UFO - Conflict

For all the suspense and fantasy, sometimes the most rewarding aspect of UFO is the human one. That's what I get out of “Conflict”: the most fascinating relationship in the series is the one between Straker and General Henderson.

When we last met Henderson, ten years ago, he and Straker were collaborators on the budding effort to thwart the aliens and protect Earth. Whether or not they were friends we can only guess, but there was no indication of friction between them. One guesses that Straker's placement as head of SHADO could only have happened with Henderson's endorsement. Now they strain to tolerate each other's presence.

That's a damning comment on what it must be like to have Straker in one's life. Look what ten years have done to them as colleagues! SHADO owes its existence to Henderson more than perhaps any other person including Straker, so you know he believes it to be of vital importance. Yet, he says that SHADO is “in its present form an expensive and unworkable luxury.” That's a condemnation of the man whom he entrusted the operation to.

Straker and Henderson are at each others throats the moment one steps into a room with the other. On this occasion it involves a demand by Straker for a cost-heavy program to eliminate space debris. Henderson doesn't see the urgency, and Straker doesn't see the need to be diplomatic.

Strictly speaking, it will be the council that decides, and Straker is scrambling to assemble a report. Unfortunately, these two have developed a distrust so strong that their defenses go up as a matter of reflex. They blind themselves to the other's point of view no matter how reasonable or who backs it up.

As it happens Straker is right – the debris can be used as a blind by the aliens. A flight from Moonbase to Earth is brought down by a drone limpet that alters the SHADO craft's reentry trajectory, killing the crew. Straker is pressed by Henderson to call a temporary halt to Moonbase flights. Foster disobeys those orders to retrace the path of the doomed flight in hopes of proving that pilot error was not the cause. It's the last straw for Henderson, who rejects the evidence outright. Straker proceeds towards an inspired, or just plain reckless, gambit to prove himself right. It's a gamble that jeopardizes Moonbase, SHADO headquarters, and all personnel within.

What I find compelling here is that beneath all the enmity and outbursts the two share a grudging respect that flirts with civility. You can see a friendship that once was and is no more. Watch their conversations together...Straker is dead certain before arriving at Henderson's office that the General will not allow the proposal a fair hearing, and proceeds from that assumption like a spoiled, entitled brat, with Henderson doing little or nothing justify the suspicion. (Meanwhile, Straker is behaving toward his own subordinates in the same vein, playing the martinet with another friend, Alec Freeman. If Straker thinks Henderson is making his job impossible, that's just what he himself is doing for the people under him.

After Foster's unauthorized flight, Henderson trades time for Straker to investigate with a temporary shutdown of Moonbase traffic. Straker and his personnel take it as a hostile provocation, but Henderson genuinely offers it as a means of protecting Straker from the council, the suggestion being that h is being viewed as a man out of control by more than just Henderson himself. Again, look beyond the surface and see the nuances...this is melancholy stuff, the dissolution of their friendship. As the concluding exchange of dialog sums up, these two men are too much alike. They are both hotheaded and obstinate when they “know” they're right.

Paul Foster has emerged from training to become a fully-fledged SHADO operative, but “Conflict” suggests he is still untempered and a newbie when it comes to knowing his way around his superiors. His flight is an outrageous violation of command that almost costs Straker dearly, could have cost lives beyond his own (depending how Moonbase personnel are called upon to clean up his mess) and the loss of millions of dollars in craft. How does he get away with it? Well, he does prove himself right that his dead pilot friend was not at fault, and proves Straker's case as well...but I think it's more that Straker admires Foster for the gesture. Straker makes an even more extreme gamble in the final act.

(edit: now i think of it, Foster acts like another Straker or Henderson in the making.)

Kudos to UFO for this early concern for Earth's litter orbit. Space debris isn't inherently a very exciting topic, and “Conflict” doesn't translate into heavy action, but there is decent tension in the limpet sequences and I like that the topic is utilized in a creative way. According to Wikipedia space debris had already been a subject for study as far back as the 1940s, even before the space race started contributing more refuse to our orbit. Writer Ruric Powell must have been brushing up on science journals, or perhaps read a story that inspired him. It's not something one sees much of in popular filmed science fiction. In 1979, a scraps merchant named Harry Broderick would build his own moon rocket to salvage some of what NASA left behind on the moon, and a few millenia later drudge workers like Adam Quark would be tasked as flying garbagemen patrolling the galaxy for trash.

I'll give it 7 impressionable recruits. Straker's and Foster's gambles don't bear scrutiny, but the personal drama is smart.


Asides:
I know it's supposed to be a gender-progressive statement that as profound a task as Moonbase operations is under the command of a female staff, but I can;t help noticing that the center seat has been temporarily given to newbie Foster. Lt. Ellis may have been up for a few days off, or been asked to step aside, but filling the post with a raw recruit would seem to undermine the importance of the position, no? I mean...on top of the demeaning uniforms for the female personnel...

Where "Flight Path' seemed to be trimmed from material that ran a little long for the time allotment, this epsiode's fx sequence detailing the recovery of Paul's flight once he's in the clear feels like padding to me. The nerd in me loves watching the fx, but it adds nothing of value to the story.