show's setting in 1980's

Hello,
I am curious as to why the show was set approximately 10 years
in the future (1980) of it's making(1969). I don't remember any
other show with such a short time frame. It seems they could of set
it for the year 2000 or 2010 which I believe would of worked fine?
I asked a cousin of mine who is a huge name in Hollywood and he
could not give me an answer.
Thanks

> I am curious as to why the show was set approximately 10 years
> in the future (1980) of it's making(1969). I don't remember any
> other show with such a short time frame. It seems they could of set
> it for the year 2000 or 2010 which I believe would of worked fine?

It may have been too expensive to set the show 20 or 30 years in the
future. At least when its 10 years in the future, they could use
some 1969 present-day cars, exteriors, etc. and save some money.
Or they could do "flashbacks" to 1970 without building futuristic
stuff.

Marc

All of the following is just my opinion. By the time G and S thought of everything that would go into the show 11 yrs into the future would be plenty of time to come up with the futuristic hardware. It also allowed them to do flashbacks because 10 yrs is not a bad time frame for actors playing themselves. Makeup can hide alot of flaws. When they did Space 1999, it was set 24 yrs in the future. The eagles and Moonbase Alpha should have become reality but technology and budget cuts made sure it would not happen. You have to remember that it took another nuclear war to make the people of earth realise how important life is in that universe. Moonbase Alpha came into being because the leaders of the world made peace and there was a free flow of information to make Alpha a reality.

rwb81118 <[hidden email]> wrote:


Hello,
I am curious as to why the show was set approximately 10 years
in the future (1980) of it's making(1969). I don't remember any
other show with such a short time frame. It seems they could of set
it for the year 2000 or 2010 which I believe would of worked fine?
I asked a cousin of mine who is a huge name in Hollywood and he
could not give me an answer.
Thanks









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Thanks Marc for your input. I wrote the question because I was looking a pic of Strakers car which to me still looks futuristic by today's standards.I also have to say that the submarine and skydiver also look futuristic by today's standards. From a financial point of view of the show (syndication) it would seem they would of based the show after the year 2000. Your "flashback" analysis is excellent.
Thanks,
Mike

Marc Martin <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I am curious as to why the show was set approximately 10 years
> in the future (1980) of it's making(1969). I don't remember any
> other show with such a short time frame. It seems they could of set
> it for the year 2000 or 2010 which I believe would of worked fine?

It may have been too expensive to set the show 20 or 30 years in the
future. At least when its 10 years in the future, they could use
some 1969 present-day cars, exteriors, etc. and save some money.
Or they could do "flashbacks" to 1970 without building futuristic
stuff.

Marc



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Legg - thanks for your input. Your opinion is superb! I like the analogy to space 1999. I still think they could of pushed the series out further inthe future for the reasons I just responded to in another message on the website. However, your analysis is excellent and it makes alot of sense.
Thank you for the input,
Mike

legg bryan <[hidden email]> wrote:

All of the following is just my opinion. By the time G and S thought of everything that would go into the show 11 yrs into the future would be plenty of time to come up with the futuristic hardware. It also allowed them to doflashbacks because 10 yrs is not a bad time frame for actors playing themselves. Makeup can hide alot of flaws. When they did Space 1999, it was set 24 yrs in the future. The eagles and Moonbase Alpha should have become reality but technology and budget cuts made sure it would not happen. You have to remember that it took another nuclear war to make the people of earth realise how important life is in that universe. Moonbase Alpha came into being because the leaders of the world made peace and there was a free flow of information to make Alpha a reality.

rwb81118 wrote:


Hello,
I am curious as to why the show was set approximately 10 years
in the future (1980) of it's making(1969). I don't remember any
other show with such a short time frame. It seems they could of set
it for the year 2000 or 2010 which I believe would of worked fine?
I asked a cousin of mine who is a huge name in Hollywood and he
could not give me an answer.
Thanks









Yahoo! Groups Links










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




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> I wrote the question because I was looking a pic of Strakers car
> which to me still looks futuristic by today's standards.

Yes, but back in 1969, the Anderson's didn't know that the show
would still look futuristic in 2004! They overestimated how
fast many things would change.

On the flipside, look at those banks of computers in SHADO, with
their paper printouts. Those don't look very futuristic in 2004...

Marc

Marc,
You are right that the computer banks with paper printouts would not look futuristic in 2004. However, it was still a government operation so in many peoples mind, it may have fit in today (LOL). I thought the general plot line is so good that someone could make a new ufo series today based on this plot line, and it would be a mega hit.
Mike

Marc Martin <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I wrote the question because I was looking a pic of Strakers car
> which to me still looks futuristic by today's standards.

Yes, but back in 1969, the Anderson's didn't know that the show
would still look futuristic in 2004! They overestimated how
fast many things would change.

On the flipside, look at those banks of computers in SHADO, with
their paper printouts. Those don't look very futuristic in 2004...

Marc



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I thought UFO did great as far as vehicles went. Space 1999 did greatwith Moonbase Alpha and the eagles. In UFO the computers were not futuristic enough because no one knew what computers would be like in 1980. On Space 1999 the computer dispaly was completely unintelligible. Even in Yr 2. Maya still had to read computer cards. I did a close up on the computers display once and it was silly. But I still love both shows and plan to watch them as much as possible. When I was in high school one of my teachers said that to watch science fiction you have to be willing to suspend yourbelief. That is what i do. I love the stories not the technical aspects.  

Marc Martin <[hidden email]> wrote:
> I wrote the question because I was looking a pic of Strakers car
> which to me still looks futuristic by today's standards.

Yes, but back in 1969, the Anderson's didn't know that the show
would still look futuristic in 2004! They overestimated how
fast many things would change.

On the flipside, look at those banks of computers in SHADO, with
their paper printouts. Those don't look very futuristic in 2004...

Marc



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But as I understand it the set of Moonbase Alpha was originally
designed as the Moonbase for a second series of UFO not specifically
for Space 1999 which ws was Anderson came up with as a way of making
use of the set after UFO got cancelled.

Moonbase Alpha looked more like a base that could take on an Alien
invasion far more than the original Moon base in UFO could.

It is quite possible that Moonase Alpha would have been set in the
21st Centurt as there was no reason for the second series of UFo to
jump ahead a few years (to allow new characters into the show)

Martin
>
> legg bryan <bslwrsf@y...> wrote:
>
> All of the following is just my opinion. By the time G and S thought
of everything that would go into the show 11 yrs into the future would
be plenty of time to come up with the futuristic hardware. It also
allowed them to do flashbacks because 10 yrs is not a bad time frame
for actors playing themselves. Makeup can hide alot of flaws. When
they did Space 1999, it was set 24 yrs in the future. The eagles and
Moonbase Alpha should have become reality but technology and budget
cuts made sure it would not happen. You have to remember that it took
another nuclear war to make the people of earth realise how important
life is in that universe. Moonbase Alpha came into being because the
leaders of the world made peace and there was a free flow of
information to make Alpha a reality.