"U.F.O." (pronounced YOU-foe by Ed Straker) was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I still have my original Dinky Interceptor toy. When the remastered DVD box set was released, I bought it immediately. I finally finished watching the series, and although it brought back fond memories, it struck me how wonderfully inept the show actually was.Derek Meddings' models were fantastic, of course, and the effects were on par with the other Gerry Anderson shows like "Thunderbirds," but dramatically, technically and logically, it was downright awful. (For example: On Moonbase, you can shut off your roommate's oxygen supply and no alarm will sound. And the best way to deal with an alien-controlled woman who wants to blow up your base is to spend 6 hours falling in love with her and then TAKE HER TO THE BASE.)It's like it was written by kids and realized by adults. It's a kids' show masquerading as a show for grown-ups. (I'm still fond of it, of course.)

UFO is another of those great childhood memories of mine of 1970s TV sci-fi & horror films, and television programs. I believe the series had a delayed showing in the Sates, as it seems to have been around 1972, or 1973 when I recall first watching it. Something of a surprise it ran at all in my area, really. I was too young to appreciate Gabrielle Drake's stunning beauty at the time(it's a shame she wasn't in all of the episodes), but the various spacecraft stuck in my mind, of course, as did the moon base. It seemed reasonable in those days we would have a real-life moonbase fairly-soon, after all.Upon watching the series through as an adult, some problems become obvious; i.e., how a moonbase could remain hidden on the Earth side face of the moon from even small telescopes, how SHADO technology was pretty much equal to the alien's craft, and how remarkably poor shots the aliens generally were. That said, it's a classic series which deserved better when it was originally produced, and deserves to be better known yet today. No doubt the various vehicles will elicit laughter as models from today's young CGI-jaded fans, but are still quite cool, anyway. Some of them stuck in my memory for years, like the one where the alien tried to defect to our side, and the installment where a SHADO probe follows a saucer back to their home planet.Yes, a darker series than most in the genre, as matters didn't always turn out for the best for everyone, but this perhaps made it a bit more realistic in the end. Highly recommended.

1: Send more than one UFO at a time. SHADO has only a few defense vehicles, so they could easily be overwhelmed.2: Don't pass the Moon on your way to Earth. Approach from the opposite side of the planet, where you'll be hundreds of thousands of miles away from those pesky Interceptors.3: Even if you do conquer the Earth, don't touch Moonbase. My wrath will be terrible if you do anything to harm those spectacular purple-wigged silver-suited moon maidens.4: Land somewhere other than England. All SHADO Mobiles are based there, so you'll have plenty of time to act. Try landing in central Asia, as far as possible from Skydiver.5: Appointing me your leader will assure your victory.

This was a fanciful TV program which I believe was filmed and cast in Britain. The special effects were somewhat cheesy with UFOs that looked like huge spinning metal tops from the 1930s. I don't recall ever seeing the aliens, but I believe I watched the same UFO crash repeatedly each time one was shot down. The organization that was responsible for blasting the alien spacecrafts to smithereens was SHADO which seemed to win every battle with the aliens. Each week, you'd see a huge UFO plunging to earth, totally destroyed by SHADO's defense network. What I always had a little difficulty understanding was how a race of aliens who were able to develop a craft that carried them across billions and billions of miles of the universe, was unable to come up with a weapons system that could effectively blast SHADO's defense craft. It seemed like the poor wretches were always out gunned. It would seem that such an innovative and technically capable race would realize the folly of their repeated attempts to break through SHADO's defenses and either come up with a ray gun that would atomize the defenders or cut their losses and move on to easier pickings. Having said all of this, I always watched the program and was quite entertained by it. I don't know whether that was because it was actually a good series or simply so cheesy that I just had to watch it to see just how cheesy it could get. Wow! 9 out of 11 junior space cadets with no life and no grasp of reality were unimpressed by my review. I best be careful they don't zap me with their Mattel jr. space ranger ray guns. Maybe I should have said the series was only cheesy if you're not out of touch with reality. LOL.