Close Up

Well, it must be about time for me to start on my
comments on “Close Up”. Sorry if I'm uninspired. I
haven’t been looking forward to it, but if I could
just delete a couple of scenes from it, I would like
this episode a lot more.

There are 2 parts to the plot for this episode. The
big plot, Straker’s attempt to get some real
intelligence about the aliens, I really like. The
plan is ambitious and worthy of our Commander. The
other plot line, Kelly and his inner space project
makes me want to gnash my teeth. The execution of
that part of the plot is rather ham-handed and,
knowing a little bit about remote sensing, aggravates
the stuffing out of me.

It does annoy me at the start when they are standing
around looking at the photos from earth orbit and
saying, “Look at that!” The pictures they show are of
NASA origin. I think at least one of them is from one
of the first couple of trips to lunar orbit. And then
there is the Nile Delta shot. It is from one of the
Gemini missions, I’d have to look up which one. I
have used that photo in class as a before shot, then
shown a modern day photo to show what the effect of
the High Aswan dam has been on the Nile delta. That
photo is all too familiar.

Ah, here’s the first offending scene. I don’t like
Kelly asking Straker for help and I don’t like what a
horse’s rear Straker is in his response. The “You’re
looking the wrong way” comment is of course a way to
set up the ending. And Straker’s arrogant ‘my project
is a space project’ sets up the failure of his
project. It’s ironic that by the time these episodes
showed in the US we were about to the point where the
general US populace had lost interest in the Apollo
project and the last lunar landings were scrapped.
I’d better stop there, you don’t want me to get
started on that!

When Straker sits down at the table at the start of
the Financial Committee meeting he looks like he’s
sitting down to a poker game. It’s a one-of-a-kind
look at Straker actually pitching one of his expensive
projects to the committee. And, gee, I sure hope
Straker drained that glass of water he poured. It
always worries me that he’s going to throw it all over
the place the way he gestures with the hand holding
the glass the next time we see him. I like the way
this scene explains what the project is and what
Straker expects it to do for him.

By this point in the episodes, Paul Foster has moved
up the food chain. He’s invited to join Alec and
Straker in a discussion of the new project when
Straker comes back from the committee meeting
victorious. But it is still just Alec that Straker is
discussing his decisions about who to take to Moon
Base with him. In spite of all of those times Straker
calls him on something, he’s taking Keith Ford with
him on this mission! Go Ford!

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. It’s one
of the things that made me end up liking Straker, the
way he picks up it on it he steps on Lt. Ellis’ toes
with the comment about they’ll have to go over her
tentative schedule. It’s unlike the total
cluelessness of one of my other favorite tortured male
TV characters, Fox Mulder. It will be a while before
he addresses it, but he noticed. And I don’t think
that Lt. Ellis necessarily knows what is to be done to
the probe, she just says they understand it is to be
modified in space, so the schedule would definitely
have to be rough.

We’re treated to another bout of exposition as to how
the next part of the operation is intended to go. It
doesn’t come off completely without a hitch, but the
operation does go successfully. I don’t have a lot to
say about this part of the episode, but I like how we
follow the project and see it unfold. They get the
probe onto the track of a UFO and it’s off to photo
the home world.

I wish I had thighs like Gabrielle Drake in this
episode. Even when I was a skinny little girl, my
thighs never looked like that.

Yeah, Straker’s little pep talk with Gay sounds
sexist, but I don’t think it was out of line. She is
pushing for perfection, you can tell by her “I made a
rough schedule” routine. As her commander, it is his
place to tell her not to push too hard. And I’ve been
in the place where women have to be better to get
lesser positions than men. Alas, that is still
topical in our day and age. Straker is a little
awkward, but he is trying, bless him.

And the end of the scene is my favorite piece of the
episode. Paul comes in just as Straker tells Gay not
to forget she is a very attractive girl. Paul looks a
little , “What the …?” and a slight awkward silence
follows. Straker gives a very small shake of his
head. Gay thanks Commander Straker and leaves. After
asking about when they leave Straker then advises Paul
not to judge a situation by the end of a conversation.
I laugh every time I see Paul’s expression, “O…kay”,
as Straker leaves. It is priceless. The far more
sexist part of this whole thing is that the women in
Moon Base Control are called “Girls”. Grrr…

The photos of the planet start coming in and we get
more, “Look at that!” Duh.

But Kelly doesn’t have any answers. The distance and
magnification wasn’t sent. It’s all worthless. Like
Straker, I’m no expert, but they should have been able
to get SOMETHING from the shots if they were in focus.
For instance, the first shot they show – oh, look, it
has weather patterns like earth (with good reason!).
It seems to be to be a big plot hole that their remote
sensing analyst can’t get something out of the shots.

And then it is just wrong that after Straker has tried
to help her, Lt. Ellis helps to zap him. Yeah,
Straker does get his come-uppance for his earlier
snotty attitude. And Kelly reruns his argument for
his special project. Blah!

Sorry if I’m trashing someone else’s favorite episode.
This is still a lot better than most of what I see on
my television set, but I hold UFO to higher standards
in a lot of respects. Not my favorite episode, all
told.

----- Original Message -----
From: Diorite Gabbro
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 1:39 AM
Subject: [SHADO] Close Up


<....... And the end of the scene is my favorite piece of the
episode. Paul comes in just as Straker tells Gay not
to forget she is a very attractive girl. Paul looks a
little , "What the .?" and a slight awkward silence
follows. Straker gives a very small shake of his
head. Gay thanks Commander Straker and leaves. After
asking about when they leave Straker then advises Paul
not to judge a situation by the end of a conversation.
I laugh every time I see Paul's expression, "O.kay",
as Straker leaves. It is priceless. .....>


<..... about who to take to Moon
Base with him. In spite of all of those times Straker
calls him on something, he's taking Keith Ford with
him on this mission! Go Ford! .....>





----------------------------------------------------------------





You would think that they would have competent trackers
already on board moonbase, after all, in Ford's case, anyone
can get on the mike and say..."Check this blah blah, check
that blah...." and read off a bunch of numbers.

Nothing would make me MORE suspicious than to walk into
Foster's situation, and have my boss tell me that....


This is one of my favorite episodes, but one of the worst done
and hardest to watch because of the cringe factor.

I like all the hardware shots, spacy theme, and gratuitous shots
of Gabrielle, but the piss poor writing, acting, and plot throwaways
really make it almost embarrassing.

In the beginning they're showing full global images of the Earth,
obviously taken from Apollo 8 over 100,000 miles out and then
labeling them as being taken from only something like 100 miles
up...what's with that???...and vice versa. They didn't even take
the care to vet for even the most basic common sensical
perceptions of their audience members.

Any skilled surveillance photo expert can glean the useful size
and ranging information out of aerial photos based on clues
contained in that photo, such as shadows, wind/air formations,
wave/ripple sizes on bodies of water, land erosions, and cross
extrapolation between objects of known or percieved sizes. Give
an expert some time, and he'll figure any of those things out....
so for them to just throw their hands up in the air and conceed
defeat at the end and drop it like they did is entirely rediculous.

....Not to mention some 80's technology rocket powered probe
following a super light speed starship, but that's been beaten
to death here.

It seems to me this ep was made where they didn't really have
a good story, so they just slapped together a bunch of cool looking
SFX scenes & space scenes, paraded the girls in some cute
costumes, and then linked them together with some hurriedly
contrived dialogue.

This is one of those episodes where I watch, and then kind of
re-write it in my own head to make it a more believable episode.
It's good inspiration to make my own episode out of, but basically
junk on it's own.

Dave H.



==================================



----- Original Message -----
From: Diorite Gabbro
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 1:39 AM
Subject: [SHADO] Close Up


Well, it must be about time for me to start on my
comments on "Close Up". Sorry if I'm uninspired. I
haven't been looking forward to it, but if I could
just delete a couple of scenes from it, I would like
this episode a lot more.

There are 2 parts to the plot for this episode. The
big plot, Straker's attempt to get some real
intelligence about the aliens, I really like. The
plan is ambitious and worthy of our Commander. The
other plot line, Kelly and his inner space project
makes me want to gnash my teeth. The execution of
that part of the plot is rather ham-handed and,
knowing a little bit about remote sensing, aggravates
the stuffing out of me.

It does annoy me at the start when they are standing
around looking at the photos from earth orbit and
saying, "Look at that!" The pictures they show are of
NASA origin. I think at least one of them is from one
of the first couple of trips to lunar orbit. And then
there is the Nile Delta shot. It is from one of the
Gemini missions, I'd have to look up which one. I
have used that photo in class as a before shot, then
shown a modern day photo to show what the effect of
the High Aswan dam has been on the Nile delta. That
photo is all too familiar.

Ah, here's the first offending scene. I don't like
Kelly asking Straker for help and I don't like what a
horse's rear Straker is in his response. The "You're
looking the wrong way" comment is of course a way to
set up the ending. And Straker's arrogant 'my project
is a space project' sets up the failure of his
project. It's ironic that by the time these episodes
showed in the US we were about to the point where the
general US populace had lost interest in the Apollo
project and the last lunar landings were scrapped.
I'd better stop there, you don't want me to get
started on that!

When Straker sits down at the table at the start of
the Financial Committee meeting he looks like he's
sitting down to a poker game. It's a one-of-a-kind
look at Straker actually pitching one of his expensive
projects to the committee. And, gee, I sure hope
Straker drained that glass of water he poured. It
always worries me that he's going to throw it all over
the place the way he gestures with the hand holding
the glass the next time we see him. I like the way
this scene explains what the project is and what
Straker expects it to do for him.

By this point in the episodes, Paul Foster has moved
up the food chain. He's invited to join Alec and
Straker in a discussion of the new project when
Straker comes back from the committee meeting
victorious. But it is still just Alec that Straker is
discussing his decisions about who to take to Moon
Base with him. In spite of all of those times Straker
calls him on something, he's taking Keith Ford with
him on this mission! Go Ford!

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. It's one
of the things that made me end up liking Straker, the
way he picks up it on it he steps on Lt. Ellis' toes
with the comment about they'll have to go over her
tentative schedule. It's unlike the total
cluelessness of one of my other favorite tortured male
TV characters, Fox Mulder. It will be a while before
he addresses it, but he noticed. And I don't think
that Lt. Ellis necessarily knows what is to be done to
the probe, she just says they understand it is to be
modified in space, so the schedule would definitely
have to be rough.

We're treated to another bout of exposition as to how
the next part of the operation is intended to go. It
doesn't come off completely without a hitch, but the
operation does go successfully. I don't have a lot to
say about this part of the episode, but I like how we
follow the project and see it unfold. They get the
probe onto the track of a UFO and it's off to photo
the home world.

I wish I had thighs like Gabrielle Drake in this
episode. Even when I was a skinny little girl, my
thighs never looked like that.

Yeah, Straker's little pep talk with Gay sounds
sexist, but I don't think it was out of line. She is
pushing for perfection, you can tell by her "I made a
rough schedule" routine. As her commander, it is his
place to tell her not to push too hard. And I've been
in the place where women have to be better to get
lesser positions than men. Alas, that is still
topical in our day and age. Straker is a little
awkward, but he is trying, bless him.

And the end of the scene is my favorite piece of the
episode. Paul comes in just as Straker tells Gay not
to forget she is a very attractive girl. Paul looks a
little , "What the .?" and a slight awkward silence
follows. Straker gives a very small shake of his
head. Gay thanks Commander Straker and leaves. After
asking about when they leave Straker then advises Paul
not to judge a situation by the end of a conversation.
I laugh every time I see Paul's expression, "O.kay",
as Straker leaves. It is priceless. The far more
sexist part of this whole thing is that the women in
Moon Base Control are called "Girls". Grrr.

The photos of the planet start coming in and we get
more, "Look at that!" Duh.

But Kelly doesn't have any answers. The distance and
magnification wasn't sent. It's all worthless. Like
Straker, I'm no expert, but they should have been able
to get SOMETHING from the shots if they were in focus.
For instance, the first shot they show - oh, look, it
has weather patterns like earth (with good reason!).
It seems to be to be a big plot hole that their remote
sensing analyst can't get something out of the shots.

And then it is just wrong that after Straker has tried
to help her, Lt. Ellis helps to zap him. Yeah,
Straker does get his come-uppance for his earlier
snotty attitude. And Kelly reruns his argument for
his special project. Blah!

Sorry if I'm trashing someone else's favorite episode.
This is still a lot better than most of what I see on
my television set, but I hold UFO to higher standards
in a lot of respects. Not my favorite episode, all
told.





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

I've always liked this episode a lot, but it isn't one of my real
favorites. Actually, I think the reasons I like it so much are limited
to 2 parts: Straker's talk to Henderson at the very end (I love the
whole idea of infinite inner space; I've always wondered if atoms
aren't a universe of their own with "planets", orbits, and a lot more
space) and the great music over the opening credits (even if it is
just because they cut out so much of the Straker-Gay plot that they
had to fill it up, I love that song!).

>Alpharaptor

Okay, I'll try this again. I hate it when I
inadvertently delete stuff!

--- davrecon <[hidden email]> wrote:

>> You would think that they would have competent
> trackers
> already on board moonbase, after all, in Ford's
> case, anyone
> can get on the mike and say..."Check this blah blah,
> check
> that blah...." and read off a bunch of numbers.

Yeah, but I like to think of it as a reward to Ford
for his work, not that they were taking "The Best".

>
> Nothing would make me MORE suspicious than to walk
> into
> Foster's situation, and have my boss tell me
> that....

LOL! Having the roles of Straker and Foster be
reversed and Foster stating not to judge the situation
would make ME more suspicious!


No arguments from me on this.

Hence the recon part of your name? Thanks for this
BTW. I knew it was true but I couldn't explain it
properly.

It would be a little trickier because the target was
an alien planet. When the episode was made
comparative planetology was in its infancy because the
impetus for it came from the Apollo moon missions. By
the time the episode supposedly took place, things
would have improved some. We had the lunar
photographs plus by that time we had the result of the
Viking Mars missions. We would expect the alien
planet has an atmosphere and probably oceans. But
vegetation, buildings, and technology would be tougher
because they wouldn't necessarily look like ours.

>
> ....Not to mention some 80's technology rocket
> powered probe
> following a super light speed starship, but that's
> been beaten
> to death here.

LOL. Obviously they managed FTL for the probe or they
perfected a tractor beam! The expected return time
for the photos was what made this point for me. The
alien planet has to be light years away. The only way
you could get results that fast would be by traveling
FTL.

Diorite

--- In [hidden email], Diorite Gabbro <diorite@...> wrote:
> The
> alien planet has to be light years away.

That's something that's always confused me. Logically, yes, it has to
be, but then why is it always shown during the credits at the end
looking like it's not much farther away than the moon?

>Alpharaptor

Do we know for a fact that it's meant to represent the alien planet??

Alpharaptor <[hidden email]> wrote: --- In [hidden email], Diorite Gabbro <diorite@...> wrote:
> The
> alien planet has to be light years away.

That's something that's always confused me. Logically, yes, it has to
be, but then why is it always shown during the credits at the end
looking like it's not much farther away than the moon?

>Alpharaptor






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

Jeffrey Nelson wrote:
> Do we know for a fact that it's meant to represent the alien planet??

We do know that this was supposed to be the Alien planet, but for me
the only proof of this is in production materials (and right now
I can't even recall which). When I watched the show originally,
I always assumed that was supposed to be Mars!

Marc

Interesting. I had always assumed that it was a planet in our solar system, too (never thought about WHICH one it was, though). It does appear to be too close to be anything but Mars...

Jeff

Marc Martin <[hidden email]> wrote:
Jeffrey Nelson wrote:
> Do we know for a fact that it's meant to represent the alien planet??

We do know that this was supposed to be the Alien planet, but for me
the only proof of this is in production materials (and right now
I can't even recall which). When I watched the show originally,
I always assumed that was supposed to be Mars!

Marc





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

I always assumed that it was an over-stretched means of showing the
alien planet...

What would be the point of having that ominous musical cue (and how
it suddenly comes into frame at the end of the credits), if it were
only meant to be Mars, or some other body of our own solar system ?

Also, the way the planet comes into the shot, it almost like as if
it's "traveling" through space (likle the moon in Space 1999), and
seems to be heading directly for Earth.

I guess they just wanted to end the credits (and thus, every episode)
with a killer shot, as "wrong" as it was, as far as where that planet
was supposed to be in the series, ect...







--- In [hidden email], "Alpharaptor" <segara0@...> wrote:
>
> --- In [hidden email], Diorite Gabbro <diorite@> wrote:
> > The
> > alien planet has to be light years away.
>
> That's something that's always confused me. Logically, yes, it has
to
> be, but then why is it always shown during the credits at the end
> looking like it's not much farther away than the moon?
>
> >Alpharaptor
>