UFO!

Just finished watching the one and only season of UFO, the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson live-action sci-fi television show from 1970. It was very absorbing watching the forces of S.H.A.D.O. (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization) led by Commander Ed Straker fend off vile green-hued aliens (the green is a side effect of a liquid they use to breathe) who are bent of scavenging human beings for organs and other such stuff as can be found on our fertile Earth. The show takes itself seriously from the get-go, making it easier to swallow the mildly outrageous premise that Earth is in a secret war with Aliens from outer space in the then future of 1980. Once you get that chunk down, the rest of it goes smoothly, and actually quite logically. Faced with this threat, the governments of the world organized S.H.A.D.O. to specifically design capability to face this threat and over the intervening ten years that organization has grown and is doing the work. To that end the satellite detector named S.I.D. is put in place and a base on the Moon is established and maintained to station forward attack ships. These along with a sub fleet armed with its own flying capabilities and an array of ground Mobiles allow the forces of S.H.A.D.O. to respond to a myriad of alien threats as the occur.

 

The forces of S.H.A.D.O. are very much creatures of the 70's though the show is set in the future, at least in terms of dress and fashion. The secret base, hidden beneath a film studio, is loaded with beautiful dames in tight-fitting outfits who get coffee and wander around looking sexy and carrying papers to and fro. There are rugged heroes like Major Paul Foster, who is a test pilot who finds out about UFOs and then gets recruited. He's a dashing lady's man capable of taking the fight to the aliens, especially when they threaten beautiful girls. Colonel Alec Freeman is Straker's right hand man, and the voice of the people when Straker's implacable reason seems cruel. Colonel Virginia Lake is a gorgeous blonde who replaces Freeman later in the series and stands around a lot but can shoot a mean automatic rifle when the time comes. There is an array of mostly handsome folks who battle the aliens and look cool doing it. Since this is an Anderson show the special effects are darn good, with models doing much of the heavy lifting for the science fiction aspects. The same techniques which served on Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet serve here, though they are melded with live action sequences. Lots of equipment is needed to battle the aliens. One thing I noticed is the calm tone the show has, no one getting overly upset about anything really. The atmosphere is one of restraint and calm and that gives the show a neat tension. The aliens are hardly seen and their motives are only vaguely hinted at, but there is much speculation. We really never learn what they want, and that makes them oddly effective as villains. People die in this war, good people and bad people alike, and that makes the affair have more gravity.

One of the odder aspects of the show is the way fashion dominates the proceedings. Major Foster for instance becomes increasingly androgynous during the run of the show, becoming more and more effeminate, less the rugged leading man and more the somewhat overripe hipster. The girls who work on Moonbase wear silver uniforms (which peel into mini-skirts) and the strangest magenta wigs ever seen on screen. The show does a good job of trying to make everyone look mostly alike. Whether this is part of the subtext of the theme, or merely a side effect of Sylvia Anderson's interest in fashion is hard to tell. There's a significant James Bond vibe to this show, intentional I'm sure. The later episodes were filmed at Pinewood, and Michael Billington who played Foster was considered by many to be a natural heir to the Bond role at some point, though that never developed. Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) even shows up for a few shows to fill in for Straker's regular reliable gal Friday secretary Miss Ealand. The show also gets a more bizarre feel in later episodes, almost akin to what was done in The Prisoner. This turns out to be a dandy little show, very entertaining, and as I found out like great popcorn hard to stop partaking of after you start. For much more on UFO see this link and this one too. 

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun!

It's just barely possible I saw Journey to the Far Side of the Sun in the theater in 1969. I have some nagging memory of that, but no certainty. I've long wanted to get another look at, especially in light of rediscovering so many great Gerry Anderson productions such as UFO, Space:1999 and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Thunderbirds among others to my collection.

This movie was called Doppleganger in Europe, a name which has a proper mystery to it and of course points quickly the theme of the flick which features many of the classic Anderson touches. After years of puppets on television the Andersons wanted to break into live action and especially into film. They certainly the technical chops for it, but as this movie demonstrates, there's a lack of thematic depth which holds the work back.
 

The story is a simple enough affair. A new planet is discovered on the far side of the Sun in 2069 and Eurosec director Jason Webb (Patrick Wymark) wants to send men there, but it costs a lot of money. To fool the U.S. into being the sugar daddy for the operation, Webb allows the secret discovery to fall into the hands of the Soviets. This triggers a team up between Europe (Britain really) and the U.S. with Roy Thinnes showing up as ace astronaut Colonel Glenn Ross. Along with Ian Hendry in the role of Dr.John Kane, the two train then eventually head to the new planet. Crashing upon a arrival they discover that the world they have arrived at seems almost like the one they left.

This movie is a wonderfully quiet and technically sound presentation of space flight. The characters are by and large restrained with just enough personal intrigue to tell them apart. The movie seems to want to tap into the 2001: A Space Odyssey vibe with some psychedelic sequences and an ending which really does evoke the classic Kubrick space opera. The biggest problem with this movie is that the payoff doesn't really measure up to the build-up. The discovery is curious, but doesn't seem to sufficiently challenge the protagonists enough to make me really care about their fates. It's all a bit too low key all the time.

This is a beautifully fabricated movie, but it sadly lacks enough of a point to make it elevate to a really rich viewing experience. If I actually did see this movie when it came out, I'm realizing why it left such a vague memory.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post.  

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Joe 90 - The Complete Collection!

As far as I can tell I've wrapped up my most recent exploration of the Gerry Anderson TV shows. It's been a weird and wonderful trip for the most part, as I've moved beyond my boyhood fascination with Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Stingray to examine not only Space:1999 and UFO (two shows I also watched on the tube) but also Thunderbirds, Fireball XL-5, and Supecar. There was one pure "Supermarionation" show left and despite it looking decidedly sleepy I rolled the dice and picked up Joe 90. Overall I'm glad I did.

(Joe 90 in BIG RAT)

This is show which has some significant flaws but there's enough of the Anderson studio magic to make it worthwhile. Joe 90 is in fact a nine-year old boy named Joe McClaine who becomes the subject of his scientist Dad's experiments in brain manipulation. Sounds pretty gruesome put that way, but in some significant ways this is a gruesome show. The setting is the early 21st Century and the world is united under a single sprawling government and policed to some extent by W.I.N. (World Intelligence Network) who are represented in the series by Agent Sam Loover and Commander Shane Weston. Using a trippy device dubbed BIG RAT (Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer) to transfer the brain patterns of one human into the brain of another Doctor Ian McClaine attempts to move science ahead. Instead his son gets fixed for the affair and after that becomes a double agent, often called a "Most Special Agent" because who would believe a nine year old was a deadly secret agent. Lots of high tech hijinks ensue and we have a show.

(Sam Loover, Dr. McClaine and Joe)

But it's a pretty sleepy show and after the first several episodes the special nature of Joe gets lost a lot. Why he's called "Joe 90" is open to debate but it's a name Gerry Anderson cottoned to. Joe saves people from deadly scenarios (Thunderbirds) fights deadly foreign agents (Captain Scarlet) and jets around in a nifty futuristic car of his Dad's design which looks like nothing else on the road and flies to boot (Supercar). In fact of all the shows this late 60's show resembles to me was Supercar, though seeming to add more sophisticated characterization with more human-like puppets. Sadly they end up having less character than the zany cartoonish Supercar characters and prove in the end to be less compelling.

(The Jet-Air Car)

Captain Scarlet looked similar but was driven by a heavy dark atmosphere and a high-tech continued threat which gave it an epic quality. Joe 90 is more episodic and the danger while often lethal feels less robust. Joe does in fact shoot and kill a few folks along the way, something I imagine would raise some hackles these days. Some have suggested this is a boy's fantasy and I'm good with that as a general premise, but it doesn't make the show any better for being correctly identified. This one falls into the near-miss category for me, full of some interesting spectacle from time to time, but laboring under some rather dull lead characters.

Still and all it was diverting and even a weaker Anderson show is still a cut above many others.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Captain Scarlet - The Complete Collection!

Just spent a few wonderful days in the early part of this new year enjoying the classic Gerry Anderson "Supermarionation" adventure show Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. This is one from my childhood, a classic TV entertainment which seared a spot in my noggin and never left. The classic opening has reverberated in my imagination for decades. 
 

The show followed quickly upon the success of Thunderbirds, but offered up puppets with more lifelike proportions and a storyline with a darker, sometimes even adult tone. It's this latter aspect which I think made this show stick with me. This was grim stuff at times. The premise is that in 2068 an Earth expedition led by Captain Black of the Spectrum organization happens across the alien Mysteron base on Mars and wrongfully attacks it. The Mysterons though have technology which can recuperate from destruction and death itself and do so, pledging at the same time to wage an unending "war of nerves" on the Earth in general and Spectrum in specific.

What makes their attacks so grim is that they use revived humans and equipment to wage their war. The invisible Mysterons first kill you (usually with vehicular homicide), then revive you and have you serve them slavishly. That's rough stuff. I was reminded this time of the ludicrous movie Plan 9 From Outer Space which sought to revive the dead to wage war on the Earth, and thought to myself how Captain Scarlet sort of actually follows through with this plan.

The first Mysteron agent is Captain Black himself, who looks zombie enough most of the time, a pale grim figure shown weekly lurking in a graveyard. He plots, then Spectrum blocks or not. The good guys don't always win on this show, and that's rugged territory for what is supposed to be a kid's show.

Captain Scarlet himself is something of a rogue Mysteron agent. In the first episode he is killed and revived, but circumstances cause him to revert to his heroic pose but armored with an indestructible nature. He dies more than a few times during the series, but always returns to fight another day. He is assisted by Captain Blue and the other agents of Spectrum, all led by Colonel White. Beautiful women called Angels are a constant flying circus protecting Cloud Base, a giant airborne aircraft carrier. From this high-tech location the unending Mysteron war is waged.

It's a tight premise, and the half-hour episodes are told with skill and supreme craftsmanship. The editing on a show like this is crucial and the story is rarely muddled and a great deal is jammed into a small space. This makes for brisk and enjoyable entertainment. I will admit that in certain moments the show does resemble Ken and Barbie playing spy, but most of the time, the creators are able to avoid that pitfall. This is a smart snappy show with more than a gram of wit.

It's a precursor of sorts to the later Anderson live-action show UFO which also has Earth engaged in a battle with mysterious aliens, this time led by the secret SHADO organization. There are more than a few similarities between these shows, almost making you think UFO is Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons done in the live-action format.

If you haven't seen Captain Scarlet, I heartily recommend it. It's pure entertainment.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Thunderbirds - The Complete Collection!

I came very, very late to this particular "Supermarionated" party having never seen the show even once in my life. I saw and loved Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons as a kid, but never saw any of the other Gerry Anderson shows save Stingray. Rewatching it this time was very enterttaining. 

I'd read about Thunderbirds, and heard people rave about it so my curiosity finally got the better of me and after seeing the two feature versions of the show which impressed a little at the time, I broke down and ordered it at long last. It took many months for me to finish the series (lots of diversions you know) but I have, and I began to see the appeal. This second viewing was much more rapid, only a few days. 

I began to get why folks are so balmy about this series. The good guys are exceedingly good, if powerfully naive, and the baddies are properly bad and stupid. The storytelling is sluggish in places, but from what I read that was somewhat the result of late decisions by the producers about expanding the series to an hour from a very effective half hour.

I did get confused about the way in which International Rescue fit into the global scheme of the 2060's as sometimes they are rogues operating outside the system and sometimes they seem almost an arm of the governments they often benefit. Their secrecy was wildly inconsistent too as in one episode a kid who stows away on Thunderbird 2 is approached as a mild menace and in at least two other episodes kids are given tours of the island and the equipment. Sometimes the Tracys reveal their names, sometimes they fight over having their pictures taken. Their picture detector is a pretty cool device and I'm sure many stars who fend off the paparazzi would like one. That stuff aside it's still wild fun.

I might say the episode where they attempt to move the Empire State Building might be my favorite,  it is such a wacked-out notion. The world of 2060 something is pretty hair-raising in some respects and amazingly familiar in others.

The fashion as always in an Anderson production becomes fetishistic with the puppets (yes I know they are marionettes) looking more than a tad goofy from time to time as they try painfully to look cool. The whimsy of the whole affair makes the attempts to hip and cool harmless fluff, a product of a time when such things were somehow taken seriously. (We're much better now of course.)

It's easy to see why these shows hold up, the craftsmanship is top notch and really the kind of thing which could not be done in the modern world. Not because of the craft, but because the insane costs. We caught a comet with this show and the ones which came before and after, and I have to admire that.

Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6, the two big-screen renditions of the classic British sci-fi tv show are dandy. I found them for tiny money in a discount store somewhere I now forget, and tried to watch them, but the pace of the opening scenes of Thunderbirds Are Go, which is measured even by the admission of the director, always did me in. I just got bored in the first fifteen minutes or so and bailed, choosing to do something else, then forgetting about the movies completely. Now I know what to expect and found them just fine. The problem was me. 

Now I even began to relish it as the spaceship dubbed the Zero-X slowly and relentlessly assembled itself in the opening moments of the movie. The story then begins to dabble out, the International Rescue team is called in after a disaster to supply security months later. Months later still the Zero-X arrives at its destination of Mars and runs into trouble. Months later still it returns home and runs into still more trouble requiring the intervention of International Rescue yet again. There are some great big explosions, some handsome model work, and an interesting sci-fi scenario.

But ultimately the movie is so uneven, it defeats its own good qualities. I was slightly stunned by the inclusion of a dream sequence which featured the music of Cliff Richard and The Shadows, a totally weird and totally 60's moment. The movie though in the final analysis was entertaining after I got into its flow, though it could've been better.

I really began to appreciate the relative seriousness of Thunderbirds Are Go when I saw the sequel Thunderbird 6. This one is played for more laughs and features a handsome biplane which dominates way too much screen time in my estimation.

The weaknesses of the first movie are amplified in the second. It essentially is a world tour via anti-gravity airship which gives the model makers the chance to fashion a Statue of Liberty, the Great Pyramids, and other notable iconic items. That stuff is the highlight as the plot makes little sense. Villains (who are never really identified) are trying to lure International Rescue into a trap and take the most elaborate and complicated way imaginable to do that.

These are diverting movies, curiosities of a time when special effects really seemed special. I can appreciate them and even enjoy parts of them, especially the first one which as I learned actually has a connection to my favorite Anderson production Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Stingray - The Complete Collection!

Gerry Anderson's Stingray is the first color offering from the British "Supermariantion" studio and the one just before the more famous Thunderbirds show. At a half hour each these shows are very nicely paced and don't drag as some of the later Thunderbirds episodes are wont to do from time to time. The show is also brighter than Captain Scarlet, not so gloomy in its atmosphere.  The stories are told with vigor and often with deft edits which lose none of the story but keep the show running briskly.

(Tempest, Marina and Phones)

Stingray presents the adventures of Captain Troy Tempest (designed to look like James Garner) and his navigator "Phones". They are joined by Marina, a sea-dwelling mute woman with green hair (designed to look like Bridget Bardot or maybe Ursula Andress). Back at the base named Marineville are Commander Shore and his daughter and primary Tempest love interest Atlanta (who resembles Lois Maxwell the woman who voices her and James Bond's favorite secretary). So now we have two women, an actual love triangle for our characters to navigate. Stingray itself is a highly effective submarine which forms the spearhead for the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (W.A.S.P.) and is by all evidence in the series the only ship in the fleet. Sadly, the show also added a humorous character in the vein of the Mitch from Supercar and the Lazoon from Fireball XL5, in this case it was a seal named "Oink". Thankfully without arms and legs he was able to do much. 

In the future of 2065, most shipping is done with remotely controlled vessels, but still there seems plenty for Tempest and his crew to do. For one thing they are constantly battling the Aquaphibians, a race of undersea people who led by the tyrant Titan are constantly plotting to bring down Marineville and if possible, Tempest himself. Marina had been Titan's slave but was freed by Tempest and Phones in the debut episode.

The sea itself seems inhabited by a number of somewhat different peoples, with different looks and whatnot and Stingray finds itself coming across them regularly. Titan (with a Laurence Oliver air) is a hoot with his hyperbolic threats often coming to naught and his secret agent X-2-Zero (who looks like Claude Raines and sounds like Peter Lorre) who lurks in an old house on an island near Marineville. X-2-Zero often dons disguises and enters Marineville, but rarely accomplishes much.

I have dim memories of seeing Stingray before, as a kid, the only Anderson show I saw other than Captain Scarlet. To be honest none of the episodes in particular triggered any memories though the show's potent opening did echo in my mind. The music is a bit part of the energy of the show, especially when Stingray launches and when Marineville itself descends into the bunkers to withstand attacks (which come with some degree of regularity). Other than Captain Scarlet, Stingray is the most militant of the Anderson shows with a Cold War atmosphere most obvious when Marineville descends into protected bunkers at the first sign of threat. Supercar was about science, good deeds and adventure, while Fireball XL5 was about exploration. 

While Stingray might not have been as accomplished technically as Thunderbirds, its superior pacing makes it (for me at least) a much more enjoyable show. I'm often impressed by Thunderbirds, but I actually often enjoy Stingray.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Fireball XL5 - The Complete Series!

Fireball XL5 gives the viewer space opera at its finest. We travel into the future world of 2062 (only forty years away and I might see it if I live to be over one hundred). In this black and white vision of the future mankind is but one of many races spread across space on numerous planets. Steve Zodiac is our classically handsome hero who stays calm and becomes a rock for his crew to lean on times of crisis. His crew is made up of the lovely Doctor Venus (love interest of course -- an area Supercar never ventured into) and the eccentric Professor Matt Matic. Also aboard the ship is Robert a see-through robot who can fly the ship and more along with an alien critter called a Lazoon which seems to be on board mostly stir up trouble. 

Each of the half-hour episodes has Steve and the crew confront some menace to proper running of space whether that's pirates, spies, or bloodthirsty aliens such as the Subterrains from Planet 46. On Earth they are assisted by Commander Zero and Lieutenant Ninety who operate from the constantly spinning home base in Space City. Each episode is a nifty and brisk entertainment which whisks the viewer off to a future which will never exist, even if the people weren't all marionettes. 

Above is an exceedingly cool Gold Key cover by George Wilson for a one-shot comic featuring the Gerry Anderson's Fireball XL5. 

(Robert the Robot, Professor Matic, Steve Zodiac and Doctor Venus)

This is a cool black and white classic space adventure series, and I found this online presentation of the Gold Key comic at "The Secret Sanctum of Captain Video" (run by friend of the Dojo Britt Reid) by writer Paul S. Newman and artist Ray Bailey. One source identifies the artist though as Mel Crawford -- I can't tell. Give it a look. There's a ton of neat facts and even a glimpse of the vintage show itself.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Supercar - The Complete Series!

When I first began to explore the s"Supermarionation" universe I did it rather in reverse order. I began with Captain Scarlet and worked my way back through Thunderbirds, then Stingray, then Fireball XL5, until I finally struck Supercar. It was rather like spelunking, going ever deeper into ever more primitive environments. But it was fun. This time I'm going to do it properly and watch the shows in proper chronological order and that means beginning with the adventures of Mike Mercury and the Supercar. 

(Doctor Beaker, Mike Mercury, Jimmy Gibson, and Professor Popkiss)

Supercar though impresses much more than I expected. It's rather infamous for not including a female character, and that might be strange for Anderson shows, but not for adventure TV. I am much reminded of Jonny Quest and how we are presented with no regular women save the guest-star showings of Jade. In Supercar it's even more extreme with women showing up even more irregularly and only one that I'm aware of who repeats. Instead, we have two oddball scientists - Professor Popkiss and Doctor Beaker. Popkiss is the credited creator of Supercar and the somewhat more sensible of the two. Beaker is a great character, smart and bold, but incredibly absent-minded. Mike Mercury is the pilot of the Supercar and the nominal hero of the show, and he's helped by the kid Jimmy and his monkey Mitch. The villains too were quite good. Masterspy (based on Sydney Greenstreet I assume) and Prince Zarin (Peter Lorre) were broadly done but quite fun. 

(Zarin and Masterspy)

While much is made of the show being more primitive in technique than its descendants, I found the mixture of puppetry on this show as deft as any and while the characters are more cartoonish in design they worked quite well in the stories they were put into. Mike Mercury was downright gargoylish for a hero but fit in with the bug-eyed Beaker and bubble-headed Popkiss. Mitch was my favorite of the critters the Andersons seem to fit into stories from time to time, much less annoying than Zoonie from Fireball. (Loved the dream episode where the monkey talked by the way -- hilarious.)

All in all, I found the show quite entertaining, and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it. Below are the comic book covers from Gold Key which tied into the show, aside from one issue of Fireball XL5, the only Gold Key comics dedicated to an Anderson show.

And this Golden Book looks like a hoot.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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The British Are Coming!

"The British are coming! The British are coming!" Most American learn that in grade school in their earliest lessons about the American Revolution. We listen to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and that cements the myth. Most likely Revere didn't say that, but what the heck, it's a good story. (At least from the Amercian perspective.) And good stories are what's up here at the Dojo this January, and they all are either created by Brits or are set in Britain in some way. I know several of my regular readers are British and I expect to be taken to task for getting some things wrong. Help a meager colonial out fellows when you can. This first month of 2023 the British are here. 

Below are some of the wonders I hope to cover during this frosty month. 

Miracleman is the recreation which was launched (like V for Vendetta) in the pages of Dez Skinn's Warrior magazine in the early 80'a. This is Moore's quite vivid and compelling reimagining of the characters Marvel Man and his extended family which was itself a British take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family developed when the latter ceased to be published but the British audience wanted more. These comics come with "Mature Content" labels for good reason. This features the artwork of great talents like Garry Leach and Alan Davis among others. 

British comics don't come much tougher than Judge Dredd, the breakout star of 2000AD. I'm reading Dredd's earliest yarns, and I hope to rewatch the two Dredd movies. They are very different as most already know.  One is really good, and one is really not. 

Another dark character is Night Raven. Created by Steve Parkhouse and David Lloyd, this enemy of organized crime serves quite well as a precursor of sorts to the later V for Vendetta. I not only have the collected comic vignettes, but here are copious text stories featuring this pulp-inspired enemy of evil. 

Marvel had a unit in Britian knocking out comics on a weekly basis, and in an attempt to add some specific new British content to the mix the word went down to create Captain Britain. I've always had a soft spot for the vintage, red-costumed Britian and the stories written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Herb Trimpe have a zest which is undeniable. 

The original British hero from Marvel was the Black Knight by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely. I adore these stories, gems of 50's storytelling from those halcyon Atlas days before the Marvel Age descended upon us all. The Black Knight is a part of the Marvel mythos and has even shown up in recent movies. I hope to see much more of him there. 

Supermarionation is a mouthful, but it describes the exceedingly strange but exceedingly entertaining work of Gerry Anderson and his team who take puppets and make heroes out of them. There's a delightful goofiness to these 60's and 70's efforts which give them charm which exceeds their narrative limitations. I hope to review all five of the core series in order and a few movies besides. 

And I want to close out the month of January with a look at Night Raven, a British pulp hero. Night Raven had some dandy comic adventures drawn by David Lloyd and later by John Bolton. But the majority of Night Raven adventures, grim and dark are actually pulp stories by the likes of Jamie Delano and even Alan Moore. 

All this and whatever else I can shove in is coming in January. Hang on to your MopTops amigos as it's British Invasion month at the Dojo! 

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