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UFO
Directors:
Gerry Anderson, David Lane, etc.
Starring:
Ed Bishop, George Sewell, Michael Billington
Gerry
Anderson's TV series UFO, a thirty-year-old
vision of a shiny pop art future that sadly never came to pass, has been revivified
by some exemplary restoration work.
The
show, about aliens coming to Earth to steal human organs and the
ultra-secret hi-tech organisation set up to combat them, is enormous fun,
and boasts some terrific model effects that still impress today. Carlton
has the 1970 series (comprised of twenty-six fifty minute episodes) in two
chunky digipack boxed sets, or as a series of eight separate individual
discs, in Amray-type cases
It’s
unlikely that any series of this vintage has ever looked quite as
good as UFO does here, thanks to good-quality 35mm source
materials, state-of-the-art telecine transfers and some expert restoration
work. The discs are presented in their original 4:3 (1.33:1) ratio, with
mono sound (at 192kbps). Carlton haven’t been stingy with the
presentation or the bonus materials, either: the elaborate animated menus
lead to a surprisingly frank commentary track by Anderson (on the first
episode, Identified, which he also directed); a few deleted scenes
(including some previously unseen gory alternative shots); descriptions of
others that no longer survive; and several annotated photo’
galleries.
The
series' best episodes are in the second half of the series, but several in
the first box set are nevertheless noteworthy, including A Question of
Priorities, which places the commander’s son in jeopardy, and the
espionage mystery Court Martial.
Although
ostensibly a single series, work on the show was halted mid-way when the
studio facilities the production team were using were sold from underneath
them, allowing time for some mid-season tweaking as they relocated to a
new base. There are fewer tangible extras on the second set (there’s a
disappointingly hesitant commentary track by star Ed Bishop on Sub-Smash,
and an array of stills, memorabilia, storyboard and artwork galleries),
but the episodes on offer are markedly better, including E.S.P. (a
man (John Stratton) with supernatural powers becomes entangled with the
SHADO organisation when a UFO crashes into his home); The Cat With Ten
Lives (a quirky tale of possession starring The Prisoner’s
Alexis Kanner); and three deliriously trippy adventures: Mindbender,
The Long Sleep and Timelash.
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