Oddities found in "The Square Triangle"

Viewed this episode after "The Flight Path" (I have the entire series
on tape transfered from the Japanese laser discs that came out about
10 years ago).

Here's some observations I had:

1) For some reason Keith Alexander appears to have his dialogued
dubbed over the soundtrack. did anyone else notice this? Maybe he had
a flu bug or something that week.

2) In the scene where Cass and Liz are brought to Shado HQ
the 'reception room' they are waiting in is clearly a re-dressing of
Cmdr. Straker's Office.

3) Liz Newton's car is an Oldsmobile Toronado which -- by late
60's/early 70's standards -- had futuristic-styling so it fit into
the show nicely.

4) The end credits sequence in this episode is unique as we get the
impresssion that Liz and Cass' plot was finally carried out since we
see her walking solmenly away from a cemetary with someone joining
her near the end of the path as the credits fade to black.

the square triange episode was always one of the strangest. we have a couple
trying to kill off the husband by a careful plan. The alien is killed
instead. The couple end up given a drug by SHADO operatives. Shado knows they
are going to kill a man since they have all the pieces of the murder plot. why
didn't they warn the police? i would assume an anonymous tip to the right
person would have stopped them from getting away with murder. Shado cares
enough about people to save them from aliens but not from cold blooded murder? i
would have written the network if the show was still in production. scott


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Shado knows they
> are going to kill a man since they have all the pieces of the
murder plot. why
> didn't they warn the police? i would assume an anonymous tip to
the right
> person would have stopped them from getting away with murder.
Shado cares
> enough about people to save them from aliens but not from cold
blooded murder?

I have to admit, I haven't watched this episode in a while, I am sure
from memory, this point was touched on briefly, maybe not in a
obvious manner, having said that, surely doing anything of that
nature would compromise, SHADO's position, anonymous or not, as
things have a habit of being able to be traced, even then, that kind
of thing would have been possible??? just a thought.....

Carie

[hidden email] wrote:

> why didn't they warn the police? i would assume an anonymous tip
> to the right person would have stopped them from getting away
> with murder. Shado cares enough about people to save them from
> aliens but not from cold blooded murder?

To be fair, this dilemma is more or less the whole point of this
episode, and it's really what makes it such a relatively strong one.
I like The Square Triangle, definitely one of my 5 or 6 favourites.

Straker's job isn't really about 'caring about people'. He's
essentially a military man, with a job to do, not a social worker.
Granted, the whole purpose of his job is to defend us human beings
- but from the Aliens, not from ourselves.

I love the ending, at the cemetery - very cold and dark.

>1) For some reason Keith Alexander appears to have his dialogued
>dubbed over the soundtrack. did anyone else notice this? Maybe he had
>a flu bug or something that week.

Actor Keith Alexander was asked about this at a UFORIA convention
back in the 1980's. He didn't know the answer for sure (and it
was news to him!), but he thought that he may have been out of
the country and they needed to overdub some of his lines.

>4) The end credits sequence in this episode is unique as we get the
>impresssion that Liz and Cass' plot was finally carried out since we
>see her walking solmenly away from a cemetary with someone joining
>her near the end of the path as the credits fade to black.

When you're watching the DVDs (and not videotaped copies of the
Japanese laserdiscs), you can tell that the "someone" is Cass.

Marc

<snip> When you're watching the DVDs (and not videotaped copies of the
Japanese laserdiscs), you can tell that the "someone" is Cass.

That would make a great follow-up for the ufo-fiction writers out there...
imagine if they hadn't all been given enough amnesia drug, and their
memories started returning? Could be interesting, and also would have major
implications for SHADO. Commander Straker would sure have some explaining to
do; his choice of resolution, releasing them back into society, not
protecting her husband, etc etc... and what about the game keeper? how did
they cover that up?

Griff :)

As much as it galls us to have them get away with murder Straker done the
right thing. Anything he might do to prevent this would lead to a security leak.
Someone calls the police with the often used annonamous tip "Liz Newton and
her boyfriend are going to kill her husband and make it look like a accident
and say she thought he was someone breaking in." The police would say how do
you know this. Which would be followed by whomever hanging up. This might
lead to them askings some questions or doing nothing till the killing actually
happen and then they would wonder just how the caller knew and who it was. The
problem would then be not that Liz and her boy toy had sent the husband to the
hereafter but who called and how they knew. I can just see Rumpole of the
Bailey questioning the detective who arrested them on the basis of a untraceable
phone call from a unknow person who knows every detail of their plan. "That
is not Evidence me Lord and ladies and gentlemen of the jury. It is hearsay and
not admissible as evidence."
So the Police would not only want to know who gave the tip but would
have to know because it is their only evidence that it was murder not a tragic
accident and would not be of use if it was not backed up by the person who
called.
So what if they instead tipped off the husband. Liz do you have a
lover and are the two of you plan to kill me? That might throw a scare into them
but I think they would be more careful and the husband would still be pushing
up daisys sooner or later. And it would also get them wondering who had
informed on them and how they knew all the details. While not as dangerous as
the police investigating who knew it still would not be the best situation.
And who says that they get away with it anyway? Perhaps they assign
the case to a really good detective such as Inspector Morse or Adam Dalgliesh
or the like and after a suitable investigation they get taken off in handcuffs
no need for SHADO to risk its cover.

James K.


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Obviously, you live in another world. Police investigate and
successfully prosecute on the basis of anonymous tips all the time. As
long as the anonymous tip *itself* is not used as evidence in court, it
can't be called into question by the defense. Any real evidence
developed from the anonymous tip can and would be introduced as
evidence. An anonymous tip constitutes probable cause and police can
investigate based on that - depending on how accurate the tip is, judges
have even been known to issue warrants on their basis.

[hidden email] wrote:
> As much as it galls us to have them get away with murder Straker done the
> right thing. Anything he might do to prevent this would lead to a security leak.

I think it would be a matter of looking at a bigger picture. In Confetti
Check A-OK, Freeman say's SHADO's security makes the CIA look like a bunch
of Sunday school teachers (The CIA are not generally known for their subtle
handling of difficult situations). I do not think Straker would or even
SHADO should/would have been involved in the security control of the
situation at all, and would have handed it over the SHADO security
(Henderson's security people maybe). Also, in another episode,
Straker/Freeman makes it clear that the they would have to sacrifice one man
if they endangered SHADO.

Having had some previous experience in certain areas, I can tell you that
all Air Force, Army, Navy agencies have separate security systems completely
divorced from the normal operation of those agencies, and are trained to
watch over and observe everyone 'especially people in the services' and the
higher they are, the tighter the intelligence and personnel verification.

I think if Straker had to hand over Cass Fowler/Liz Frazer to the
authorities, it would have been to some Government agency, such as a
security affiliate such as SHADO branches of CIA/FBI or MI5, thus leaving
the 'human' problem to the authorities and thus leaving SHADO to fight
aliens.

In the current 'war against terrorism', it is clear that the individual
rights of individuals (guilty or innocent) are outweighed by the needs and
rights of the many. If an alien invasion ever did happen, situations such as
in the Square Triangle would not be handled delicately!

I think in the 'real world' situation in UFO, Cass Fowler and Liz Frazer,
and indeed 'anyone' who endangered SHADO would have been 'taken care of' in
a rather more Government style (bullet in the back of the head or
similar)... ...this is getting a bit dark, but I think a bit more realistic.

Best, Griff

[hidden email] wrote:
> As much as it galls us to have them get away with murder Straker
> done the right thing. Anything he might do to prevent this would
> lead to a security leak. Someone calls the police with the
> often used annonamous tip "Liz Newton and her boyfriend are going
> to kill her husband and make it look like a accident and say she
> thought he was someone breaking in." The police would say how do
> you know this. Which would be followed by whomever hanging up.

Granted, that's one possible action/outcome. But instead, someone
could surreptitiously telephone the wife from a public phonebox and
warn her off, or send her a note through the post. She's of a
fairly nervous disposition anyway and she'd never go through with
it after that. However, it's not really SHADO's job or business.

James

sorry, i disagree with you. SHADO is about saving people's lives. an
anonymous phone call to the police would not be difficult with SHADO's resources. I
think straker sometimes makes the wrong decisions, like with his son. His son
should have been saved, the information on the UFO was not life or death, his
son's condition was. scott


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you are right. the andersons clearly were not thinking straight when they did
this episode. they were working with humans for the first time. lol. scott


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ah but you see Staker may be a military man but he has connections.
Otherwise everytime those huge trucks that carry Shado men and equipment into battle
would be stopped after they cleared the area. Staker could have had Foster
phone in the anonymous tip or another Shado operative. Murder is murder wether
it is alien or human. All i am saying is that using the amnesia drug and
ignoring the murder was not the way to handle the situation. the way the woman was
acting any voice saying " i know you plan to murder your husband" would
probably have sent her to hysterics and stopped the plan. scott


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

[hidden email] wrote:
> I think straker sometimes makes the wrong decisions, like with his
> son. His son should have been saved, the information on the UFO was
> not life or death, his son's condition was.

The taxpayers don't provide SHADO as a personal medical courier
service for its couriers - he had already overstepped the mark
by altering the flight schedule of the transporter, and I'm sure
that diverting it from SHADO business would have been a fairly
serious violation of the rules.

In the episode 'a question of priorities is aptly named. A common theme
through a lot of tv shows has this theme. Another example of a father not
using his full resources to save his son was Battlestar Galactia episode.
In it Comdr. Adama refuses to send a rescue team to save his son Apollo,
because it is his son, the commanders son. It takes the executive officer
(as I am writing this, I forget his name and title, you know, tip of tongue
thing :) to tell him, not to do condemn his son to be lost, just because it
is his son, as the commander would try to save any other warriors life.

Straker felt his need was to protect the earth from the aliens was a higher
need then get the medicine to his son, that might have saved his sons life.

Bruce

--- In [hidden email], "Griff" <griff@g...> wrote:
> I think it would be a matter of looking at a bigger picture. In
Confetti
> Check A-OK, Freeman say's SHADO's security makes the CIA look like
a bunch
> of Sunday school teachers (The CIA are not generally known for
their subtle
> handling of difficult situations). I do not think Straker would or
even
> SHADO should/would have been involved in the security control of the
> situation at all, and would have handed it over the SHADO security
> (Henderson's security people maybe). Also, in another episode,
> Straker/Freeman makes it clear that the they would have to
sacrifice one man
> if they endangered SHADO.
>
> Having had some previous experience in certain areas, I can tell
you that
> all Air Force, Army, Navy agencies have separate security systems
completely
> divorced from the normal operation of those agencies, and are
trained to
> watch over and observe everyone 'especially people in the services'
and the
> higher they are, the tighter the intelligence and personnel
verification.
>
> I think if Straker had to hand over Cass Fowler/Liz Frazer to the
> authorities, it would have been to some Government agency, such as a
> security affiliate such as SHADO branches of CIA/FBI or MI5, thus
leaving
> the 'human' problem to the authorities and thus leaving SHADO to
fight
> aliens.
>
> In the current 'war against terrorism', it is clear that the
individual
> rights of individuals (guilty or innocent) are outweighed by the
needs and
> rights of the many. If an alien invasion ever did happen,
situations such as
> in the Square Triangle would not be handled delicately!
>
> I think in the 'real world' situation in UFO, Cass Fowler and Liz
Frazer,
> and indeed 'anyone' who endangered SHADO would have been 'taken
care of' in
> a rather more Government style (bullet in the back of the head or
> similar)... ...this is getting a bit dark, but I think a bit more
realistic.
>
> Best, Griff

We learned in 'Court Martial' that there is a SHADO Assasination Unit
called 'Group 2/3'...they wear very similar outfits to those wore by
Interceptor Pilots and they are good marksmen. I would suppose that
if there was no amnesia drug (or should the doseages not work)
the 'Group 2/3' would be summoned to 'handle the situation'. Kinda
like the muscle for the mob...

i still disagree. Apollo was and adult with his own resources. Staker's son
was a little boy with no resources. the info about the UFO was important but
not enough to kill his son. not only that but he had promised his ex wife he
would do everything in his power. scott


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the transporter was already on a mission of mercy. Straker had enough power
to say "my son's life is at stake" people would have understood. Straker may
have received some punishment but his son would have been alive. The episode
would have shown that the aliens are important but human life is more important.
They do errands of mercy in the military all the time. Air droping food to
people who are our enemies. Foster tried to save the life of the alien who
tried to kill him. Straker made the wrong decision. scott


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--- In [hidden email], bslwrsf@a... wrote:
> the transporter was already on a mission of mercy. Straker had
enough power
> to say "my son's life is at stake" people would have understood.
Straker may
> have received some punishment but his son would have been alive.
The episode
> would have shown that the aliens are important but human life is
more important.
> They do errands of mercy in the military all the time. Air droping
food to
> people who are our enemies. Foster tried to save the life of the
alien who
> tried to kill him. Straker made the wrong decision. scott
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I liked the way Gerry & Sylvia Anderson handled the character of Ed
Straker...here was this heroic leader of a global organization, yet
they made him quite human by showing that his domestic life was a
failure and that he also suffered from very human problems like
claustrophobia (as witnessed in 'Sub-Smash') and bad judgement ("Cat
with Ten Lives", "Question of Priorities" and to some extent "Square
Triangle"). That's one of the things I like about UFO: is the multi-
dimensionality of the characters and the stories. It's a science-
fiction series with a very solid dramatic foundation...as opposed
to 'Space Opera' type science fiction that is almost always driven by
special effects and simplistic storylines.

Doug