Posted by Shado-cabinet on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Contender-for-the-worst-UFO-episode-Confetti-Check-A-OK-tp4023823.html


I have just seen this episode on the DVD Boxset.  I have read on the UFO FAQ that despite initial interest by CBS-syndicated channels to order a second season of UFO they had eventually declined to proceed with it due to the faltering ratings of UFO season-1 towards the end of its broadcast run in the US.  I wonder if this episode contributed significantly towards that decline in US viewership ratings.  The 'Confetti Check-A OK' episode is easily the worst episode of UFO I have seen so far.

I do not know why Gerry Anderson (who I would deem as the UK's answer to both the creative talents of George Lucas & Gene Roddenberry) thought that an entire episode about setting up of an organisation
fused with a Kitchen-sink drama storyline of a troubled marriage (ala 'Coronation Street') would make for brilliant viewing.  Any such background story for the setting up of SHADO could have been told in a few brief flashbacks contained within 'a present day' scenario where SHADO are battling another UFO infiltration etc.
Instead an entire episode is wasted on a prequel storyline with no effects or action etc. Anderson should have remembered that you will always get late latecomers tuning into a series (based on word of mouth of friends etc) and so every episode has to contain the action & excited that is hinted in opening titles of the series (and UFO, along with the Prisoner TV series, has arguably one of the most exciting opening title sequence in TV history). Instead any potential 'newbie' to the UFO series is going to be turned-off by what looks like a depressing 'Kitchen-sink drama' posing as a hip kids TV show.  Also I am pretty sure that the 'Confetti Check A-OK' episode would have also turned-off the UFO series to many of the US viewers that had been following the show up to that point.  

The main problem with the 'Confetti Check A-OK' episode along with the 'Square Triangle' and 'A Question of Priorities' & 'The Long Sleep' (all of whom are vastly superior episodes to 'Confetti') is that they tend to steer the concept of UFO too far from the constraints of Children's TV into the adult domain of soap opera's like 'Coronation Street'. Whilst Anderson can be praised for instilling some adult concepts  into a Children's TV show; with these episodes in question (particularly 'Confetti') he is pushing the envelope far too much to the point that it is making it hard for the TV companies to schedule the program (as the content is far too adult oriented for kids). That is why episodes like 'The Long Sleep' were not shown by TV companies  in some countries because of this content etc. The fact that basically a kids TV show is contains such over-the-top adult themes is going to turn-off (particularly US) parents who in turn will stop their children watching the show.  Anderson should have taken note of other kids TV shows that are very successful with adults (ie: Doctor Who) when producing UFO as this would have helped cement the show in the centre ground of the adult/ kids viewership where it needs to be if it is going to be picked up by US networks for a second season.  

Despite the fact there is no action or excitement in the 'Confetti Check-A OK' the episode is littered with the most preposterous plot holes :

1) Instead of using the newly-built SHADO headquarters itself (or another secured location) Straker decides to chair an important meeting with all SHADO personnel at one of his employees apartments. A wholly unsecure location that can be bugged by anyone. The fact that all the attendees at this meeting are carrying secret SHADO run books & documentation that should never be taken outside of SHADO organisation in the 1st place is another issue (as they could be either lost or stolen)

2) The point is repeated to the viewer throughout the series that SHADO is a super-secret organisation with many layers of security and yet a mere private detective can somehow 'shadow' SHADO and take pictures of Straker going into & leaving this said apartment is completely ridiculous. Someone important like Straker who runs a proposedly secret organisation would have a 24-hour security detail trailing wherever he goes who in-turn would have arrested this private detective on the spot.

3) The conflict between Straker and his wife over his 'secret work which he cannot talk about' simply does not hold water. In reality Straker's wife would have been vetted by the Ministry of Defence prior to him getting the job of SHADO commander where she would have been given a fake cover story to stop her complaining about Straker being away from home (eg. he is helping the MOD with its spy agencies etc). Also her daily routine would be so wrapped around security procedures (ie: security man guarding the house, driving her to the shops etc) that she would get to understand the clandestine nature of his work (and that he is not sleeping around etc).

4) The fact that Ed Straker, a US airforce intelligence Colonel is suddenly a TV & film executive would look really dubious to those people who know him & are related to him that they would all need to be vetted by the MOD and fed a fake cover story (ie that its all front for the MOD etc) to facilitate this scenario to get them to stop talking & spreading rumours which would draw a lot of unnecessary attention.

5) Given the fact that SHADO was going to be a 10-year project to complete anyway you would think that Straker's boss General Henderson would have allowed Straker 2 weeks off to get married etc without dragging him into a load of bureaucratic meetings etc (that's what adjutants are for, and Straker would have one in place anyway to deal with any meetings whilst he was away etc).  Besides there was nothing to stop Henderson from attending these meetings himself instead of Straker. The sight of
 Henderson in a wheelchair as a result of a UFO attack would have definitely gained a lot of sympathy from the UN security council and steered them towards financing SHADO anyway.

And there are many more plot-holes around this episode that I could have gone into more detail (like why didn't Straker get his mother-in-law & the detective arrested by the MOD for breaching national security etc. That would definitely 'hammer home' to his wife the importance & clandestine nature of his work) but I digress as this would take up too much space.  

To sum up UFO is indeed a brilliant show and is definitely Anderson's best work. And is indeed a pity that it did not get picked-up for a second season. But I think it's episodes like 'Confetti Check A-OK' that had really sunk the opportunity for this to happen.  

Does anyone else agree? What do you guys think of this episode?