112-539: UFO is a 1970 British science fiction television series about the covert efforts of an international defence organisation (under the auspices of the United Nations ) to prevent an alien invasion of Earth. It was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill , and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade 's Century 21 for Grade's ITC Entertainment company. A single series of 26 episodes (including
224-582: A Mini Moke chassis incorporating an extra rear axle and modified by re-positioning the windscreen rearwards. As with the other SHADO vehicles, they incorporated gull-wing doors operated by a prop man out of shot. As with all the Anderson series of that period, very few original series props and miniatures have survived, and these are now highly valuable collector's items. Miniatures from the series known to still exist include: UFO confused broadcasters in Britain and
336-761: A computer -like screen , computer viruses , video chat , tanning beds , home treadmills , and more. In 1963, the time travel-themed Doctor Who premiered on BBC Television. The original series ran until 1989 and was revived in 2005. It has been extremely popular worldwide and has greatly influenced later TV science fiction. Other programs in the 1960s included The Outer Limits (1963–1965), Lost in Space (1965–1968), and The Prisoner (1967). Star Trek (the original series), created by Gene Roddenberry , premiered in 1966 on NBC Television and ran for three seasons. It combined elements of space opera and Space Western . Only mildly successful at first,
448-428: A space opera , went on to become a worldwide popular culture phenomenon , and the second-highest-grossing film series of all time. Since the 1980s, science fiction films , along with fantasy , horror , and superhero films, have dominated Hollywood's big-budget productions. Science fiction films often " cross-over " with other genres, including film noir ( Blade Runner - 1982), family film ( E.T.
560-428: A TV series. In " The Man Who Came Back ", the main set for The Devils , then in production at Pinewood, can be seen in the background of several scenes. The studio-as-cover concept served multiple practical and narrative functions: It was simple and cost-effective for the production, it provided an engaging vehicle for the viewer's suspension of disbelief , it eliminated the need to build an expensive exterior set for
672-461: A carry-over from the previous marionette series and were one of several plot devices (e.g. the Thunderbirds hover-bikes) which Anderson and his team devised to provide a fast-paced, futuristic and visually exciting way to move the action forward, whilst also minimising or eliminating the undesirable comical effect of seeing the marionettes walking, which might otherwise undercut the dramatic tension of
784-495: A fear of being typecast. The different writers and directors, as well as a production break when MGM-British Studios was closed, resulted in episodes of varying quality. The Andersons never explained at the time why female Moonbase personnel uniformly wore mauve or purple wigs, silver catsuits , and extensive eye make-up, and their unusual apparel is never discussed in the series. Gerry Anderson has since commented that it made them look more futuristic and that it filmed better under
896-419: A few definitive dates given (two newspaper dates, a death and script date). Following lukewarm ratings for Joe 90 (1968–1969) and the cancellation of children's espionage television series The Secret Service (1969) after only 13 episodes, Lew Grade approached Gerry Anderson to look into creating his first live-action TV series. Anderson worked with his wife, Sylvia , and producer Reg Hill to create
1008-535: A great and influential film. In 1954, Godzilla , directed by Ishirō Honda , began the kaiju subgenre of science fiction film, which feature large creatures of any form, usually attacking a major city or engaging other monsters in battle . 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey , directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the work of Arthur C. Clarke , rose above the mostly B-movie offerings up to that time both in scope and quality, and influenced later science fiction films. That same year, Planet of
1120-669: A journey to the Moon and how the Earth 's motion is seen from there. Kepler has been called the "father of science fiction". Following the 17th-century development of the novel as a literary form , Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein (1818) and The Last Man (1826) helped define the form of the science fiction novel. Brian Aldiss has argued that Frankenstein was the first work of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe wrote several stories considered to be science fiction, including " The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall " (1835), which featured
1232-399: A launch pad disguised as a lunar crater. The device of the personnel boarding chute or conveyor served both narrative and practical functions – like firefighters responding to a fire alarm by sliding down the fireman's pole to board the fire engine, these personnel chutes/conveyors signified to the audience that the characters were embarking on a perilous mission; they were also
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#17328553650571344-594: A new series idea, unrelated to UFO , in which the Moon would be blown out of Earth orbit taking the Moonbase survivors with it. This proposal developed into Space: 1999 . As with many Anderson productions, the series generated a range of merchandising toys based on the SHADO vehicles. The classic Dinky die-cast range of vehicles featured robust yet finely finished products, and included Straker's futuristic gull-winged gas turbine car,
1456-442: A possible second series was planned; initially entitled UFO 1999 , this eventually became Space: 1999 , but with a totally different cast from UFO . The series' premise is that in 1980, Earth is being visited by aliens from a dying planet, who are abducting humans and harvesting their organs for their own bodies. The alien incursions may also be a prelude to a possible full-scale invasion. The series' main cast of characters are
1568-411: A science fiction adventure series based on UFOs. Anderson said the core idea for the series was that UFO sightings were a common issue during the late 1960s, and that the idea of aliens harvesting human organs came from the work of Christiaan Barnard and his pioneering transplant operations. The creative team initially envisioned an organisation called UFoeDO (Unidentified Foe Defence Organisation), which
1680-568: A seven-volume VHS collection of episodes (volumes 2–7), preceded by the compilation film Invasion: UFO (volume 1), while a similar series was later released by ITC in 1993. The complete series was released on DVD in the UK and in North America in 2002 and in Australia in 2007. Bonus features include a commentary by Gerry Anderson on the pilot episode "Identified", and an actor's commentary by Ed Bishop on
1792-481: A single explosive warhead, are launched. The second line of defence includes Skydiver , a submarine mated with the submersible, undersea-launched Sky One interceptor aircraft , which attacks UFOs in Earth's atmosphere. The last line of defence is ground units including the armed, IFV -like SHADO Mobiles, fitted with caterpillar tracks . On Earth, SHADO also uses two SHADAIR aircraft, a Seagull X-ray supersonic jet (e.g. in
1904-418: A society (on Earth or another planet) that has developed in wholly different ways from our own." There is a tendency among science fiction enthusiasts as their own arbiter in deciding what exactly constitutes science fiction. David Seed says it may be more useful to talk about science fiction as the intersection of other more concrete subgenres. Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying "Science fiction
2016-468: A spacesuit and made to breathe the liquid that the aliens must breathe in order to survive the journey from their home planet. When his helmet is removed, he struggles to re-adapt to breathing air. He then awakens properly back inside the sauna, realising that he was simply imagining the abduction while all along he was safely on Earth. The episode ends with Foster singing a rendition of " Beautiful Dreamer ". According to John Kenneth Muir , who interprets
2128-495: A total estimated readership of at least 1 million), making it the world's most popular science fiction periodical . In 1984, William Gibson 's first novel, Neuromancer , helped popularize cyberpunk and the word " cyberspace ", a term he originally coined in his 1982 short story Burning Chrome . In 1986, Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold began her Vorkosigan Saga . 1992's Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson predicted immense social upheaval due to
2240-516: A trip to the Moon . Jules Verne was noted for his attention to detail and scientific accuracy, especially in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870). In 1887, the novel El anacronópete by Spanish author Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau introduced the first time machine . An early French/Belgian science fiction writer was J.-H. Rosny aîné (1856–1940). Rosny's masterpiece
2352-575: A very palatable form... New adventures pictured for us in the scientifiction of today are not at all impossible of realization tomorrow... Many great science stories destined to be of historical interest are still to be written... Posterity will point to them as having blazed a new trail, not only in literature and fiction, but progress as well. In 1928, E. E. "Doc" Smith 's first published work, The Skylark of Space , written in collaboration with Lee Hawkins Garby , appeared in Amazing Stories . It
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#17328553650572464-623: A world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state . It influenced the emergence of dystopia as a literary genre . In 1926, Hugo Gernsback published the first American science fiction magazine , Amazing Stories . In its first issue he wrote: By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision... Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are always instructive. They supply knowledge... in
2576-470: Is Les Navigateurs de l'Infini ( The Navigators of Infinity ) (1925) in which the word astronaut, "astronautique", was used for the first time. Many critics consider H. G. Wells one of science fiction's most important authors, or even "the Shakespeare of science fiction". His works include The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of
2688-405: Is "really all about those extraordinary visuals, the thunderingly exciting Barry Gray signature music [...] thrilling title sequence [and] overarching scenario". He argues that the final nine episodes, filmed after the move to Pinewood Studios and featuring increasingly "action-orientated" plots, were an improvement on the first 17. Other reviews have been more critical. In 1972, a commentator for
2800-400: Is armed with a laser-type weapon, and conventional explosive warheads can destroy it. UFO had a large ensemble cast; many of its members came and went during the course of the series, with some actors – such as George Sewell and Gabrielle Drake – leaving midway through the series, during the production break necessitated by the change of studio facilities. It
2912-416: Is established early on that SHADO personnel rotate between positions, so the occasional disappearance of characters – some of whom later returned in other positions – fits the concept of the series. Also, owing to the scheduling of the series not reflecting the production order, some episodes featuring departed cast members were not broadcast until late in the series, which can give
3024-428: Is his role as the studio's chief executive. SHADO has a variety of high-tech hardware and vehicles at its disposal to implement a layered defence of Earth. Early warnings of alien attack came from SID, the S pace I ntruder D etector, an unmanned computerised tracking satellite that constantly scans for UFO incursions. The forward line of defence is Moonbase from which the three lunar Interceptor spacecraft, that fire
3136-481: Is never given a proper name, either by themselves or by human beings; they are simply referred to as "the aliens". They are humanoid in appearance, and the post-mortem examination of the first alien captured reveals that they are harvesting organs from the bodies of abducted humans to prolong their lifespans. However, the later episode " The Cat with Ten Lives " suggests that these "humanoids" are actually beings subject to alien mind control, and one "alien" body recovered
3248-619: Is often called the first great space opera . The same year, Philip Francis Nowlan 's original Buck Rogers story, Armageddon 2419 , also appeared in Amazing Stories . This was followed by a Buck Rogers comic strip , the first serious science fiction comic . Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a " future history " science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon . A work of unprecedented scale in
3360-413: Is on". The special effects, supervised by Derek Meddings , were produced with limited resources. In a refinement of the underwater effect developed for Stingray , Meddings' team devised a disconcerting effect – a double-walled visor for the alien space helmets, which could be gradually filled from the bottom up with green-dyed water. When filmed from the appropriate angle it produced an illusion of
3472-503: Is one of the most influential examples of social science fiction , feminist science fiction , and anthropological science fiction . In 1979, Science Fiction World began publication in the People's Republic of China . It dominates the Chinese science fiction magazine market , at one time claiming a circulation of 300,000 copies per issue and an estimated 3–5 readers per copy (giving it
UFO (British TV series) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3584-560: Is related to fantasy , horror , and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres . Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Subgenres include hard science fiction , which emphasizes scientific accuracy, and soft science fiction , focusing on social sciences. Other notable subgenres are cyberpunk , which explores the interface between technology and society, and climate fiction , addressing environmental issues. Precedents for science fiction are argued to exist as far back as antiquity, but
3696-432: Is the nineteenth episode aired of the first series of UFO , a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. The screenplay was written by Tony Barwick and the director was Ken Turner . The episode was filmed from 8 August to 20 August 1969, and aired on ATV Midlands on 14 April 1971. Though shown as the nineteenth episode, it was actually the ninth to have been filmed. The series
3808-537: Is what we point to when we say it." Forrest J Ackerman has been credited with first using the term "sci-fi" (analogous to the then-trendy " hi-fi ") in about 1954. The first known use in print was a description of Donovan's Brain by movie critic Jesse Zunser in January 1954. As science fiction entered popular culture , writers and fans active in the field came to associate the term with low-budget, low-tech " B-movies " and with low-quality pulp science fiction . By
3920-536: The Golden Age of Science Fiction . Science fiction has been called the "literature of ideas ", and continues to evolve, incorporating diverse voices and themes, influencing not just literature but film, TV, and culture at large. Besides providing entertainment it can also criticize present-day society and explore alternatives, and inspiration a " sense of wonder ". According to Isaac Asimov , "Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with
4032-494: The Los Angeles Free Press wrote that UFO "plays like a combination of the worst traits of Batman and Star Trek ". According to Gary Westfahl , the series has "an intriguing premise [...]; the special effects were impeccable; and even the acting was better that usual. But Anderson proved unable to imaginatively develop his story, as later episodes reveal that the aliens were People Who Look and Act Just Like Us, and
4144-477: The Russian writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov presented a view of a future interstellar communist civilization and is considered one of the most important Soviet science fiction novels. In 1959, Robert A. Heinlein 's Starship Troopers marked a departure from his earlier juvenile stories and novels. It is one of the first and most influential examples of military science fiction , and introduced
4256-447: The information revolution . In 2007, Liu Cixin 's novel, The Three-Body Problem , was published in China. It was translated into English by Ken Liu and published by Tor Books in 2014, and won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel , making Liu the first Asian writer to win the award. Emerging themes in late 20th and early 21st century science fiction include environmental issues ,
4368-469: The speed of light (abbreviated and pronounced as "SOL"; e.g., "SOL one decimal seven" is 1.7 times the speed of light), but are too small to carry more than a few crew members. Their time on station is limited: UFOs can only survive for a couple of days in Earth's atmosphere before they deteriorate and finally explode. The UFOs can survive far longer underwater; one episode, " Reflections in the Water ", deals with
4480-400: The 1970s, critics within the field, such as Damon Knight and Terry Carr , were using "sci fi" to distinguish hack-work from serious science fiction. Peter Nicholls writes that "SF" (or "sf") is "the preferred abbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers." Robert Heinlein found even "science fiction" insufficient for certain types of works in this genre, and suggested
4592-487: The American DVD release. It was only when the entire series was repeated by BBC Two in 1996–1997 that the series was shown in chronological production order in the UK for the first time. On the website shadolibrary.org, Deborah Rorabaugh has created a timeline of events in chronological order, using a few known dates and facts. For example, "Exposed" should come before all other episodes featuring Paul Foster, and there are
UFO (British TV series) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-525: The Anderson shows and their merchandise have always had widespread popularity, but they are especially popular in Japan. In the 1970s and 1980s a number of the episodes were cut and compiled to create compilation films . Among these was Invasion: UFO , a 1980 compilation of scenes from " Identified ", "Computer Affair", " Reflections in the Water ", "Confetti Check A-O.K.", " The Man Who Came Back " and " E.S.P. ", featuring new title music. A subtitled Invasion: UFO
4816-426: The Andersons were primarily associated with children's programming did not help matters. This confusion and erratic broadcast schedules are considered contributing factors in its cancellation, although UFO is credited with opening the door to moderately successful runs of later live-action, adult-oriented programming by Anderson such as The Protectors and Space: 1999 . Tony Jones of Starburst magazine gives
4928-550: The Apes (the original), directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle , was released to popular and critical acclaim, its vivid depiction of a post-apocalyptic world in which intelligent apes dominate humans . In 1977, George Lucas began the Star Wars film series with the film now identified as " Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope . " The series, often called
5040-575: The Extra-Terrestrial - 1983), war ( Enemy Mine - 1985), comedy ( Spaceballs - 1987, Galaxy Quest - 1999), animation ( WALL-E – 2008, Big Hero 6 – 2014), Western ( Serenity – 2005), action ( Edge of Tomorrow – 2014, The Matrix – 1999), adventure ( Jupiter Ascending – 2015, Interstellar – 2014), mystery ( Minority Report – 2002), thriller ( Ex Machina – 2014), drama ( Melancholia – 2011, Predestination – 2014), and romance ( Eternal Sunshine of
5152-554: The Far Side of the Sun ) is considered an immediate precursor to UFO , which was their first entirely live-action TV series. (Their previous shows had used marionettes .) The series featured actors, costumes, props, locations and music that had appeared in the film, and 11 cast members of the film appeared in at least one episode of UFO . Following syndication in the US and initial favourable ratings,
5264-504: The SHADO base, and it combined the all-important "secret" cover (concealment and secrecy are always central themes in Anderson dramas) with at least nominal plausibility. A studio was a business where unusual events and routines would not be remarkable or even noticed. Comings and goings at odd times, the movement of people and unusual vehicles, equipment and material would not create undue interest and could easily be explained away as sets, props , or extras . A recurring Anderson leitmotif
5376-535: The SHADO mobile and the missile-bearing Lunar Interceptor , though Dinky's version of the interceptor was released in a lurid metallic green finish unlike the original's stark white. Like the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet models, the original Dinky toys are now prized collectors' items. All the major vehicles, characters, and more have been produced in model form many times over by a large number of licensee companies;
5488-500: The Saturday evening hour leading into All in the Family , the hugely popular comedy which was the highest-rated program on all of U.S. television at the time. (The FCC had mandated that the major networks give back the first half-hour of the evening schedule to local stations, as an attempt to limit the networks' dominance in programming at the expense of independent producers.) Naturally,
5600-457: The Spotless Mind – 2004, Her – 2013). Science fiction and television have consistently been in a close relationship. Television or television-like technologies frequently appeared in science fiction long before television itself became widely available in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The first known science fiction television program was a thirty-five-minute adapted excerpt of
5712-455: The States and Empires of the Moon (1657) and The States and Empires of the Sun (1662), Margaret Cavendish 's " The Blazing World " (1666), Jonathan Swift 's Gulliver's Travels (1726), Ludvig Holberg 's Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum (1741) and Voltaire 's Micromégas (1752). Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Somnium the first science fiction story; it depicts
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#17328553650575824-525: The United States, who could not decide if it was a show for adults or for children. In the UK, the first episodes were originally shown in the 5.15 p.m. tea time slot on Saturdays, and then on Saturday mornings during an early repeat, by both Southern Television – which began broadcasting UFO almost two months before the London area – and London Weekend Television . The fact that
5936-510: The Worlds (1898). His science fiction imagined alien invasion , biological engineering , invisibility , and time travel . In his non-fiction futurologist works he predicted the advent of airplanes , military tanks , nuclear weapons , satellite television , space travel , and something resembling the World Wide Web . Edgar Rice Burroughs 's A Princess of Mars , published in 1912,
6048-408: The aliens are incidental to storylines that have little grounding in science fiction, such as the organisational politics of SHADO and "tensions between emotional expression and operational efficiency". Two years after the 26 episodes were completed, the series was syndicated on American television. Many stations which carried the series were affiliated with CBS ; they tended to schedule the show in
6160-427: The aliens wear opaque sclera contact lenses with small pinholes for vision. (The show's opening titles begin with a shot of one of these contact lenses being removed from an alien's eye.) The personal arms of the aliens resemble shiny metal submachine guns; these have a lower rate of fire than those used by SHADO. The aliens' spacecraft can readily cross the vast distances between their planet and Earth at many times
6272-418: The break in production he began wearing a white wig. Until not long before his death he possessed one of the wigs he wore on the show, and took great delight in displaying it at science fiction conventions and on TV programmes. In the episode " Mindbender ", Stuart Damon is seen wearing the same white wig, although deliberately ill-fitting, in a dream sequence segment. Bishop also kept a Certina watch that
6384-432: The bright lights, while Sylvia Anderson said she believed wigs would become accepted components of military uniforms by the 1980s. However, in an interview given toward the end of her life, Sylvia explained that the decision was a combination of visual appeal and practicality – the wigs provided a striking and futuristic look, but they also saved the production the considerable time and expense of having to style
6496-422: The camera, the set behind the tank was filled with smoke, and set elements were agitated with fans to simulate water movement, creating a convincing underwater scene without any of the high cost or technical problems associated with real underwater filming. The vehicles were designed by Meddings and his assistant Mike Trim . As with all these Anderson series, the look and narrative action of UFO relied heavily on
6608-413: The concept of powered armor exoskeletons . The German space opera series Perry Rhodan , written by various authors, started in 1961 with an account of the first Moon landing and has since expanded in space to multiple universes , and in time by billions of years. It has become the most popular science fiction book series of all time. In the 1960s and 1970s, New Wave science fiction
6720-506: The creation of microrobots and micromachinery , nanotechnology , smartdust , virtual reality , and artificial intelligence (including swarm intelligence ), as well as developing the ideas of "necroevolution" and the creation of artificial worlds. In 1965, Dune by Frank Herbert featured a much more complex and detailed imagined future society than had previously in most science fiction. In 1967 Anne McCaffrey began her Dragonriders of Pern science fantasy series. Two of
6832-476: The dark vertical bands on the sides of the helmets were slits meant to allow the actors to breathe. Sylvia Anderson , having had made a pair of very sheer trousers for actor Patrick Allen to wear in the episode " Timelash ", later regretted not having had the nerve to ask him to wear a jockstrap underneath, and commented on the DVD release of the series that "you should not be able to tell which side anybody's 'packet'
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#17328553650576944-472: The devoted aficionado or fan—has a hard time trying to explain what science fiction is," and the lack of a "full satisfactory definition" is because "there are no easily delineated limits to science fiction." Another definition comes from The Literature Book by DK and is, "scenarios that are at the time of writing technologically impossible, extrapolating from present-day science...[,]...or that deal with some form of speculative science-based conceit, such as
7056-411: The discovery of a secret undersea alien base and shows one UFO flying straight out of an extinct volcano. A special underwater version of the standard UFO design is seen in " Sub-Smash ". In flight, they are surrounded by horizontally spinning vanes and emit a distinctive pulsing electronic whine that sounds like a Shoooe-Wheeeh! (produced by series composer Barry Gray on an ondes Martenot ). The craft
7168-489: The episode " Identified ") and a transport plane (e.g. in " A Question of Priorities "); a transatlantic Lunar Carrier with a separating Lunar Module (e.g. in "Computer Affair"); a helicopter (actually, a small VTOL aeroplane with large rotating propellers, e.g. in the episode " Ordeal "); and a radio-controlled Space Dumper (e.g. in "The Long Sleep"). The Moonbase has hovercraft-like Moon Hoppers/Moonmobiles that can be deployed for transportation or reconnaissance. The alien race
7280-415: The episode " Ordeal ", Paul Foster is carried by two aliens while he is wearing an alien space suit, but one of those two aliens is always off-screen when Foster is on-screen.) The alien spacesuit costumes were made of red spandex . At the start of production, the alien spacesuits were ornamented with brass chain mesh, as seen in the episode " Survival ". Later, this was replaced by silvery panels. In reality,
7392-422: The episode " Sub-Smash ". There are also deleted scenes, stills and publicity artwork. In 2002, A&E Home Entertainment , under licence from Carlton International Media Limited released the complete series on Region 1 (US/North America) DVD. In 2009, it was announced that producer Robert Evans and ITV Global would produce a feature film adaptation of the series. Ryan Gaudet and Joseph Kanarek were to write
7504-439: The episodes, ran from 1959 to 1964. It featured fantasy , suspense , and horror as well as science fiction, with each episode being a complete story. Critics have ranked it as one of the best TV programs of any genre . The animated series The Jetsons , while intended as comedy and only running for one season (1962–1963), predicted many inventions now in common use: flat-screen televisions , newspapers on
7616-564: The farm, and awakens just as aliens are kidnapping him. The aliens put Foster in a UFO and take off. Foster's friend and colleague, Captain Waterman in command of Skydiver, is ordered to destroy the UFO carrying Foster. However, Waterman, flying Sky One, cannot bring himself to do so: instead he uses Sky One to disable it, forcing a crash-landing on the Moon, where Foster is rescued by Moonbase operatives. Inside Moonbase, they find that Foster has been put in
7728-743: The first science fiction novel . Some of the stories from The Arabian Nights , along with the 10th-century The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Ibn al-Nafis 's 13th-century Theologus Autodidactus , are also argued to contain elements of science fiction. Written during the Scientific Revolution and later the Age of Enlightenment are considered true science-fantasy books. Francis Bacon 's New Atlantis (1627), Johannes Kepler 's Somnium (1634), Athanasius Kircher 's Itinerarium extaticum (1656), Cyrano de Bergerac 's Comical History of
7840-480: The genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years. In 1937, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Science Fiction , an event that is sometimes considered the beginning of the Golden Age of Science Fiction , which was characterized by stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress . The "Golden Age" is often said to have ended in 1946, but sometimes
7952-412: The hair of each of the female Moonbase staff for each episode, as well as keeping the "look" of the hairstyles consistent from episode to episode. However, whenever female Moonbase personnel visited Earth (as Ellis and Barry did from time to time), their lunar uniforms and wigs were never worn. Ed Bishop, who had naturally dark hair, initially bleached his hair for Straker's unique white-haired look. After
8064-459: The hands of actors who were often wearing absurd purple or platinum wigs [...] It kept you off-guard in a manner that few other shows have ever achieved, intentionally or otherwise." Some reviews have commented on the series' mix of themes. In an article for Cinema Retro , Tim Greaves writes that UFO was the Andersons' first step "towards something aimed at a more mature audience, its storylines touching upon some distinctly adult themes. Not only
8176-408: The helmet filling up and submerging the wearer's head. The series also revisited and improved on the clever and cost-effective aquatic effects originally devised for Stingray . The submerged launch of Sky One was filmed on a special set dressed to look like an underwater location; a thin, glass-walled water tank containing small fish and equipped with small air-bubble generators was placed in front of
8288-472: The implications of the Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about biotechnology , nanotechnology , and post-scarcity societies . Recent trends and subgenres include steampunk , biopunk , and mundane science fiction . The first, or at least one of the first, recorded science fiction film is 1902's A Trip to the Moon , directed by French filmmaker Georges Méliès . It
8400-419: The impression that no major cast changes occurred. Only Ed Bishop appeared in every episode. One of the female Moonbase operatives, Joanna, was played by Shakira Baksh , who later married Michael Caine . Producer Gerry Anderson later said that he had lost his temper with her so badly on the set of UFO that he always feared the idea of running into Michael Caine at some actors' function, and being punched on
8512-415: The late 1940s and the 1950s are included. In 1942, Isaac Asimov started his Foundation series , which chronicles the rise and fall of galactic empires and introduced psychohistory . The series was later awarded a one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series". Theodore Sturgeon 's More Than Human (1953) explored possible future human evolution . In 1957, Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale by
8624-643: The main character and principal location as the chief executive of a movie studio was a cost-saving move by the producers: the Harlington-Straker Studio was the actual studio where the series was being filmed, originally the MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood (later moved to Pinewood Studios ) – although the exterior of the Harlington-Straker studio office block seen throughout
8736-581: The miniature props and special effects sequences created by Meddings and his team, who devised a range of low-cost techniques used to create convincing miniature sets and locations and miniature action scenes featuring ground transportation, underwater, atmospheric and space travel, and dramatic explosion effects. Most production miniatures typically consisted of a mixture of custom-made elements and detail pieces cannibalised from commercial scale model kits. The futuristic gull-winged cars driven by Straker and Foster were originally built for Doppelgänger . During
8848-456: The modern genre primarily arose in the 19th and early 20th centuries when popular writers began looking to technological progress and speculation. Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein , written in 1818, is often credited as the first true science fiction novel . Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are pivotal figures in the genre's development. In the 20th century, expanded with the introduction of space operas , dystopian literature, pulp magazines , and
8960-518: The mysterious aliens and learn more about them, while at the same time keeping the threat of an alien invasion hidden from the public. Operating under the cover (as well as literally beneath the premises) of the Harlington-Straker Studios movie studio in England, SHADO is headed by Commander Edward Straker ( Ed Bishop ), a former United States Air Force colonel and astronaut, whose "cover"
9072-542: The new Moonbase. These developments had precedent in the earlier episodes: a subplot of " Kill Straker! " sees Straker negotiating with SHADO's financial supporters for funding to build more moonbases within 10 years. However, when ratings for the syndicated broadcasts in America dropped towards the end of the run, ITC cancelled the second series plans. Unwilling to let the UFO 2 pre-production work go to waste, Anderson instead offered ITC
9184-510: The nose by him. Interceptor pilot Steve Minto was played by Steven Berkoff . Lieutenant Sylvia Howell, a Skydiver technician, was played by Georgina Moon . Owing to the fragmented nature of the ITV network in the UK at the time, the 26 episodes of UFO were broadcast out of production order, and every broadcaster showed the episodes in a different sequence. The list below, drawn from Chris Bentley's The Complete Book of Gerry Anderson's UFO , details
9296-472: The novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight , made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo or Nebula Award . In 1968, Philip K. Dick 's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published. It is the literary source of the Blade Runner movie franchise . In 1969, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin was set on a planet in which the inhabitants have no fixed gender . It
9408-556: The pilot) was filmed over the course of more than a year; a five-month production break was caused by the closure of MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood , where the show was initially made. Production then moved to Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. UFO was first broadcast in the UK and Canada from 1970, and in the United States from 1972. The Andersons' live-action science fiction movie Doppelgänger (also known as Journey to
9520-603: The play RUR , written by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek , broadcast live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios on 11 February 1938. The first popular science fiction program on American television was the children's adventure serial Captain Video and His Video Rangers , which ran from June 1949 to April 1955. The Twilight Zone (the original series), produced and narrated by Rod Serling , who also wrote or co-wrote most of
9632-409: The plot as a "cautionary tale about excess", the episode is often thought of as the worst of UFO due to its "underwhelming" final plot twist . He questions why the SHADO scenes are played straight despite being part of Foster's nightmare, arguing that because of this the story "doesn't quite hold together". However, he considers the overall episode to be "well filmed" and "visually dynamic", as well as
9744-593: The ratings of UFO were initially promising enough to prompt ITC to commission a second series. As the Moon-based episodes appeared to have proven more popular than the Earth-based stories, ITC insisted that in the new series, the action would take place entirely on the Moon. Gerry Anderson proposed a format in which SHADO Moonbase had been greatly enlarged to become the organisation's main headquarters, and pre-production on UFO 2 began with extensive research and design for
9856-468: The reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology ." Robert A. Heinlein wrote that "A handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method ." American science fiction author and editor Lester del Rey wrote, "Even
9968-456: The running order shown on ATV (in the Midlands). The North American DVD release of the series usually follows the production order, with a few diversions; a website ufoseries.com for the show offers seven possibilities of viewing sequence. According to The Complete Gerry Anderson , the episode "Exposed" was intended to be aired second, but it was produced fifth and appears as the fifth episode in
10080-721: The script, which was to be set in 2020. It was claimed that the UFO movie would be visual effects supervisor Matthew Gratzner's directorial debut and that Joshua Jackson would play Colonel Paul Foster. Ali Larter was linked to the role of Colonel Virginia Lake. The film remains unmade as of 2024. Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to SF or sci-fi ) is a genre of speculative fiction , which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology , space exploration , time travel , parallel universes , and extraterrestrial life . It often explores human responses to changes in science and technology. Science fiction
10192-607: The sequence. Principal photography commenced in April 1969 with production based at MGM-British Studios . Seventeen episodes were filmed at these studios before they closed at the end of 1969. Production resumed at Pinewood Studios when studio space became available in June 1970, making UFO a 17-month-long production by the time the final nine episodes were completed. After the break, George Sewell (who played Colonel Freeman) and Gabrielle Drake (Lieutenant Ellis) were no longer available, and left
10304-399: The series a favourable review: "To a large extent, UFO is still very watchable [...] even if effects have moved on considerably in the past several decades. The music works, the costumes are memorable, and even if some of the future looks rather dated now, the stories themselves are still strong". Paul Mounts comments that even if many episodes "seem ponderous by today's standards", the series
10416-584: The series gained popularity through syndication and extraordinary fan interest . It became a very popular and influential franchise with many films , television shows , novels , and other works and products. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) led to six additional live action Star Trek shows: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999), Voyager (1995–2001) , Enterprise (2001–2005), Discovery (2017–2024), Picard (2020–2023), and Strange New Worlds (2022–present), with more in some form of development. Ordeal (UFO) " Ordeal "
10528-430: The series was actually Neptune House, an office building at ATV Elstree Studios , also in Borehamwood. Pinewood's studio buildings and streetscapes were used extensively in later episodes, particularly " Timelash " and " Mindbender " – the latter featuring scenes that show the behind-the-scenes workings of the UFO sets, when Straker briefly finds himself hallucinating that he and his colleagues are actors in
10640-471: The series. Due to the series being shown out of production order, their omission was not overly noticeable. Previously, Harry Baird, who played interceptor pilot Mark Bradley, had left the series after just four episodes, citing contractual problems (although he reappeared in a few later episodes from stock footage). Also, Skydiver Captain Peter Carlin, played by Peter Gordeno, left after eight episodes out of
10752-478: The shooting of UFO , David Lowe and Sydney Carlton raised funds to form a company called The Explorer Motor Company, dedicated to the mass production of these cars for sale to the public. A plastic mould was made of the Straker car, in preparation for mass production, but the company never got off the ground. Both Ed Bishop and Michael Billington commented that the futuristic cars were "impossible to drive", partly because
10864-524: The show slowed down to stupefied inertia as the aliens increasingly focused all of their energies on repetitive schemes to kill the show's hero, Stryker [ sic ]." According to a retrospective by Den of Geek , UFO "caught perfectly the depressive and fatalistic Zeitgeist of 1970s cinema, with relentlessly bleak endings and a hell of a lot of suffering on the way to them. It mixed inventive scripting with frequently trite dialogue and vice versa; it put highly charged emotional, adult situations in
10976-585: The staff of a secret, high-technology international military agency called SHADO (an acronym for S upreme H eadquarters A lien D efence O rganisation) established by the governments of the United Kingdom , the United States , the Soviet Union , France and Germany (believed to be West Germany as the city of Bonn is mentioned along with Washington, Paris and Moscow) to defend Earth and humanity against
11088-486: The steering wheel was designed for looks rather than functionality. The series also made limited use of American models, which were unfamiliar to British viewers. These supposedly futuristic vehicles included a 1965 Ford Galaxie station wagon and an Oldsmobile Toronado . The blue SHADO Jeeps – six-wheeled light-utility vehicles – were also originally supplied for Doppelgänger . The bodies were made of marine ply, fibreglass and perspex, built on
11200-423: The stories concluded happily. There was also a pervasive frisson of sexuality throughout the series [...] Peter Hutchings of Northumbria University argues that in trying to be more "adult-centred" than earlier Anderson productions, the series "[contained, limited or diminished] its generic science fiction elements". He notes that only six of the first 17 episodes focus squarely on the alien threat; in other episodes,
11312-515: The term speculative fiction to be used instead for those that are more "serious" or "thoughtful". Some scholars assert that science fiction had its beginnings in ancient times , when the line between myth and fact was blurred. Written in the 2nd century CE by the satirist Lucian , A True Story contains many themes and tropes characteristic of modern science fiction, including travel to other worlds, extraterrestrial lifeforms , interplanetary warfare, and artificial life . Some consider it
11424-523: The wigs were to become a major reference point for the series. In addition to the shift from using marionettes to real actors, another key point of difference is that while the Andersons' previous series were explicitly made for all ages, UFO was a deliberate attempt to court young adult and adult viewers. Some UFO episodes included serious adult themes such as divorce, drug use, the challenge of maintaining work/family balance, mind control, alien abduction, illegal organ harvesting, and murder. Establishing
11536-406: Was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill , and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade 's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company. Col. Foster gets drunk at a party the night before a scheduled fitness check at a SHADO-run health farm (featured in this sequence on the soundtrack is The Beatles ' single " Get Back "). He passes out in a sauna at
11648-404: Was influential on later filmmakers , bringing a different kind of creativity and fantasy . Méliès's innovative editing and special effects techniques were widely imitated and became important elements of the cinematic medium . 1927's Metropolis , directed by Fritz Lang , is the first feature-length science fiction film. Though not well received in its time, it is now considered
11760-480: Was known for its embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously " literary " or " artistic " sensibility . In 1961, Solaris by Stanisław Lem was published in Poland . The novel dealt with the theme of human limitations as its characters attempted to study a seemingly intelligent ocean on a newly discovered planet . Lem's work anticipated
11872-536: Was released in Japan as the first of eight VHS and Betamax tape UFO volumes by Emotion Video in 1984, and on Laserdisc format. Italian producers KENT and INDIEF made compilation films which met mixed reviews. The films used music tracks from the James Bond films From Russia with Love and Thunderball , for UFO ' s composer, Barry Gray, had his name confused with Bond composer John Barry .. The Italian films are: In 1986–1987, Channel 5 released
11984-438: Was specially made for his character. Other male characters in the series also wore wigs, again because the Andersons felt that they would become fashionable by the 1980s. Michael Billington does not wear a wig in early episodes; these can be identified by his receding hairline and long sideburns. Only two of the alien suits were made, so at no point in the series are more than two of the aliens seen on screen at any one time. (In
12096-501: Was suspected of being completely Homo sapiens , "possessed" by one of the alien minds – a concept central to the Andersons' previous Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons . Their faces are stained green by the hue of a green oxygenated liquid , which is believed to cushion their lungs against the extreme acceleration of interstellar flight; this liquid is contained in their helmets. To protect their eyes,
12208-618: Was the concept of the mechanical conveyor (e.g. the automatic boarding tubes of the Stingray and the Thunderbird craft ). In UFO this took several forms – Straker's "secret" office doubles as a secret elevator that takes him down to the SHADO control centre located beneath the studio, and the pilots of the Moonbase interceptors and the amphibious Sky One jet interceptor slide down boarding chutes to board their craft. The interceptors then rise from their hangar via elevating platforms to
12320-408: Was the first of his three- decade -long planetary romance series of Barsoom novels , which were set on Mars and featured John Carter as the hero . These novels were predecessors to YA novels , and drew inspiration from European science fiction and American Western novels . In 1924, We by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin , one of the first dystopian novels, was published. It describes
12432-428: Was there the ever-present core threat of aliens abducting humans and harvesting their organs to sustain their dying race; there were flirtations with adultery, divorce, interracial romance and the recreational use of hallucinogenic drugs [...] The very appearance of the aliens was disconcertingly sinister, sporting eerie liquid-filled helmets [...] Additionally, the characters regularly made flawed decisions and not all
12544-473: Was to become the secret SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation). Many of the props and actors that had appeared in the Anderson-produced 1969 movie Doppelgänger were utilised in the series. The creators looked ten years ahead and placed the series in a 1980s future. Sylvia Anderson designed the costumes for the show, including the Moonbase uniforms and purple wigs that female staff wore;
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