Kill Straker!

Hi all (again :-)

Just watched "Kill Straker!" listening to Mike and Alan's commentary.
 
Their comments about the direction in relation to the script give a
real insight to how the "tension" was created. Mike points out how
unusual it was to have so many scenes that revolved purely around two
actors where there wasn't even much dialogue (Straker and Foster in
the Control sphere) adding that in his opinion, UFO was very much a
character driven show.

Interestingly (to me anyway) they both implied that Ed found acting
with Vladek Sheybal difficult, almost as if he didn't like him. Yet
Ed was obviously friends with Vladek outside of their professional
lives, from the pictures of them together at Ed's birthday party in
the 1970s.

Apparently after the scene in the shooting range, when Alan
called "Cut!" all the crew applauded and not because it was
lunchtime :-D

It's so nice to be able to listen to these commentaries; Mike sounds
just like he did in UFO and is seriously funny (contradiction I
know :-) but I'm glad he was finally able to come to terms with the
cult popularity of the series enough to be willing to record this
commentary, so poignantly now he has gone :-(

Alan Perry obviously has fond memories of the show, because he
learned so much about directing live action and shows how very
grateful he is to it for setting up his future career as a director,
despite the fact he was pushed aside in the second production block.  
Obviously a sincerely nice guy.

Has anyone heard George Sewell's commentary on the Australian DVDs?  
I'd love to hear that but sadly I don't know if I really want to buy
yet another set of DVDs! Depends on what others say, when someone is
able and willing to comment............maybe some lucky soul out
there will receive a set from Santa tomorrow :-D

Merry Christmas!


Sarah

> Has anyone heard George Sewell's commentary on the Australian DVDs?

If anyone has, they must be an insider, as the Australian UFO DVDs
have not been released yet. Everytime someone asks Umbrella
Entertainment about the expected release date, it always seems
to be 6 months away...

I can't even remember what the original release date was for the
Australian UFO DVDs, but at the moment I believe its supposed
to be Spring 2006.

Marc

*(?*&%&?$*%?/%/%$"$?/"?$"?%&)()_(&%%$$/""!!!!!... why aren't those
commentaries on the other UFO releases ?


--- In [hidden email], Marc Martin <marc@u...> wrote:
>
> > Has anyone heard George Sewell's commentary on the Australian
DVDs?  

> why aren't those commentaries on the other UFO releases ?

Each UFO DVD release around the world is produced by a different
company. Carlton produced the UK version, A&E produced the
US version, Umbrella will be producing the Australian version,
etc. These companies are free to do whatever they like
concerning extras. That means if they want to pay for the
recording of a new commentary, they are free to do it. And
that's what's been happening with UFO. UFO was initially
released in the UK with 2 commentary tracks -- one for
Gerry Anderson and 1 for Ed Bishop. Later, A&E in the US
decided to record 2 more commentary tracks, one with Mike
Billington & Alan Perry, and one with Sylvia Anderson &
Wanda Ventham. Other companies could not use these commentary
tracks unless they payed A&E for them. In Australia, Umbrella
decided to pay for the recording of a George Sewell commentary.

But in theory, some company could come along and record additional
UFO commentaries and release them on DVD. All it takes is money!

Marc