Cult TV Episode Guides

       U.F.O

2. EXPOSED
Colonel Paul Foster is a test pilot whose aircraft is accidentally caught up in a battle between an Unidentified Flying Object and a SHADO rocket. Foster's plane is shot down and his co-pilot is killed. When he comes round in hospital nobody will believe his fanciful story of what he saw. Until he is made an offer that he cannot refuse, namely an invitation to join SHADO and donate his skills or, quite simply, death.
 

 

 

3. FLIGHT PATH
Paul Roper is a SHADO technician with a pretty, younger wife and aliens have threatened to kill her unless he passes on to them cryptic computer co-ordinates, the possession of which will allow them to make an undetected attack on the Moonbase. Colonel Freeman discovers what Roper has been doing and Roper asks for the opportunity to make amends by undertaking a dangerous mission to the Moon to stop the attack

4. CONFLICT
Lunar Module 32 is destroyed when a limpet craft operated by the aliens attaches itself to its side and causes it to enter Earth orbit at too steep an angle, by which it burns up in the atmosphere. The craft had been hiding behind space debris. Straker wishes to launch a program to clean up all space debris believing it could be used by UFOs. However, General James Henderson believes such a program will cost too much and believes SHADO as a separate entity should be disbanded.
 

5. THE SQUARE TRIANGLE
Liz Newton and her lover Cass are planning the murder of Liz's husband Jack. A UFO craft lands near to her remote woodland cottage and an alien gets out to explore the surroundings. The murder plot goes wrong as the alien gets in the way. SHADO become involved in a moral dilemma.

6. THE DALOTEK AFFAIR
A meteorite lands on the Moon following an abortive UFO attack and the Moonbase's video and radio links with SHADO fail. Foster suspects that Dalotek, a private mining company with a nearby base whose operations are opposed by Straker, may have accidentally been using the SHADO frequency. A further blackout causing a fatal crash of a SHADO vehicle brings Dalotek into SHADO's line of fire.
 

 

 

7. CONFETTI CHECK AOK
When the wife of a SHADO officer, Lieutenant Grey, gives birth, Straker's put in mind of events from a decade earlier, when he was still with his wife Mary. Having recently established SHADO, the responsibility and degree of commitment put a heavy strain on the marriage. Mary saw him visiting another woman but it was professional, not sexual, and due to the secret nature of SHADO, he was unable to tell her the truth without jeopardising the organisation

8. ESP
John Croxley is a man with Extra Sensory Perception, which enables him to read the minds of other people, although he regards it as a curse and has sought medical aid. One day, following a dog-fight with a UFO craft, The UFO crashes into and destroys Croxley's house, at the same time causing the death of Croxley's wife. Holding Foster responsible for his bereavement, Croxley uses his powers to read Foster's mind and find out all about SHADO, which he intends to destroy.

 

 

On 11/03/2024 at 14:04, HawkMan said:

1990 is a very disturbing series,  it's gives me an uneasy feeling seeing Britain portrayed as a fascist state with a very casually nasty "antagonists " up against Woodward's heroic Kyle. Previous NHS institutes turned into brainwashing and torture centres, secret police driving people to suicide. I started shouting at the screen at the bas tards of the PCD when I first watched it, it got me hooked.

That could be a variation on the "too close to the bone" drama ethic. You're deeply personally invested. Watching familiar surroundings turn dystopian, you can start to see civilisation as a veneer.

Think it's generally accepted in Sci-Fi/Fantasy that storylines where aliens colonize earth are more unsettling than those where earthlings travel to other worlds. The latter scenarios are leavened by an element of distant escapism.

I was never much of a Doctor Who fan, but did catch some episodes as a young child. Always found it profoundly disturbing if anything nasty got into the Tardis. Felt like being burgled.

9. SURVIVAL
An  astronaut is killed following an attack by a lone alien firing his gun into Moonbase. Colonel Foster leads a search party to track down the alien and his craft. The UFO takes off but crashes and Foster is assumed dead , killed in the explosion so there is no search party. Then Foster realises,  seeing tracks in the lunar dust, he isn't the only one stranded on the surface.

10. THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
Craig Collins returns after his craft crash-landed in a jungle . Two whole months of his travels are unaccounted for, but he has become much rougher, stronger and sharper, though only Colonel John Grey seems to find any cause for concern and nobody else takes his views seriously. 

However Collins has changed and Dr Jackson surmises alien brainwashing and Collins is on a deadly mission.....for the aliens.

 

 

Hello, we've seamlessly moved on to UFO.

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10 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

Hello, we've seamlessly moved on to UFO.

Post some pictures of Ayshea!

11. A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
Straker's son John lives with Straker's ex-wife Mary, who has re-married. Straker is having a day out with the boy, John, but it ends in an argument with Mary and John is run over and seriously hurt. Drugs can be obtained to save him in America and a SHADO craft is sent to fetch them. However, Straker gets an alert call to say that an alien defector who could help SHADO is in the range of the SHADO craft.

Aliens or his son, which is more important?

12. THE SOUND OF SILENCE
An alien craft lands in woodland near the home of horseman Russell Stone. When Stone goes missing suspicion initially falls on Ben Culley, a tramp with whom Stone had recently argued over trespassing on his property. However, Culley is found dead and it seems likely that the alien who killed him has captured Stone.The trail leads to a nearby lake where it seems likely that the alien is hiding.

 

   

13. SUB-SMASH
After an underwater UFO has attacked and sunk a freight ship in the ocean, Straker, Foster and SHADO lieutenant Nina Barry join a submarine crew to find out what they can. However, they too are attacked by the UFO's vessel and, as a result, their submarine is grounded on a ledge. Straker has to overcome his claustrophobia in order to work out an escape plan.

14. COURT MARTIAL
When Straker complains to Henderson that his phone has been tapped he is told that it is to trap a spy within SHADO, who has recently leaked information to the press. When a second leak occurs, evidence points to Foster, who is court-martialled and sentenced to death. Unconvinced of Foster's guilt, Straker discovers that somebody had bugged Foster's flat to frame him and sets out to discover who it is. At the same time Foster escapes and Henderson gives orders for him to be shot on sight
 

  

 

15. DESTRUCTION
Aliens attempt to destroy a naval ship dumping toxic waste into the ocean but their craft is shot down. Straker is surprised to read the news of the incident as it was not a SHADO operation, and goes to see Admiral Sheringham at the Admiralty. Sheringham is not co-operative and Straker suspects a cover-up. He sends Foster to see if he can get more information from Sarah, the Admiral's secretary.

16. ORDEAL
Following a wild night out with a girl called Sylvia, Foster is receiving a refreshing sauna bath at the SHADO health farm. 

Aliens attack it, Foster kidnapped and ends up in a UFO,in an alien spacesuit. Straker has to decide whether to attack the UFO as it takes off, killing Foster quick and clean or let it go back to the Alien's world where God knows what awaits.

 

 

17. COMPUTER AFFAIR
Three Interceptors are sent to frustrate a UFO attack but one collides with the UFO, killing the pilot, Ken Matthews. Lieutenant Gay Ellis was giving the pilots their instructions and Straker suspects she sacrificed Matthews to spare another pilot, Mark Bradley, her apparent lover. Psychological tests on Gay and Mark, as processed by a computer, confirm that they are in love but both deny it. When an alien lands on Earth, Gay sends Mark to capture it, to prove that she is impartial and prepared to risk his life. SHADO number 2 Alec Freeman thinks Straker has mishandled this and resigns.

18. THE RESPONSIBILITY SEAT
Freelance journalist Jo Fraser comes to Straker's office, looking for a story but she plants a bug and absconds with the tape she has made of his conversations, having creamed him with a vase. He pursues and catches up with her ,taking her on a date and leaving Freeman in 'the responsibility chair' to make all the decisions. When a Russian mining company's vehicle runs amok on the moon and threatens the SHADO Moonbase it is down to Foster to save the day for Freeman
 

 

 

 

19. REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER
Following the sinking of a freighter ship and the death of an underwater cameraman, Straker and Foster take the submarine 'Skydiver' to examine the ocean bed. They come across a vast domed building and, from a distance, think they see SHADO Lieutenant Anderson in the dome. Back at headquarters Straker interviews Anderson, who claims to know nothing of the dome. What is inside the mysterious dome? Straker and Foster find a way in and discover the  surprising contents.

20. THE CAT WITH TEN LIVES
SHADO pilot Jim Reagan is on leave and whilst driving down a country road with his wife at night, he sees a Siamese cat blocking his way. When he gets out to tend to the cat, he is rushed by aliens who abduct him and operate upon him. As a consequence, when he is returned to Earth he is totally under the influence of the cat and its commands - and the cat is at SHADO headquarters.

(With, a beautiful cat and Miss Moneypenny)

 

 

 

21. CLOSE UP
Straker and the SHADO team are invited to sit in on the test for an immensely powerful new telescope as it takes the first known photographs of alien homeland. The photos are indeed taken but what will they reveal and will they have been worth it?

22.  THE PSYCHOBOMBS
A trio of innocent civilians, Linda Simmonds, Clem Mason and Daniel Clark are captured by aliens using a hypnotic signal and imbued with superhuman powers. Straker encounters Clark, who overpowers him and leaves him unconscious. When he comes round, Straker is given an ultimatum by the aliens. Unless SHADO ceases its operations, the trio will be sent in as suicide bombers to destroy it.

 

 

 

23. MINDBENDER
Lieutenant Andy Conroy is investigating a crash involving an alien craft on the Moon when he suddenly gets caught up in a Wild west type shoot-out with Mexican brigands. Back at the SHADO's earthly base another officer, Beaver James, gets involved in another shoot-out, this time with aliens. Then a voice shouts "Cut!" and the whole is seen to be a film being made at the studios telling the story of Straker's life. So what's real and what's imagined?

 

 

24. KILL STRAKER
Paul Foster and his co-pilot Frank Craig are attacked by a UFO which infiltrates their minds and hypnotises them into wanting to kill Straker. Straker actually saves their lives when their craft is about to be destroyed, but, on their return to SHADO, Craig makes an attempt on Straker's life whilst Foster seeks to discredit him.
 

 

 

 

25. TIMELASH
Cmdr Ed Straker and Col Virginia Lake disappear and are discovered unconscious near the dead body of a Shado operative (Turner). Col Foster and co. try to understand what has happened. Straker picks up Lake at night, and as the pair drive they observe a UFO, which is following them, The UFO starts to attack them, and they radio for assistance, but are unable to contact SHADO HQ, and they drive off the road, under a tree, and when Straker says 'freeze', they're hit with some beam. When they arrive back at the studio gate, it's mid-day, with a bright sun, and they discover the base and surrounding area are frozen in time and space. They move through the base, they see everyone frozen, including all the equipment, and a bird in mid-air. Straker observes and tries to move a stool fixed in mid-air, which he hits with a stick (they are able to pick up and manipulate the stick). At this point he realises there are inconsistencies in what exactly is frozen (they are also able to use a lift) and surmises it is all part of an Alien plot. In the lot they come across one person who isn't affected; Turner, who has become an Alien accomplice. He tells Straker of the powers they have given him and a device he's planted in the base disabling SHADO HQ. A UFO is now hovering around the base and as Turner is able to go back and forth in time at will, stopping what's happening is going to be difficult.

26. THE LONG SLEEP
Ten years earlier Straker accidentally knocked Catherine Frazer down in his car as she was running away from something which frightened her and she has been unconscious ever since. Now Catherine awakes from her coma and explains that she and a boy named Tim whom she had not long met went to a derelict farm-house to take recreational drugs. There they saw two aliens planting a bomb. The couple ran off - Catherine into the path of Straker's car, Tim, she understood to have fallen off a roof and died. However, he was taken by the aliens who took him over and is now back, looking no older than he did ten years ago and about to set off the bomb.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNT WATCHING UFO

U.F.O. is regarded as one of the greatest Sci Fi shows, but it sure does have its goofy moments. For a show to have such a high reputation and this many " eh what?!" moments, it's stories, concepts etc must be brilliant, YES IT IS. I love it , but I have learnt some bizarre things watching this amazingly brilliant series.

1. When a UFO crashes into a house, cats inside run away, humans inside gawp out of the window.
2. Drug parties of the future will still have Beatles music playing, and party goers dressing 60's style.

3. The best way for a secret organisation to remain hidden is to splash their name and logo on the side of their vehicles.

4. Females are hired by secret organisations so that senior male officers can ogle them.

5.Siamese cats are enigmatic and different because they are vehicles for alien intelligences.

6. If you are a school kid able to guess the content of other kid's sandwiches, watch out!, aliens billions of miles away can detect it and use you forty years later.
7. Alien craft used to attack Earth don't develop radar, you can follow them home and not get detected.
8. At a magnification of x2,155 polystyrene looks like lava flow, pollen grain a futuristic building and puffed wheat a rock formation ( this might be genuinely true)
9. Film studio executives can threaten to destroy someone's ear drum with an acoustic gun with no comebacks.
10. Multi million dollar film studios are really keen to make boring films about Cornish fishermen.
11. Invading aliens play fair, they send a maximum of three attacking craft because that's all Earth's got to defend itself.

12. High-tech cameras using electrons instead of light have a mind of their own, can override their specifications and take photos using any range or magnification without recording what the magnification actually is , thus making all photos useless.
13. The best defence if an alien craft attacks a moon installation at sunrise is one bloke on the surface with a mortar.
14.Men in secret organisations wear sensible uniforms, women wear figure hugging fishnet uniforms.

15 In the future health worries about smoking will prove to have been false. Everyone will be encouraged to light up.
16.It's a man's world in the newspaper and magazine business, women are forced to be sluts to get on.
17. Russia of the future will be an insignificant entity with a tiddly out of the way moonbase and one vehicle.
18. Computers engaged in UFO investigations can't at the same time cough up financial figures that they also contain.
19.It's okay to use an amnesia drug on someone after having sex with them, then re - proposition them in a restaurant as if it's a bit of a joke.

20.Generals are brilliant at imitating the sound of a sheep. Baahh Baahh.

21. Debriefing tests for astronauts include watching buildings on a TV screen, they can really freak you out.
22. In the future toupees will still look rubbish.

23. Invading aliens have no trouble getting an account with a mail order firm to ensure Ouija boards are delivered to whoever they want to telepathically control.
24. Makers of documentaries about earthworms are thought of as kinky.
25. Fettuccine is made by fat Italian mommas.
26. Bombs can be made from a bag of flour ( could be true)
27. Closer you are to an explosion, better your chances! According to old miners.
28. If you're second in command of an Earth defence organization and need a clear head and incisive decision making, pour yourself a glass of whiskey whenever you're on duty.
29. Hooray, racial prejudice will burn itself out in the near future.
30. Nice to get confirmation that show jumpers are upper class right wing folk who bully " peasants "
31. Luckily alien craft laser weapons are useless and nearly always miss, Earth defence craft never miss.
32. It's okay to take a ten year old kid to watch a movie being made, even if it includes a scene of a girl being strangled.

33. Britain will convert to driving on the right now the Americans are using it as a base for alien defense operations.
34. Geological scanner machines are thought of as capable of buggering up radio equipment of multi million dollar space craft.
35. Senior officers of a military organization act as if STD's don't exist.
36. Alien devices thrown into a lived -in barge can remain unnoticed for ten years.
37. Luckily for aliens, derelict farms where they plant bombs will in all likelihood remain derelict and undisturbed for ten years.
38. Dead humans, revived by aliens and living for ten years will when eventually die suddenly look like they did ten years earlier and wear the same clothes.
39. Film studio bosses can promise to deliver urgent medical supplies ,at a speed only possible with unknown supersonic craft, and no one wonders how.
40. Sunspots are the number one cause of radio blackouts grounding an entire fleet.
41. Go carts are abundant in film studio premises so villains can conveniently jump in them, and heroes give chase.

42. In the near future Earth technological devices can be adjusted by alien technology to cause time itself to stop.
43. Aliens have xray photography so advanced that it can penetrate deep underground and get information to create perfect replicas of human beings working in a defense organization bunker, but the replicas can't speak, only mime to tape recordings to complete their disguise.
44. It's unusual when leaving your home to lock the doors, downright suspicious even, unless there are known burglars about.
45. Questions to ask a spirit at a séance include, " what will be next year's fashionable colour"
..........and a few philosophical musings of Ed Straker.
46. Bloody mindedness, it built this planet.
47 Never judge a situation by the end of a conversation.
48. The things we don't say, that's what life is all about, I guess.
49. Is our entire universe contained in a grain of sand, on a beach, in another universe. Space is infinite outwards and inwards. ( mmm, quite thought provoking)
50. The long finger of tragic coincidence across a billion miles of space. Is it the end or the beginning, where does the universe end, where does it begin?
51. For Aliens wishing to secretly come to Earth to harvest organs from live donors, the best thing to do is er...um...release toxic gas that will kill mankind. (Episode Destruction)
It's got Stephanie Beacham in it, so we'll say no more.

52. If you're going to murder someone as they enter a cottage, or any building, claiming you thought it was an intruder, first you must get photos of all cottage rooms and study them carefully....might be useful. Oh and then leave them in cottage for authorities to find.
53. You should always check with a security computer to see if a femme fatale is a danger to you, even if she previously smashed a vase over your head and tried to run you down in a car.
54/a. It's okay to use the crotch of a female colleague to make your boss appear to be a moron.

54/b. .You can trick your boss into thinking female inner thighs magnified a thousand times look just like alien planets.

60. If aliens burn out the personality centres of your brain and control you by radio waves it really improves your ability to play chess, and beat people you previously kept losing to, unfortunately this may raise suspicions.
This may lead to;
61. If someone beats you at chess that you usually beat, report them because they're probably unstable.

62. If you take a word association test and the tester says " black" you've just gotta say
" white" because if you say anything else like " bird" you'll be assumed to he having a crush on a black work colleague and be trying to hide it.

63. All those radio music chart shows you listened to in the 80's were covering up the fact that popular music of 1980 and beyond was all 60's music! At least that's all operatives of alien defense organisations listened to.
64. If your boss denies being a pig headed cretinous lout, you can record him saying this, remove the negative connotation and play it back to him and get a big laugh. Try it!

MY UFO EPISODE RANKING, WORST TO BEST.

BEWARE MAJOR SPOILERS

This is of course my personal opinions, but may be helpful to anyone thinking of watching a couple of episodes to give it a go.

26. Close Up
This is my least favourite, in fact it's awful.
A boring pointless story about SHADO trying to get photos of the alien's home planet. Why this should be a game changer is not gone into. A super new camera is constructed and placed in a space vehicle in orbit around the moon, then a UFO is lured to veer away from the moon and return home. The SHADO craft follows, but as it is travelling at sub light speed it can't possibly keep up, but somehow does, then the camera develops a fault, so it's all a waste of time anyway. The main plot action, latching on to the UFO doesn't happen till about 35 minutes in, before that we had the most tedious space walking scene imaginable zzzzzzz.

25. Confetti Check AO-K
An episode that for me doesn't have much rewatch value, though I can see why fans could be dead keen on this, it just isn't for me. The whole episode is a flashback , to when SHADO was formed, we see the appointment of Straker as Commander, the early days of Alec Freeman and the Moonbase dolly girls, the construction of the SHADO HQ all played out to the disintegration of Straker’s marriage. Sort of interesting to see......once, but no alien attacks or any Sci Fi trappings.

Now this episode has a lot of promise, and has a very memorable scene.
Paul Foster is kidnapped by aliens whist in a health farm. He is put on board a UFO, and ends up in an alien spacesuit breathing green liquid. Really good, and when Straker orders the escaping UFO should be blasted out of the sky even though Foster is on board, more excitement. Unfortunately  the whole thing is a dream Foster is having in the sauna so who cares.

23. The Responsibility Seat
This is all my opinions only of course, but for me this episode rounds off the bottom 4, which are quite a bit poorer than any others. After this all the episodes have an amount of good stuff, it's just a question of how much good or great material.
Straker is suckered into giving an interview with a female journo Jo Fraser, who turns out to have a string of convictions for fraud and blackmail. Straker needs to get back a tape from Ms Fraser that is a security leak, and Alec Freeman steps up as temporary Commander. So two threads, Straker and the girl , and he sort of falls for her before realising the truth, and Freeman has to deal with a runaway Russian vehicle on the moon threatening to smash into Moonbase. This just isn't particularly interesting and Freeman's nervous reaction to being in charge is out of character.

22. The Dalotek Affair
A bit of a predictable outcome to an average story, but some nice hardware seen, and new recruit Paul Foster as Moonbase commander in an early episode. A radio blackout on the Moon is blamed on the private Dalotek corporation who have geologists on the moon. A rogue meteorite sent in by the Aliens is to blame, as we worked out after 5 minutes, and we learn of SHADO'S amnesia drug which is administered to anyone breaching SHADO security. Some very dodgy morality is the bugbear here as Foster has an affair with one of Dalotek's members, who is given the amnesia drug and Foster takes advantage by propositioning her again post- drug. Straker works it all out by studying old TV footage as a UFO expert says " fireballs", the second syllable which some might use to describe this episode.

21. Conflict
Discarded space junk from previous Appollo missions is being used by the Aliens to hide a craft to attack Moonbase shuttles.
First battle of wills between Straker and General Henderson is the highlight here, and overall it ticks along nicely. Straker's reasoning for working out that it's all a decoy by the Aliens to launch an attack on SHADO HQ is decidedly vague and it spoils it a bit, and Henderson ordering Foster to take charge of SHADO is daft.

20. Exposed
A solid episode that introduces Paul Foster though not particularly exciting. Foster is a test pilot who while in the air sees SHADO attack a UFO, and his aircraft is hit and he ends up in hospital. Returning to work he realises his photographic evidence of the UFO is being covered up and someone called Straker ex American Air force Colonel and now film producer is behind it all.
Straker has to decide what to do with Foster as he penetrates SHADO security.
Foster is obviously an interesting character as will be evident as the series progresses, a reasonable intro for him.

19. Reflections In The Water
Plenty of action in this, boy there's action, of the far fetched kind. 50 UFOS plan to attack Earth, but first alien constructed duplicates of SHADO personnel, operating from a base under the sea are going to pose as the real SHADO personnel and give orders to let the 50 alien craft through. How did the aliens manage to exactly duplicate SHADO'S hidden control room? Why can't the doubles speak, and have to mime to tape recordings?
How on earth did 50 UFOS get defeated by SHADO'S 3 Interceptors plus 4 Skydivers?
Don't know, but it's enjoyable hokum, with plenty of great model work and fx.