EXPOSED

I watched Exposed this morning for the first time in almost 30 years.
This Sunday will be the 30th anniversay since the episode first showed here
where I live. I can only say it was great to see it again and remember how
great I thought it was. The conflict of hard headed test pilot Paul Foster
coming up against the tough as titianum Straker is a memorable episode. It
is the first episode to center of the main characters rather than the war
with the aliens.
The thing I really liked about the episode was it showed how Foster
who thinks he is in control is really in the end just headed where Straker
has been leading him from the start. I expect that this is how SHADO gets
many of its personnel rather than picking someone in the military and saying
okay there are aliens and we are fighting them, want to join up?
I noticed in the clips not used from Foster's meeting with Jackson on
the plane(which by the way is a very original idea) that when Jackson opens
his briefcase you can see he has a silenced pistol in the top of the case.
I really think they should have used this as it was telling of the fact Paul
was in very dangerous waters with Jackson more than just his judo trained
minder Tsai Chan.
The security at the aircraft company is very bad. Paul gets in
through a sliding glass door that opens to the outside of the building
without setting off a alarm! And Kofax has a safe behind the painting that
opens with a key that he keeps in a file in the file cabinet in a file
labelled safe! Hope SHADO doesn't do business with this outfit. Also notice
Foster is carrying a 4 inch ivory handled folding stiletto, no boy scout our
Paul<g>.
Another thing that seeing the episode again reminded me of was my
first assessment of Straker being a very hardcase. He orders Sky One to
shootdown the UFO even it it might mean danger or death to the crew of the
aircraft. However now I see that Straker made every reasonable effort to get
them out of danger. It was only Fosters want to proof of the UFO was made
them stay. However I can see that after having two before having seen
something and this time having really seen something and being able to prove
it he would be stubborn.
A couple of mistakes? In the plane its is identified as being XV-104.
But the envelope in Kofax's safe with Straker's name on it has the
identification CV-105!
The newspaper that Janna brings in has the headline Minster Killed in
crash American Colonel survives. But the story below has nothing about the
crash or Straker in it!
Also Janna introduces herself to Foster as the sister of his co-pilot.
In the book we are told that his name is Jim Wade but the show never
mentions his last name only Paul calling him Jim. So when Straker introduces
Janna as Janna Wade we have to figure that she is either not related to the
copilot or just happens to have the same last name or just by some wild
co-incidence to wild to imagine the co-pilot sister just happens to be a
member of SHADO. My own pick is that the book is wrong in using Wade for the
co-pilots last name.

James K.


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Exposed is one of better episodes of the early lot. It is the first one to
delve into what makes the main characters tick.

We learn more about Straker, he will take whatever action is necessary to
resolve a UFO incident, even if means civilians could get harmed in the
process, but he does take all measures he can to prevent this if possible,
i.e. telling Ford "just get them out of there!".

We learn much about Foster, he is analytical and very determined. The scene
where he gets roughed up seems to become a common theme through the series
in episodes such as Court Martial, The Man Who Came Back, and The Cat with
10 Lives.

The process that Straker uses to evaluate Foster is interesting. I wonder if
he develops scenarios for existing SHADO members to determine if they can be
leaders?

As always, the scenes with Vladek Sheybal are well done.




Ron