Franco Derosa, original UFO Moonbase Commander

Here are some interesting photos that were recently posted on Facebook by Rob Whitlam.  They were taken a month prior to filming the first episode of UFO, and shows the original UFO Moonbase commander actor, Franco Derosa.  This actor was fired shortly into filming the first episode, and his scenes were refilmed with Gabrielle Drake in charge.

All of the women in these photos ended up appearing in UFO, though.

And here are the descriptions on the back of the photos.  

Rob says he found these on eBay.  Quite a find.

Hi Marc

Thanks for uploading the pic. I wonder who the blonde girl standing next to Shakira is (her name doesn't appear in the article that accompanies the picture)?  I also wonder what magazine did the the article & picture come from?

It's always great to see pictures of Gabrielle Drake without the purple wig. I am glad that Franco left the production in the end as I prefer to see Gabrielle Drake in the more extended role of Moonbase commander (and Gay Ellis is my favourite character in UFO :)

On August 11, Shado-cabinet [via SHADO] <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Thanks for uploading the pic. I wonder who the blonde girl standing
> next to Shakira is (her name doesn't appear in the article that
> accompanies the picture)?

That's Rosemary Donnelly, who did appear in UFO as an operative in SHADO HQ.  I think she may have had only had one line, "Here's your coffee, Keith".  :-)

Marc

Hi Marc

Thanks for your reply
Like I said in my post about the flaws in the UFO series, they really should have focused a bit more on the female members of SHADO and devote some whole episodes to them (like Gay Ellis, Ayshea & Rosemary Donnelly & Virginia Lake).  They definitely could have improved the US ratings which would have led to a 2nd season of UFO  :(

Have just been watching "A Hole In Babylon" (1979) on the BBC iplayer - one of the repeats currently being shown on BBC4 to celebrate the anniversary of 'Play For Today'. The film deals with the real-life Spaghetti House Siege. I hadn't realised 'til the end credits came up that Franco Derosa plays one of the hostages in the film.

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Hi there

Yes I agree Lt Gay Ellis is also my favourite UFO character. And it is always great to see her without the purple wig (not that she doesn't look great with it on). It is a pity she was missing from the last few episodes of UFO as I think her absence would have definitely hurt the show's ratings (as much as Col Lake looks lovely she is not quite the same as Lt Gay Ellis :)

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Hi there

Thanks for your post. You know what it makes sense what you said that Wanda V was cast in UFO on the basis that she looks a bit like the human incarnation of lady Penelope from Thunderbirds (I can really see the similarity). Its a pity they didn't cast her as a series regular much earlier on in the show (replacing Alec Freeman who always seemed to me a bit 'out-of-place' for UFO). Its a pity that Wanda dod not get on with the other actresses. Was it because they thought Wanda was too posh (or vice versa) because all the girls in UFO seem (to me anyway) as being of an upper-class RADA-esque background (which there is nothing wrong with that of course :)

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Hi there

Thanks for your reply. I suppose the profession of acting is just like any other job there is always rivalry & jealousy going on in the background. At least it didn't affect the solid performances that all the actresses delivered on the show. It's a pity that Wanda & Gabrielle Drake never directly worked together on UFO. I am sure they would have had great chemistry onscreen together. I must remind myself to check out Gabrielle's other movies in 70s. I have heard that she appears in a lot of sex comedies in the early 70s (and apparently she even appears nude  in at least one of them). It would be cool if she donned a purple wig in one of them for a laugh :)

BTW - what does DA actually stand for ?

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Hi Paramount

Thanks for your post. This comic strip you mentioned (with all the CGI elements added by your friend) sounds really amazing. It would be great to see it. Do you have any links to it?

It is a shame that parties with political interests would try and 'shanghai' various media fansites (it really is a 'sign of the times' I suppose :(.  BTW - I didn't know about there being a new UFO movie being in the works (To be honest Anderson should have made a CGI-animated continuation of UFO in 2000 instead of Captain Scarlett imho).  Do you have any more info on this new UFO movie?

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Hi Paramount

Thanks for your reply. And thanks for posting images of your UFO strip. It looks absolutely amazing. I really like your rendering of the lovely Lt Ellis (you should get an animation award for that alone imho :).
It is great to see Lt Ellis in action once again, I felt that her departure from the show in the last few episodes really hurt it.
I also really like your rendering of the Interceptor craft. You know, from looking at your amazing CGI work, it really is a pity that Gerry Anderson did not opt for a UFO continuation instead of producing the Capt Scarlett CGI-animated show.  I was wondering how many panels did you create for this strip (and are there more than this one strip etc)?. I would love to see the rest of the strip(s). Maybe if you cannot post it in this forum you could try and post it in the fanfic section of the Shado Library etc.  Better still you could even post the strip on Youtube in a slideshow format (that would be the nearest to the UFO animated series we never got).

But thanks once again for posting this. It really is an amazing piece of work :)

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Hi Paramount

Thank you for your reply, it really was interesting to read about the amazing but hard work that went into making this strip (as per your moniker I think you should be working directly for the studios in the movie business imho :). You sound like you have great organisational & creative skills to be an executive producer.

I think 1200 panels would be more than enough for a large graphic novel. It would be amazing to see the strip regardless of is size (the examples you included here look amazing, I would love to see how the other characters are depicted ie: Straker, the aliens etc).

The SHADO library that I spoke of is a a fan site that allows UFO fans to contribute their fanfic etc :

https://www.shadolibrary.org/library/index.shtml

I have been reading some of the excellent fanfic on this site (I even wrote a review for 'UFO - How it all ended' on this forum). I really think you submit your excellent strip (or at least a few pages of it) to this site.  I am even surprised that you have not submitted your strip to the Fanderson club. I am pretty sure they would have use for it (ie: they could either sell it to UFO fans on your behalf or provide it as downloadable content to new members when they subscribe to the Fanderson club etc).

Your excellent strip should definitely see the 'light of day' imho, it definitely shouldn't be kept away from the UFO fanbase.  Sorry to hear you got some grief from some crazy youtubers just because you were doing research (descendents of the Pharoahs? Really? Did they not know that the ancient Egyptians completely died out centuries ago leaving no descendants LOL). YouTube can really be haven for creative talent like yourself (and an asylum for crazy people like the 'pharoah gang' - LOL). Anyway I would not be discouraged by people like them I think you should look into uploading your strips onto Youtube etc.

BTW - pls don't take down your images from the thread. I don't think anyone would object to you posting your excellent work on this forum (in fact I think you should create a new thread on this forum and upload some images from your strip for the UFO fans to enjoy)

Also I do not think you need to censor the more 'adult-orientated' content from your strips (I mean all UFO fans are adults anyway. I do not think anyone would be offended imho).

BTW - I am curious as to know what the female UFO fans suggested you put in the strip that was so risque?

But thanks again for showing us your excellent work. I really hope to see the rest of the strip someday whether its uploaded here, or the SHADO Library, or even YouTube :)