Views on 'Court Martial'

--- In [hidden email], "Kevin" <spiffer@...> wrote:

>Regarding Sarah's notes on Court Martial:

>Having only recently joined the group I have already come to look
>forward to your comments and analysis Sarah. You are always very
>thorough in your observations.

Thank you :-) I'm a relative `newbie' myself so am taking the
opportunity to give my (very humble) opinion on UFO and it's nice
when people reply and give their own views. If you search the
archives, you'll find lots of *really* interesting comments and
observations on each episode that list members have posted in the
past; something to do on a `rainy day', maybe? :-D


>I guess you must record the ITV4 showings and watch them
>simultaneously alongside the DVDs. However you do it, it's very
>impressive.

Correct – it means I don't have to look at ITV 4's appalling prints
but lipsynch the soundtrack – the moment there's an edit it's
obvious :-)


>There are many other episodes of UFO that show us the military side
>of the SHADO organization and the double lives that the SHADO
>personnel have to lead.

I agree – I just felt on watching it again that these aspects
were `centre-stage' to the story, more so than any other episode.  
The only other one with a security problem associated with the
studio cover was `Responsibility Seat', which was, of course,
telling a very different story ;-D


>However all TV series have there lemons and for me Court Martial
>fits firmly into that category. I think we will have to agree to
>disagree on this one Sarah ;-D

No problem :-)  

Well, it's `different' – and maybe this is one of the reasons why I
love the series. It isn't always about defending Earth from those
enigmatic, apparently hostile aliens week after week. Episodes
like `Exposed';`Court Martial';`AQOP';`CCA-OK'and to a certain
extent `Responsibility Seat' focus inwards on problems that SHADO
faces due to the secrecy under which it operates, that is just as
much of an `enemy' in their lives.

I'm genuinely enjoying watching this re-run, including episodes
like 'Court Martial' that I've tended to overlook in the past, being
pleasantly surprised that these have redeeming qualities that I'd
either forgotten, or never realized before. Maybe my viewpoint has
changed over time – something to do with my getting older - or
possibly wiser? Certainly more forgiving ;-)



Sarah

--- In [hidden email], "moonbasegirl" <shaded2cinders@...>
wrote:
>
> If you search the
> archives, you'll find lots of *really* interesting comments and
> observations on each episode that list members have posted in the
> past; something to do on a `rainy day', maybe? :-D
>

Well we did have some rain yesterday and quite a bit more today; so I
spent far too much time going over your comments on the episodes that
were shown before I joined the group. There's a lot of good stuff
there... Made me want to watch them all over again!
I wish I had found the group earlier as I would have liked to have
thrown in my two-penneth' on some of the earlier topics.


> >I guess you must record the ITV4 showings and watch them
> >simultaneously alongside the DVDs. However you do it, it's very
> >impressive.
>
> Correct – it means I don't have to look at ITV 4's appalling prints
> but lipsynch the soundtrack – the moment there's an edit it's
> obvious :-)
>

So you watch the picture from the DVD and listen to the lip-synched
soundtrack from the ITV4 recording... That's a neat trick.

I tried doing this live yesterday with Computer Affair. It works
really well, though I imagine it must be much easier to get them back
in synch following an edit if you are watching two recordings rather
than one recording and a live broadcast.
The cuts leap right out at you don't they? I will leave it to you
Sarah to report them though. I feel that I would be intruding on your
territory if I were to point them out first, and you do it so much
better than I could anyway.

Computer Affair is one of those episodes that I have seen fewer times
than many of the others. This is due to it being witheld from the
1990s Polygram Video releases. I think that, until I pursuaded a
friend to record it from the Bravo showings, I hadn't seen it since
the original broadcast in 1970 or perhaps one of the very early re-
runs. That was in the days before we had a colour TV set.

I like this one. It has plenty of effects content and some good human
interest issues too. A good all rounder. I will watch it through
again in the next few days then perhaps post some further comments.

I have rambled on for long enough now so it's over to you Sarah.
Or perhaps someone else has something to say on the subject.