Interceptors

> Strangely enough neither did the Apollo LM Ascent Module when it
> left the lunar surface. If you've ever seen the famous film footage from
> Apollo 17 IIRC there is no visible flame from its takeoff either, just
> dust and debris from the launch.

Well, that's obviously because the whole thing was faked with models :-)

Dave.

--- Robert Thomas <screwedmorethenonce@y...> wrote:
> As for the pilots and the chutes they slide down - as was pointed
> out the gravity is one sixth that of earth so a slide would be very
> slow - unless it was like those pneumatic message tubes ...

And in every scene in Moonbase in UFO and in Space 1999 the gravity
seems to be Earth surface normal, judging by how the people move.

Since there seems to be nowhere on an Interceptor for an airlock, the
only practical way seems to me to be for Interceptor pilots' suits to
be full space-type pressure suits with a sealed helmet and not a
riotsquad visor, and for them to do one of these:-
(1) Be waiting in their cockpits.
(2) When the order to take off comes, for them to run into the silo
and climb into their cockpits.

A weird (well, weirder then usual) thought poped into my head while reading this. Just suppose that there are all ready three pilots waiting in their ships, and the three that we all see go running to the chutes, are moving to take the place of the ready pilots who are all ready taking off.That way there would be no time lost during a scramble and the next set of interceptors could be made ready for their own launch if needed. As far as the "Gravity" is concerned, I would be willing to bet that this is more of "Showing it would slow down the show, so just let them imangine it, and lets get on with the action" type thinking. Besides, it would take days to shoot a proper walk in one sixth gravity, let alone a scence where someone actually gets moving. Since it would cost so much time and money, you would see that sequence every time anyone was on the moon.By the by, watch any of the sequences where someone is outside on the moons surface and you will note that they walk normally as well.

anthonyappleyard <[hidden email]> wrote:---
And in every scene in Moonbase in UFO and in Space 1999 the gravity
seems to be Earth surface normal, judging by how the people move.

Since there seems to be nowhere on an Interceptor for an airlock, the
only practical way seems to me to be for Interceptor pilots' suits to
be full space-type pressure suits with a sealed helmet and not a
riotsquad visor, and for them to do one of these:-
(1) Be waiting in their cockpits.
(2) When the order to take off comes, for them to run into the silo
and climb into their cockpits.

--- Robert Thomas <screwedmorethenonce@y...> wrote:
> ... That way there would be no time lost during a scramble and the
> next set of interceptors could be made ready for their own launch
> if needed. ...

To do that, SHADO Moonbase would need 6 or 9 Interceptors. We never
see or hear of more than 3.

And a way (like in a semiautomatic gun but much bigger) to move the
second flight of Interceptors from a side room into the empty silo.
We never see or hear of that.

We never see a lot of things in UFO that would have to be there for them to be able to do the sort of things that do make it to the screen. Besides, I can't believe that they would only have three operational interceptors on the entire base. That would be just plain stupid as well as asking for trouble.

>To do that, SHADO Moonbase would need 6 or 9 Interceptors. We never
>see or hear of more than 3.

Robert Thomas wrote:
> As with the Interceptors, I can't find anything on the models or in
the pictures I have, that would suggest an ability to hover like a
Harrier. However, I suppose anything is possible in a Sci-fi show.

P.S.
I note that ex(?)-Phil Rae's large Interceptor model does have a
vertical take-off exhaust nozzle on the center of its belly.
And if you watch one of the scenes in which three Interceptors fly
over the lunar hillocks, you can see a small spark falling from a
nozzle.

Kaoru

--- In [hidden email], "tchbnk" <tachibana-kaoru@m...> wrote:
> And if you watch one of the scenes in which three Interceptors fly
> over the lunar hillocks, you can see a small spark falling from a
> nozzle.

After watching the entire series of laserdisc back-to-back over a week
or so, that scene is used over and over, practically in any episode
where interceptors are involved. That 'spark' that is falling looks
to me to be the loss of a part off the models/ships. If one were to
look at every frame of film as being canon, then a better description
might be a part that wasn't bolted on correctly and shook loose during
flight.

Of course, if every frame must be explained, then we run into problems
where the interceptors are flying through space, towards a UFO
somewhere. Another shot is used repeatedly, in which there is a
stationary 'star' in the background. This 'star' is later shown to
be an alien probe. So, the question is, was this probe sitting in
space throughout the entire series?

Hi Ppaul,
Thanks for your responce to my subject.

Paul Carroll wrote:
>> And if you watch one of the scenes in which three Interceptors fly
over the lunar hillocks, you can see a small spark falling from a
nozzle.

> After watching the entire series of laserdisc back-to-back over a
week or so, that scene is used over and over, practically in any
episode where interceptors are involved.
> That 'spark' that is falling looks to me to be the loss of a part
off the models/ships.
> If one were to look at every frame of film as being canon, then a
better description might be a part that wasn't bolted on correctly
and shook loose during flight.

To make sure certain of my memory, I watched the episode 'THE
COMPUTER AFFAIR' carefully, and I did see a small yellow flame
bleched out downward from a each nozzle on the underside of the three
Interceptors each when they fly over the lunar hillocks from left to
right.
The last Interceptor drops a small spark to the lunar surface just
before it goes out of sight.

Kaoru