Posted by
zerg harry on
Oct 19, 2007; 7:51am
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Conflict-tp1510316p1510359.html
Ed Straker, and SHADO and the Aliens are highly ambiguous, often presented in different aspects by different writers and directors, and there is a lot of implication about what is not said. I'd say a lot more can be read into UFO than most series on TV.
A case in point: in "Court Martial", Foster raises the question "why would Straker have a display...behind his desk?" since he doesn't exactly display an "artistic temperament" and then breaks through it to reveal a hidden escape exit. Foster hints that the motivation for Straker having this exit is "self-preservation".
What do you deduce from that then? To me it says that Straker is a man who is well-aware of his enemies and lives in fear of attack from within his very office and has made secret preparations to escape should that day ever come. It talks volumes about his character.
There are other incidents in other episodes which correlate to this scene. The hidden chamber with the rocket launcher Straker reveals in Timelash and Ginny Lake's comment "you've kept very quiet about this" and Straker's response "it's that only bl**dy-mindedness". This suggests he is determined to survive and to fight back as well, to such a degree that he's planned far ahead. But he hasn't entrusted anyone else, not even his closest associates, with the information. Does he also suspect the alien ability to brainwash or control his friends, the potential to turn them against him? Did he suspect this as far back as the events of Confetti Check A-OK?
A huge part of UFO's appeal for me is the way small aspects of Straker's character, the nature of the aliens and the nature of the SHADO organisation seem to fit together like pieces of an intellectual jigsaw puzzle to form a deeper, more intricate picture over the course of the series.
The other thing which appeals to me is the way that the costumes, props, hairstyles, cars, model work, etc, all add up to make the "world" in which UFO takes place a unique one that you cannot see in any other series. Even the dullest, most mundane episode is worth it for me because it still takes place in that exotic alternative reality of a groovy high-tech 1980s that never was.
Z.
Hello:
I've been reading these posts for a while. I was too a
fan of this very short lived show as well.
Does anyone else think that all of this talk about one
or two of only 26 episodes, 35 years after they aired,
may constitute wildly over-analyzing the situation?
What I mean is, this show is pretty straightforward.
Trying to discern minor subtle personality differences
between characters that even the writers of the show
could not have possibly fathomed is a little absurd,
is it not?
I can see how fans of some show such as "Dark Shadows"
with 1200+ episodes can glean little things out that
others may not know, but I can't see that with UFO.
In short, I think you folks are just looking for
things that are simply not there.
Sue in Maine
--- docmed03 <
[hidden email]> wrote:
> --- In
[hidden email], zerg harry
> <zergharry@...> wrote:
> >
> > If we look outside "Conflict", Henderson states in
> Confetti
> Check "I'll be holding the purse-strings" and in
> "Kill Straker" he
> entertains the idea that "Straker has become
> mentally-obsessed with
> his command and has to be removed" and in
> "Destruction" warns
> Straker that he is "getting too suspicious...it's
> almost a complex"
> and in Conflict he assumes Straker's disobedience is
> due to "a
> mental abberration, the strain of command". I'd say
> that Henderson
> is always watchful for any hint that Straker is not
> reliable or
> mentally stable and if his new role is to "hold the
> purse-strings",
> he is simply forcing Straker to provide proof and
> justification that
> more money is needed.
> But to me, the conflict ends when Straker says "If
> only you hadn't
> been so positive that you were right" and Henderson
> replies "Like
> you?" There is a subtle, almost imperceptable nod
> from Straker, I
> think, and then he says "I'll walk you to your car".
> This final line
> means "conflict over" to me, it's Straker's
> admission that Henderson
> was just doing his job too, and I think it's Straker
> offering the
> olive branch to him. Two men both trying to do
> what's right. That's
> how I always see it.
> >
> > Z.
>
> It would seem that, as you say, conflict is over,
> because in
> Timelash, Henderson describes Straker as SHADO's
> most valuable
> commodity. I can't remember the exact term he used,
> so am trusting
> to memory for the gist of it.
>
>
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