UFO personalities

Dear Pam,
My son and I were talking about the lack of closeness among the UFO
characters last night, and he said that if TNG had only had one season, we
might have thought the same about it too. Remember how awful the entire
first season was? Patrick Stewart has long said that it was so obvious to
the public because TOS was very closeknit by the time it ended, and here
they were starting out green. So it gave me a better perspective on the UFO
series to compare them. Although where they were headed with their aliens,
I'm rather glad they didn't get a second season. Just too weird for my
liking!

I loved the different personalities of SHADO personnel. They tried to make
them human in the show, and in some cases they did very well. I too wish
the women had been fleshed out a bit more. But when the command team is all
male, what are you going to do? I've noticed as I've been rewatching after
a 25 year lapse that they tried to pair Straker up with nearly every one of
the females on the show at one time or another. It was almost embarrassing
to watch! Perhaps that's why I always saw him as desired by his female
operatives over the years. In the back of my young teenage mind, I must
have caught on to their scheme.

Other things I've noticed as an adult include losing Peter Carlin as the
teen focus and replacing him with Paul Foster. It was a good move, but not
because Peter's character lacked personality. It was just that he's too
quiet and a lot more like Straker than any of the others. With an ensemble
cast like that, you really can't have two people so much alike. And Paul
makes a better foil for Straker's cool demeanor. But I have always thought
that Straker intended Peter to take over SHADO one day.

And I just love Lew! He's so 50's good-looking. The square jaw, the heavy
brow, the whole tall, dark and handsome thing. I always wanted to get to
know him better.

But Alec Freeman has long been one of my favorite characters on the show.
He's so perfect as Straker's conscience! And he gets some of the best
lines. And I enjoy how they make him understand Straker better than anyone
else, but at the same time, never be quite sure what he's doing and why. It
added great depth to both characters to do things that way.

I've been surprised reading some of the fan fiction to find that so many
fans view Jackson as villainous. I never saw him that way. He's just
obsessed with his work--- which is different. And I never felt that he
actively disliked Straker. Although the commander's opinion was never left
in doubt. I would have thought that a man of his intellect would find
Strker fascinating, both as a case study and as a leader. But he's
ambiguous enough on the series that he's open to many interpretations. My
favorite scene with the two of them is at the end of "Court Martial."
Straker's small smile that he gives the doctor is one of the most beautiful
things I've ever seen. And Jackson's laugh after the pen incident is
priceless!

With so many intriguing personalities to work with, it's obvious why the
series has long outlasted its airdates. And I find it very hard to pick a
definitive favorite. Unless it's Straker. But that's only because his
personality overshadows everyone else's (if you'll pardon the pun.)
Yours,
Denise
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