UFO's.

There might not be an infinite source of UFO's
for aliens to use. It could be a case of the aliens having just just a few
craft, which is used from a UFO 'pool', which is then used for mass
'harvesting of supplies'. This would make sense, if all their resources
are supposedly scarce e.g. Food, Fuel etc.

Yes. I could also explain the spasmodic arrival of the UFO's. Maybe it takes
them time to find the resources to assemble them. Or maybe they wait for a
suitable plan to come to light, and then assign a set number of UFO's to
that mission.

Given the vast distances involved, it could be that there is no long
distance contact between the UFO's and their home planet, but that is not to
say that the aliens in their UFO's do not communicate with each other at
short distances involved whilst on a mission, such as tactical information
that would be used in episodes such as 'Reflections in the water'

Best, Griff

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Lazenby [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 3:57 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] UFO's.


There might not be an infinite source of UFO's
for aliens to use. It could be a case of the aliens having just just a few
craft, which is used from a UFO 'pool', which is then used for mass
'harvesting of supplies'. This would make sense, if all their resources
are supposedly scarce e.g. Food, Fuel etc.





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----- Original Message -----
From: "Griff" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 1:09 PM
Subject: RE: [SHADO] UFO's.


> Yes. I could also explain the spasmodic arrival of the UFO's. Maybe it
takes
> them time to find the resources to assemble them. Or maybe they wait for a
> suitable plan to come to light, and then assign a set number of UFO's to
> that mission.
>
> Given the vast distances involved, it could be that there is no long
> distance contact between the UFO's and their home planet, but that is not
to few
> craft, which is used from a UFO 'pool', which is then used for mass
> 'harvesting of supplies'. This would make sense, if all their resources
> are supposedly scarce e.g. Food, Fuel etc.
>
>


----------------------------------------------------------

The long time duration of UFO missions does not jive with almost all of
the story plot lines. Why would the aliens fly for months at a time on such
arduous journeys, only to turn back so easily because some SHADO craft
shoots at it, as is exhibited in so many episodes (ex - "Close Up", for
one). Also, how could the aliens dispatch a UFO on a many month journey to
intercept the SST carrying the utronics equipment in episode 1?

I just don't buy the arguement that they somehow knew about it that many
months ahead of time and dispatched it that early, especially given the long
unpredictable cascade of events that lead SHADO and Straker to cause that
flight to happen on that particular day. It was a total surprise to
everyone....

Dave H.

<snip> The long time duration of UFO missions does not jive with almost all
of the story plot lines. Why would the aliens fly for months at a time on
such arduous journeys, only to turn back so easily because some SHADO craft
shoots at it, as is exhibited in so many episodes (ex - "Close Up", for
one). Also, how could the aliens dispatch a UFO on a many month journey to
intercept the SST carrying the utronics equipment in episode 1?

I just don't buy the arguement that they somehow knew about it that many
months ahead of time and dispatched it that early, especially given the long
unpredictable cascade of events that lead SHADO and Straker to cause that
flight to happen on that particular day. It was a total surprise to
everyone.... <snip>

I know I am in the land of fantasy here, but... I think the Aliens could
have a forward base maybe in the asteroid belt (as I suggested the other
day) It would be a great place to hide-out. And also the current opinion is
that asteroids could be a fantastic source of minerals and other valuable
resources. Also it is not that far from earth, if it's possible for the
aliens to eavesdrop on communications, or use their uncanny telepathy (that
has been hinted at)

Griff

"davrecon" wrote:

> I just don't buy the arguement that they somehow knew about it
> that many months ahead of time and dispatched it that early,
> especially given the long unpredictable cascade of events that
> lead SHADO and Straker to cause that flight to happen on that
> particular day. It was a total surprise to everyone....
>


You're right I think, Dave. The annoying thing is that ALL of
these inconsistencies, logical holes and contradictions could
have been ironed out with more preparation and effort.

Maybe if Gerry Anderson and his scriptwriters had known that
people would be watching UFO and discussing it every day 35
years later, they would have some effort into smoothing out all
the glaring flaws in the ideas and storylines. Or maybe there
was a tight deadline, and they had to write all the scripts in
one afternoon.

I do still love UFO, and in fact that's why the bloody awful
script editing (and one or two other faults which I won't
mention again here) irritate me so much. Never was such a
stylish, exciting, beautifully conceived programme with such a
dramatic premise married to such a shoddy and ill-thought-out
set of scripts and story ideas.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Griff" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 3:12 PM
Subject: RE: [SHADO] UFO's.




> I know I am in the land of fantasy here, but... I think the Aliens could
> have a forward base maybe in the asteroid belt (as I suggested the other
> day) It would be a great place to hide-out. And also the current opinion
is
> that asteroids could be a fantastic source of minerals and other valuable
> resources. Also it is not that far from earth, if it's possible for the
> aliens to eavesdrop on communications, or use their uncanny telepathy
(that
> has been hinted at)
>
> Griff
>
>

-----------------------------------------------------

You just nailed that one right again!

For me to enjoy UFO, I have to suspend belief of some of the
inconsistencies, and "adjust" some of the other points of the program.

One of those is just like you said....the aliens don't just fly in
directly from their home star, instead they operate out of a nearby base,
like Mars, or the popular myth when I was a kid; the tenth planet Planet X
of the time. The UFO's are not necessarily star craft, just shorter range
utility craft to get from the forward base and operate on and around Earth.
They use some other, as of yet, incomprehensible method to get from their
interstellar home.

Or maybe, even better, they are really just a splinter population of
star travelling beings that originated from another star, made a long
one-time, multi-generational journey to get to our solar system, and settled
here on one of the outer planets, and there they now sit, coveting ours.
This last scenario is my favorite, and that is the one I use to justify
UFO and make it all work in my head. It explains the harshness of their
living environment, their industrial and resource managment through their
extremely advanced technology, yet their not using FTL craft. It puts
everything on a much more even footing between us two.

That way, the UFO's are not necessaritly FTL craft, and thus the
interceptors don't have to be to catch them. Also, the primary purpose of
the interceptors is not necessarily to blow up all the inbound UFO's out in
space, but merely to sweep the Moon, and prevent those dastardly aliens from
setting up an even closer forward base of operation right next door on our
Moon.

That way, at least in my own mind, I can make everything make sense -
the ship's speeds become consistant with reason, duty rotations lasting
weeks for the moonbase personnel become logical as moon trips take several
days rather than minutes or hours, and all that sense of romance and long
distance hardships for lunar duty are back in play.

Consider this,
If SHADO and the IAS had such advanced technology to be able to do such
battle with the aliens out in space on their own terms (ie; FTL
interceptors, detection gear, and their rather amazing kill record against
such a superior race) then why do we never get out anywhere past the moon?
These fantastically fast ships we supposedly had would have us out flying to
Mars, and indeed every other planet in our solar system.....

That's just my philosophy and my world of UFO, and it works for me. It
also closes a bunch of those annoying plot holes without having to reach to
rediculous assumptions.

A hardcore canonist might shriek in fury though. Like I said, it's only
my private little world of UFO....

Dave H.

"davrecon" wrote:
> The UFO's are not necessarily star craft, just shorter range
> utility craft to get from the forward base and operate on and
> around Earth. They use some other, as of yet, incomprehensible
> method to get from their interstellar home.

Not to be a hardcore canonist or anything, but - consider the
probe that follows a UFO all the way home in CLOSE UP :)

That probe was built quickly and was not very fast compared to the ufo.
Remember it only had to follow it to its destination. The speed of the ufo was
faster because there was a delay of a few seconds. The probe also had to travel
far enough behind so the ufo's scanners would not pick it up and destroy it.
scott


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

Actualy i agree with you. If you want to go out on a limb, there was supposed
to be a 2nd season of UFO. The Andersons decided to abandon the UFO show and
refurbished the show and called it Space 1999. scott


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

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Gibbon" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: [SHADO] UFO's.


> "davrecon" wrote:
> > The UFO's are not necessarily star craft, just shorter range
> > utility craft to get from the forward base and operate on and
> > around Earth. They use some other, as of yet, incomprehensible
> > method to get from their interstellar home.
>
> Not to be a hardcore canonist or anything, but - consider the
> probe that follows a UFO all the way home in CLOSE UP :)
>

---------------------------------------------------------

Like I said, adjusting the story to account for their bad writing.
I always consider that to be merely going back to their home planet here
in the outer reaches of our own solar system, even though in the show they
say another star. That way the whole probe/FTL thing is eliminated.
Life is easier not being a canonist.... : )

Dave H.

Which brings up an interesting question. Just what kind of sensors do the UFOs use? Considering that they are FTL, you would think that they would have a tendency to look out as far as they could, since you would need time to change course, not to mention room.
The probe itself must have some dam good sensors since it was expected to lock on and track a FTL ship, even if it couldn't keep up with it. I guess it was atomic powered so that they wouldn't have to carry large amounts of fuel or depend on solar power cells.
I still think that they actually got more useful information then they let on in the show. Not all of the intelligence would be visual. They would be loking for radio trafic or other signals as well as making star charts to aid in navagation.
As noted, one only has to dig a little and most of the shows fall apart, some more easier then others, but that is not why we are watching them, is it?
Altho, by the time you have seen it six or seven times...

[hidden email] wrote:
That probe was built quickly and was not very fast compared to the ufo.
Remember it only had to follow it to its destination. The speed of the ufo was
faster because there was a delay of a few seconds. The probe also had to travel
far enough behind so the ufo's scanners would not pick it up and destroy it.
Scott


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

--- In [hidden email], Robert Thomas
<screwedmorethenonce@y...> wrote:
> I guess it was atomic powered so that they wouldn't have to carry
large amounts of fuel or depend on solar power cells.

Hi Robert,

I would guess that the probe would indeed have to be nuclear
powered, as solar powered spacecraft are not used for exploration
past the orbit of Mars. All of NASA's probes to the gas giants have
been nuclear powered.

If I remember that episode correctly. In the end, the probe reaches
the planet, but the camera malfunctions sending back useless
images. To get to the alien planet, this probe would also have to
travel at many times the speed of light. I do like the digital
imaging. I would image that it would have been fabulously expensive
in the late 1960's.

Hugs,
Tasha