Posted by Marc Martin on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Big-O-no-UFO-theme-tp1502050p1502081.html

>I am not new to the list but have been very busy. I suggest you check out
>the following site. Look especially at British Sci-fi and what was Space
>1999 in the begining. Was this really Mr. Andersons original ideal? Can
>anybody add to the story.

I quote from the website:

----
Perhaps the ultimate achievement of British science fiction, Gerry Anderson
wowed audiences with his rival to Star Trek, Space 1999. The road to
production was difficult. Anderson was attempting to get the greenlight on
a second season of UFO, which was far more popular in the United States
than in Europe. The producers at ITC, in London, were no longer interested
in exploring that theme. Initially disappointed, Anderson managed to
negotiate an even larger budget for a new science fiction film series.
Undaunted by the rejection of UFO, Anderson detailed a scenario in which 19
years had passed and SHADO, the secret organization that fought aliens in
UFO, now inhabited an enlarged moonbase, equipped with advanced weaponry
for defending mankind. The new concept also involved launching the moon
away from Earth to directly encounter alien invaders before they neared the
homeworld.

Authors Christopher Penfold and Johnny Byrne hacked apart Anderson's
initial concept, originally called UFO: 1999, much to the dismay of Gerry
and his wife Sylvia who always had a close hand in her husband's projects.
------

There seems to be some liberties taken with the story here, unless this
person has evidence from back in 1973 that nobody else has, and the
interviews with the people involved (Gerry Anderson, Ed Bishop, Christopher
Penfold) are wrong. For example:

* He says UFO was far more popular in the US than in Europe. I can't say
that this was true -- UFO was pretty obscure in the US. Also supposedly
the reason UFO didn't go to a second season was poor ratings in the US.

* He says the producers in London were no longer interested in pursuing
UFO. Again, it wasn't that they weren't interested, as they did go-ahead
the initial work on UFO series 2. They stopped because of low ratings in
the US.

* What's his evidence that Penfold and Byrne "hacked apart" Anderson's
original UFO:1999 concept. They claim the concept was reworked by everyone
after UFO series 2 was cancelled.

* What's his evidence that Gerry and Sylvia were dismayed by what Penfold
and Byrne had supposedly done?

Marc