Product Details

• Actors: George Sewell, Michael Billington, Ed Bishop
• Format: NTSC, Color
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Century 21 Pictures Ltd.
• VHS Release Date: March 31, 1988
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302407796
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,103 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's initial live-action series, September 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: UFO Vol. 1 (Exposed and a Question of Priorities) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Husband and wife team Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet fame) were well known for their Supermarionation series' during the 1960's....."U.F.O." was their first outing into the world of live action. Ed Bishop (Col. Ed Straker), George Sewell (Alec Freeman), Vladek Shebal and others were already regulars with the Anderson production camp, having provided voices for their puppets for years.

At times sexy, at times confusing, at times intriguing, "U.F.O." was a mixed bag, comprised of 26 very uneven episodes. At it's best, it was a campy mix of Star Trek and James Bond, with more than a dash of cold-war paranoia thrown in for good measure. At it's worst, it could become somewhat trite and self-absorbed, taking itself far too seriously (I believe you could count that number of smiles throughout the entire series on one hand...a flaw "Space: 1999" was later to also be accused of, although one I take exception with.)

The basic premise? Earth has become the 'subject' of extraterrestrial invasion, with the aliens' goal being one of procuring human 'parts' to prolong their dying, sterile race. A multi-national task force is brought together, with the end result being SHADO (Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defense Organisation). The organisation's Earth base is located underneath Harlington-Straker Film Studios (where else?); the primary lunar installation is referred to simply as "Moonbase". Earth defense is provided by a fleet of nuclear submarines known as "Skydivers", each with an attack aircraft mounted on it's nose, and launchable from underwater. Mobiles and various other land-based craft round out earth-based forces. Moonbase defense is primarily supplied by a fleet of Interceptor craft, each carrying a nuclear missile attached to it's nosecone.

"U.F.O." featured only enough character development to explain it's situations, not to actually allow you to develop a liking or dislike for them. It has had an amazing impact on Japanese science fiction and animation; several of the craft featured in "U.F.O." (as well as earlier Supermarionation series) have been the obvious influence for those of Japanese movies.

"U.F.O." was cancelled after a run of 26 episodes. Talks began sometime in 1973 between the Andersons and Lord Lew Grade (of ITC) to create a new season, but that quickly became the basis for "Space: 1999" (after Anderson mentioned the idea of blowing up the Earth, which didn't set at all well will Lord Grade...)

Both "U.F.O." and "Space: 1999" were childhood favourites of this reviewer; to this day, they remain valid, entertaining series.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sci-Fi that actually is well written!!, October 16, 1999

By 

D. Choquette (Earth, Milky Way Galaxy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: UFO Vol. 1 (Exposed and a Question of Priorities) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

An excellent series from 1970 that ran one year. It was re-tooled into "Space 1999" by creator Gerry Anderson. "A question of priorities" is an excellent episode that has Straker wrestling with the problem of what is more important: Finding a downed UFO pilot or the life of his son. Very little "crash-boom" effects but excellent writing and without the "it all works out at the end of the hour" ending!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alien Invaders in Swinging London, April 15, 2001

By 

"ionadh" (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: UFO Vol. 1 (Exposed and a Question of Priorities) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Purple-haired go-go dancers who live on a geodesic-domed Moonbase, submarines which launch military aircraft from their nose cones, liquid-breathing aliens wearing freaky contact lenses and weird body paint, and a movie studio that conceals the headquarters of the world's last best hope for alien defense, SHADO. I mean, come on, people, what's not to love here? This was one of the first shows I used to watch with my parents, and we all loved it! Commander Ed Straker is just so icy and unflappable in the face of a seemingly hopeless alien invasion, the aliens are weird and yet kind of pathetic (they're stealing our bodily organs, it seems their world is badly polluted...so they came to Earth???), and well, you gotta love the Interceptors, Moon buggies, Skydiver (the flying sub thing), and of course, SID, Space Invader Detector, a kind of orbital watchdog which sounds like an English butler. Is this show serious drama? Of course not! Is it as camp as a Boy Scout gathering? You bet your knee-high Mod boots it is. It is enjoyable, spooky, exciting? Damn right. If "The X-Files" had been made in late-Sixties England, this is pretty much how it would've turned out. "UFO" is flat-out cool; it's not "Star Trek" or "Twilight Zone," but it is FUN.