Mindbender Discussions - Here's a thought!

How does Straker know that he's beaten the influence of the
Mindbender? How does he know that he isn't actually still in a
hallucination? He seemed to be under its influence for far longer
than the other victims. Perhaps the Mindbender had a delayed effect
that would come into play if its victim was still alive after, say,
an hour or so. Said effect would be that the victim would believe
that they were back to reality, but in actuality would be trapped
inside an illusion within an illusion. The end result would be that
while he thinks he's in one scenario, performing a particular set of
actions, in reality he might be doing something completely different -
not to mention potentially lethal. As Mindbender was one of the
last episodes, something like The Long Sleep could be fantasy to
Straker's "real world" but just as real to him.

--- In [hidden email], "docmed03" <docmed03@y...> wrote:
>
Said effect would be that the victim would believe
> that they were back to reality, but in actuality would be trapped
> inside an illusion within an illusion.

The double blind!! This is what makes UFO so brilliant!!

Tasha

----- Original Message -----
From: "docmed03" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 4:57 AM
Subject: [SHADO] Mindbender Discussions - Here's a thought!


> How does Straker know that he's beaten the influence of the
> Mindbender? How does he know that he isn't actually still in a
> hallucination? He seemed to be under its influence for far longer
> than the other victims. Perhaps the Mindbender had a delayed effect
> that would come into play if its victim was still alive after, say,
> an hour or so. Said effect would be that the victim would believe
> that they were back to reality, but in actuality would be trapped
---------------------------------------------------------

All this discussion of "Mindbender" got me to to watch it last night.
Always like the episodes concerning moonbase. Liked the spec effects
showing the boys sitting on strip alert in their interceptors, with the dust
blowing up around them, and I have to say, I've never seen Nina Berry
looking hotter than in that ep; the ruffled up, dishevelled look really
suits her, even with that rediculous wig on.

Seems to me that the idea of using a mental psychic mine to unravel
SHADO's operations is an entirely under-appreciated and under-utilized
tactic by the aliens. They could just throw a couple of hundred of them
around the key establishments of Earth to really mess us up and then simply
walk in.

What Beaver James says upon taking Col. Lake is "...All right you
aliens, I've got one of you...." Appearently, EVERYONE he saw was a red
suited alien, thus he was scared, well, crapless.

I find it interesting that, when Straker and Foster are in the
moonmobiles looking for the wreckage, Straker uses a portable walkie-talkie
to communicate with moonbase. You would think thay'd have some sort of an
installed communications set aboard those things.

I liked Straker's scenes in the movie theatre. I think it showed some of
Ed Bishop's best acting in that series - the sweat on his face, the look on
his face, even without speaking lines, it conveyed a great deal of turmoil
and torment. There's not much great acting in that series, but that
particular instance was a jewel.

Dave H.

I think that was one of the reasons UFO was popular. The acting. All the
characters were excellent. Think about it. Sci fi as a genre had not really
caught on yet. Playing the commander of a secret organisation to prevent aliens of
all things. Especially in great britain. Ed Bishop and the others conveyed
sheer terror with very little to go on. I was caught up in the plight against
the aliens. Ed Bishop was a great actor who had to play a man with steel
nerves. He turned against his own son, several co workers tried to kill him, and a
whole species tried to kill him or destroy his world. Now that is stress.
Scott


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I'd question the part about him turning against his own son, as it seemed to me that he couldn't do much about the situation at the time. But the line about "several co workers tried to kill him" brought forth an amusing thought - Herbert Lom - in full Former Chief Inspector Dreyfus mode - as General Henderson, and perhaps Burt Kwouk as Alec Freeman or Paul Foster!

Sorry, I couldn't resist it.

[hidden email] wrote:

Ed Bishop was a great actor who had to play a man with steel
nerves. He turned against his own son, several co workers tried to kill him, and a
whole species tried to kill him or destroy his world. Now that is stress.

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]