UFO design from an episode of THE AVENGERS?

Hi all,

One of the new items on the ISOSHADO website is a question
about whether the design for the UFO alien spacecraft actually
came from a design that originally appeared in an episode of
THE AVENGERS (!).

In this YouTube video, take a look at what you see starting
at 3:09 into the video:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdZfaCvsESk

Certainly there are some similarities there...

Marc

thanks for that creepy avengers clip.
yep, it looks like that thingy and a mercury space capsule with a parachute pack, had a lovechild and there is our ufo saucer.
jim

--- On Tue, 6/21/11, Marc Martin <[hidden email]> wrote:


From: Marc Martin <[hidden email]>
Subject: [SHADO] UFO design from an episode of THE AVENGERS?
To: [hidden email]
Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 4:40 PM


 



Hi all,

One of the new items on the ISOSHADO website is a question
about whether the design for the UFO alien spacecraft actually
came from a design that originally appeared in an episode of
THE AVENGERS (!).

In this YouTube video, take a look at what you see starting
at 3:09 into the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdZfaCvsESk

Certainly there are some similarities there...

Marc







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

I wondered which episode it was. I'd say it was a coincidence, especially as there is no mention of a set designer or production designer on the episode's page at IMDb.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0516915/combined

--- In [hidden email], "Marc Martin" <marc@...> wrote:

ITC did tend to recycle a lot of props (and sets and music and...), but I doubt there's a connection in this case.

It might have reasonably had some of the same design folks working on both though, and it also seems feasible that some of the mechanical components could have reincarnated as raw parts to actually make the UFOs spin.

Regardless, ha! That's been one of my most favorite Avengers episodes for decades and I never noticed the connection myself!

HOWEVER, has this Barbra Streisand clip ever come up in discussion here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8cPKZMRJGY

This "Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments" TV special was produced by ITC post-UFO, and some SHADO Moonbase set elements are definitely getting a second life there.

(Most of the rest of the special and its corresponding, fairly avant-garde LP are INSANE, IMO. The special is available as both a single DVD and as part of a boxed set.)

- Michael

--- In [hidden email], "Marc Martin" <marc@...> wrote:

"Michael" <mtoth@...> wrote:
> ITC did tend to recycle a lot of props (and sets and music and...)


The Avengers was not made by ITC but by ABC. It's an easy mistake to make as virtually all UK 35mm-filmed adventure series of the 1960s were made by ITC.
The Avengers (post Honor Blackman) was also made at the (then) ABPC Elstree Studios on an adjoining stage to a sucession of ITC series such as The Saint, Department S and Randal and Hopkirk (Deceased) - although of course not UFO which was shot firstly across the road at MGM Borehamwood, then Pinewood.
As Elstree was then a full-service studio all those productions would have the run of the same prop/scenery stores and backlot. Below the line staff employed by the studio would often work back and forth between the different productions.
Add in the fact that the productions drew from much the same pool of above the line crew and actors then the family resemblance is even more likely.

In the case of this particular Avengers prop I suspect that the resemblance is coincidental or conceivably inspired by an unknown common source.

Regards
John