Why was Henderson so anti?

He was the driving force behind SHADO. He helped Straker make it. Was
it just his job at the International Astrophysical Commission that
drove him? Ass keeping? BTW I worked for many years at St Pauls and
used to park my car at the IAC building. As memory serves me it used
to belong to British Gas. It was awful slum in in its last years.

in the flash back sequence in Confetti check a-ok, which just took place
right after the car accident in Identified, Henderson was confined to a
wheel chair and could not be in charge of Shadow, but told Straker that he
will be in control of the purse strings.

Bruce
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Braybrooke" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 7:46 PM
Subject: [SHADO] Why was Henderson so anti?

I always had the impression it was Henderson's baby...until the accident. He
recruited Straker to help him make it happen. Then after the accident he had
to hand it off to Straker....am I confused? That would account for some
resentment later it Henderson figures it should have been his....etc.

Mary

-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Braybrooke [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 16:47
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] Why was Henderson so anti?

He was the driving force behind SHADO. He helped Straker make it. Was
it just his job at the International Astrophysical Commission that
drove him? Ass keeping? BTW I worked for many years at St Pauls and
used to park my car at the IAC building. As memory serves me it used
to belong to British Gas. It was awful slum in in its last years.



 

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Maybe he just needed more fiber in his diet.

I think Henderson was a "do it within means" sort of
person, and therefore the wrong choice to head SHADO.
Straker is a "give it to me and damn the cost" and
SHADO is a complete success. Henderson would never
consider asking for millions of dollars to clear
"space junk" or something. He would have lived with
the junk and upgraded the toilets on moonbase. He's a
bottom line loving accountant, who's thinking purley
in Earthbound terms. Straker is a forward thinking
realist, a budget-buster who knows first hand the
threat of UFO attacks.

So, Henderson is probably against Straker because Ed
is not running SHADO the way HENDERSON would run it.
Meanwhile, Straker is pissed at the general's
shortsightedness.

Or maybe he just has cramps.

Scott

And, yes, he's a bitter, stinky old man who's pissed
he was sidelined.

You'd think though, since he was hurt by aliens, he'd
be all for spending whatever he needs to in order to
rid us of them. Unless Henderson is under orders to be
cheap.

Hmmm...

Scott


--- Scott McIntyre <[hidden email]> wrote:

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I don't understand why there was any debate about it at all. You are starting out on a long- as in life time long- project, so why would Henderson even be in the running for Command of SHADO, which is after all a front line unit.
Generals who command from the front usually don't last long as Stone wall Jackson found out. The stress of day to day opperations would have killed Henderson with in a year, especially given that he never really seemed to recover mentally from the UFO attack.
I always thought of Henderson as one of those who do good in the rear areas, but as was demostrated in Conflict and several other shows where he stuck his nose in, are disaters waiting to happen, on the front line.

Bruce Sherman <[hidden email]> wrote:
in the flash back sequence in Confetti check a-ok, which just took place
right after the car accident in Identified, Henderson was confined to a
wheel chair and could not be in charge of Shadow, but told Straker that he
will be in control of the purse strings.

Bruce
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Braybrooke"
To:
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 7:46 PM
Subject: [SHADO] Why was Henderson so anti?







Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 



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

Mary, I think yours is the best explanation for Henderson's nastiness, but
in the end I suspect his attitude was a glitch in the lack of continuity
between scriptwriters - I've complained about this before....Pam

> I always had the impression it was Henderson's baby...until the accident. He
> recruited Straker to help him make it happen. Then after the accident he had
> to hand it off to Straker....am I confused? That would account for some
> resentment later it Henderson figures it should have been his....etc.

Really? You don't think my lack of fiber excuse is
good enough? Maybe he's just "irregular". :)

Scott



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----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott McIntyre" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 11:02 AM
Subject: RE: [SHADO] Why was Henderson so anti?


Frankly, I think that Hendersons plight is merely the result of piss
poor story writing and missmanagment of the characters. People have seen his
character as it appears on the screen and start attributing total
incompetence and uselessness to him, thus making him an irrational addition
to the SHADO storyline, much like Mary has become.
Do you really think that Henderson, as you stigmatize him, is proper as
the head of a super sensitive and important organization as SHADO....any
more than Mary, as you stygmatize her, makes sense as having been chosen for
a wife by a level headed man like Straker?
It was just piss poor writing that made his character look so
rediculous.....and Mary has been so misinterpreted by
members of this group.... I hate to mention the "J" word....
I prefer to think of Henderson as a gruff curmudgeon, who dispite his
rough edges, was a devastatingly effective leader, and it just never came
across on the screen. After all, he managed to keep SHADO staffed, funded,
and equipped all those years on the sly, even with all of it's outrageous
expenses!
Frankly, the writers needed to find another character to serve as the
irrational antihero of the series. Henderson in that role just doesn't make
sense. A dysfunctonal team of such buffoonery like Henderson and Straker (as
it came across on the sceen) simply couldn't operate and keep quiet such an
organization as SHADO.

I now await the hail of shoes....

Dave H.

Henderson, in all reality, was the bureaucrat
character Straker needed to butt heads with. None of
this would be an issure if they put someone else other
than Henderson in the origins of SHADO. He SHOULD have
been supportive, considering his backstory and there
was never a consistant tone with him. So, yeah, it's
the lack of continuity that ruined him. But, he sure
was a great verbal fighter and his arguments with
Straker were great.

Mary, on the other hand, to me comes off okay. Her
husband (Straker) says NOTHING about his absences,
doesn't even come up witha decent cover story. She
then has a fight with him and falls down the stairs.
Later, her mysterious husband promises help when their
son is hospitalized, but he fails to come through. The
boy dies because of his inaction. She should hate him
and does. This is all from her POV and I see nothing
wrong with the way she is portrayed. Hell, the
government should have made Mary a SHADO operative.
That would have saved them all a lot of headaches.

Scott

I just set up a new forum for Gerry Anderson fans that includes
messageboards for all of his shows as well as boards for modelers,
fanfic writers, and news. It's located at:
http://fabgearusa.com/message_board.html
Please take a look and let me know what you think. I like the email
lists, but the message board format is fun too. I paid for the space, so
you won't get any annoying pop-up ads. Please register and post! Please
feel free to forward this message to any other Gerry Anderson email
lists or newsgroups you belong to as well.
Thanks
Anthony

> messageboards for all of his shows as
> well as boards for modelers,
> fanfic writers, and news. It's located at:
> http://fabgearusa.com/message_board.html

Thanks, Anthony!

BTW, there are great shots of a Skydiver modell at:
http://www.culttvman.com/kyu-woong_lee_s_ufo_skydiver.html

(Click on the images to enlarge)

Christian