As a young boy I was a big fan of sci-fi programmes on TV, whether they were American ("Land of the Giants", "The Time Tunnel", "The Invaders", obviously "Star Trek") or British ("Timeslip", "The Tomorrow People", "Space 1999", obviously "Dr Who") in origin. There were also Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation shows like "Thunderbirds", "Captain Scarlet" and "Joe 90", but a couple of live-action shows I missed were the BBC's "Blake's 7" which I may get to one day and this one which I only remember at all from its comic-strip incarnation in the "TV 21" magazine I used to so enthusiastically read. Anyway, attracted by the idea of stepping back into my 10 year old self again, I sought out the series and watched this, the introductory episode.
It was Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's first live-action sci-fi series and I see it actually runs for 26 episodes which is a lot of UFO's to identify and on the strength of this one, I'm not sure if I'll stay the course, it will certainly have to improve a little on what I saw here.
Gerry himself directed this scene-setter as well as co-writing it and so maybe I should be more forgiving of its clichéd direction and weak dialogue as I presume it's easier to write for and direct puppets. He is undoubtedly guilty of the era's often-primitive attitude towards women with almost the first shot tracking a mini-skirted young female's behind as she walks into S. H. A. D. O. Headquarters and then on the space base itself, there's an unnecessarily gratuitous shot of another young woman in her underwear behind a two-way mirror. Later still, there's George Sewell's character's (supposedly a senior colonel) boorish outlook towards women who gets to utter the very mortal line: "This cloud gives about as much cover as a G-string on a belly dancer!".
The story itself however has some promise, as Ed Bishop's Commander Straker on Earth keeps his piercing blue eyes on the sky on the alert for, quite literally, flying saucers, while Sewell's Alan Freeman character heads for the moon base itself which is protected by its tinfoil-clad personnel where the women wear micro mini-skirts and the men, what can only be described as designer string-vests.
By the end of this taster, an alien vessel has been shot down and its surprisingly humanoid pilot found to exhibit evidence of receiving human transplants thus providing a credible justification for their predatory attacks on human beings.
Like I said I think I saw just enough to come back for more despite its obvious drawbacks and hope that my feelings of nostalgia can overlook its obvious faults.
Space and time will tell...