One of my heroes, and the reason I'm here, has died

They certainly don`t make them like this anymore .

Apart from when Team America was made of course

reply to post by milomilo


You've obviously not seen the series. It does indeed delve into the psychic side of UFOlogy, controlled humans, organ harvesting, perception psychology, propaganda techniques and other associated UFO information.

And - the thread is in this forum because this show covered precisely all of that, things that are discussed today in modern UFOlogy, even though it was made in 1970/71.

I do also wonder if you read my opening post properly as for the other reason its here.

Originally posted by Outrageo
Question: why can't we have space Twinkie-babes with ultra-tight, ultra-short miniskirts prancing around on the decks of the newer sci-fi shows?

The new ones all have to wear jump-suits and be-in-charge, and fight bad-ass enemies tougher than the jocks!

I know what you mean. For those of you who don't know what we are talking about here is an example.

reply to post by neformore


Nef,
From my copy of Gerry Anderson's biography, "What made Thunderbirds Go", I get the following;
The first episode of UFO, titled 'Identified', began filming at Borehamwood in April 1969, starring Ed Bishop as Commander Ed Straker, George Sewell as Alex Freeman, Peter Gordeno as Captain Peter Karlin, pilot of Skydiver, Gabrielle Drake as Moon commander Gay Ellis, and it was set in 1980, and ran for 26 episodes.
And to correct a couple of errors in my earlier post,
The series with Professor Stanley Unwin was called "The Seecret Service", and the series with Robert Vaughn, Nyree Dawn Porter and Tony Anholt was called The Protectors.

Roy.

Well I do recall that music, and the white haired actor, so we must have seen this a bit as a child. I'm currently watching the first episode, season 1, episode 1, and just noted a strong similarity between this and thunderbirds, which my older/teenage, kids watched a bit though I didn't approve of the sexual content, it was a little to ugly for my liking, (which caused some family trials actually, my oldest teenage son was always trying to undermine me and teaching the younger ones not to listen, it wasn't cool to listen to mom) whereas this show would be almost the same thing, but with human actors, and not quite the graphic R rated language. I guess the other show was the bigger hit, but this one looks like the better show to me. This was probably close to being in the era of the Get Smart show, which we watched alot.

Every kid in Britain over the age of 12 must have seen Thunderbirds. Anderson's most succesful show.

UFO was a bit more grown up. I haven't really watched it for years but seem to remember that it projects a very 1970s vision of the near future. It did cover a lot of the aspects of UFO lore like a secret group fighting off the alien threat (SHADO) a secret moonbase where shorts skirts and purple hair were obligatory for the ladies , USOs, abduction and even body part harvesting.

It was made in the era of Benny Hill, On the Buses and Are You Being Served. Ed Bishop was movie studio boss aka Commander Straker, Mike Billington played action man and playboy Paul Foster and George Sewell played a high ranking ladies man (until he joined The Detectives with Jasper Carrot and Robert Powell in his later years).

One problem I always had though was the way the moonbase defences were set up. There were three Interceptors with just one single primary weapon. A huge missile. Basically once it was fired the interceptor was impotent. The UFOs were armed with a re-usable laser type weapon. I think the aliens only ever sent a group of 4 UFOs once to beat the defences. This was poor tactics from a supposedly advanced race that could travel from beyond our Solar System. Not only that SHADO never appeared to upgrade their interceptors and add auxiliary weapons. And I am only partially joking as well!

RIP Mr Anderson.

Very sad to hear this OP. Thunderbird's were awesome when I was just a tot.



Travel well Gerry and thank you for filling a space in a great childhood.

OK, that mannequin version is the one I remember, and since this is something that is probably mixed up with the adult version of that my sons decided to watch late night without my permission, which uses the same mannequins, and was obscene. I remember throwing a fit kiniptchin over it. UFO is a much more innocent kind of show, though still a little sexist. Don't know why the purple haired females have to undress alot.

Heard about his death yesterday... RIP. As for UFO ... I was just a kid watching it but it had my undivided attention. On episode that really sticks is where they actually had caught one alien and as they were taking off the helmet a weird gooey fluid started to leak out... seems they breathed a liquid as opposed to oxygen. Freaked me out sufficiently for awhile. As for the purple haired chicks and their mini-skirts ... just couldn't wait for 1980 to come around ... then it did. What a disappointment.

Loved UFO, so much that I got the 8 disc DVD box set a couple of years ago. I love the way they figured the "futuristic" fashions of 1980 would be just a bit more "spacey" than those of the late '60's, but still pretty much intact--mini skirts, Nehru jackets (but in magenta?!?). Great opening theme song, sort of James Bond meets Mission Impossible.

R.I.P., Mr. Anderson.

reply to post by neformore


Sounds right up my alley - how did I never come across this? (born in '75) I will definitely check it out, but more importantly - what a profound moment when you can look and see that someone changed, or influenced your life! From major impacts, as his was on you (assumingly, having never met the man in person actually), to the smaller influences in our lives, and from the good to the bad...regardless of what, if any state we go into after physical death, there is no doubt that we, as humans, are all eternal, for our actions, thoughts, and sometimes even mere presence affects eternity. Imagine how many lives you yourself have affected, even just looking at those things triggered from his shows. Credit for anything you have wrought over the years, and down on from you to others and still others down the line can backtrack to him, and then further back beyond him.

I might be going on a bit of a tangent, but besides really wanting to check out his work now, what you said about how he changed your life really struck a chord. Things I've thought about before, but the reminder is good. Sometimes I like to think about all the things, good and bad, which had to take place to put me in the position to one day meet my wife, for example, and eventually, bring our son into the world. Some of the dominoes involved, without which, my boy wouldn't even have ever been born. Not to say I wouldn't have a different child possibly by now, but it's simply amazing, and one of the greatest ponderances we can have to think back through these things. To me, it helps me remember that the things I do, DO affect not only other people, but the future. Life itself, is magic.

reply to post by Unity_99


You're thinking of Team America which was done by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Originally posted by mirageman
Every kid in Britain over the age of 12 must have seen Thunderbirds. Anderson's most succesful show.

UFO was a bit more grown up.

Not too long ago, I watched many of Gerry Anderson's shows that I never saw before, including:
Captain Scarlet (1967 puppet and 2005 CG versions)
Fireball XL5 1962
Joe 90 - 1968
Space Precinct 2040 (1994)
Space 1999 (1975)
Stingray (1964-5)
Supercar (1961) His earliest show I found....and the only one I can't watch
TerraHawks (1983)
Thunderbirds (1965)
UFO (1970)

I didn't see Dick Spanner,PI, The Protectors, The Secret Service, The Investgator, or Crossroads to Crime as I'm still looking for them.

I can see why Thunderbirds was one of the more successful shows.
I also liked Joe 90, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, both versions, and Space Precinct 2040, and I obviously have a lot of respect for Anderson's work to want to watch it.

But UFO, Terrahawks, and Space 1999 all have space themes and suffer from a common flaw that cause me to not like the shows too much:

In general, the philosophy seems to be shoot the aliens first, and ask questions later, especially in terrahawks and UFO, and to a lesser extent in Space 1999 where hostility toward aliens seemed more dominant than in other sci-fi series. Space 1999 had potential since it was the biggest budget sci-fi show ever when it was made, but it suffered from some awful script writing, especially in the second year, when even the actors complained about the lousy scripts.

In one particularly poignant episode of UFO, an earthling and alien were stranded together on the moon, and they helped each other and formed an alliance, and after this touching cooperation, the Earthling's buddies showed up and shot and killed the alien. But in almost all the other episodes I recall they basically didn't try to re-establish this type of friendship and just tried to kill the aliens. However, I can't say that Anderson's work was alone in that fault, until shows like Star Trek and Star Wars depicted aliens as both good and bad guys.

Finally, with the Space precinct 2040 show, possibly influenced by Star Trek and Star Wars, Anderson got past the hostile to aliens theme, and had aliens and humans working side by side, and aliens could be both good guys and bad guys like in other shows. But Space precinct 2040 had its own identity crisis, in that it was unclear if it was a show for kids or for adults, but that aside, it was Anderson's best space-themed show with aliens, IMO.

The female costumes weren't as sexy as in "UFO", however.

reply to post by neformore


R.I.P. Gerry, as i remember, the show was a show within a show, being that the good guys
operated openly as a sci-fi t.v. show fighting the baddies. also for some reason i remember the star of the show is constantly being haunted by the death off his son...just thought i"d add. once again Gerry you will be missed. S.I.G.!

He'll be missed.
For myself, it was Stingray and Joe 90.
Stingray:
Troy Tempest -modelled off James Garner, the Captain of the
sleek craft and the odd-sounding 'Phones' as his side-kick.
The mute Marina with eyes that Troy yearns to dive into, whilst
they patrol the seas at the behest of Marineville for those water
-gargling aquaphibians.
Thank you Gerry!

Joe 90:
A kid... like I was, just an ordinary lad who enjoyed his Father's
work with inventions and of course, his greatest contraption - 'Big Rat'!
A spinning circular cage that fed the memories of others -via chunky
flashing computers, into the young Joe Mclaine's head.

Spy, surgeon, bomb dismantler or racing driver.
He could be anyone... and I suppose, so could I at that age!

Those times are missed.

reply to post by neformore


Okay... I'm now officially confused.

I'm sad that this man has passed away, and grew up watching his shows, and was always amazed by them.

What puzzles me though, is that I clearly remember this man passing away around ten years ago. I seem to remember it on the news. Perhaps I'm going senile in my old age...

reply to post by neformore


I remember UFO! I have not thought of it for years! They used puppets if I remember? I think I remember an episode where they were moving the Empire State Building on giant track vehicles like the Space Shuttle Mover. It fell in the show. LOL!

Cool stuff for a kid to watch.

Split Infinity

reply to post by dampnickers

...What puzzles me though, is that I clearly remember this man passing away around ten years ago.
I seem to remember it on the news. Perhaps I'm going senile in my old age...

It may have well been that Gerry created a whole new copy of himself and made sure
the strings weren't seen!
'Stepford... It Never Ends!'

Originally posted by SplitInfinity
reply to post by neformore

 

I remember UFO! I have not thought of it for years! They used puppets if I remember? I think I remember an episode where they were moving the Empire State Building on giant track vehicles like the Space Shuttle Mover. It fell in the show. LOL!

Cool stuff for a kid to watch.

Split Infinity

You are getting mixed up with Thunderbirds. Which for a kids show was pretty awesome and still gets rerun on TV here in the UK some 5 decades after it was first made.

UFO had live actors mixed with models of the UFOs and "SHADO" military hardware in the days before CGI.

reply to post by mirageman


Ahhh...you are right! I remember both now.

Split Infinity