The Responsibility Seat

As “The Responsibility Seat” starts, Straker arrives
at HQ and wants to talk to Alec, resulting in poor
Alec being stuck as the heavy with Moonbase personnel
on a leave roster. Then we see Straker in one of the
strangest modes ever – petulant and whiny! He doesn’t
want to give an interview to a reporter, even if he
did make the appointment. Glossy film magazines, bat!
He’s no PR man! Alec, can’t you do it? And the
funniest mode is Straker, the martyr – “Give it to
Colonel Freeman. I’m about to be thrown to the
press!” LOL The look on Alec’s face as Straker walks
away is priceless.

I knew as soon as we saw Miss Ealand tell the reporter
to go in, but we didn’t see the reporter, that the
reporter would turn out to be a woman. Her name is Jo
(Josephine) Fraser. The dress and matching boots
(that show up later in the “Psychobomb”) are a bit
much. And I don’t think it was quite appropriate
dress for a professional woman (except maybe for the
profession this woman was in).

The first thing Straker sees is the legs. He must be
a leg man. And, unfortunately, I’ve seen that
transformation in a man before (not when looking at
me, though). What you see is a formerly intelligent,
mature man turn into an almost salivating adolescent.
And, as in previous cases, I just don’t get it. I
look at the women who turn men’s brains into mush and
I just don’t understand the reaction. It’s like this
girl where I went to college – the guys all raved
about her looks but all I saw was her mustache. I
guess I just don’t have the hormones for it. The
first hint we get that Miss Ealand sees right through
Miss Fraser is the look on her face as she watches
Straker walk the hussy out (please notice the archaic
slang I’m using here so I stay family-friendly).

Then there is the hapless version of Ford we see
paging “Commander Straker” while Jo’s bag is recording
in Straker’s office/elevator. If Straker’s in this
office, wouldn’t it seem more reasonable to not use
his military title? But, as is not infrequent, Ford
is a convenient facilitator of the plot, not a
reasoning character.

“Miss Fraser! I didn’t expect you back – so soon.”
This catty little remark is the second hint that Miss
Ealand sees through Jo Fraser. She’s a little
suspicious of her taking as long as she does in
Straker’s office when she retrieves her purse, but
Miss Ealand doesn’t have a clue why she should be
worried as she looks around Straker’s office for
anything amiss.

“How could I be so stupid, Alec!” Hormones, Dude!
Yes, you are only a man, not a god. I like how Alec
picks up on the fact the reporter was a woman. “What
was she like?” Straker replies with intelligent, but
Alec asks, “Attractive?” He hits the nail on the
head.

But Miss Fraser isn’t from the news agency she said
she was from, so Straker prepairs to go out looking
for her and brings up the line giving the name of the
episode. We see Straker drive off (still in his
signature off-white suit). And as soon as he does a
UFO appears.

What I find strange is that Straker has changed
clothes the next time we see him. It’s apparently the
same day, because interspersed with it we see the UFO
Freeman is dealing with. But Straker is now in his
brown suit (I like how it looks on him) as he sits at
the bar. Then he’s back in the car in the white suit.
Oops. A little continuity error there.

Straker finds Jo just arriving at her apartment.
Straker doesn’t do so well in retrieving the pesky
tape, she hits him on the head, grabs it back, and
runs for it. Tsk. Tsk. There follows the little car
chase scene where Straker wrecks her sports car. Miss
Fraser gives Straker the second fairy story. So what
does he do? He takes her to a bar (although it may
have only been to call a wrecker for her car, we
aren’t told). Oh, yeah, he needs to find out if she
is a security risk, but how he goes about it is
questionable. The problem is he is lonely, attracted,
and curious. He invites her home to dinner.

Again, Straker just stops the car instead of parking.
We get our only glimpse of Straker’s bachelor pad,
obviously decorated for him by a decorator. The place
would give me nightmares. Bishop does one of his
lovely “Straker is putting someone on” lines so he can
call SHADO. Thankfully, he is planning to get Jo
Fraser checked out. At least his brain is still
working at some level.

Jo starts playing him for a sucker, complementing
Straker on stupid things. However, I think she gets
ideas about him as he drops his guard a bit when he
mentions his divorce. I do think there she sees
something a little more than just a mark. He is a
nice man.

I like the music Straker is playing when he moves Jo’s
purse in an invitation to sit next to him. He touches
her face and kisses her. We don’t see a whole lot of
it, but it looks more, uh, passionate that the rather
chaste kisses Bishop gave Suzanne Neve in “Confetti
Check”.

Thank goodness Miss Ealand calls with the results of
the check before Straker beds Jo like he was hoping.
He finds out for sure what kind of working woman she
really was. The following scene between Straker and
Jo is one of those where Ed Bishop’s performance
impresses me. His outrage (and hurt) at being played
is a thing of beauty. And I have to read a little
irony in her parting shot about it being a “man’s
world”. It seems that Ed Straker gets nothing but
wrong end of the stick.

Now, to the other storyline in the episode, how Alec
copes. And it is the part I don’t like about this
episode. Alec appears incompetent and unsure of
himself in this parallel story. He’s Straker’s
trusted right hand man, for goodness’ sake. How can
he be that much of a bungler? First, he launches
SkyDiver (captained by Waterman) to check out a
contact, only to find a weather balloon - a little
play on the stock UFO explanation. SkyDiver’s launch
needs an authorization – even for a “practice” launch.
Alec is surly, but he relents and signs the
authorization. “Can you imagine what Straker would
have said?” “Yes, sir. …I can imagine” on an
exhalation from Ford. LOL.

Then the Russian surface vehicle is picked up heading
for Moonbase. It’s Alec’s second big challenge. What
does he do? Asks advice of Ford, of all people! The
attempt to stop the vehicle becomes a major plot
thread as Alec tries to play Straker’s role of
commanding from a distance while Paul does the actual
work. After Alec repeatedly criticizes Straker for
being too callous, what does he do? He calls for a
warning shot, then shoot to stop (read that kill).
Who is being ruthless now? But Paul tries a kinder
but more dangerous method of stopping the vehicle,
getting aboard, and he does stop it, only a few short
feet from hitting Moonbase.

The episode ends with Straker arriving at SHADO the
next day. Alec is still there in the office. We get
a sort of “Gift of the Magi” thing with Straker
complementing Alec on his solution to the runaway
vehicle - “It wasn’t quite like that”. Then Alec
tells Straker that he’s impressed that Miss Fraser
didn’t have him fooled for a minute. Alec says he
might have gotten himself emotionally involved – “Yes.
I can see how it could happen.” Both men miss how
unsettling the past day has been for the other. And
as Alec relinquishes “The Responsibility Seat”, we see
obsessive/compulsive neat freak Straker straighten his
desk.

“The Responsibility Seat” is an episode that I don’t
think came out the way it was intended. I think the
point of the script was that Straker and Freeman find
out that the other guy doesn’t necessarily have it as
easy as one might think. I’m not sure if the problem
was the script or if the directing was off. I’ve
wondered if perhaps the script wasn’t intended to be
played as more of a comedy than it was. This story
certainly seems to have more comedic moments than most
UFO episodes.

And, alas, we find out that Straker is only human. Or
should I say only a man. Expose a little leg and show
a little cleavage, stroke his ego, and the brain
function starts to drop as the hormones take over.
It’s the closest Straker ever comes to making a rash
mistake.

How we read Straker’s actions, or reaction to Miss
Fraser, is affected some by the viewing order. I’ve
been commenting on the episodes in the order they
occur in on my DVDs. There, this episode comes right
after we watched what happened to Straker’s marriage.
In production order, this episode came right after
“Ordeal” and two behind “A Question of Priorities”.
Is Straker just a very lonely divorced man who longs
for company or is he still the recently bereaved
father? I think I would have to go with production
and Marc’s preferred viewing order. Having this
episode occur within a short time after his son’s
death would leave Straker more vulnerable emotionally.
When grieving one can do things one wouldn’t usually
do. If that weren’t enough, the woman he still loves
intensely has just totally reviled him. Yep, I want
to excuse Straker for almost bedding that floozy, or
at least rationalize it.

This was an okay episode, but not one of my favorites.

Diorite

Happy New year, good UFO cutaways book, all kinds of nice other UFO developments (especially on the HD front), and best to all!
Branko
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Diorite,

An excellent description of this very well executed (as always) episode of UFO. I am new to the group, but have been a fan for over 30 years. I remember it being syndicated in the USA in the early 70's and I always enjoy it when they focus on Straker since he was always my favorite character. Next to him, Alec Freeman and then Paul Foster and I love all the other characters as well. I was sad to see Alec replaced toward the end of the season due to studio changes, but overall, the show is one of the finest of it's type ever made. It was credible, well acted, well written, and each episode a gem. Probably the best written episode is "Confetti Check A OK." I watch at least one episode a week (thankfully I have the entire series on DVD) and am amazed at how high quality the film transfers are. The vivid colors and exquisite detail. Even the sound, only in mono, is excellent. I will be watching these over and over. The Responsibility Seat is an excellent episode,
though, and I'm glad someone has given it so much attention as to describe it in the detail it deserves. Thanks again!

James Finch


my web bio: http://imdb.com/name/nm1048889/

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--- James Finch <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Diorite,
>
> An excellent description of this very well executed
> (as always) episode of UFO. I am new to the group,
> but have been a fan for over 30 years. I remember
> it being syndicated in the USA in the early 70's and
> I always enjoy it when they focus on Straker since
> he was always my favorite character.

Yes, I, too, watched UFO syndicated on TV in the US
during the '70s. I was crushed when it ended after
one season. And, yeah, Straker is my favorite
character. He didn't start out that way, but it
wasn't long before he captured my attention. I think
Strakeris probably the most fascinating character I've
ever seen on TV, and I've seen quite a few. My fisrt
TV hero was Roy Rogers (first run). Yikes! I can't
possibly be that old!

> Probably the best written episode is "Confetti Check
> A OK."

So, you should check out my comments on this episode
in archives. I commented on it at the beginning of
December (part 1 is message 21999).

Diorite