Posted by James Gibbon on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Disappointed-tp1512277p1512295.html

On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:37:29 -0700 (PDT)
Jeffrey Nelson <[hidden email]> wrote:

> But seriously, sorry to hear that you're not enjoying the series 40
> years later. I had the exact opposite reaction when I first bought my
> UFO DVDs.  Being a small boy when it first aired, at the time it was
> all about the hardware and special effects for me (guess it's a "guy"
> thing).

I think I was 10 when I first saw UFO and I was mesmerised by it
like no other TV programme before or since. I can remember glancing
at the clock occasionally, watching those first broadcasts, to see
how much precious episode time was left. Very few programmes have
inspired me to do that, and none since I was 14 or so.

It wasn't just the hardware and special effects, although they were
a big part of it. The secrecy of SHADO and especially the location
under a film studio, the glimpse of 1980 style and technology, ten
years into the future - I found it all spellbinding.

But yes, 16 years or so later when ITV showed the repeats, I confess
I was more than a little disappointed. How did I fail to notice the
crowbarred in plot devices, the incoherent scripts, the dodgy acting?

Still, there's a lot to appreciate when you get over that and I
still get excited watching Sky One launch, or the astronauts jumping
down the launch chutes.

James