ITV 4 Episode ‘Ordeal’

Hi all,

Last week's episode `Ordeal' – suffered from four edits-

Foster's meeting with Dr. Frazier on checking into the `research
centre', after their amusing dialogue concerning how many infectious
diseases Paul had contracted, right up until he is on the cycling
machine in the gym

Where Alec crosses the control centre to Straker's office to discuss
Foster's chances

Following launch of Sky 1 until Waterman has flashbacks of Foster's
departing comments. BTW, this section also included Straker's
line - "He must get it………it's a sitting duck!" Shame!! :-(

Most of the sequence of the Moonmobile leaving base until it
reaches the crash area; including Lt. Ellis reporting to control;
Straker joining Freeman at the monitor; shots of the UFO int. & ext,
Paul inside the alien spacesuit.


What is there *not* to like about this episode? A nightmare
scenario for SHADO – alien abduction of one of their most highly
trained and valuable officers and the brutal murder of other SHADO
members. At Straker's orders SHADO must destroy that UFO, despite
the overt disapproval of his second-in-command and also of the
Skydiver captain, who cannot bring himself to comply. With the UFO
crash landing on the moon Foster is rescued, against those "million
to one" odds. Now there is the worry of safely transferring Paul
back to normal breathing, but he struggles and starts choking –
he's suffocating! But wait……he's not on Moonbase……never was……it's a
DREAM !!!!!!!! :-O

I admit when I saw this for the first time, I shrieked with
laughter at this point, which didn't go down too well with other
occupants in the house – well it was around 1.30am at the time ;-)  
Despite such a heavyweight storyline, Straker plummeting to absolute
zero in degrees of coldness - Freeman at his wits end and ready to
kill him – Foster being magically thrown clear of the UFO - all felt
a tad 'out of place' that it was almost a relief to find it never
actually happened!

But there's more to this; the original script asked for the Freeman
and Straker characters to become increasingly polarised and the
episode more bizarre, although they did not play it anywhere near as
OTT, with some overly uncharacteristic dialogue and mannerisms being
dropped. The scene where Paul's helmet is being removed reads like
a Monty Python script! I suppose a decision was made to `play it
straight' at some point during shooting, although that "sitting
duck" line was kept in; Straker would never be that insensitive! If
anyone would like to read it, the script is on Marc's site, it is
funny in the second half ;-D

I think this episode is under-rated; after that first viewing, you
have to watch when in the mood to be amused and I think it's a real
pity they didn't go the whole way with the script! Besides, it's
got all the regular characters and vehicles (bar the mobiles) – that
unique helicopter and some great FX shots of the UFO. Dr. Frazier
and Franklin are hilarious (imho) and we girls get the double treat
of Mike's unrobed physique and charming baritone voice! Does anyone
else find themselves humming `Beautiful Dreamer' for days after
watching `Ordeal'?! ;-)

Finally, Sylvia commented that she hired some medical students
as `extras' for related scenes, but didn't specify which episode – I
wondered if it might have been this one? I don't think those medics
on Moonbase appear in any other episodes…


Thanks for reading  


Sarah

----- Original Message -----
From: "moonbasegirl" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 8:34 PM
Subject: [SHADO] ITV 4 Episode 'Ordeal'



<<.......of his second-in-command and also of the
Skydiver captain, who cannot bring himself to comply. With the UFO
crash landing on the moon Foster is rescued, against those "million
to one" odds. ......>>


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


I find it odd in this episode that the wounded UFO has the power to escape
Earth's gravity, but not to escape from the moons paltry little gravity.

....But then making it a dream makes anything done in the episode
forgivable. Still, it was a cop-out ending. Up until the ending, I liked it.

Dave H.

Hi, Dave,

Sunday, March 26, 2006, 4:13:38 PM, you wrote:

d> I find it odd in this episode that the wounded UFO has the power to escape
d> Earth's gravity, but not to escape from the moons paltry little gravity.

Its condition got progressively worse as they kept running it while
damaged, and/or part of the damage was guidance, so a planned
slingshot manoeuvre got too deep into the lunar gravity well...

--

Jonathan Andrew Sheen

http://www.leviathanstudios.com
Leviathan of the GEI (Detached.)
[hidden email]

"What'dya expect? I'm a New Yorker!"
-Anonymous New York Firefighter, 9/12/01

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Andrew Sheen" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 4:50 PM
Subject: Re: [SHADO] ITV 4 Episode 'Ordeal'


> Hi, Dave,
>
> Sunday, March 26, 2006, 4:13:38 PM, you wrote:
>
> d> I find it odd in this episode that the wounded UFO has the power to
escape
> d> Earth's gravity, but not to escape from the moons paltry little
gravity.
>
> Its condition got progressively worse as they kept running it while
> damaged, and/or part of the damage was guidance, so a planned
> slingshot manoeuvre got too deep into the lunar gravity well...
>
> --

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

I'll buy the progressing damage arguement, but not the slingshot one.
Any ship with interstellar travelling power like theirs wouldn't need any
type of a gravity assist type maneuver, since they are merely the staple of
early rocket propelled type vehicles, and most gains by them are inadequate
in the interstellar scale. A starship wouldn't gain anything of significance
from such a deal.

Dave H.

Hi, davrecon,

Monday, March 27, 2006, 11:29:41 PM, you wrote:


d> ----- Original Message -----
d> From: "Jonathan Andrew Sheen" <[hidden email]>
d> To: <[hidden email]>
d> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 4:50 PM
d> Subject: Re: [SHADO] ITV 4 Episode 'Ordeal'


>> Hi, Dave,
>>
>> Sunday, March 26, 2006, 4:13:38 PM, you wrote:
>>
>> d> I find it odd in this episode that the wounded UFO has the power to
d> escape
>> d> Earth's gravity, but not to escape from the moons paltry little
d> gravity.
>>
>> Its condition got progressively worse as they kept running it while
>> damaged, and/or part of the damage was guidance, so a planned
>> slingshot manoeuvre got too deep into the lunar gravity well...
>>
>> --

d> ---------------------------------------------------

d> I'll buy the progressing damage arguement, but not the slingshot
d> one. Any ship with interstellar travelling power like theirs
d> wouldn't need any type of a gravity assist type maneuver, since
d> they are merely the staple of early rocket propelled type vehicles,
d> and most gains by them are inadequate in the interstellar scale. A
d> starship wouldn't gain anything of significance from such a deal.

Suppose that their in-system drive and their interstellar drive are
two different systems, and the interstellar drive won't work if
they're too far into a star's gravity well. A gravity-assist manoeuvre
might get them out far enough to fire up their hyperdrive.

Or, conversely, their star-drive could require a certain threshold
velocity to start up, and the conventional drive was too badly damaged
to get them there without help.

Or, still again, the stardrive could have been sufficiently damaged
that a gravity-assist _would_ be a sufficiently significant gain.

--

Jonathan Andrew Sheen

http://www.leviathanstudios.com
Leviathan of the GEI (Detached.)
[hidden email]

"What'dya expect? I'm a New Yorker!"
-Anonymous New York Firefighter, 9/12/01

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Andrew Sheen" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:51 AM
Subject: Re: [SHADO] ITV 4 Episode 'Ordeal'


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

Nice try, but there are many eps where we see the UFO's coming right
into Earthspace at speeds like SOL 8, so obviosly they're using their
interstellar drive deep into the solar system.

The big problem I have with the gravity assist thing, is that it's gains
simply are too insignificant on an interstellar scale no matter how you look
at it.... especially using some low mass object like the Earth, or worse,
Moon for it, and the time you blow actually performing the maneuver would
far exceed any gains you might make compared to the natural high speed
abilities inherent in any starship capable of making a crossing in merely
months or a few years.

Think about it, do the math, any assist maneuver you do around the moon
will gain you only a thousand miles per hour or so, even given all the
fantasy idealistic assumptions you could apply.... and those speeds are
pretty insignificant for covering ground on an interstellar scale, or even
interplanetary. Also, during all that time they spent trying to sling around
the moon, SHADO could be sending dozens of interceptor sorties out to blow
them up, over and over again....all for just a thousand mph velocity gain.

Let's say they use a bigger body which would yield a bigger gain, like
the Sun. Starting from a position near Earth, where the UFO's depart from,
you'd have to assume the orbital geometry lines up so that their departure
asymptote heads them back in the direction of the home star (even assuming
that star lies on the ecliptic) , and even then the solar maneuver itself
would require months to perform in order to gain the benefit.
And after all of that, even expecting the most fantasy unrealistic
gains, the maximum benefit would be on an order of magnitude of a tiny
fraction of a tenth of a percent of the speed of light....insignificant in
interstellar crossing times.

If they were using it to add speed for the homeward journey, the gains
just aren't there. If they were using the Moon, or even the Earth to
accellerate to a minimum Drive Start-Up speed, that speed would have to be
awfully slow (a few thousand mph more than they already had), and it would
take days to perform. Either way, no practical benefit, but you would have a
lot of interceptor missions shooting at you in the meantime.

And what would a minimum start-up speed be anyway? Relative to what?...
The Earth, the Moon, the Sun? You've already got almost 67,000 mph of free
velocity just orbiting along with the Earth, even though you may be
stationary alongside of it....

Dave H.

> Think about it, do the math,

are you trying to give those of us who scraped through
college algebra the heebee jeebies???? just thinking
about the kind of math to apply to this is enough to
make me wish i was someplace else

<any assist maneuver
<blink> LOL. Can just hear the conversation between
the pilot and whoever told him he had to do it this
way <snerk>
Uhm .. if you're moving at interstellar speeds, why?
of course, unless you're doing a ST:OS/UFO xover, this
is probabably not what you're thinking about doing
anyway <chuckle>

<snicker> "Hey, joe. How much time do we wanna give
these guys to shoot at us?"
"Oh, I dunno, how about a few days while we
slingshot around the planet to getup to speed for
jump?"
"OK, Joe." (Why do I hear this being done
in Ed, Edd and Eddy voices? <dragon who watches way
too much Cartoon Network> LOL) (aliens named Joe?)
>
> And what would a minimum start-up speed be
> anyway? Relative to what?...
> The Earth, the Moon, the Sun? You've already got
> almost 67,000 mph of free
> velocity just orbiting along with the Earth, even
> though you may be
> stationary alongside of it....

And that brings up the question of Time and Relative
Speeds in Space ....... <dragon ducking and running)

sprinting back into lurking

dragon

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