UFO (1971)

What makes it different from others?

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

UFO and the awesome Ed Bishop held me captive on Saturday mornings as a kid... oh and so did the beautiful Gabrielle Drake, too! ;)Just like Star Trek, the stories were great, the drama was real and the effects were rubbish! Just like Star Trek, the actors and everyone else involved took the show seriously which is how it has lasted.It also helped the show by having unspectacular story lines in favor of real characters and good drama. No loose ends tied up to placate the viewers... just a solemn promise of more to come of the same the following week.Amazingly, this show never made it into the Rolling Stone's top 40 Sci-Fi programs... and rubbish like Buffy (which isn't Sci-Fi) did make it in! Which just goes to show that these top lists are either deliberately designed to provoke commentary or they're researched by monkey babies! I suspect the latter.UFO was a fantastic look at the future when the future was fashionable.

1: Send more than one UFO at a time. SHADO has only a few defense vehicles, so they could easily be overwhelmed.2: Don't pass the Moon on your way to Earth. Approach from the opposite side of the planet, where you'll be hundreds of thousands of miles away from those pesky Interceptors.3: Even if you do conquer the Earth, don't touch Moonbase. My wrath will be terrible if you do anything to harm those spectacular purple-wigged silver-suited moon maidens.4: Land somewhere other than England. All SHADO Mobiles are based there, so you'll have plenty of time to act. Try landing in central Asia, as far as possible from Skydiver.5: Appointing me your leader will assure your victory.

Being 11 years old at the time I found myself completing my home work early just to be able to go to my room that had no VCR to catch every episode, now that I own the series life is good. I put together my own version of skydiver and joined the model rocketry club to build my own interceptor.When the TV series with martin l came out i thought my Saturdays would be full but to my dismay it was not to be if only they could of given me one more season or the hint of a possible repeat. every time I saw the century 21 logo my heart skipped only to be greeted with the wrong sound track.hope still lingers in the air for a possible remake for is this not the era of been there done that so let's do it again bigger and hopefully, oh yes hopefully better...

I'm a devoted fan of science-fiction, even if I prefer the intellectual rather than the cheesy stuff: this one - with its hilarious would-be futuristic fashions and gadgetry and the cheap effects - tends to lean towards the latter category, apart from the occasional psychological insight (particularly the contribution of Vladek Sheybal as the space organization's resident doctor), intriguing 'horror' theme or outburst of excitement and suspense...but I warmed up to it after a while and actually found its inherent naivete quite endearing! Given that each episode follows a different plot line, quality is bound to vary but they're all eminently watchable and entertaining (despite some dull patches and a general lack of pace); the series' creators had earlier made sci-fi TV shows involving puppet characters, such as THUNDERBIRDS (1965), but the level of maturity here is clearly higher (if inconsistent).The main characters - Ed Bishop, George Sewell and Michael Billington, supported throughout the series by a respectable array of guest stars - are surprisingly engaging and the score, as redolent of its period as the rest of it(!), is undeniably infectious. Just for the record, I'd name "A Question Of Priorities", "Court Martial", "E.S.P.", "Kill Straker!", "The Cat With Ten Lives", "The Man Who Came Back", "The Psychobombs", "Reflections In The Water", "Timelash" and "Mindbender" among the best episodes - many of which are comparable to what was being done in THE TWILIGHT ZONE series; on the other hand, the weakest would have to be "Flight Path", "Survival", "Ordeal", "The Square Triangle" and "Close Up" - verging from the pedestrian to the overly technical.P.S. The series shared a staggering 11 actors with the sci-fi feature DOPPELGANGER aka JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (1969) - apart from being partly shot on standing sets from that film, not to mention utilizing some of its music cues!; regrettably, I missed out on its sole broadcast (on late-night Italian TV) eons ago...