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UFO was Gerry Anderson’s (Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet) first live action TV series. The following episodes are of particular interest to fans of Hammer Glamour:
“Identified” (September
16, 1970): Wanda Ventham
This is the pilot episode that introduced us to the wonderfully wacky world of
TV’s sexiest Sci-Fi series in all their purple wigged and psychedelic costumed
glory.
Wanda Ventham is seen as Virginia Lake on board a SHADAIR plane under alien
attack. Alec Freeman (George Sewell) uses all his charm on her. Take note
viewer: Most of his lines can nowadays easily be used as some kind of “ironic
form of 1970s sexism for comic relief”. In actual fact, Freeman’s flirtatious
womanizing ways bear huge similarity to another 60s/70s icon: James Bond. Sewell
himself was shortly in the run for Connery’s replacement in that role, but lost
to Roger Moore.
Ventham’s part was conceived as a one off guest appearance, however, her
character re-appeared for the final eight episodes and replaced George Sewell’s
Col. Alec Freeman as Straker’s new second in command.
“Destruction” (December
02, 1970): Stephanie Beacham
A UFO is shot down by the Navy and Commander
Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) smells a conspiracy. Col Foster (Michael Billington)
romances – and spies on! - Stephanie Beacham who is a P.A. for the Navy. Beacham
looks stunning in mini skirts. Is she in league with the aliens? Superior
episode that also features Hammer and Eurotrash Star David Warbeck (Twins of
Evil, The Beyond) as a Skydiver Captain, although they don’t share scenes
together.
“The Square Triangle”
(December 09, 1970): Adrienne Corri
An unfaithful wife (Adrienne Corri) and her lover (decadent Patrick Mower from
Hammer’s The Devil Rides Out) plan to kill the cuckolded husband, but by
mistake kill a stranded alien leaving the SHADO crew in a moral dilemma of
sorts. This is an average UFO episode that this time relies a bit too
much on a Twilight Zone style punch for its – as usual for the series –
downbeat ending.
“Survival” (January 01,
1971): Suzan Farmer
Following an attack on SHADO’s moon base, Colonel Paul Foster (Michael
Billington) investigates, gets marooned and captured by the alien and presumed
dead by his peers. He establishes an Enemy Mine relationship with his capturer.
This episode subtly as well as openly (as in the case of Lt. Mark Bradley’s
promotion) deals with issues of racism.
Suzan Farmer plays Tina Duval, Foster’s girlfriend
back on Earth. We first see her climbing out of a shower and looking anything
but a mess as she wants us to believe. We don’t see her reaction when being told
of her boyfriend’s apparent death, but then see her upset when he shows up
alive. Huh? It appears that she just can’t handle the pressure of being with
someone who lives under the constant threat of danger and ends up giving him the
boot. He responds by going for a drink with Alec Freeman (George Sewell).
“Mindbender” (January 13, 1971): Anouska Hempel (see Christopher's Review below)
“The Man Who Came Back” (February 03, 1971): Anouska Hempel (see Christopher's Review below)
“Timelash”
(February 17, 1971): Kirsten Lindholm
One of UFO’s best episodes. Everyone but Straker appears to be frozen in time.
One of the actresses that he encounters on the studio lot while manically trying
to solve the mystery is Kirsten Lindholm in period costume.
“Court Martial” (May 01,
1971): Pippa Steele
Pippa Steele has a silent, heavily made up bit part in this episode as starlet
Diana whose agent’s unexpected actions nearly end up costing Col. Foster his
life in a court martial. Jack Hedley (The Scarlet Blade,
The New York Ripper)
also stars as Foster’s defender.
“Reflections in the Water” (July 24, 1971): Anouska Hempel (see Christopher's Review below)
“The Long Sleep” (March 15, 1973): Anouska Hempel (see Christopher's Review below)
Review by Christopher Callanan
Anouska Hempel appeared in four episodes of
the Gerry Anderson show ' UFO'. In two of these she appears as a radio operator
for SHADO - Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence - and in the other two she is an
operative on SHADO's ' Skydiver', a large submarine with a stubby looking
interceptor aircraft at the front which can be launched when the submarine part
is manoeuvred to a certain angle.
The episode ' Reflections In The Water', shows her character being quite obviously pleased to see Commander Straker (played by the American actor Ed Bishop) return from the exploration of the aliens' undersea base where the invading extra-terrestrials have made copies of SHADO's top officers and therefore aim to take over SHADO's headquarters and thus fool Moonbase and the Earth defenses into allowing a fleet of UFOs through . Colonel Foster goes with Straker to the underwater dome to investigate, whilst the Skydiver captain has orders to destroy it if they are not back with an hour. Foster makes it back just as the sixty minutes are up, but Anouska Hempel's character seems to show no particular joy when he returns. However, just as the torpedoes hit the dome Straker is seen heading back to Skydiver and Hempel's character is smiling and hugging herself at the sight. It is perhaps a shame that this unspoken affection on her behalf for Straker, which is only really seen in this particular episode, was not followed up by the writers. Who knows what potentially interesting storylines might have occurred? Certainly UFO was not averse to handling such reasonably adult themes. Certain stories touched upon adultery and marital discord and this led to the various British commercial channels at the time of the original transmission unable to decide whether or not to show the programme late at night or earlier in the day which is when Gerry Anderson's previous more child oriented programmes had gone out. Indeed, most channels completely omitted one episode altogether ( The Responsibility Seat ) because of a bedroom scene involving Straker. By the standards of most of today's soap operas this particular scene now seems quite mild.
Hempel's character appears as a radio
operator at SHADO's headquarters on Earth in the episode ' The Long Sleep'. This
is an interesting episode because of the shots of London in 1970 (when it was
filmed) and also for the scene involving the characters of Catherine Fraser and
Tim when they take drugs and subsequently hallucinate. This scene has been
somewhat criticised by Gerry Anderson himself, and he claims that the writers
on the show often took advantage of his naivety and so slipped in certain ideas
which he might not otherwise have approved of. Anouska Hempel's character, who
is named as Tamara Paulson only in the original scripts themselves, is just
seen briefly toward the end of the story when a rocket carrying an alien bomb is
finally detonated outside the Earth's atmosphere. This episode was not aired by
ATV in the series' original broadcast because of the drug sequence. It was not
shown by them until 1973, and then it only late at night.' The Long Sleep'
and 'Mindbender' also feature Wanda Ventham as Colonel Virginia Lake, Commander
Straker's second-in-command.
The episodes ' The Man Who Came Back' and ' Mindbender' also briefly use Hempel's character, again as a radio operator. ' Mindbender' is a generally intriguing episode with some interesting scenes which make use of the programme's actual studio sets and show them as being sets in the context of the story itself. How does it manage to do this? Well, you will just have to watch the episode to find out.
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