Sci-Fi on British TV
Introduction
It is with some satisfaction and glee, that the Editors
welcome our first guest editor to the Science Fiction Gallery.
Paolo Torchio has agreed, at least for awhile, to document some of his
favorite British Television Series. So pay attention Brit TV buffs, here
is the first of some very interesting looks at some of the best Sci-Fi
productions in the world...including a highly underated and undershown
(in the U.S.) series, UFO.
- The Science Fiction Gallery
The Short List of British SciFi
- Blakes 7 - Renegades aboard the Liberator strike back at evil Earth Federation.
- Dr. Who - A rebellious Time Lord challenges time and space in the Tardis
- Survivors - The Earth falls victim to an alien plague and only few
are immune.
- Tripods - Set in the future, Earth taken over by Aliens that move about in three legged machines
-
UFO - Alien invaders we must stop before they can attack the Earth
Somewhere in the Carina-Cygnus spiral arm of a galaxy called the Milky Way,
there is a small, green and blue planet. Five thousand million people
live there and there isn't a single one
of them that hasn't, at some point in their lives, looked up into the stars and wondered about the
possibility of life somewhere else in the cosmos.
In a distant part of the same galaxy, a dying race of superior beings
located the small planet and saw, with some relief, that its inhabitants
were very similar to themselves. Realizing that in these primitive,
defenseless people they had found a slim chance of survival, they set
out in their spacecrafts to traverse the huge void which separated their
world from the little fertile planet called Hearth.
This is the basic plot of the british TV series called UFO created in
1969 by Gerry Anderson.
UFO is absolutely different from any other previous series ever seen
before on television.
In the early 60s everyone believed that we were entering a marvellous
new era of scientific achievement in space exploration. The result of
this exhuberance were sci-fi productions such as Star Trek,
a very poetic and dreamingful look at the future, where
almost everybody is good and carries with them a noble spirit.
But a series, above all,
located very very far in the future.
The truth is that the SpaceAge has never quite materialized.
UFO captured perfecty this feeling: in 1980... a dying race is coming to
earth across a billion miles of space to kidnap humans and to use their
bodies for transplatation.
Aliens are not friendly creatures such as S.T.'s Vulcans, they are driven
to earth by the greatest force in the universe, survival.
And, in classic 1970's style, this 1969 series has our erstwhile
band of scientists and warriors fighting the UFOs in nearly clandestine
battles, the world at large not knowing of the war going on out in space.
The series contains little that identifies it as being produced in the 70s,
save the occasional mini-skirt or lapse into 70s venacular ("...don't worry
so and so...the bandage hardly shows, you look just FAB").
This series was the first live-acting attempt by the show's creator, Gerry
Anderson. His previous works were actually
realized with puppets instead of real actors (stay tuned for information on
Thunderbirds and Stingray).
You will find many acronyms in Gerry Anderson's works, I think the guy likes
them a lot! And since the plot for UFO is quite involved, we tend to see
the use of acronyms to bring the futuristic touch to the story, much like
techno-speak is used in today's Star Trek series. In fact here is an
loose excerpt (not a direct quote) from the series storyline:
When in 1970 it became apparent that the visiting aliens presented a
very serious threat to mankind, the governments of the world reunited
to create a global defence force.
The organization was christened SHADO, Supreme Headquarters Alien
Defence Organization
and equipped with every
conceivable device and vehicle needed to combat the intelligent and
advanced foe.
Below we list a brief list of acronyms used by SHADO:
- SHADO HQ, EARTH
- Forty miles due west of London, in the area
known as Wessex there is the town of Harlington. In Harlington there is one
of the oldest and most successful film studios. When SHADO was set up,
it was decided that total secrecy should be mantained, thus SHADO HQ was
actually built underneath this film studio. The film studio would thus be
used as an excellent cover for any vehicles which might be spotted by
those not privvy to the real work being done there.
This is the head of the whole defense system.
- MOONBASE
- Situated in the sea of Tranquillity, Moonbase is the first
line of defence against the aliens. The control room is in permanent
audio-video contact with SHADO HQ on earth to plan defence strategies
against UFOs.
- INTERCEPTORS
- Housed in an airtight launch bay, below the lunar
surface, Moonbase Interceptors are fighter spacecrafts on constant
stand-by, armed and ready to meet the dangerous intruders head on.
- SID (Space Intruder Detector)
- Orbiting the earth at a distance of
36,000 Kilometres, SID is SHADOs purpose-built early warning system.
SID is capable of detecting and tracking incoming UFOs even at extreme
range and, thanks to a speech circuit, is able to provide Moonbase and
SHADO HQ with a verbal commentary on any situation as it develops.
- SKYDIVER
- A nuclear submarine, Skydiver prowls the ocean depths, ready
to strike at any intruder able to bypass the outer defences. When an
incoming UFO is detected in earth atmosphere, Skydiver can launch SKY 1,
a fighter aircraft able to take off from sea depths and to attack and
destroy almost any grounding alien spacecraft.
- THE MOBILES
- Concealed in secure depots throughout the world , the
SHADO Mobiles serve as armoured personnel carriers, capable of
transporting both men and equipment to the scene of a grounded UFO.
Mobiles generally operate in group of three.
Led by the charismatic Roj Blake, a band of renegades are able to convince
the computer Zen to allow them access to the Liberator, a vastly
superior alien spacecraft. They set out to seek revenge and overthrow the evil
empire of the Earth Forces Federation. Complete with no less than two evil
antagonists (Servalan; the supreme commander of Earth Forces and later made
the President of Earth; and Travis; the man responsible for killing Blake's
renegade friends back on Earth) the series lasted for four seasons on BBC.
Joining Blake was Jenna a beautiful and mysterious prisoner who was
also on the prison ship Blake escaped from; Cally, from a race of human empaths;
Vila, a acknowleged coward and thief; Gan, a rather large brute; and Avon,
a cold and calculating challenger to Blake's leadership.
Later Blake is presumed dead, and Avon, his cold hearted demeanor unimproved,
takes over leadership of the renegades and the Liberator.
Rather than a popular leader, Avon holds the reins only because no one
else can seem to muster his level of knowlege or confidence. Also Avon
escalates his verbal assault on Villa, the cowardly thief becoming
the whipping boy in almost every episode following Avon's ascension to
the
leadership role.
Another interesting aspect of the "Avon Episodes" is the introduction of
ORAC, a brilliant scientists mind captured in a highly intelligent and
powerful computer contained in a 1 foot square semi-clear plastic box.
And it is Villa who tends to talk to Orac the most, while Orac is perhaps the
only "one" on board to challenge Avon's leadership. But as Orac is confined
to his box, there is not much he can really do to control, so the entity
resorts to taking snide shots at Avon as time progresses.
The only real threat to his leadership comes later in the form of a former
Federation officer, Del Tarrant who comes on board in the same season as
Dayna, an extraordinary hand to hand and weapons master.
Avon is also famous for the loss of the Liberator, and the creative
capture of a new ship, Scorpio which also has an "intelligent"
computer on board. Unfortunately, Scorpio's brain is no where near
the likes of Zen, and the Avon crew suffers considerably because of this.
However, Avon manages to get Scorpio into fairly decent shape and
also manages to stay out of the clutches of Servalan and the Federation
goons.
The series was repopularized by U.S. Public Television stations, creating all
new fan clubs throughout the country.
In the U.K. the original broadcast's first episode was shown in
January 1978 and appeared from a mind boggling 52 episodes.
According to Tony Attwood's Terry Nation's Blakes 7 The Programme Guide 1 , was
watched by 10 million viewers. It is fairly certain this does not include the viewers
who watched the final episodes time and time again on U.S. public TV for years
afterward.
Analysis coming soon!
1 Terry Nation's Blake 7 The Programme Guide Copyright Tony Attwood
and Lynstend Park Enterprise Limited, and W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd., 44 Hill
Street, London, United Kingdom, W1X 8LB.
Comments
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Last Updated: 9/17/95