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I decided not to watch Identified for this ExE thread (mainly because I've
seen it so many times over the years). I did watch it when I got my
Carlton disks for the GA commentary and thought Anderson's comments were a
little light. Then again I have been spoiled by the last two Star Trek
Directors cut releases, ST TMP Directors cut with excellent commentary
tracks and yesterday Star Trek The Wrath of Kahn Directors cut in which
Nicholas Meyer provides a LECTURE interspersed with comments on the
film. The LECTURE was interesting but many times didn't have much to do
with the film. Worth getting or renting if you have an
interest. (Especially if you have an interest in Sherlock Holmes and other
subjects NM likes to talk about!)
I was interested to learn that the Drum solo/ad lib during the shooting
scene (At the beginning) was added in later and wasn't done by Barry Gray.
The POV of the rifle barrel was a cool and disturbing way to show the
action. Col Lake was terrific and I actually met Shane Rimmer (The pilot
of the SST) and spoke to him abou the show, Ed Bishop and Gerry Anderson
(Also a lot of talk about Barry Gray) last fall at the New Jersey Chiller
Theatre autograph show in the Meadowlands.
One of the funniest scenes for me is the opening shot of the first act
where you get to watch Ayeshas (sp?) rear end as she walks into the HS
headquarters from the parking lot. What makes this funny is a picture of
Anderson and his film crew (This must be somewhere on Marc's site or on the
net) filming this scene, all bent over studying her rear! Hysterical!
The rest is a good pilot episode, the effects always remind me of Andersons
earlier puppet work, mainly for the use of water scenes which remind me of
Thunderbirds and Stingray. When Brian Johnson (Who worked on Thunderbirds)
signed on to do Space 1999 one of his stipulations was there was never to
be any water shots! Ed Straker remarked in some interview that you had to
take this stuff dead serious and it shows. For me he really holds the
believability of the show on his back.
The musing of Cmdr Straker at the end of the episode in his mind also is
unintentionally funny for me. It reminds me of the movie Airplane when the
main character (Who went on to play Starman on TV) is thinking to himself
in the same echo effect voice over (And eventually says ECHO ECHO
ECHO!!!) I kept waiting for Straker to do that.
Otherwise, a strong and memorable episode. Not one of my all time
favorites, but important in the canon of UFO
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