Re: The level of thought

Hi Anthony and everybody: You've raised some terrific questions in your last
posting and I feel they should definitely be addressed in any UFO2 movie or
series to follow. SHADO was always supposed to have vastly superior
technology to the rest of the world - it would continue in that vein I would
think. The idea of other aliens (not the nasty type) is definitely
interesting - what if another race saw earth's plight and decided to join
forces with humans to help get rid of the bad ones? What if they had some of
their own ulterior motives and SHADO had an uneasy, not completely trusting
alliance with htem (a la the Russians and the Allied countries during WWII,
the Klingons and the Federation in ST: TNG, etc). There are all kinds of
interesting plot curves that could keep viewers guessing and thinking all
through it.....

My reasons for wanting to bring UFO up to at least 2000-2001 is simply to
"cash in", like Trek, on the visibility and bankability of the original
characters. Hypothetically, if Straker et al were under 40 yrs old when the
story originally took place (ca 1980) then add 20 yrs onto that for the yr
2000 and they're still under retirement age. This would give the show the
melange of older and newer characters (recurring roles or cameos for the
older ones) that has helped Trek so much in its many incarnations. Also,
Messrs Bishop, Billington and Gordeno are definitely young-enough looking
to carry this off very well. After all, if Shatner can play Kirk in his
60's, why can't the UFO actors do the same? It would also give the writers a
chance to give us some glimpses of Straker et al as they have aged and
present them as war-weary veterans, nearing retirement, who have given their
whole lives to SHADO and its mission. Certainly ST VI: The Undiscovered
Country gave us a vivid picture of how Kirk & Company viewed their own aging
processes and how they were coping with the ravages of time. That was one of
the things I liked most about ST VI and most of the "film critics"
completely missed that aspect. All they did was criticize Shatner's
hairpiece - they didn't get one of the major threads of the story at all. It
wasn't JUST about trying to create a detente between the Klingon Empire and
the Federation - it was an up close and personal view into aging men and
women who had NO OTHER thing in their lives BUT Starfleet. I think Straker
etc could be considered in the same light.

On the technological side, as opposed to the personal side described above,
I think Anthony's comments bear considerable consideration. He has raised
some very important questions, the answers to which would have to be
determined. UFO2 would really need some technical/aerospace advisors, much
the same way Trek did. I don't think this would be bad at all. I think it
would lend credence to the whole effort. Gene Roddenberry brought in
advisors from NASA and other scientific bodies to help formulate whether
some of his ideas were valid or not, and the franchise has continued to
bring in experts.

I'm sorry to keep comparing UFO to Trek, but Trek is the best and most
successful s-f spin-off/franchise so far. Shows like Dark Skies, The
Invaders, the X-Files have all dealt with alien invasion conspiracies very
nicely, but they haven't had quite the same longevity or impact as Trek. I
guess I see Trek as a "high water mark."

Pam

Pam McCaughey wrote:-
> Hi Anthony and everybody: ...

A theme that I put in my long text UFO story is what might happen if assorted
uncoordinated groups of humans get UFO-type craft and become asteroid miners
or other sorts of general-purpose space workmen. Similarly about asteroid
miners in http://www.buckrogers.demon.co.uk/pu/pu.htm (about 1.25 megabytes of
text in 8 text files, a space story, but not in the UFO scenario). One likely
temptation among such men might be to abduct (but not for organs): old-type
sailing ship crews used to abduct landsmen sometimes in reality, to get crew:
if you doubt that, look up the verb "to shanghai" in a good English dictionary.

Another possible theme might to help the aliens to find other solutions to
their organ degeneration medical problems, so they don't need to abduct people
at hazard any more; that might cause enough conflict between alien factions to
make possible themes for stories.

A warning: to keep thing sensible, don't let the stories become a random zoo
of miscellaneous fantasies. That happened e.g. in Countdown comic's treatment
of Fireball XL5, where a quite early story had in it people (baddies) being
turned into stone literally, something fine in a fairy and witch story but not
in science fiction. I read this advice once about writing sciene fiction:-

Decide on a given list of cases where the laws of nature and physics and
science differ from reality. Then in the story, stick to the real-world
properties of materials and energy and nature, allowing that previously made
list of variations from reality and no others.

Again, these are great concepts to work with. While I personally like the
idea of SHADO/humankind assisting the aliens in finding legitimate medical
answers to their organ regeneration problems, I added it into my own UFO
story that human body parts are not the ONLY item on earth the aliens are
interested in. I have alluded to the fact that their bodies AND their planet
are in need of vast infusions of assistance - medical, technical, and
otherwise. Their planet may be almost out of natural resources and they are
looking to earth as a treasure house of goodies (along with assorted body
parts) to take for themselves. This kind of cruel imperialism has been
practiced here on earth by humans against humans, so it wouldn't take much
of a leap to imagine the aliens as seeing humans as second class citizens,
ripe for the picking due our inferior techo-power.

There are so many threads which could be added - 5th columnists from the
aliens infiltrating our society at even its highest levels, another race of
aliens who wish to help humankind fight the "nasty green liquid breathing
baddies" --- etc. (Hey, I just may eventually incorporate some of these
ideas myself in my next story......). In s-f, there is always scope for so
much more in terms of storyline/plot. Trek killed off Spock and brought him
back in the very next movie. There is currently a move afoot by Trek fans to
have Kirk resurrected in the next Trek movie (I'd LOVE to see that...). In
TOS, Scotty was killed off by Nomad and brought back to life, McCoy
recovered from a terminal disease, etc.

Remember The Invaders (with Roy Thinnes) which was produced by Quinn-Martin
(the same people who brought you The Fugitive with David Janssen and Sgt Joe
Friday - "Just the facts, M'am!")? The premise there was not only were
aliens seeking to take over, but they could clone/copy human form, making
them very hard to recognize. The only means of telling them from real humans
were their stunted baby fingers - oh yes, and they conveniently
disintegrated when they bought the farm, which left David Vincent with no
proof to their existence! Dark Skies had some great ideas on these themes as
well. UFO2 could incorporate similar ideas if desired to extend the
plotlines and increase the interest. Majestic kept trying to prevent the
public from knowing about the alien crisis - SHADO does the same. Just a few
ideas......

Pam

Spliting hairs here but I really don't think Trek in any of it's
incarnations is hardly what I'd call the best, unless you mean in financial
terms. Trek certainly made a lot of money and established itself as the 300
pound gorilla of TV SF. But over and over again I feel Star Trek had a way
of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Over and over again with a
rich and varied tradition to draw on Star Trek, the various series and the
movies choose to ignore the great stuff that had come before. From the
gutting of the Borg threat to the fact that Edith Keeler was not mentioned
in the Star Trek Generations movie.

Take a nod from UFO as Straker views his life on the screen in Mindbender or
the double dramatic treat of his personal live's meltdown in Confetti Check
and A Question of Priorities. A shame Star Trek ignored their potentially
terrific character building moments. I'll give the first series a break
since it was released before modern syndication but the rest of the shows
could have done so much more.

I guess if there had been MORE episodes of UFO there would have more of a
chance of it ignoring its own history. The 26 we have seem to hang together
quite well I think, especially for the character of Straker.

I can't talk about Dark Skies and I can't stay interested in the X-Files
(The bee girl episode made me want to throw my TV out the window BUT the
stand alone ones I usually love, like the one with Peter Boyle)

The Invaders I liked pretty much but I really didn't like the sequel TV
movie on FOX a few years back. I also felt the plot got a little tired
after awhile.

>I'm sorry to keep comparing UFO to Trek, but Trek is the best and most
>successful s-f spin-off/franchise so far. Shows like Dark Skies, The
>Invaders, the X-Files have all dealt with alien invasion conspiracies very
>nicely, but they haven't had quite the same longevity or impact as Trek. I
>guess I see Trek as a "high water mark."


I see Trek as a high water mark from a studio perspective. From a fan POV I
only see missed opportunities. Although many Treks from all the shows have
hit the mark occasionally. Because there's so much of it though I think
there are more turkey episodes now than quality ones.

As far as UFO:2 is concerned, one cannot even buy the *original* series
at the moment! In fact, as any fan who has tried to buy UFO tapes over
the last 20-odd years will know, this is "as per usual"..
I think the best anyone can do is to try and encourage the current
distributors (in whichever country) to re-release the original UFO
series on whatever media they feel like. Like a "real life" UFO, It's
Gone Again; UFO episodes are currently not available in the UK (or
anywhere else, I believe?) Even though there are only 26 episodes of
UFO and it was made 30 years ago, most of them have only been available
for short periods of time, and some of them for *very* short periods (or
never, depending on which country you're in). The worst thing IMHO is
that the technology to produce made-to-order DVDs (or whatever) for
relatively low volume but priced-to-market sales has been available for
a few years now.
There're *lots* of series that I'd like to buy, but can't, because..
because.. erm.. they're.. (you've guessed it now, haven't you? <g>) NOT
ON THE SHELVES.
--
Rob

Rob writes:
>UFO episodes are currently not available in the UK (or
>anywhere else, I believe?)

There are still 8 episodes available in the USA... Amazon.com shows
them shipping in 2-3 days from they're ordered... but of course, 8
is a long way from 26...

--
Marc Martin, [hidden email]