On 8 Nov 2020, at 14:02, Shado-cabinet [via SHADO] <<a href="x-msg://6/user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4024051&i=0" target="_top" rel="nofollow" link="external" class="">[hidden email]> wrote:
Hi Hoftstede
Thanks for your reply. Please excuse this late response as I have only just read it.
You are correct it is insinuated that Straker is 'acting out of line' by re-scheduling the SHADAIR flight a day early for his own purposes (although it could be argued that if Straker's son is saved by this intervention then it would ultimately be in SHADO's interests of security as there would be no media attention around the tragic death of a son of a studio boss etc). Although it is important to mention that Straker's secretary (another SHADO operator) is fully aware of Straker utilizing SHADO resources for his own purposes (in that he gets her to order the experimental antibiotics and has them loaded on the SHADAIR jet), and the fact that she does not seem to object or question Straker's actions indicates that it is not really a serious breach of SHADO's regulations and that it would not carry any serious consequences. We can see this in the 'IDENTIFIED' episode where a SHADO operator (Matthew Ford) placed a SHADAIR flight (carrying experimental equipment) in jeopardy of a UFO attack by not using the normal security procedures when amending the fueling schedule of the flight, and he did not get reprimanded or court-martialled for this monumental 'cock-up' etc.
However the problem that (due to a continuity error) in an earlier scene Freeman is over-listening when Straker is asking Matthew Ford (SHADO operator) for an update on the SHADAIR flight that he had previously re-scheduled (and it is interesting to point out that this before SHADO is even aware of an alien tourist sightseeing in County Galway which would make Straker's re-scheduling of the flight somewhat dubious & questionable in the eyes of the SHADO operators & Freeman ). And then in a later scene Freeman acts totally surprised when he learns from Ford that there is 'suddenly' a SHADAIR flight that Straker had mysteriously re-scheduled, which Freeman commandeers it without asking Straker first (which is a bit strange for the Chief of SHADO Security not to do so, especially without finding out why Straker had re-scheduled the flight in the 1st place).
Then another continuity error occurs once the SHADAIR flight drops off the mobiles in Ireland in that is never mentioned again in the episode (despite it taking only 20-30 minutes or so for this hypersonic jet to get from Galway to London etc). But as I said before the problem with this episode is that its goal is to have Straker's son tragically die for dramatic effect, which is why the whole episode is littered with plot-holes, continuity errors, major characters acting 'out-of-character' to execute this plot-device etc.
BTW - thanks for the story about the studio boss saving the life of an employee's child. It does sound like it was a direct inspiration for this episode. I only wish Anderson & co imitated the outcome of this 'true-life incident' in the script for this episode by having Straker's son saved in the last minute by the arrival of the antibiotics etc :)
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