Franco Derosa, original UFO Moonbase Commander

An interesting reply.  

You'll note that I said that I was 'tempted' to suggest that you and paramount99 were the same person.  As a matter of interest, the internet is full of forums in which people create false accounts and talk to themselves as a way of suggesting interest (from others) in what they are saying.  It's not an unknown phenomenon.  

I'll be the first to admit that UFO tended to emphasis the physical attributes of its stars - not least of all the female ones - but this visualisation was a world away from that depicted in the cartoons.  I would suggest that 'strong female characters' isn't necessarily the description that comes to mind when looking at them.  

Personally, I'd have thought that UFO warranted something a little more 'cerebral' than "You know you just wanna to have sex with me, don't ya..." and "It'll take more than you to do that, you hormone infested whore!"  But maybe I'm wrong.  Gerry and Sylvia would obviously be proud.  

Apologies about the comic strip CC... I did wonder about adding the story initially, but it seemed the forum had been relatively abandoned. Some of us have had incredulous background and lives - often too complicated to even begin to explain to everyday people - and have experienced things and been close to people who are mostly the ones of us who have from young ages looked up at the stars from gutters and wondered about the stars... Many haven't had the opportunity (or it has evaded them) to experience such things.
As this is YOUR forum I will not submit any more of the CGI story - and will take down what you regard as 'sex-obsessed cartoons'
I can kind of imagine your lifestyle though I must admit...

The "Sex is here to stay" tagline was very Swinging Sixties and obviously dreamt up by some advertising firm to create interest in a show that, in all probability, they knew nothing about.  I'd suggest that there was nothing overtly salacious about it.  

I just find it genuinely intriguing that this CGI strip seems reliant upon borderline soft-porn and titillating images of female-on-female violence rendered in such a way as to make it obviously sexual.  I just wonder why this is so?  Is UFO not worthy of something better?  And is this forum really the place to be swapping and comparing spurious tales of far-fetched sexually-charged encounters?  

It's all very entertaining, I suppose, but surely we're all above this seediness?  

I'll take it down and not add any more...
Hope nothing bad has happened to you in the past - only one or two comments in similar fashion the strip had elsewhere were from one guy and one gal (not related I don't think) way back a few years ago seemed to indicate they had both experienced awful things in their earlier lives, and so were quick to snap at anything even mildly sexual in nature.
We're not all liberal thinkers you know...  

"Apologies about the comic strip CC... I did wonder about adding the story initially, but it seemed the forum had been relatively abandoned. Some of us have had incredulous background and lives - often too complicated to even begin to explain to everyday people - and have experienced things and been close to people who are mostly the ones of us who have from young ages looked up at the stars from gutters and wondered about the stars... Many haven't had the opportunity (or it has evaded them) to experience such things.
As this is YOUR forum I will not submit any more of the CGI story - and will take down what you regard as 'sex-obsessed cartoons'
I can kind of imagine your lifestyle though I must admit..."

That was certainly one heck of a patronising reply.  You have no idea who I am and equally can't begin to imagine even half of the things I've done.  I'll leave all of that for my autobiography and not for a UFO forum!  I'm not offended by the content of your cartoons, by the way, I just find it a bit sad and, dare I say it, inappropriate on a forum of this kind.  I'm sure there are plenty of forums out there where it would be welcomed and indeed held in very high esteem.  Post what you like on here, but perhaps be mindful of how it reflects upon UFO and the people who appreciate it.  Now then, shall I regale you all with a few stories of my adventures in a certain strip club in Shoreditch?  Nah... I don't think so!  

paramount99 and shado-cabinet

It certainly wasn't my intention to spoil your fun.  We all take different things from UFO and we all have our own ways of seeing it.  It just occurred to me that this thread was going off in a rather unsavoury direction and I wanted to at least raise the suggestion that it might not be conveying the best impression of the series and the fans.  The fact that no-one else seemed interested enough in the strip to comment suggested to me that it was only the two of you who were keen.  And yes it did seem at least possible that you were both one and the same.  It's happened elsewhere.  All I was trying to do was to suggest to you that maybe UFO was a little bit more than just T and A.  

It's NOT my forum at all... it belongs to all of us and should cater for everyone as far as that is possible.  If you want to carry on posting your pics, go ahead.  Don't stop just because I queried the wisdom of doing so.  I could be completely wrong.  All I would suggest is, if you think there is indeed interest in it, why not just create a new thread for it rather than 'hijack' this one?  Maybe entitle it "Adult Oriented Picture Story" or something.  Just because I thought it was infantile and the accompanying braggadocio was a bit sad, doesn't mean that anyone else has to agree.  

I had most posts and comments about the story(line) from female members on the platform I initially added it to, and they drove 50% of that story - although I have to be honest, akin some something you mentioned up top there, how could I be certain they WERE female, and not guys acting as females, for their own deluded reasons.
But I got to know a handful of them (females on the platform) in pms etc, and they seemed genuine enough, and their own stories of their own lives seemed genuine enough, seemed to tally up, and were often times very interesting. Interesting interests me... often inspires my own writing - not that I do much of any quality these days.
Prudish and boring has never interested me nor inspired me - I also have to admit.
Your own writing might be influenced more by the romantics of the past... but when you dissect romance, it all comes down to the same thing, if you've actually lived. Many of those romantics had never even been in the arms of a man, let alone been romantic in any way shape or form. I used to write (25-years ago) short stories for various women's magazines and they went down really well (paid nicely too) but I learnt that you had to have a female pseudonym, or, as my agent used to say, the stuffy middle-class women wouldn't purchase or read it.
I spent 30-years playing competitive tennis (tennis what?!?) at about 15 different home counties clubs, and gradually got to know the stuffy teachers who I tried my hardest to get on with (most hated them absolutely) and one day asked one of the female members I knew was an English teacher and we kind of got on together, if she would look at the first 100-pages of a novel I was writing, and her first comment was: "What's someone like you doing writing a book?"
I actually had my own property development thing going, but told peeps I was in the construction industry, so the teachers probably assumed I mixed concrete all day for a living?!? They also were the ones who got really put out when I turned up with my first and only brand new 4X4 motor vehicle, and one (teacher) actually asked where I got the money for it... They even got the hump when me and my wife would go on vacation to Switzerland most years, once again talking about money, when I knew the head teachers were on a flipping good salary.
Some of the non teacher members of clubs would call them narcissists, trying their hardest to be moral and high thinking in front of their teacher clan while only really virtue-signalling from various moral high grounds.
I've also had girlfriends many years ago who were from very high standing and a few titled families (no not bragging) and I can tell you that gals from those backgrounds are the most sexually EXPERIMENTAL among all women, certainly within the UK. And some of these gals (well in their early 20s) instilled within me the illusion that all women were open to most things... which is completely untrue.
The middle class female teachers I knew were boring and hated most men, unless everyone else at the club had gone home, and they wanted to talk etc about their boring lives.
Is your book a romance?!?
 
 

I must say I also wondered about your avatar with the theme show snap of Lt Ellis showing quite a bit of leg beneath her microscopic skirt - but I guess my wonderings would not fit with a certain narrative...
OK for you - not for me!
My teacher pal from years ago: "What's someone like you doing writing a book?"
We're getting a lot of this one-sided woke politics in our lives lately...

On March 29, Clare Cross [via SHADO] <[hidden email]> wrote:
> It's all very entertaining, I suppose, but surely we're all above this seediness?  

Seems like UFO forums in general have this problem.  I know that on the Facebook UFO groups, admins are constantly having to delete photo after photo of Gabrielle Drake, etc.  Although I think this sort of moderation goes a bit too far when they delete actual publicity photos from UFO!

Marc

On March 29, paramount99 [via SHADO] <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Apologies about the comic strip CC... I did wonder about adding the
> story initially, but it seemed the forum had been relatively abandoned.

Yes. this forum was certainly more active before Facebook came along.  Now there must be at least 3 UFO groups on Facebook, all more active than this one.  :-(

Marc

Hi Clare

Although I'm sure Paramount will reply directly to your post soon, I will go ahead with mine.
If you feel that Paramount's strip and our ongoing discussion thread is 'unsavoury' then you have every right to express this on the forum (but please bear in mind it is only 'your opinion' and not anyone else's). You do not have to read our posts, or read any of the strips that Paramount temporarily posts on this thread. You can ignore the content completely and proceed to post & read the other threads on this forum (which I implore you to continue to do so as I have enjoyed both reading & replying to your thoughts in the past as you come across as a very passionate & dedicated fan of UFO :)

Also if you remember my earlier posts I stated that I always support all those fanfic writers & artists who try to keep the brand of UFO (ie: a 50-year old TV show) alive. I even posted a glowing review for one of these fanfic stories (ie: UFO - How it all ended ) on this forum to encourage UFO fans & newbies to check out more UFO fanfic etc.

The UFO strip that Paramount has created (which received a lot of support from both male & female UFO fans alike in its production) is both an original & amazing piece of work, that also includes other franchises such as Dr Who etc. It is brilliantly rendered and really captures the iconic look of the UFO show. There is nothing too 'adult orientated' within the content of the comic strip that wasn't conveyed to some degree within the UFO show itself. Both Paramount, and the other fanfic artists & writers have kindly shared their work with other UFO fans for free (whereas Fanderson are charging a lot of money to fans for their publications).  Paramount, along with the other fanfic writers, should be praised for their work in trying to keep a 50-year old show alive. In short you really do not have to read the UFO strips/ fanfic if you do not like them, but please do not discourage these writers from sharing their work with other UFO fans with your comments.

Shado-cabinet:

Paramount99 has already replied to me.  

Of course all our views are necessarily subjective in the main, but I think it's still possible to be objective and to look at something and see it for what it is.  With the utmost respect; the final page or so of panels that p99 posted couldn't honestly be described as an 'original and amazing piece of work'.  It was crude and infantile.  The problem some 'creatives' have is that they are too close to their product to evaluate it.  Did it personally bother me?  No.  Was it a bad representation of UFO and the fans who appreciate it?  I'd say yes.  But it certainly would have impressed me when I was 12.  

The other thing to touch upon again is the theory I put out that yourself and p99 could have been the same person.  Far from being unable to separate fact from fiction, I have direct and personal experience of at least one person pretending to be two people on a forum so that he could talk to themself.  No, I won't say who this was or where, but it was common knowledge.  I've also experienced someone quoting me and then actually changing what I've said, so that it appears that I take his point of view!  So, believe me, there are some odd people out there.  

Come on, surely UFO is worth more than a couple of girls who look like hookers scrapping on the floor and calling each other bitches and hormone infested whores.  If this captures the feel and spirit of UFO then I must have missed these particular episodes.  

Do I come across like Mary Whitehouse or some sad old prude?  Maybe.  But I was just making a point.  Incidentally, whilst we all operate under nom de plumes here, well most if us, we are real people and there is certainly a danger in talking down to someone if you don't actually know who it is you're talking to.  Speaking as someone who played for 11 years in various bands (yes, I did), I can assure you that I've seen and done stuff that I wouldn't even consider talking about on this forum and it's a safe bet that I could tell a few anecdotes that would put most to shame.  And yet I resist that temptation and just stick to talking about UFO, or closely related subjects.  

All I would say in closing is a good rule would be just ask yourself what Gerry or Sylvia would think of what you are posting about the show they created?  Would they be impressed?  

Sounds like a typical alien plot to cause dissent in the ranks. No one had recently taken delivery of a large crystal shard or been adopted by a strange cat have they?

 Shado-cabinet:

Paramount99 has already replied to me.  

Of course all our views are necessarily subjective in the main, but I think it's still possible to be objective and to look at something and see it for what it is.  With the utmost respect; the final page or so of panels that p99 posted couldn't honestly be described as an 'original and amazing piece of work'.  It was crude and infantile.  The problem some 'creatives' have is that they are too close to their product to evaluate it.  Did it personally bother me?  No.  Was it a bad representation of UFO and the fans who appreciate it?  I'd say yes.  But it certainly would have impressed me when I was 12.  

The other thing to touch upon again is the theory I put out that yourself and p99 could have been the same person.  Far from being unable to separate fact from fiction, I have direct and personal experience of at least one person pretending to be two people on a forum so that he could talk to themself.  No, I won't say who this was or where, but it was common knowledge.  I've also experienced someone quoting me and then actually changing what I've said, so that it appears that I take his point of view!  So, believe me, there are some odd people out there.  

Come on, surely UFO is worth more than a couple of girls who look like hookers scrapping on the floor and calling each other bitches and hormone infested whores.  If this captures the feel and spirit of UFO then I must have missed these particular episodes.  

Do I come across like Mary Whitehouse or some sad old prude?  Maybe.  But I was just making a point.  Incidentally, whilst we all operate under nom de plumes here, well most if us, we are real people and there is certainly a danger in talking down to someone if you don't actually know who it is you're talking to.  Speaking as someone who played the drums for 11 years in various hard rock/metal bands (yes, I did), I can assure you that I've seen and done stuff that I wouldn't even consider talking about on this forum and it's a safe bet that I could tell a few anecdotes that would put most to shame.  And yet I resist that temptation and just stick to talking about UFO, or closely related subjects.  

All I would say in closing is a good rule would be just ask yourself what Gerry or Sylvia would think of what you are posting about the show they created?  Would they be impressed?  

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 I understand your frustration, Marc.

I moderate a facebook SHADO forum and yes, there was a serious problem at one point with some members making pretty obnoxious comments to any image of SHADO women. It wasn't the images themselves which were the problem, it was the comments.

I mean, do people REALLY want to read about the size of someone's erection when he sees a picture of Gay Ellis? Or about his masturbatory desires? Or what he would like to do to her? And, as I have better things to do than try to monitor every single post every hour of the day I simply delete the images until some people start to treat the actors with respect.

I know its a pain in the arse, and I would like to see more threads about the women of SHADO, but too many men seem to think any pic of Gabrielle Drake is fair game for some crude, sexist innuendos. :(

As an example: One one particular UFO fb page, someone actually posted a photoshopped image of Georgina Moon which showed her nipples. Not only was that utterly despicable, but it was also illegal.

(And before anyone comments! Yes, I have written 'adult' fanfic, but those are posted on my own site and AO3 which allows authors to tag stories with warnings as well as welcoming adult-rated works.)

I'm not going to comment on the recent images posted.

Hi Clare

I do not know about your past experience with forum members posting under multiple avatars (and I can understand that it must be both scary & annoying), but I can assure you that both Paramount99 and myself are two different people (you only have to look at my threads written in both praise & criticism of the show to see how much of an 'opinionated' person I am, unlike Paramount who is a more open-minded & creative individual)

No I cannot imagine kids watching a show like UFO nowadays and liking it enough to join a discussion forum (because if they did this forum would never dormant like it has been for months, as the kids would never stop 'posting, linking & liking' on this forum etc)

As for what both Gerry & Sylvia would think of the UFO strip (if they were alive)? Who knows!  But since Sylvia developed the costuming of the show to have the male Skydiver crew to wear see-through tops (and insisted on the casting of Michael Billington as he was easy on the eyes, who is put to good use in the ORDEAL episode where he spends a lot of time in a sauna topless) in order to titillate the female audience then we can conjecture that she would be ok with a UFO fanstrip that has a few scantily dressed MBGs in some panels (in most panels they are wearing the normal moonbase uniform that appeared in the show etc).

As for Gerry himself you only have to look at his direction on the first episode IDENTIFIED which features a lot of close-up shots of female SHADO members in tight-fitting jumpsuits (as well as MBGs undressing in the Moonbase 'Sleep Sphere' to see that he appreciated the female form and wanted to showcase it in the UFO series to appeal to adults).

So I take it we can agree to disagree, and that Paramount can proceed to temporarily upload panels from his strip for those UFO fans who want to enjoy the show in a unique format (a CGI rendered animated strip)?

I feel a lot of early episode close ups and gratuitous footage is to highlight the world of the future rather than anything sexual. There’s more shots of comlocks, lasers, phones, uniforms, satellites, models, sets, make up, consoles etc in the various show pioneer episodes than bums and the like.

 Hi Clare

I do not know about your past experience with forum members posting under multiple avatars (and I can understand that it must be both scary & annoying), but I can assure you that both Paramount99 and myself are two different people (you only have to look at my threads written in both praise & criticism of the show to see how much of an 'opinionated' person I am, unlike Paramount who is a more open-minded & creative individual)

No I cannot imagine kids watching a show like UFO nowadays and liking it enough to join a discussion forum (because if they did this forum would never dormant like it has been for months, as the kids would never stop 'posting, linking & liking' on this forum etc)

As for what both Gerry & Sylvia would think of the UFO strip (if they were alive)? Who knows!  But since Sylvia developed the costuming of the show to have the male Skydiver crew to wear see-through tops (and insisted on the casting of Michael Billington as he was easy on the eyes, who is put to good use in the ORDEAL episode where he spends a lot of time in a sauna topless) in order to titillate the female audience then we can conjecture that she would be ok with a UFO fanstrip that has a few scantily dressed MBGs in some panels (in most panels they are wearing the normal moonbase uniform that appeared in the show etc).

As for Gerry himself you only have to look at his direction on the first episode IDENTIFIED which features a lot of close-up shots of female SHADO members in tight-fitting jumpsuits (as well as MBGs undressing in the Moonbase 'Sleep Sphere' to see that he appreciated the female form and wanted to showcase it in the UFO series to appeal to adults).

So I take it we can agree to disagree, and that Paramount can proceed to temporarily upload panels from his strip for those UFO fans who want to enjoy the show in a unique format (a CGI rendered animated strip)?

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On March 30, Shado-cabinet [via SHADO] <[hidden email]> wrote:
> No I cannot imagine kids watching a show like UFO nowadays and liking
> it enough to join a discussion forum (because if they did this forum
> would never dormant like it has been for months, as the kids would
> never stop 'posting, linking & liking' on this forum etc)

Well no, they would probably be on a different platform, wherever it is that kids go today.  The younger generation probably doesn't use e-mail or discussion forums all that much.  Probably don't even use Facebook, as that's also for "old people".  :-)  

Marc

On March 30, Shado-cabinet [via SHADO] <ml+s965972n4024152h99@n3.nabble.com> wrote
> So I take it we can agree to disagree, and that Paramount can proceed
> to temporarily upload panels from his strip for those UFO fans who want
> to enjoy the show in a unique format (a CGI rendered animated strip)?

Well no, as the person who actually does own this forum, I would say that this use of the forum is not exactly what was envisioned.  The group has been kept online mostly for historical reference at this point, since as you say it's largely been abandoned.  But it would be good to keep any current posts consistent with the original intent of the group.  And the original intent of the group was to NOT post things that could be offensive to a fair number of people, or have web search engine filters identify this as an adult site, or even post things temporarily and then remove them later.

I will note that this forum is hosted on Nabble, and the folks in charge of Nabble have mentioned in the past few years that they might pull the plug, in which case this forum and every other forum hosted on Nabble will disappear.  As even they think that this form of communication is outdated and not popular enough to sustain a business.  So we're not alone here with the "abandoned forum" thing.  Social media has taken over, and that happened quite awhile ago.

Marc

Hi Marc

No-one has come forward to say they are 'offended' by the images that Paramount has temporarily uploaded onto this forum (he deletes them after a few days).  The images that Clare Cross has commented on were in relation to a fight scene between 2 female characters (that is now finished with) the previous images were of MBGs battling Daleks etc. And Clare has says she doesn't particularly care about the strip, she just questions why some like it.

I would request that Paramount99 continues to post his images. Those who don't wish to see the images can simply avoid the thread.

Odd but this reminds me a tad or how the BBC might react when I was building (very good if I can be allowed to say) full sized Daleks up until around 8-10-years ago and, aside from selling them on to help fund me and my wife in full time caring of her mother for ten years (I was her full time carer - and the creative distraction was really helpful) the BBC and their policing of the Dalek franchise would have shut this hobby or pursuit down in a flash, if they caught on to it - unless of course they were receiving a hefty chunk of the profits I might possibly make from selling the props which had only occurred through my months a months (which was years and years eventually) or hard and loving devotion to creating the bad boy creatures.
I also would allow local museums and such to show the Dalek/s in any Dr Who exhibitions, where other loyal fans had constructed other props from the show, and all for free (I used to ask that they might like to donate a small amount to The Wishing Well Appeal charity) and some of these museum's used to have run-ins with the BBC (money grabbing) police on occasion, suggesting the showing hadn't been sanctioned by them (they always want money) even though much profits and proceeds would go to various charities. The BBC wanted their ''chunk'' of the action over proceeds going to charity. Not too dissimilar to now, where up to £14-million might be taken aside from TV charities, way before any goes to the charities that people desire to kindly donate to.
The Beeb used to stop us selling our Daleks on eBay and such - unless they sanctioned the sale.
We used to remind them that fan builds are part of the reason the show remained in the psyche of peoples minds... Quite a few BBC execs have Daleks (some fan builds) as pure investment value, we might be led to imagine.