Stalwart TV fantasist Dennis Spooner (Doctor Who, the Avengers, various
Anderson productions) pens his one and only UFO teleplay. It's
crackling entertainment that intrigues, moves at a steady pace, and
presents us with a real danger. It could be a series high point but for
that bit about flying in the face of the series premise. Seems no one
bothered to brief Spooner.
A British naval vessel sights and promptly shoots down what they
claim is a UFO. The thing went down in one of the oceans deeper
trenches and will never be found. Henderson is satisfied that the story
is a dead end and no security risk, and probably wasn't an actual UFO
anyway, and happy enough to let it go. Straker's not so sure and wants
to press the matter. Have the aliens found a way past SHADO screening?
Why would the Navy be so hot to fire on an unidentified vessel that
had not attacked? Why the rush to conclude the matter with no
investigation?
Straker and Henderson take a shot at official channels while Foster
is assigned to try a more sneaky approach, wooing and spying on the
secretary of the Admiral directly involved. Col. Lake, meanwhile, takes
command of Skydiver to surveil the ship as it heads back to deep
waters.
The secretary turns out to be the daughter of one of the men who
built Moonbase – in fact, one who disappeared off the moon and was never
heard from again, suspected to have been taken by the aliens. She has
an expensive telescope with astral co-ordinates marked off. Parking an
interceptor along that path incapacitates the pilot when an intense
signal passes through the craft. Someone's passing information to the
aliens, but what exactly is the information and what is the interest?
Straker and Henderson open up to the Admiral in hopes he will
realize the danger Earth is in (and noting their trusty amnesia drug
anyway). They are told that the navy has been tasked with the
dispensing of a WMD so volatile that if released would wipe out all life
on Earth. Imagine if you will a UFO attack on the vessel with that gas
on board!
That is exactly what happens. Skydiver is on the scene and blasts
the UFO out of the sky. Earth is saved. From the aliens. Who need us
for their survival. Wait, what?
Okay, okay...so...reaching back to 'A Question of Priorities'... In
that episode, a lone alien attempted to defect from his people. We
know so little about the aliens that we may assume that they are not of
one mind on the subject of Earth's exploitation or perhaps other
matters. Might we accept that this attempt to exterminate Earth's
resources is being carried out by another faction?
Given the work that went into conditioning the secretary, furnishing
her with high-beam communications equipment, and posting multiple UFOs
along the trajectory of that equipment (remember, one was shot down and
there's at least one more that appears), plus the presence of an agent
to periodically put the woman under remote mind control...there is
organization behind this assault, and long-term effort. This is no lone
wolf acting against alien interests as we've understood them thus far. Remember, that was always an assumption on SHADO's part. It's never been confirmed by an alien.
Whatever the explanation, it's part of the show now and we have to
take it on board. It certainly underlines the absolute threat they
pose. I've always had a problem suspending disbelief for stories in
which the plot hinges on contradicting common sense, and Destruction
comes perilously close. Only our lack of understanding of the aliens
gives it an out.
I've said that the script is a top suspenser. There's not a lot in
the way of character work and no exploration on those lines, but a few
small character moments keep it lively. For example, Henderson and
Straker...it's nice to see their professional capacity for working
together for once instead of the constant pissing match. Straker is
quick to have his defenses up when they meet and bristles for a fight,
and Henderson is quick to calm his fears. They make a good team. One
can see how firm the grounding of SHADO must have been in their hands.
Pity about the falling out.
Another is a round of golf which Foster has been (ahem) invited
to play with Straker. It's not Foster's thing, but you don't say no to
the boss. Is the molding of the protege now to include his pastimes as
well? This is where Foster is told he's to spy on the woman. We're
left to wonder what he thinks of the assignment. We've seen him
becoming a bit of a player already after having one relationship ended
by his involvement in SHADO, so this could be considered a darker turn
for him.
There's also Col. Lake. For the era, it's refreshing to see a woman
in full command of a military force, even more to see that UFO has no
need of elaborating on the fact but expects us to accept it as a given.
In that role Wanda Ventham proves more than capable: confident, steady
and attentive, decisive, ready to push but mindful of the risks. I dare
say she has better command skills than Straker, though we've yet to see
if she has his superhuman intuition. There's a good chemistry between
Ventham and Ed Bishop, though character-wise I miss the yin-yang on
ethical matters that Freeman provided.
How to rate...hell, I've never been good with reducing a work of
entertainment to numbers. It'd be a smart story for some other show
with a different premise, and Spooner is a legend. Straker's cover is
blown again, in a brand new way, this time he's not only forgotten for
his media-worthy military background but also as the head of a film
studio as well when Henderson tries to pass him off as an official to do
with aviation safety. For all his charisma, Straker must be a
profoundly unmemorable guy.
7 shock-fuschia carpets, just as you'd expect to find in a high
military office. Honestly, I'm leaning toward 6 or 6.5, but the plot
really does provide a fun guessing game as well as upping the stakes.
Asides...
David Warbeck plays one of the Skydiver personnel. I know him best from a couple of horror films by Lucio Fulci.
A young Steven Berkoff plays the Interceptor pilot. I almost didn't
recognize him. Berkoff played the bad guy General Orlov in Octopussy
and has had a long career that includes a couple of Kubrick's films as
well as extensive TV work.
Talk about stretching suspense, why did Skydiver wait so long in the finale before launching Sky 1?
Funny that the British military would go to the press with a tabloid
headline like 'We shot down a UFO!” Not many world governments are in
the habit of publicly crediting the existence of UFOs.
If Straker is itchy to use forget-me-drops on the Admiral, what's he
going to do with a fairly huge ship full of witnesses? Will he be
willing to settle for the Offical Secrets Act? Are those administered
with the drug ever programmed with a false memory or story to cover
missing time?
I finally figured out how the fx guys make those UFOs spin. It's
the top clear dome that is attached to wires and remains stationary,
while the interior and clear base spin. I could never see them that
clearly before.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
UFO - The Man Who Came Back
The plot synopsis:
Craig Collins, a SHADO operative and longtime friend of Ed Straker, is on his way home to Earth when the aliens spring a two-pronged attack, putting the Space Intruder Detector out of commission and apparently killing Collins.
Some time later as plans are underway to repair SID, Collins turns up alive and well on a desert isle. Good news all around, Straker is buoyed for his old friend, but also fortuitous in that Collins is one of the few astronauts with the training to repair their sentry satellite.
Heading up that project is John Grey, who has had a longstanding adversarial relationship with Collins. Just bad chemistry, he says, no real reason for it...they just rub each other the wrong way. That being what it is, when Grey begins to suspect that Collins has came back not entirely himself and possibly dangerous, Straker assumes Grey's antipathy is causing him to jump at shadows. After all, three SHADO psychiatrists have cleared Collins for duty.
Worryingly, other people who know Collins (including a recent lover) see a change as well though it is Grey alone who finds it suspicious. Collins is acting far more aggressive then he used to, bordering on veiled hostility. He's also stepped up his game at chess...and in one curious instance, something about him freaks out a total stranger on the Harlington/Straker lot - one Sir Esmond, who is blind but senses that Collins is not what he must seem.
During a weight training session, Collins misjudges his weights and injures Paul Foster, who had been assigned to partner with him on the SID mission. Surely it must be an accident? After all, it was Collins himself who had specifically requested Foster. Ah, well, only one man is left available for the job: no less than the head of SHADO himself, Ed Straker. Straker, who is having none of the now fully-alarmed Grey's warnings that he's being set up. Someone tried to murder Grey by shutting off the oxygen to his private compartment on Moonbase, and who else would it have been but Collins?
Enter the enigmatic Doctor Jackson, one of the three who had cleared Collins. Something's been nagging at him, and when Grey seeks his advice Jackson hesitantly shares the source of his misgivings. You see, alongside the standard evaluational tests, Jackson has been experimenting with a new procedure of his own, one for which Collins yielded puzzling results. These were not passed along to Straker because the experiment is so new that Jackson doesn't even know how to interpret what the test reveals about its subjects, let alone an anomaly like Collins. The test studies the brainwaves of a subject when shielded from external stimuli or input. When tried on Collins, he essentially ceased to exist as a person at all. He became an empty vessel.
Jackson and Collins theorize that the aliens have been controlling Collins via radio transmitted right into the astronaut's mind, and that their aims are to cripple SHADO by killing its head and making the recovery of SID impossible. Confronting him (rather recklessly alone), Collins silences first Grey and then Jackson. Grey survives the attempt on his life and at the last moment is able to relay his discovery to Straker, who realizes his old friend is gone and is forced to kill Collins to save himself.
evaluation:
Benefiting from a hiatus in production, this first episode from a new studio steps up it's game by the same factor Collins does his chess game. It's sharper, more fluid and dynamic on every level from acting to storytelling craft. You see it right away with a gripping pre-credits teaser in which the UFOs make a more sophisticated advance than they had before, three in number. Previously they had used diversionary ruses, where this time either one of their targets (Collins and SID) could be mistaken for a diversion but are equally integral to one grand plan that would effectively set SHADO back for months. This sequence is taut and exciting and boasts several new fx shots, one especially nice one that gives us a close look at the alien panels as they spin. In earlier episodes the actors' delivered their lines in neatly choreographed arrangements from stage 101. The opening of TMWCB lets the dialog flow in an almost Altmanesque rush, everyone talking at once. Our attention is commanded.
Editing is tightened throughout the episode, ratcheting up the tension level. Dialog is more organic with a minimum of exposition, so the human element is vivid without feeling forced. The usual extraneous fx sequences are pared to a bare story-telling necessity rather than filling time. This is not a theme-driven script, just a damned good drama.
Improvements continue production-wise, I even saw (or imagined I saw) more texture in the sets - seams in the cement pillars within SHADO central, for example. The new fx shots are simply a delight to behold, like the damaged SID spinning out of its orbit over Earth.
Straker has been a polarizing figure to this point, often losing what sympathy we'd want to grant him for his personal losses. He's didactic, removed, dictatorial, and more than a little insufferable for his arrogance. Writer Terence Feely manages to humanize Straker here without altering his persona one whit, as the opening sequence effectively puts us in the middle o=f his dilemma having to deal with an attack unfolding too quickly to respond to. This once, he's without a clever insight or sneaky ploy. He's not a television hero to smart to be real, he's just a man having to rely on his gut feelings and what his people tell him. It's not his episode, either, the tale centers on Grey...but it's Straker who loses the most and who we have to feel for ultimately. Pretty neat trick for a central character many viewers have come to dislike. You can see the terrible loss in his face when he realizes his friend is already gone. The episode doesn't even give us the solace space of a coda or wrapup, ending on Straker's heartbreak. This is on death he feels to his core.
The one thing that I would mention as a potential objection would be Jackson's premise for mind control, that Collins' "personality center has been burned out". That's problematic, though not to the point that it bars fanwank. Without his personal traits, including the most deep-seated ones like sense of humor or quirks of irritation, he would be fooling no one. Is it possible the aliens made a template of his psyche so complete as to replicate his most formative thought patterns, which they were able to beam back into his head subservient to his progtamming? That would mean an amazing level of sophistication I don't think we've seen from them before.
Still, that never gets in the way of the drama. 9 inflatable tubular pillows, because they may look uncomfortable but, dammit, this is the future!
Asides:
Jackson! Squeeeeeee! And in a sympathetic light, too!
Wanda Ventham is back as well, a welcome character return. it's well worth noting that her character is treated not as a sex object ala her introduction in Identified but as a fully dimensional personality. Her sexual life is openly questioned, and she has no hesitation in owning it as both private and fully considered. It may be a small moment, but a progressive one for the era (and sadly still for some in this one as well) ia woman who owns and takes responsibility for her own sexuality.
The above is set back slightly by an old cliche - the woman who discovers what must be a dead body naturally has to scream. Now, if it had been the male hotel manager and not the maid, that would have made my day!
Not only is Jackson's experiment not some wild sci-fi whimsy, it was actually a fad in scientific circles at the time: sensory deprivation booths. These are the same experiments that would be more widely popularized in Altered States in 1980.
The footage of the rocket on its launchpad came from Gerry Anderson's feature film Doppleganger, aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun.
It's kind of odd and amusing to think of the Harlington/Straker lot now located at a new studio...that's a little more meta than expected.
Craig Collins, a SHADO operative and longtime friend of Ed Straker, is on his way home to Earth when the aliens spring a two-pronged attack, putting the Space Intruder Detector out of commission and apparently killing Collins.
Some time later as plans are underway to repair SID, Collins turns up alive and well on a desert isle. Good news all around, Straker is buoyed for his old friend, but also fortuitous in that Collins is one of the few astronauts with the training to repair their sentry satellite.
Heading up that project is John Grey, who has had a longstanding adversarial relationship with Collins. Just bad chemistry, he says, no real reason for it...they just rub each other the wrong way. That being what it is, when Grey begins to suspect that Collins has came back not entirely himself and possibly dangerous, Straker assumes Grey's antipathy is causing him to jump at shadows. After all, three SHADO psychiatrists have cleared Collins for duty.
Worryingly, other people who know Collins (including a recent lover) see a change as well though it is Grey alone who finds it suspicious. Collins is acting far more aggressive then he used to, bordering on veiled hostility. He's also stepped up his game at chess...and in one curious instance, something about him freaks out a total stranger on the Harlington/Straker lot - one Sir Esmond, who is blind but senses that Collins is not what he must seem.
During a weight training session, Collins misjudges his weights and injures Paul Foster, who had been assigned to partner with him on the SID mission. Surely it must be an accident? After all, it was Collins himself who had specifically requested Foster. Ah, well, only one man is left available for the job: no less than the head of SHADO himself, Ed Straker. Straker, who is having none of the now fully-alarmed Grey's warnings that he's being set up. Someone tried to murder Grey by shutting off the oxygen to his private compartment on Moonbase, and who else would it have been but Collins?
Enter the enigmatic Doctor Jackson, one of the three who had cleared Collins. Something's been nagging at him, and when Grey seeks his advice Jackson hesitantly shares the source of his misgivings. You see, alongside the standard evaluational tests, Jackson has been experimenting with a new procedure of his own, one for which Collins yielded puzzling results. These were not passed along to Straker because the experiment is so new that Jackson doesn't even know how to interpret what the test reveals about its subjects, let alone an anomaly like Collins. The test studies the brainwaves of a subject when shielded from external stimuli or input. When tried on Collins, he essentially ceased to exist as a person at all. He became an empty vessel.
Jackson and Collins theorize that the aliens have been controlling Collins via radio transmitted right into the astronaut's mind, and that their aims are to cripple SHADO by killing its head and making the recovery of SID impossible. Confronting him (rather recklessly alone), Collins silences first Grey and then Jackson. Grey survives the attempt on his life and at the last moment is able to relay his discovery to Straker, who realizes his old friend is gone and is forced to kill Collins to save himself.
evaluation:
Benefiting from a hiatus in production, this first episode from a new studio steps up it's game by the same factor Collins does his chess game. It's sharper, more fluid and dynamic on every level from acting to storytelling craft. You see it right away with a gripping pre-credits teaser in which the UFOs make a more sophisticated advance than they had before, three in number. Previously they had used diversionary ruses, where this time either one of their targets (Collins and SID) could be mistaken for a diversion but are equally integral to one grand plan that would effectively set SHADO back for months. This sequence is taut and exciting and boasts several new fx shots, one especially nice one that gives us a close look at the alien panels as they spin. In earlier episodes the actors' delivered their lines in neatly choreographed arrangements from stage 101. The opening of TMWCB lets the dialog flow in an almost Altmanesque rush, everyone talking at once. Our attention is commanded.
Editing is tightened throughout the episode, ratcheting up the tension level. Dialog is more organic with a minimum of exposition, so the human element is vivid without feeling forced. The usual extraneous fx sequences are pared to a bare story-telling necessity rather than filling time. This is not a theme-driven script, just a damned good drama.
Improvements continue production-wise, I even saw (or imagined I saw) more texture in the sets - seams in the cement pillars within SHADO central, for example. The new fx shots are simply a delight to behold, like the damaged SID spinning out of its orbit over Earth.
Straker has been a polarizing figure to this point, often losing what sympathy we'd want to grant him for his personal losses. He's didactic, removed, dictatorial, and more than a little insufferable for his arrogance. Writer Terence Feely manages to humanize Straker here without altering his persona one whit, as the opening sequence effectively puts us in the middle o=f his dilemma having to deal with an attack unfolding too quickly to respond to. This once, he's without a clever insight or sneaky ploy. He's not a television hero to smart to be real, he's just a man having to rely on his gut feelings and what his people tell him. It's not his episode, either, the tale centers on Grey...but it's Straker who loses the most and who we have to feel for ultimately. Pretty neat trick for a central character many viewers have come to dislike. You can see the terrible loss in his face when he realizes his friend is already gone. The episode doesn't even give us the solace space of a coda or wrapup, ending on Straker's heartbreak. This is on death he feels to his core.
The one thing that I would mention as a potential objection would be Jackson's premise for mind control, that Collins' "personality center has been burned out". That's problematic, though not to the point that it bars fanwank. Without his personal traits, including the most deep-seated ones like sense of humor or quirks of irritation, he would be fooling no one. Is it possible the aliens made a template of his psyche so complete as to replicate his most formative thought patterns, which they were able to beam back into his head subservient to his progtamming? That would mean an amazing level of sophistication I don't think we've seen from them before.
Still, that never gets in the way of the drama. 9 inflatable tubular pillows, because they may look uncomfortable but, dammit, this is the future!
Asides:
Jackson! Squeeeeeee! And in a sympathetic light, too!
Wanda Ventham is back as well, a welcome character return. it's well worth noting that her character is treated not as a sex object ala her introduction in Identified but as a fully dimensional personality. Her sexual life is openly questioned, and she has no hesitation in owning it as both private and fully considered. It may be a small moment, but a progressive one for the era (and sadly still for some in this one as well) ia woman who owns and takes responsibility for her own sexuality.
The above is set back slightly by an old cliche - the woman who discovers what must be a dead body naturally has to scream. Now, if it had been the male hotel manager and not the maid, that would have made my day!
Not only is Jackson's experiment not some wild sci-fi whimsy, it was actually a fad in scientific circles at the time: sensory deprivation booths. These are the same experiments that would be more widely popularized in Altered States in 1980.
The footage of the rocket on its launchpad came from Gerry Anderson's feature film Doppleganger, aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun.
It's kind of odd and amusing to think of the Harlington/Straker lot now located at a new studio...that's a little more meta than expected.
UFO - Court Martial
Hotshot new protégé Paul Foster has been found guilty of espionage and
sentenced to death. SHADO has sprung a leak with information privy only
to Foster nearly becoming public. Is Foster all wet?
I don't know much about military tribunals but I do know a guy being railroaded when I see one. An investigation eventually clears Foster, revealing the leak is the result of an industrial spy prying on Harlington-Straker's film orperations, and stumbling onto military secrets. Not knowing what to do with those secrets, the spy sells the the press thus setting in motion the suspicions pointing to Straker's golden boy.
So why is Foster set to be executed? Because the trial and verdict came before the investigation! Therein lies the fundamental problem I have with this episode. I just can't buy into it. I can almost believe that the communications dilemma in The Dalotek Affair would be so upsetting that it would make everyone find a meteor to be a distracting nuisance rather than looking into it, but this is more than I can suspend disbelief for.
Just how much does Henderson hate Straker, anyway? We've seen before that he's a fair man, even regarding his former friend and now nemesis. Would he kill Straker's fast-rising recruit for revenge? Is he so hot to pursue an execution without ascertaining the facts? "It's gonna take positive proof of innocence to convince me!", he barks. Yet it did not take positive proof of guilt for him to sentence a man to death. As a matter of security, it would be prudent to keep a traitor alive long enough to discover how far the damage goes and where it may lead. I guess Foster shouldn't have yelled at him the first time they met. That's one hell of a bad first impression to leave that strong a grudge.
What about Straker? He too allows an investigation to be an afterthought. Worse, apparently he would not have conducted one at all if not for a lead from one of the directors affected by a leaked script that had been handled by Foster.
Freeman? He'd be the obvious advocate for the defense, but he also is an afterthought in this outing, following Straker's lead and keeping his own counsel.
Aaaaaah, but Doctor Jackson has returned! Vladek Sheybal always light up the screen even as he leaves an oily film on it. What about Jackson? Well, it' s a delightful performance as Jackson takes up the job of prosecuting the case against Foster. He plays true to expectations for being slippery, alright, but I'm still not sure it makes sense. As a psychological analyst for SHADO, I have to wonder at his motive. Seems to me he'd be as interested ass Straker to learn the truth rather than leap to blatantly unsupported conclusions - not out of concern but for his own fascination. Putting it plainly, I just don't get him here. none of the characters quite ring true, nor the plot. As it was written by Tony Barwick, the best writer on the series and the guy who knows these people best, that's disappointing.
I'm being harsh. Churlish, even. The hour has some joy in it. The pace is brisk, the twists keep us off balance, and the personal exchanges are a delight. As always there's a genuine spark between Henderson nd Straker. Everyone puts in an edgy performance, and Sheybal keeps the tribunal taut.
There is a detail of Foster's rise that is sharp, and one I would never have thought of: he is now a major player in the life of their cover operation, a movie producer! That's clever writing. I wish the substance had been as clever, expanding on the characters or exploring a theme...or at least making me believe what I was seeing.
This episode has always bugged me for it's illogic, and now that I'm taking a more serious look at the series overall it bugs me just a little more for being filler. It's fun but I can't give it more than 6 recording ballpoint pens from Sharper Image..
I don't know much about military tribunals but I do know a guy being railroaded when I see one. An investigation eventually clears Foster, revealing the leak is the result of an industrial spy prying on Harlington-Straker's film orperations, and stumbling onto military secrets. Not knowing what to do with those secrets, the spy sells the the press thus setting in motion the suspicions pointing to Straker's golden boy.
So why is Foster set to be executed? Because the trial and verdict came before the investigation! Therein lies the fundamental problem I have with this episode. I just can't buy into it. I can almost believe that the communications dilemma in The Dalotek Affair would be so upsetting that it would make everyone find a meteor to be a distracting nuisance rather than looking into it, but this is more than I can suspend disbelief for.
Just how much does Henderson hate Straker, anyway? We've seen before that he's a fair man, even regarding his former friend and now nemesis. Would he kill Straker's fast-rising recruit for revenge? Is he so hot to pursue an execution without ascertaining the facts? "It's gonna take positive proof of innocence to convince me!", he barks. Yet it did not take positive proof of guilt for him to sentence a man to death. As a matter of security, it would be prudent to keep a traitor alive long enough to discover how far the damage goes and where it may lead. I guess Foster shouldn't have yelled at him the first time they met. That's one hell of a bad first impression to leave that strong a grudge.
What about Straker? He too allows an investigation to be an afterthought. Worse, apparently he would not have conducted one at all if not for a lead from one of the directors affected by a leaked script that had been handled by Foster.
Freeman? He'd be the obvious advocate for the defense, but he also is an afterthought in this outing, following Straker's lead and keeping his own counsel.
Aaaaaah, but Doctor Jackson has returned! Vladek Sheybal always light up the screen even as he leaves an oily film on it. What about Jackson? Well, it' s a delightful performance as Jackson takes up the job of prosecuting the case against Foster. He plays true to expectations for being slippery, alright, but I'm still not sure it makes sense. As a psychological analyst for SHADO, I have to wonder at his motive. Seems to me he'd be as interested ass Straker to learn the truth rather than leap to blatantly unsupported conclusions - not out of concern but for his own fascination. Putting it plainly, I just don't get him here. none of the characters quite ring true, nor the plot. As it was written by Tony Barwick, the best writer on the series and the guy who knows these people best, that's disappointing.
I'm being harsh. Churlish, even. The hour has some joy in it. The pace is brisk, the twists keep us off balance, and the personal exchanges are a delight. As always there's a genuine spark between Henderson nd Straker. Everyone puts in an edgy performance, and Sheybal keeps the tribunal taut.
There is a detail of Foster's rise that is sharp, and one I would never have thought of: he is now a major player in the life of their cover operation, a movie producer! That's clever writing. I wish the substance had been as clever, expanding on the characters or exploring a theme...or at least making me believe what I was seeing.
This episode has always bugged me for it's illogic, and now that I'm taking a more serious look at the series overall it bugs me just a little more for being filler. It's fun but I can't give it more than 6 recording ballpoint pens from Sharper Image..
UFO - The Dalotek Affair
Mistaken for a meteorite, an alien device has been delivered to the
moon's surface to disrupt communications between Moon-based defenses and
Earthside SHADO forces. The outage causes the deadly crash of a moon
shuttle and could shield incoming UFOs from interception, possibly with
Earth unwarned of pending attack. Unaware of the source of the
interference, Paul Foster (currently commanding officer Moonbase)
suspects a privately owned business venture with a base nearby is
operating equipment putting his people in harm's way.
Usually when I write up these episodes, thoroughly laying out the plot helps me process the material, see the connections and work out the themes. Nothing doing this week, it's a solid story with a nice pace, suspense, tension, and a modicum of personal involvement - if inconsequential - involving an attraction between Foster and a Dalotek employee. It's a fun episode, but there's nothing more substantial I could find in it.
For example, I might have hoped for something on the conflict between military and private interests. Straker holds an unreasoning attitude toward all such non-military ventures. Understandable, as it poses a potential hazard for SHADO personnel and Earth's defense, but his behavior is still childishly antagonistic. Foster seems more amenable until he too becomes convinced that Dalotek has irresponsibly caused the deaths of the shuttle crew. Will Straker's example as is mentor hold sway? That's another possible thread that could have been explored, but the script has no interest in that angle. The most we get is Foster pressing his luck with the same woman after her memory has been wiped of the whole affair. Or we could have had a story on the impossible dilemma of keeping the doings of a quasi-public operation secret, but that too is swept away none too neatly with that amnesia drug, causing more questions we're not supposed to ask about just how that could work.
The space action thrilled me as a kid. It still thrills the geek in me. 6 lunar excursions. Enjoyable but could have used another draft to build it up.
Stray thoughts:
Has Drake, head of Dalotek, not been informed that Ed Straker is a movie producer? Is he not a little incensed that a movie hack has a seat on a security council overseeing his company?
So the existence of Moonbase is known publicly after all, understood to be a military base. Doesn't explain Straker's involvement, though.
Kind of a script convenience that the alien device landed so near Dalotek. If that was deliberate, was the idea to throw suspicion on them? If so, to what benefit would that be? It seems like it would up the odds of discovery, as is exactly what happened.
Unusual intro sequence, running an old media interview speculating about flying saucers and what authorities might or might not know. Though it comes to play late in the episode, it seems more a mechanism toward re-stating the show's premise for those tuning in anew.
Blowing up the alien device puts the Dalotek base at risk of damage, and they're told to prepare for explosive decompression. Well, now...since they have the environment suits and expect to be ruptured anyway, why not minimize the damage by evacuating the interior atmosphere before the explosion?
Sign of budget-watching: the excursion suits worn by Dalotek are the same as those worn by SHADO astronauts. Must be one company supplying for all space ventures. You'd think SHADO would want their own.
I always loved those sub-surface Interceptor hangars disguised as craters, but I always used to wonder if the pilots had to climb back up the chutes when they came back. Hey, I was six.
It's nice to see Foster cultivating a friendship with Freeman. Both that and the romantic angle harken back to Foster's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day in Survival, losing his girlfriend but making an overture of camaraderie to Alec. (Nicely placed, Mr. Levenson!)
Usually when I write up these episodes, thoroughly laying out the plot helps me process the material, see the connections and work out the themes. Nothing doing this week, it's a solid story with a nice pace, suspense, tension, and a modicum of personal involvement - if inconsequential - involving an attraction between Foster and a Dalotek employee. It's a fun episode, but there's nothing more substantial I could find in it.
For example, I might have hoped for something on the conflict between military and private interests. Straker holds an unreasoning attitude toward all such non-military ventures. Understandable, as it poses a potential hazard for SHADO personnel and Earth's defense, but his behavior is still childishly antagonistic. Foster seems more amenable until he too becomes convinced that Dalotek has irresponsibly caused the deaths of the shuttle crew. Will Straker's example as is mentor hold sway? That's another possible thread that could have been explored, but the script has no interest in that angle. The most we get is Foster pressing his luck with the same woman after her memory has been wiped of the whole affair. Or we could have had a story on the impossible dilemma of keeping the doings of a quasi-public operation secret, but that too is swept away none too neatly with that amnesia drug, causing more questions we're not supposed to ask about just how that could work.
The space action thrilled me as a kid. It still thrills the geek in me. 6 lunar excursions. Enjoyable but could have used another draft to build it up.
Stray thoughts:
Has Drake, head of Dalotek, not been informed that Ed Straker is a movie producer? Is he not a little incensed that a movie hack has a seat on a security council overseeing his company?
So the existence of Moonbase is known publicly after all, understood to be a military base. Doesn't explain Straker's involvement, though.
Kind of a script convenience that the alien device landed so near Dalotek. If that was deliberate, was the idea to throw suspicion on them? If so, to what benefit would that be? It seems like it would up the odds of discovery, as is exactly what happened.
Unusual intro sequence, running an old media interview speculating about flying saucers and what authorities might or might not know. Though it comes to play late in the episode, it seems more a mechanism toward re-stating the show's premise for those tuning in anew.
Blowing up the alien device puts the Dalotek base at risk of damage, and they're told to prepare for explosive decompression. Well, now...since they have the environment suits and expect to be ruptured anyway, why not minimize the damage by evacuating the interior atmosphere before the explosion?
Sign of budget-watching: the excursion suits worn by Dalotek are the same as those worn by SHADO astronauts. Must be one company supplying for all space ventures. You'd think SHADO would want their own.
I always loved those sub-surface Interceptor hangars disguised as craters, but I always used to wonder if the pilots had to climb back up the chutes when they came back. Hey, I was six.
It's nice to see Foster cultivating a friendship with Freeman. Both that and the romantic angle harken back to Foster's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day in Survival, losing his girlfriend but making an overture of camaraderie to Alec. (Nicely placed, Mr. Levenson!)
UFO - The Square Triangle
A trap has been set in the woodlands where, if all goes to plan, no one will witness it. The prey is on his way.
When the destination of an incoming UFO is determined, Straker risks allowing it to land unimpeded in the hopes of capturing the craft and its crew. Mobiles are in place ready to begin the hunt. No sure bet to begin with, things go awry when a game warden and his dog stumble upon the landing site and a fight ensues. The alien loses his supply of oxygenated liquid, the accidentally shoots his own ship as he kills the unlucky warden, sending the UFO into self-destruct mode. His exit off Earth now barred, he flees the scene. Finding a nearby home, he enters.
Said home belongs to Liz Newton (Adrienne Corri), the wife of well-to-do businessman Jack Newton (Allan Cuthbertson). Liz is there waiting for Jack, and so is her domineering lover Cass (Patrick Mower). Cass has cooked up a scheme to have Liz murder her husband in their own Summer home. Unfortunately for them, the one laying dead in the doorway is not the soon-to-be-late Mr. Newton but the alien, who like the game warden before him has blundered into a trap meant for someone else.
Before Newton arrives home and before the murderers can improvise a cover, SHADO arrives on the scene and takes the paramours to Harlington-Straker Studios. As witnesses to an alien incursion, they are given a drug that clears their memories of the past twenty four hours. Meanwhile, Foster deduces what must have occurred, leaving Straker with a moral dilemma: what to do about a murder which will surely occur but for which there can be no evidence before the fact.
For the sake of SHADO security, he decides that no action can be taken. We soon see the purportedly grieving widow at her husband's graveside before she walks off with Cass (as a nasty sting, this replaces the usual shot over which the closing credits play).
This is not the first time an episode has centered around the private lives of one-off characters, but it's the first time they have been wholly unsympathetic. We never get to know Mr/ Newton, who seems like a nice enough guy, apparently loving and thoughtful of his wife. For his alleged coldness toward her, we have only the unreliable words of Cass, who is manipulating the weak-willed Liz. She's a faithless flounder, but that Cass...well, the list has no end. Alpha male, misogynist, user, and ultimately a sociopath. He's slime. He twists Liz to his will in what we recognize as sheer hypocrisy ('Words! That's all he gives you!”), but Liz submits to it so readily.
What we have then is two parties making life and death decisions over other people, with Straker and Cass respectively calling the shots. This is no moral equivalency being drawn, the differences are clear – Cass and Liz are out for themselves where Straker has the security of the world to weigh. When it comes to murder, Liz is at first horrified to have killed the wrong person while Cass simply panics that he might be caught. Oddly enough, when the decision is made not to interfere with the murder scheme, humanitarian Alec Freeman doesn't bat an eye, not does Foster raise an objection...I thought this was a nice touch - the one note of moral outrage is uttered by Straker alone in his office. “Get them out of here!”, he says into the phone with disgust.
It's a neatly woven schematic but my enjoyment of it is blunted somewhat by the repulsive Cass and Liz Nor am I satisfied that there was nothing to be done to at least warn the intended victim to take extra care for his life. I'd have liked to have seen Freeman exercise his usual unauthorized initiative and try just that, but that would have unbalanced the scheme (Cass and Straker call the shots, Liz and Freeman follow) and strayed from the focus. Most likely any attempt to warn Newton discreetly would have been too little too late, shrugged off. Still, it bothers. It was meant to.
A fleet of 7.5 futuristic hauling rigs in impeccable miniature surroundings. I was going to give it a 6.5, but distaste aside it deserves better.
Asides: an error arises in the use of stock footage. As the Interceptors are recalled having not fired their missiles – the shot used is one where all three have indeed fired.
Nice continuity! The female SHADO agent who greets everyone who comes down the hydraulic office is waiting as always! Lorkris suggested she's a security officer, which sure seems to fit.
There's a really nice shot of Straker sitting at his desk, from an angle we've never seen before. POV is from behind the desk, and as we watch Straker we see colored lights shifting across him. These lights emanate from the animated lights of the art display that hangs on the wall behind his desk. We've all seen it, we know what it is, but I noticed that the shot comes in this particular scene without a prior shot establishing that the piece is there. I don't often notice the hands of the directors at work (to my own discredit), so let me say kudos to director David Lane.
When the destination of an incoming UFO is determined, Straker risks allowing it to land unimpeded in the hopes of capturing the craft and its crew. Mobiles are in place ready to begin the hunt. No sure bet to begin with, things go awry when a game warden and his dog stumble upon the landing site and a fight ensues. The alien loses his supply of oxygenated liquid, the accidentally shoots his own ship as he kills the unlucky warden, sending the UFO into self-destruct mode. His exit off Earth now barred, he flees the scene. Finding a nearby home, he enters.
Said home belongs to Liz Newton (Adrienne Corri), the wife of well-to-do businessman Jack Newton (Allan Cuthbertson). Liz is there waiting for Jack, and so is her domineering lover Cass (Patrick Mower). Cass has cooked up a scheme to have Liz murder her husband in their own Summer home. Unfortunately for them, the one laying dead in the doorway is not the soon-to-be-late Mr. Newton but the alien, who like the game warden before him has blundered into a trap meant for someone else.
Before Newton arrives home and before the murderers can improvise a cover, SHADO arrives on the scene and takes the paramours to Harlington-Straker Studios. As witnesses to an alien incursion, they are given a drug that clears their memories of the past twenty four hours. Meanwhile, Foster deduces what must have occurred, leaving Straker with a moral dilemma: what to do about a murder which will surely occur but for which there can be no evidence before the fact.
For the sake of SHADO security, he decides that no action can be taken. We soon see the purportedly grieving widow at her husband's graveside before she walks off with Cass (as a nasty sting, this replaces the usual shot over which the closing credits play).
This is not the first time an episode has centered around the private lives of one-off characters, but it's the first time they have been wholly unsympathetic. We never get to know Mr/ Newton, who seems like a nice enough guy, apparently loving and thoughtful of his wife. For his alleged coldness toward her, we have only the unreliable words of Cass, who is manipulating the weak-willed Liz. She's a faithless flounder, but that Cass...well, the list has no end. Alpha male, misogynist, user, and ultimately a sociopath. He's slime. He twists Liz to his will in what we recognize as sheer hypocrisy ('Words! That's all he gives you!”), but Liz submits to it so readily.
What we have then is two parties making life and death decisions over other people, with Straker and Cass respectively calling the shots. This is no moral equivalency being drawn, the differences are clear – Cass and Liz are out for themselves where Straker has the security of the world to weigh. When it comes to murder, Liz is at first horrified to have killed the wrong person while Cass simply panics that he might be caught. Oddly enough, when the decision is made not to interfere with the murder scheme, humanitarian Alec Freeman doesn't bat an eye, not does Foster raise an objection...I thought this was a nice touch - the one note of moral outrage is uttered by Straker alone in his office. “Get them out of here!”, he says into the phone with disgust.
It's a neatly woven schematic but my enjoyment of it is blunted somewhat by the repulsive Cass and Liz Nor am I satisfied that there was nothing to be done to at least warn the intended victim to take extra care for his life. I'd have liked to have seen Freeman exercise his usual unauthorized initiative and try just that, but that would have unbalanced the scheme (Cass and Straker call the shots, Liz and Freeman follow) and strayed from the focus. Most likely any attempt to warn Newton discreetly would have been too little too late, shrugged off. Still, it bothers. It was meant to.
A fleet of 7.5 futuristic hauling rigs in impeccable miniature surroundings. I was going to give it a 6.5, but distaste aside it deserves better.
Asides: an error arises in the use of stock footage. As the Interceptors are recalled having not fired their missiles – the shot used is one where all three have indeed fired.
Nice continuity! The female SHADO agent who greets everyone who comes down the hydraulic office is waiting as always! Lorkris suggested she's a security officer, which sure seems to fit.
There's a really nice shot of Straker sitting at his desk, from an angle we've never seen before. POV is from behind the desk, and as we watch Straker we see colored lights shifting across him. These lights emanate from the animated lights of the art display that hangs on the wall behind his desk. We've all seen it, we know what it is, but I noticed that the shot comes in this particular scene without a prior shot establishing that the piece is there. I don't often notice the hands of the directors at work (to my own discredit), so let me say kudos to director David Lane.
UFO - A Question of Priorities
“This movie hates us, doesn't it?” - Crow T. Robot, on 'The Giant Spider Invasion'
For a series dedicated to cynicism and the unhappy ending, A Question of Priorities sets the gold standard. No one gets away unpunished, least of all the audience. How to rate it – a 6, a 9? It's a frustrating hour, but then it's designed to be such and excels at it. It's one of the finest episodes in the series yet one I always dread having to watch again. I don't like downers.
Ed Straker's son lies in hospital after being struck by a car. The boy is in critical condition and needs medicine available only in America. Straker puts SHADO resources into play to make that happen, but time is running out.
Meanwhile, an alien on the run from his own kind has made a mad dash for Earth, crashing off the coast of Ireland. Taking shelter in the home of an elderly blind woman, he has built a radio transmitter in an attempt to reach SHADO, but that same signal is picked up by the UFO sent to kill him.
Both these men, Straker and the alien, will be thwarted – by luck, by fate, by the opposing agendas and even the best intentions of others, perhaps by some god or other. Without invoking religious faith (hardly needing to), this is an existentialist story.
We'll never know what drove these men to make crucial decisions. If there's one detail that ties them together it's that Straker and the alien are close-mouthed about what they are thinking. Good friend Alec Freeman cannot miss that Ed is upset, and gives him multiple opportunities to confide. We can guess why Straker spurns them, but we'll never know the truth. It costs him at a crucial moment. Likewise the alien does not speak when perhaps he might have found an ally in the woman who sits terrified, a prisoner in her home. I continue to wonder at the silence of these aliens – an inability to speak, or even to understand spoken language? He has a transmitter but does not speak to his listeners. All we know is that he wants to be taken by SHADO and that his people will kill him to prevent it.
Both are faced with impossible choices. A SHADAIR transport might reach Ireland in time to take the alien before its fellows can. Or it might reach London in time to save the boy. There's no guarantee the medicine will be enough, nor that the alien will prove a turning point in the war with the extraterrestrials. When Freeman, not knowing of Ed's plight, redirects the transport, Straker freezes and allows the diversion to stand. His son's life, or the safety of the human race? Likewise the alien, when he realizes the hunter UFO has locked on to him, can remain where he is or take the beacon away from the house, sacrificing his own already-doomed life but saving the woman.
Why does Straker freeze? I think the words froze in his throat because he was blocked by his own silent nature. Oh, he was misusing the organizations resources, but to hell with that - it's his son's life. No...this is a man who cannot reveal himself even to save his son. A psychological block. It just won't come.
There's nothing much else I can say. It's all on the surface, every painful minute of it, except for what remains unspoken.. We're thoroughly invested in this most riveting of episodes. No deus flies in from the machina. No one is saved. Every effort to do the right thing is brutally smacked down. I gave away a spoiler of sorts in one of my first two episode reviews: I said that Ed Straker is a man who's had his humanity damaged. This is the one I knew was coming. It has an inevitability to it. There's still something tender to him, but he'll never show it even to his closest friend. It's buried too deep.
10 model boats gifted to a loved one.
Next week I want some catharsis!!
For a series dedicated to cynicism and the unhappy ending, A Question of Priorities sets the gold standard. No one gets away unpunished, least of all the audience. How to rate it – a 6, a 9? It's a frustrating hour, but then it's designed to be such and excels at it. It's one of the finest episodes in the series yet one I always dread having to watch again. I don't like downers.
Ed Straker's son lies in hospital after being struck by a car. The boy is in critical condition and needs medicine available only in America. Straker puts SHADO resources into play to make that happen, but time is running out.
Meanwhile, an alien on the run from his own kind has made a mad dash for Earth, crashing off the coast of Ireland. Taking shelter in the home of an elderly blind woman, he has built a radio transmitter in an attempt to reach SHADO, but that same signal is picked up by the UFO sent to kill him.
Both these men, Straker and the alien, will be thwarted – by luck, by fate, by the opposing agendas and even the best intentions of others, perhaps by some god or other. Without invoking religious faith (hardly needing to), this is an existentialist story.
We'll never know what drove these men to make crucial decisions. If there's one detail that ties them together it's that Straker and the alien are close-mouthed about what they are thinking. Good friend Alec Freeman cannot miss that Ed is upset, and gives him multiple opportunities to confide. We can guess why Straker spurns them, but we'll never know the truth. It costs him at a crucial moment. Likewise the alien does not speak when perhaps he might have found an ally in the woman who sits terrified, a prisoner in her home. I continue to wonder at the silence of these aliens – an inability to speak, or even to understand spoken language? He has a transmitter but does not speak to his listeners. All we know is that he wants to be taken by SHADO and that his people will kill him to prevent it.
Both are faced with impossible choices. A SHADAIR transport might reach Ireland in time to take the alien before its fellows can. Or it might reach London in time to save the boy. There's no guarantee the medicine will be enough, nor that the alien will prove a turning point in the war with the extraterrestrials. When Freeman, not knowing of Ed's plight, redirects the transport, Straker freezes and allows the diversion to stand. His son's life, or the safety of the human race? Likewise the alien, when he realizes the hunter UFO has locked on to him, can remain where he is or take the beacon away from the house, sacrificing his own already-doomed life but saving the woman.
Why does Straker freeze? I think the words froze in his throat because he was blocked by his own silent nature. Oh, he was misusing the organizations resources, but to hell with that - it's his son's life. No...this is a man who cannot reveal himself even to save his son. A psychological block. It just won't come.
There's nothing much else I can say. It's all on the surface, every painful minute of it, except for what remains unspoken.. We're thoroughly invested in this most riveting of episodes. No deus flies in from the machina. No one is saved. Every effort to do the right thing is brutally smacked down. I gave away a spoiler of sorts in one of my first two episode reviews: I said that Ed Straker is a man who's had his humanity damaged. This is the one I knew was coming. It has an inevitability to it. There's still something tender to him, but he'll never show it even to his closest friend. It's buried too deep.
10 model boats gifted to a loved one.
Next week I want some catharsis!!
UFO - Survival
Can-o'-worms alert: there is an astonishing exchange about racial politics between Straker and Mark Bradley. It went right over my head as a kid, and catching up with the show a few years ago I thought the scene naïve at best (“Racial prejudice burned itself out five years ago!”), and maybe a little embarrassingly wooden. Today, in light of the tragic and frustrating last few years of my nation's culture, I suddenly find the writing of this scene uncannily prescient. Look, says the white guy (paraphrasing), don't pull the race card, we're a post-racial society now! The black guy replies, Really? Is that what you see from your perspective? Sound familiar? Just...wow. Was writer Tony Barwick that observant of humanity* or has this same conversation been going on for decades or more, each generation so oblivious as to think it's new to them? There's a sobering thought.
For the record, Straker is sincerely offering a position of authority to Bradley because Straker believes him to be the best man for the job. And that's exactly the consideration Mark wishes to be assured of. They're on the same page but it takes communication to establish it.
It's a minor scene that seems tangential to the plot, but I'm beginning to think it's the key to the story. We're so close, yet so divided. If we're lucky a little communication is all it takes.
The promotion is due to the unfortunate (presumed) death of Paul Foster, of late risen to Commander within SHADO. Sneaking onto the Moon's surface under cover of a meteor shower, an alien has shot out a window at Moonbase resulting in the death of one of the personnel. Foster barely escapes and takes the death personally. He believes the alien to still be on the moon and persuades Straker that a search be mounted. Naturally, Foster wants to spearhead the effort himself though Straker advises restraint: Straker wants a UFO if not its crew. The operation results in the loss of both the UFO and a Moon craft, and apparently in the demise of Foster himself.
Foster, however, is still alive with a damaged transmitter and limited oxygen. Reaching Moonbase alive may be an impossibility. Complicating matters, one of the UFO crew is also still alive on the surface with him.
Here he is – the enemy. You can say that of either of them. Foster is face to face with the being that killed his colleague; the alien faces his assigned target. Separately they face guaranteed death – Foster cannot make it back unaided, and the alien with his ship destroyed faces any number of sad fates if he turns himself in. Cooperation is the only chance either has. Happily, both find survival to be a deeper instinct than their respective missions.
Call it enlightened self-interest on their parts if you must, but the choices they make evoke an emotion for the audience. We're rooting for both of them to make it out of the episode alive. That's the most satisfying thing about Survival, I think, that we are emotionally invested in a central character we care about, and also in one that comes as a complete surprise. It's refreshing and reassuring to find the nominal villain can be “human” after all. Too often UFO is a show that tempers its audience's emotional response with a layer of detached observation. This time when the resolution is reached, we feel it keenly.
Setting the action on the moon's surface with at least one of them incapable of radio contact is a brilliant touch, I think. Foster and the alien must communicate without the aid of spoken language. We have yet to hear an alien use English, except as spoken through a psychic human conduit. A Computer Affair raised the possibility that they may not even understand English. Without words, each must try harder to think like the other in order to understand and be understood. It heightens the necessity of trust. Words can fail.
Words fail Foster when rescue comes, able to speak to his fellow astronauts but not clearly enough to prevent them from killing the alien on sight. It's a simple case of “us versus them”. A 'them' is inherently hostile and cannot be tolerated. Foster is an 'us'.
Back on Earth, as the story closes, words again fail Foster as he is unable to communicate with his girlfriend due to the need for secrecy. It's no substitute, but for solace he makes an overture of friendship to Alec Freeman, someone he knows can essentially 'speak his language' concerning the secret life they share. Freeman is an 'us'. One of the family. "Home", as Straker reassures Foster he's going.
"Home?"
"Moonbase." SHADO. Not a warm house with a wife or the apartment of a lover. Foster's 'us'es have been defined for him.
My takeaway going forward is this: Foster has had an experience unique to him alone within SHADO, a bond however brief of unity with the enemy. I believe that over the course of the series so far we have seen him being groomed by Straker as a protege. If he diverges from Straker's mold to become his own man, it will be because of this singular experience. Odin gained great wisdom, and it cost him an eye. Foster has personally witnessed the needless death of two colleagues (one on each side of this war) and the loss of a love relationship to attain the empathy he now holds.
The action in this one is exceptionally handled with expert fx work and deftly built tension. As well, the human interaction is pitch perfect, neither histrionic nor underplayed but natural. There are nice quiet touches like Bradley confirming his authority once placed ("I didn't think I had to ask for permission"), Harrington's look of "you're insufferable" when Straker sends her to fetch coffee, and the discreet editing of Freeman breaking the news of Foster's death to Foster's love interest.
If I have one quibble, it's this: if it's such a rare opportunity to get a UFO in undetected then why waste it on the mere shooting out of a window? The earlier plan to attack the base head-on with a UFO (Flight Path) was more ambitious and one would think much more rewarding.
10 circles drawn in moondust for a poignant and satisfying hour of drama.
* ”...bird. Black bird.” (this note refers to a line spoken by Lt. Ellis in the "Computer Affair" episode and would have been understood by the group watching with me on IMDb. See that review for an explanation.)
For the record, Straker is sincerely offering a position of authority to Bradley because Straker believes him to be the best man for the job. And that's exactly the consideration Mark wishes to be assured of. They're on the same page but it takes communication to establish it.
It's a minor scene that seems tangential to the plot, but I'm beginning to think it's the key to the story. We're so close, yet so divided. If we're lucky a little communication is all it takes.
The promotion is due to the unfortunate (presumed) death of Paul Foster, of late risen to Commander within SHADO. Sneaking onto the Moon's surface under cover of a meteor shower, an alien has shot out a window at Moonbase resulting in the death of one of the personnel. Foster barely escapes and takes the death personally. He believes the alien to still be on the moon and persuades Straker that a search be mounted. Naturally, Foster wants to spearhead the effort himself though Straker advises restraint: Straker wants a UFO if not its crew. The operation results in the loss of both the UFO and a Moon craft, and apparently in the demise of Foster himself.
Foster, however, is still alive with a damaged transmitter and limited oxygen. Reaching Moonbase alive may be an impossibility. Complicating matters, one of the UFO crew is also still alive on the surface with him.
Here he is – the enemy. You can say that of either of them. Foster is face to face with the being that killed his colleague; the alien faces his assigned target. Separately they face guaranteed death – Foster cannot make it back unaided, and the alien with his ship destroyed faces any number of sad fates if he turns himself in. Cooperation is the only chance either has. Happily, both find survival to be a deeper instinct than their respective missions.
Call it enlightened self-interest on their parts if you must, but the choices they make evoke an emotion for the audience. We're rooting for both of them to make it out of the episode alive. That's the most satisfying thing about Survival, I think, that we are emotionally invested in a central character we care about, and also in one that comes as a complete surprise. It's refreshing and reassuring to find the nominal villain can be “human” after all. Too often UFO is a show that tempers its audience's emotional response with a layer of detached observation. This time when the resolution is reached, we feel it keenly.
Setting the action on the moon's surface with at least one of them incapable of radio contact is a brilliant touch, I think. Foster and the alien must communicate without the aid of spoken language. We have yet to hear an alien use English, except as spoken through a psychic human conduit. A Computer Affair raised the possibility that they may not even understand English. Without words, each must try harder to think like the other in order to understand and be understood. It heightens the necessity of trust. Words can fail.
Words fail Foster when rescue comes, able to speak to his fellow astronauts but not clearly enough to prevent them from killing the alien on sight. It's a simple case of “us versus them”. A 'them' is inherently hostile and cannot be tolerated. Foster is an 'us'.
Back on Earth, as the story closes, words again fail Foster as he is unable to communicate with his girlfriend due to the need for secrecy. It's no substitute, but for solace he makes an overture of friendship to Alec Freeman, someone he knows can essentially 'speak his language' concerning the secret life they share. Freeman is an 'us'. One of the family. "Home", as Straker reassures Foster he's going.
"Home?"
"Moonbase." SHADO. Not a warm house with a wife or the apartment of a lover. Foster's 'us'es have been defined for him.
My takeaway going forward is this: Foster has had an experience unique to him alone within SHADO, a bond however brief of unity with the enemy. I believe that over the course of the series so far we have seen him being groomed by Straker as a protege. If he diverges from Straker's mold to become his own man, it will be because of this singular experience. Odin gained great wisdom, and it cost him an eye. Foster has personally witnessed the needless death of two colleagues (one on each side of this war) and the loss of a love relationship to attain the empathy he now holds.
The action in this one is exceptionally handled with expert fx work and deftly built tension. As well, the human interaction is pitch perfect, neither histrionic nor underplayed but natural. There are nice quiet touches like Bradley confirming his authority once placed ("I didn't think I had to ask for permission"), Harrington's look of "you're insufferable" when Straker sends her to fetch coffee, and the discreet editing of Freeman breaking the news of Foster's death to Foster's love interest.
If I have one quibble, it's this: if it's such a rare opportunity to get a UFO in undetected then why waste it on the mere shooting out of a window? The earlier plan to attack the base head-on with a UFO (Flight Path) was more ambitious and one would think much more rewarding.
10 circles drawn in moondust for a poignant and satisfying hour of drama.
* ”...bird. Black bird.” (this note refers to a line spoken by Lt. Ellis in the "Computer Affair" episode and would have been understood by the group watching with me on IMDb. See that review for an explanation.)
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