Posted by Dave T on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/questions-about-A-Question-Of-Priorities-tp1512790.html

I just watched A Question Of Priorities again. It is a very powerful episode, and it shows part of the huge personal Ed has paid in order to protect humankind at the helm of SHADO. (Great acting by Ed Bishop in this show.) My 9-year-old son really likes UFO, but I won't let him watch this episode until he's older.

A few nitpicky questions come to mind, though. I'm not dissing the episode - as said, I think it's one of the best. But some things abou the plot make me wonder...

Others have suggested the obvious: Why doesn't Ed simply tell Alec why he ordered the transporter to fly to London?

Also:

Why don't they have mobiles in the UK that they can send to Ireland? After all, virtually all of the UFOs that land go to England (if I recall correctly, this is only one of three episodes where they go anywhere other than southern England (the others being Computer Affair (northern Canada) and Destruction (South Atlantic) - ok, Reflections In The Water is in the north Atlantic, but it's near the Cornwall coast). If that's the case, there should be mobiles permanently stationed in the UK.

Is it really that difficult to find the exact location of the alien? Mrs. O'Connor's house appears to be right at the shore. The wreckage of the UFO is 100 yards offshore, and SkyDiver is right next to the wreckage. Can't it surface to try to locate the source of the transmission?

Even if the transporter has to land in Ireland, can't Ed send another aircraft to Ireland to pick up the drug there?

The doctor told Ed the drug has been tested. But has it been approved for use in Britain by its counterpart of the FDA?

Would it be a conflict of interest for a SHADO staff person (even if it is Straker) to use a SHADO plane for personal purposes?

If Mary reall doesn't know that Ed is still doing something related to the military (after all, Ed used to be in Air Force Intelligence, and she was a secretary at the Ministry of Defence; how hard would it be to figure out Ed's job at the studio is a cover for *something*?), how could she realistically expect a movie studio CEO to be able to get a drug from across the ocean sent by supersonic transport in just a few hours?

Why doesn't Rutland get off his sorry butt and use his navy connections to get the drug shipped over?

Wouldn't it be better to have helicopters rather than mobiles? Or those cool VTOL aircraft that they showed in Ordeal?

I know I shouldn't deconstruct episodes to this extent, but that's what nitpickers do.

Nonetheless, it's one of my faves.

Dave T in Canada














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