy_lovie

Re: A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry Commentary!

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

Marc Martin wrote:

<<A&E has commissioned a new commentary track for the
UFO episode KILL STRAKER... this commentary will
feature actor Mike Billington and director Alan
Perry!>>

Interesting... I spoke with Alan Perry last Saturday
at the con, and said it was a shame there weren't more
commentatries on the 'UFO' DVDs by directors, such as
himself... he never said anything about this... maybe
it's a very recent development ?

In any event, if this is to be the case, I'll
likely be buying the second set of discs from A&E
rather than Carlton... will A&E's discs also be Region
0, do you know ?

Andy

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Marc Martin

Re: A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry

Administrator

>Interesting... I spoke with Alan Perry last Saturday
>at the con, and said it was a shame there weren't more
>commentatries on the 'UFO' DVDs by directors, such as
>himself... he never said anything about this... maybe
>it's a very recent development ?

Originally the plan was to have just Mike Billington
do the commentary. And Jeff knew that A&E was leaning
towards approving this commentary while he was at the
con. So perhaps Jeff discussed this with Alan Perry
at the con, and Alan agreed to do it then?

>In any event, if this is to be the case, I'll
>likely be buying the second set of discs from A&E
>rather than Carlton... will A&E's discs also be Region
>0, do you know ?

I doubt it. I think all of A&E's DVD's have been
Region 1. Unlike Carlton, they have no plans for
trying to market these DVDs in any other region.
(Carlton made theirs region 0 so they could be
released as-is in Australia)

Marc (who is reviewing Andy's e-mails about the KILL
STRAKER commentary at Eclectic 21, seeing if there's
something we should make sure also shows up on the DVDs)

Marc Martin

Re: A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry

Administrator

In reply to this post by andy_lovie

>In any event, if this is to be the case, I'll
>likely be buying the second set of discs from A&E
>rather than Carlton...

Rather than Carlton? It appears that if you do
this, you won't have CONFETTI CHECK A-OK, which looks
like it'll be on Set 1 in the USA, and Set 2 in the UK.

Marc

Phil-3

Re: A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry Commentary!

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

This is SO cool! I love how the fans are called in for this sort of
thing. I can't think of anything for Kill Straker beyond the obvious like
the fight scene, which is covered in detail on the Fanderson documentary.

A couple of questions off the top of my head (Why is this stuff always
happening at the last minute!) would be

Was Mike Billington happy with his role on UFO? Was it a big enough part
for him. Is he surprised that people are still interested in UFO 30 years
later and there active fan groups.

Did Alan Perry want to direct any episodes of Space 1999? How disappointed
were they when the order for the second season of UFO was cancelled?

Sorry if these are a little dumb, you said you needed them today, otherwise
I would have had more time to think!

At 09:27 AM 5/25/02 -0700, you wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I hear that A&E has commissioned a new commentary track for
>the UFO episode KILL STRAKER, and this commentary will feature
>actor Mike Billington and director Alan Perry! This will be
>recorded TOMORROW (Sunday 26 May). This all came about after
>I put the A&E consultant in contact with Jeff Smart (the fellow
>who has been working on the video THE FUTURE WAS FANTASTIC).
>
>So, with some rather short notice, Jeff would like to know
>the following:
>
> * does anyone have any questions or subjects that they'd
> like discussed on the KILL STRAKER commentary?
>
> * does anyone have the script to EXPOSED, or more specifically,
> the missing lines of dialog on those two deleted scenes
> on the Carlton UFO DVDs? If we had the dialog, Mike is
> willing to redub his lines!
>
> * He's also looking for the KILL STRAKER script, but
> I don't see any way that we could even find a copy
> of it for him on such short notice.
>
>Again, any responses are needed TODAY!
>
>Thanks!
>
>Marc
>
>P.S. Also thanks to Lisa Williams -- Jeff requested to
>get her KILL STRAKER frame capture library so he could
>provide hardcopy frame capture reference material to
>the director & actor (and save him a couple of hours
>in making the frame captures himself)
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Marc Martin

Re: A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry

Administrator

>A couple of questions off the top of my head (Why is this stuff always
>happening at the last minute!)

I'm also frustrated at how these video companies always seem to do
things at the last minute (not allowing the time to do them properly),
but then I remember that in my own job, things are also often done
at the last minute!

Marc

andy_lovie

Re: A&E UFO DVDs -- Mike Billington & Alan Perry Commentary!

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

Marc Martin wrote:

<<reviewing... e-mails about the KILL STRAKER
commentary at Eclectic 21, seeing if there's
something we should make sure also shows up on the
DVDs)>>

Well, doubtless too late now :^ , but while Michael
and Alan are there recording a commentary for 'Kill
Straker!'... couldn't get them to do one for
'Survival' (which Alan also directed) as well ? :D

In fact, here's my 'wish list' for DVD commentaries
(which are almost always better with more than one
commentator, and possibly also a 'chairman' to ask
questions)...

'Exposed' - Michael Billington and David Lane
(Director)

'A Question of Priorities' - Ed Bishop and David Lane

'Ordeal' - Michael Billington and Ken Turner
(Director)

'The Responsibility Seat' - Ed Bishop and Alan Perry

'Confetti Check A-OK' - Ed Bishop and David Lane

'Mindbender' - Ed Bishop and Ken Turner (Director)

- Andy

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Marc Martin

Re: A&E UFO DVDs

Administrator

>Well, doubtless too late now :^ , but while Michael
>and Alan are there recording a commentary for 'Kill
>Straker!'... couldn't get them to do one for
>'Survival' (which Alan also directed) as well ? :D

Heh, heh... yes, I'm sure that most of us would like
to have commentary tracks for all 26 episodes, each
featuring the director plus a few actors... :-) But
unfortunately, commentary tracks cost money, and for
relatively obscure releases like UFO, there's not
a lot of budget available for commentary tracks.
Getting 3 of them is pretty good though, relative
to the other Gerry Anderson releases...

By the way, I heard back from the A&E consultant,
who said to not always believe what you read on
their website, as the website is usually behind
on what's going on. He also still says that UFO
will have a 5.1 soundtrack (even though the website
took that off). He also told me (for the first
time) about the commentary track for the 2nd
A&E box set, but that I shouldn't mention that to
anyone else yet... ooops! :-/ So, top
secret folks -- you don't know anything about
any commentary track for the 2nd A&E box set,
'kay? :-)

Marc (wondering what I'm going to do about the
photos that Jeff will probably send me from
the recording session)

Marc Martin

Re: Commentary Wishlists

Administrator

In reply to this post by andy_lovie

>'A Question of Priorities' - Ed Bishop and David Lane

Actually, Fanderson originally suggested to Carlton
that A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES be the episode which
Ed Bishop should provide the commentary for. However,
since this episode had an eerie parallel to what happened
to Ed Bishop's own son, Ed requested that another
episode be selected.

I think my wishlist would include Ed Bishop and
Wanda Ventham on TIMELASH...

Marc

Anthony D

Re: Commentary Wishlists

Can anyone tell me what they'd like to hear from these commentaries? I've
listened to a few movie based ones and they were fairly interesting. "Free
Enterprise" has some great commentary since there are lots of little sci-fi
movie/show tidbits thrown in.

Are fans expecting fun "on the set" anecdotes or are they looking for deep
analysis? I wonder if people are going to be disappointed?

Can anyone with the UK set let us know some of the stuff (not verbatim, as
I'd still like to hear it myself!) that Gerry talks about?

For example, I thought the Fanderson documentaries were good -- and that is
the type of stuff I expect from the commentaries, but perhaps others are
expecting more??

Anthony (US)
-------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Martin" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: [SHADO] Commentary Wishlists

> >'A Question of Priorities' - Ed Bishop and David Lane
>
> Actually, Fanderson originally suggested to Carlton
> that A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES be the episode which
> Ed Bishop should provide the commentary for. However,
> since this episode had an eerie parallel to what happened
> to Ed Bishop's own son, Ed requested that another
> episode be selected.
>
> I think my wishlist would include Ed Bishop and
> Wanda Ventham on TIMELASH...
>
> Marc

Marc Martin

Re: Commentary Wishlists

Administrator

>Are fans expecting fun "on the set" anecdotes or are they looking for deep
>analysis? I wonder if people are going to be disappointed?

I find that "on the set" anecdotes are my favorite parts of commentaries.
I'm not interested when they simply observe what's happening onscreen,
or any sort of "deep analysis".

>Can anyone with the UK set let us know some of the stuff (not verbatim, as
>I'd still like to hear it myself!) that Gerry talks about?

I'd have to listen to it again, but honestly I didn't find much
in Gerry's commentary that was all that memorable! The only things
which stood out to me were things that he said which have been
contradicted by others! (his story about Ed Bishop's broken ankle, which
is disputed by Ed, and how the purple wigs were his idea, which is
disputed by Sylvia)

Marc

ultramannick

Re: Commentary Wishlists

> >Can anyone with the UK set let us know some of the
> stuff (not verbatim, as
> >I'd still like to hear it myself!) that Gerry talks
> about?

My favorite is when he says (and I'm paraphrasing) how
amazing it was that SHADO regarded itself as such a
super-duper secret organization, yet people outside
could clearly see Straker's office slowly sinking into
the ground...

He also slips out (in my mind) just how much he was
obsessed (in love?) with Gabrielle Drake
(sp)...Perhaps it was just professional admiration,
but it certainly had the tone of love found, love
lost.

JF

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Marc Martin

Re: Commentary Wishlists

Administrator

>My favorite is when he says (and I'm paraphrasing) how
>amazing it was that SHADO regarded itself as such a
>super-duper secret organization, yet people outside
>could clearly see Straker's office slowly sinking into
>the ground...

My first thought upon hearing that comment was, "haven't
you ever heard of one-way windows?"

Marc

R. Eaton

Re: A&E UFO DVDs

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

--- Marc Martin <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Marc (wondering what I'm going to do about the
> photos that Jeff will probably send me from
> the recording session)
>
>
Uhhh, scan and share, perhaps?

TAE (newbie to this list and still lurking, for
the most part)

=====
Let me give you a piece of advice, Paul. Don't ever judge a situation by the end of a conversation. (Ed Straker - Close Up)

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SumitonJD

Re: Commentary Wishlists

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

>He also slip out(in my mind) just how much he was obsessed(in love?) with >
Gabrielle Drake(sp)...Perhaps it was just professional admiration, but it
certainly >had >the tone of love found, love lost.

>JF

Are we talking about in the episode Close Up here or something else?

James K.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

ultramannick

Re: Commentary Wishlists

>
> Are we talking about in the episode Close Up here
> or something else?
>

No, it was during GA's commentary during "Identified."
He just gushed and gushed about Drake being the
greatest thing since since sliced bread and I got the
impression that he was especially..um...fond (?) of
her. In fact, I think he even says that he made it
quite clear that he thought she was he most beautiful
girl, yadda yadda...I would have to listen to it again
to paraphrase better. If I had been Mrs. GA, I would
be raising an eyebrow, that's for sure!

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SumitonJD

Re: Commentary Wishlists

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

>>Are we talking abut in the episode Close Up here or something else?

>No, it was during GA's commentary during "Identified." He jus gushed and
gushed >about Drake being the greatest thing since sliced bread and I got the
impression >that he was especially...um...fond(?) of her. In fact, I think
he even says that he >made it quite clear that he thought she was the most
beautiful girl, yadda yadda...

Okay, that clears that up. Well GA is obviously a man with a eye for
beauty. But he is going to have to stand in line behind everyone after
Gabrielle's husband and it's a very long line.

James K.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SumitonJD

Re: Commentary Wishlists

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

>However in a interview I've read, my boy Bish had the same reaction to
Gabrielle, >and he says most people did. I think its a male-Gay Ellis reaction
<vbg>a male >KERPLOP! phenomenon :-) Gabrielle's still a stunner.

>Amelia

Yes, Amelia you are 100% correct. I still remember getting my first
letter from her and the feeling I was walking on air. She does does that to
most males(the one with pulses)

James K.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]