As I have said before I am re-watching the UFO series (albeit out of the order, with the episodes that I have already seen before being watched first before I move onto those I have not seen etc). I have just watched this episode after the brilliant 'Survival' episode and I am shocked at how both bizzaare & contradictory this episode actually is.
Unfortunately it appears to be the case of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson going all 'fan-boyish' over the fact that they had the prospect of David Tomblin (of 'The Prisoner' fame) to direct an episode that they decided to let him write the script as well. This is a huge mistake as although David Tomblin is genius with regards to his work on the excellent 'The Prisoner' series, he is definitely the wrong person to work on UFO.
I have outlined the main issues I found with the episode below.
1 - THe title of the episode.
-----------------------------
The title 'The Cat with ten lives' is completely wrong for the UFO series (which normally has one-word or abbreviated titles in their episodes like 'ESP', 'Identified' & 'Survival' which emphasize the dramatic effect etc). The title 'The Cat with Ten lives',however, sounds like one used in a typical 'Prisoner' episode eg: 'A town called Harmony', 'The Girl Who was Death', 'The Computer wore menace shoes' - ( BTW that last one was a Simpsons episode-skit on the 'Prisoner' series) which emphasize the ongoing eccentric 'mind-altering' themes of that particular show which is quite out of step with the UFO series
2 - Massive Continuity errors
-----------------------------
It's clear to see the importance of any ongoing TV serial, where there will be guest scriptwriters both coming & going, to have a strict 'series bible' in order to avoid any continuity errors. Unfortunately UFO does not have one and it shows. It seems that David Tomblin had been given free reign to write the script & did so whilst completely ignoring the premise laid out in the very first episode 'Identified'.
I remember reading a STARBURST interview with the producers of the ultra campy 'Buck Rogers in the 25th century' who explained that when the production of a series nears the end of the 1st season, the producers immediately start re-visiting scripts that they had previously rejected in the hope that they can 'spice them up' so that they can be produced (which, according to the producers, is why the last few episodes of 'Buck Rogers' became particularly cheesy & stupid). This is definitely the case with the 'Cat with Ten Lives' which was produced as the 19th episode, and was unfortunately broadcasted as the 4th episode (which really confuses the continuity flow of the series).
It seems that with the 'Cat with ten Lives' episode Tomblin delivered what looks like a reject script for 'Captain Scarlet', with the 'UFO aliens' being reverted to the 'Mysterons'. This completely contradicts everything about Aliens presented to the viewer in both 'Identified' and the subsequent episodes that follow. In 'Identified' we learn that the Aliens are actually humanoid and come from a 'dying planet' (later confirmed in episodes 'ESP' and 'Close Up'). And that the aliens are taking drugs which halt the aging process but as a side-effect has also left them sterile with poor muscular development. We also learn that the atmosphere can be poisonous to those aliens bodies who have long defied the aging process (and that prolonged exposure can lead them to die of old age as shown in 'Identified'). Also as shown in the 'Computer Affair' there are those aliens who are much younger (ie: those who have not yet started taking the age-defying drugs, and thus not needed any organ transplants as yet), and therefore are unaffected by the atmosphere but their alien metabolism cannot tolerate certain 'earth-made' drugs (such as the truth serum which kills the young alien in 'The Computer Affair').
However in Tomblin's script the SHADO Medic Dr Jackson gives a bizzaare theory, based purely on conjecture surrounding an autopsy he made on a single alien body (with a damaged cranium no less!) in which he described as "100% human?" (ie: I think what Jackson was meant to say that it was a body that was 'originally from earth' etc). Nevertheless based on this assertion Jackson theorizes that the aliens are actually 'formless beings' (like the Mysterons),who capture human bodies and implant their minds into them (again just like the Mysterons), and have a 'master agent' similar to 'Captain Black' on earth (again just like the Mysterons except their agent is actually a Siamese cat - WTF?).
This ridiculous plot-point really evokes the premise of 'Captain Scarlet' almost to point that I was expecting the silly 'kettle-drum' music cue to kick-in once Jackson stopped talking.
The entire reason behind Gerry & Sylvia Anderson making UFO (their first'live action' show) was to distance it from all previous Anderson puppet shows (including Captain Scarlet), and not to pay homage to 'Captain Scarlet' like Tomblin's crappy script appears to do. Plus this ridiculous 'theory' made by Jackson about the Aliens origins only throws up the following contradictions that confuse anyone following the series from episode 1 onwards:
Alien contradictions (courtesy of David Tomblin)
[1] - The fact that the alien bodies (along with their UFO ships) wither & die when exposed to earth's atmosphere indicates that they are actually not 'originally from earth'
[2] - The fact that certain Earth-drugs (that are fit for human consumption) actually kills aliens is also an indication of this.
[3] - Why would 'formless' beings give a toss about their home planet actually dying when technically it wouldn't affect them?
[4] - Another theory that Jackson spurts out is that the aliens implant their minds into these 'earth-human' bodies because they don't like travelling through light-speed because they fear 'going senile' (whaaat?). He's making a lot of assumptions based on one autopsy on a damaged alien body!
[5] - If the aliens are 'formless' beings who like to posses 'earth-human' bodies then why are they bothering with capturing other humans and stealing their organs for the purpose of transplantation? That's like a car owner who has an 'old banger' of a Toyota who then proceeds to steal a new Toyota, but instead of driving the new one he just uses it for spare-parts to keep his 'old banger' going! (WTF?)
[6] - Later in the episode when the Aliens capture Lt Regan & his unfortunate wife they do not carry out this 'mind implantation' procedure that Jackson spends so many minutes of screen-time theorizing about. Instead they just 'brainwash' Regan (like they do in other UFO episodes like 'The Long Sleep' and 'Destruction') and make him susceptible to orders from 'Captain Cat'
[7] - If they did perform this so-called 'mind-implantation' operation directly on Regan then they wouldn't have to bother with the cat anyway :)
To avoid all the above plotholes which only serves to confuse the viewers, Jackson should have just theorized from his autopsy that the reason why the UFO pilot was of 'earth origin' is that the Aliens appear to be experimenting with their 'brainwashing' techniques to see if they can mind-control an 'earth abductee' & make them pilot a UFO in order to use them in suicide-runs against the SHADO moonbase.
This makes a lot of sense as we see the aliens making a suicide attack against Moonbase in the beginning of the episode, as well as 'mind-controlling' Regan (through 'Captain Cat') to force him to crash his interceptor into the base near the end. And this also marries up with previous UFO episodes where the Aliens use mind-control on humans to make them act as either spies (such as the female secretary in the 'Destruction' episode), or brainwashing humans to act as assassins (such as Paul Foster in the 'Kill Straker' episode).
Thankfully the UFO novelisations and the excellent UFO comic strip (which appear in the Countdown/ TV Action comic) completely ignore Tomblin's crappy suggestion that the aliens are 'formless entities possessing human bodies', and I sincerely hope that the remaining UFO episodes that were produced after this episode do the same :)
3 - David Tomblin's really eccentric direction & script-writing
---------------------------------------------------------------
Like I said at the beginning of the post David Tomblin is a good director & scriptwriter for serials like 'The Prisoner' with its 'mind-buggering' eccentric premise on paranoia. However his direction on 'Cat with Ten lives' is far too eccentric for a series that is trying to play a balancing of both a straight action-adventure serial for kids, and a drama for adults. By throwing an eccentric director/ scriptwriter like Tomblin into the mix and you have something that's a bit too difficult for both demographics to even understand let alone enjoy. I simply don't think Tomblin has the right kind of directorial chops for UFO (Unlike director Ken Turner who had done an exceptional job on the excellent episode 'Destruction' or Gerry Anderson himself on the episode 'Identified'). I have listed some of these directorial/ script writing absurdities below :
[1] The eccentric mannerisms of Lt Regan (ie: from the way he kisses his own hand before firing a missile, to the campiness he conveys when putting on his helmet & sliding down the chute etc)
[2] The fight scene between Foster and Regan in the moonbase training room seems really campy and 'out of the place' (particular the scene where Foster comically adjusts his wig after the fight)
[3] The scene where Regan & Fosters literally engage in a 'cat fight' where Regan is behaving like a cat by trying to scratch Fosters face (this implies that Regan is being 'mind-controlled' by an actual cat, and not an alien entity that is in possession of a cat's body which is another blatant plot-hole in Tomblin's insane script :).
[4] The whole bizaare 'seance' scene with the hammy acting of both Regan's '100 year-old cousin' & his crazy wife (BTW - what was the point of that whole scene? Were the aliens actually 'pushing the glass'? And who left the Ouija board outside the cousin's house? Was it 'Captain Cat'?)
[5] It seems that there is really lax security in the SHADO organisation where pilots who are meant to be on furlough can simply change their minds & jump on space flights to the Moonbase without anyone even questioning it.
[6] It also seem that pilots who are not on duty can still be let into Moonbase unesorted & allowed to walk around the entire facility (including the interceptor bays which apparently are not guarded either).
[7] Apparently a cat can wander into SHADO HQ without anyone noticing it. And once it is noticed (by the lovely Lt Ayshea no less) no-one seems to panic or question about the obvious breach of security that allowed the cat in, in the 1st place.
[8] The fact that Straker would force a Pilot who is clearly suffering from PTSD back into active service is really 'out-of-character' for the uber-cautious SHADO commander.
[9] The incredible speed of 'Captain Cat'. One minute he is staking out Regan's cousin's house, the next he is about 10 miles down the road waiting for Regan & his wife to drive by. And when Straker unleashes the hounds after 'Captain Cat', the frisky feline seemingly runs 10 miles away from the Harlington-Straker studio before it is caught & killed.
[10] For some reason Lois Maxwell's character (a Harlington & Straker secretary) is wearing a cast without any explanation in one scene near the end of the episode (and I don't recall her wearing one in any of her earlier scenes). Plus in the scene in question both the make-up & lighting briefly make her look like a transvestite for some reason (very androgenous, maybe this was intentionally done by Tomblin as part of his 'mind-buggering' visual traits?)
[11] The sheer look of 'disappointment' on the 3 moonbase girls when they realise that Regan's suicide run was thwarted at the last minute and he crashes away from the base (I know they were meant to look saddened by the death of Regan, but for some reason Tomblin conveys them as looking somewhat disappointed as if they were secretly hoping that Regan would kill them too. Maybe they were all suffering from PTSD as well? :)
4- Barry Gray's awful scoring for the episode.
-----------------------------------------------
I have complained about Gray's work on UFO before but this time his love for the unique 'Hammond organ' sound is pushed to the very limit in this episode. Particularly around the scenes of the cousin's house, including the seance where the organ is literally 'outhammed' by the acting of said cousin & wife.
AND NOW THE GOOD BITS ABOUT THE EPISODE
---------------------------------------
This episode does have an excellent opening with the all-out alien attack on Moonbase. It's a great sequence with the moonbase tanks trying to shoot down the attacking UFOs (certainly the most exciting sci-fi action sequence on either the TV or cinema screen 'pre-Star Wars') with excellent modelling work by Meddings & co. There is also great tension in the scene between Straker & Virginia Lake discussing the desperate tactics of the Aliens in their all-out war to destroy moonbase (unfortunately the mood changes once the scene shifts to Regan's cousins house & the whole crazy Seance shtick).
Other episode highlights include:
[1] Alexis Kanner's performance as LT Regan (Kanner both looks & acts like Irishman Richard Harris that you would think he was possessed by him and not the cat). It is a pity that Regan is killed off in this episode as he would have made an interesting series regular.
[2] The actress playing Regan's unfortunate & tragic wife is very beautiful and gave a wonderful & sympathetic performance.
[3] At last Lt Ayshea manages to speak some lines (other than 'yes sir'/ 'no sir'). And she actually has some scenes where she is progressing the storyline. This was a great moment in both the episode & the UFO series as well (we simply need more scenes of the lovely Lt Ayshea of saying & doing things in UFO).
Unfortunately despite these positives, 'Cat with Ten lives' is the 2nd worst episode of UFO that I have seen so far (narrowly beaten by the abominable 'Confetti Check A-OK' episode which I have spoke at the length on another post). I have a feeling that these 2 episodes ('Cat' and 'Confetti') would have definitely turned-off some viewers from watching UFO. And the fact that the 'Cat' Episode which
was among the last to be produced was actually shown as the 4th episode in the original broadcast run meant that UFO risked losing some viewers way too early in the series.
In my opinion I think Gerry & Sylvia Anderson should have passed on using David Tomblin's as a director/ writer for an episode of UFO :(
BTW - like I said before in other posts I have not seen all the UFO episodes (the ones I have seen are: 'IDENTIFIED, COMPUTER AFFAIR, EXPOSED, A QUESTION OF PRIORITES, THE LONG SLEEP, CONFLICT, PSYCHOBOMBS, DESTRUCTION, THE DALOTEK AFFAIR, ORDEAL, ESP, SURVIVAL, KILL STRAKER, CLOSE-UP, THE SQUARE-TRIANGLE, CAT WITH TEN LIVES, and CONFETTI CHECK A-OK), so please do not post any spoilers for the remaining episodes that I have not seen as yet.