This Friday on 'UFO' ep 19 'Close Up'
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michaellevenson1 — 9 years ago(October 07, 2016 11:00 AM)
This is really poor, surprisingly considering Tony Barwick wrote it . He penned some of the series iconic episodes.
The central premise is deeply flawed. SHADO's tiddly craft cannot keep up with a faster than light UFO. Even if we say that the craft somehow activated tractor beams and attached itself to the UFO , the Aliens would have to be super inept not to spot it.
Also I can't buy the fault in the camera being terminal. Why can't a computer run through all the magnification and range variables until the photos make sense. As I said deeply flawed, but I'm interested to see Brimfin's marks for this, will he actually rate this higher than Mindbender? A first in UFO fandom.
This does have four redeeming points.- Interesting comment on micro photography
- Straker's metaphysical musings at the end
- Good model work
- And erm Gabrielle Drake's thighs
One point for each
4/10
.
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michaellevenson1 — 9 years ago(October 07, 2016 03:18 PM)
Further considerations;
The tractor beams idea falls through because the craft was not behind the UFO but to the side of it. I placed this rubbish episode here after "Cat" because of an idea I had that might impress you guys or might make you say "Jeez Michael get a life !!"
If the aliens are incorporeal entities taking over human bodies then perhaps on a routine journey back to homeworld they would evacuate the host bodies leaving mindless humans on the UFO not capable of noticing the craft following them. Mmmmm not very convincing is it ?
I think Tony Barwick had an interest in micro photography had indulged himself with this story crowbarred into the series. -
madp — 9 years ago(October 07, 2016 06:33 PM)
OK, where do I start? I'd say the first big problem, and there were many, is that, even though the writer had a nice premise, it takes a hell of a long time for anything to happen.
I kept taking a look at the time count. The episode was 49 minutes long. Only at the 16-minute mark SHADO gets the money for the project. Only after 29 minutes Foster's team manages to place the telescope in the space probe in orbit around the moon. The director even takes his sweet time to show the astronauts'space walk with the space background theme of the movie "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun," a beautiful and poetic piece.
At 33 minutes a UFO finally appears, and I started wondering if the episode shouldn't have started right at that point, but wait, not yet. The UFO is not in the right course, so we have to wait for another one! Long story short, the situation is dragged on forever.
Then there's the premise itself. I like the idea of photograhing the alien planet, and that got me very interested (though I don't know how good such low-res black and white pictures would've been even if they knew the range and magnification). But obviously the probe wouldn't be able to keep up with the UFO, considering the probe was going veeeerrry slowly, and would lose its target when it entered hyperspace or engaged in Warp One or something.
But the probe managed to get there anyway, and started clicking its photographs Which were being received by SHADO on earth, light years away Instantly! Now that's a small miracle in terms of overcoming the vast distances of the cosmos.
But we patiently waited and waited. But when the technician gets the pictures, he tells Straker the bad news: the pictures are "useless" because they have no information on range and magnification. But we'll get to see the photographs anyway, right?? No, instead we see pictures of something much more interesting instead:a grain of polen, a piece of polystyrene, a puff breakfast cereal and Lt. Ellis's thigh. The pictures of the Alien planet? What? Are you still thinking about that? That's yesterday's news, my friend. Honestly, we're left with a big WTF sensation.
Speaking of WTF moments, what was that all about, Commander Straker? He awkwardly tries to make a pass on Lt. Ellis. First he invites her for a cup of coffee. He offers her the coffee (it's nice that the writers didn't make Ellis get Straker the coffee after all), but when he asks her how she wants her coffee, I thought she was goiong to say "Black and bitter, like my boyfriends."
Then he rambles about a woman doing a man's job and ends with "you mustn't forget you're a very attractive girl." Foster catches that, and Straker gives him a piece of advice about not judging a conversation for its last part. Well, I saw the whole thing and got the same impression Foster did. Nice try, Straker, even though some people might have reservations with your lack of professionalism. But that's a moot point, since Straker's move didn't seem to go anywhere with her.
The final segment with Straker's phylosophical musings about the universe of microscopical dimensions is interesting. In fact, I remember the part in which Sraker is shown the pictures of polen and Ellis's thigh to prove size is relative from my original viewing in 1972, and I guess that kind of thing was intriguing and thought-provoking back then, but today we see these kind of pictures on the Internet, and with much better definition, all the time. Still, I remember being really impressed back then.
All in all, I wonder what would be the chances of taking pictures of anything meaningful by photographing random parts of the alien planet. In the movie I mentioned, "Journey" astronauts get to earth, or a version of it anyway, and scan the planet for signs of intelligent life and miss it completely simply because they weren't looking at the right places. Chances are the telescope would take pictures of the ocean, forests, deserts, lakes and rivers.
A good idea, but very badly developed. This one gets
2 alien Kodak moments
. -
Brimfin — 9 years ago(October 07, 2016 07:05 PM)
This was a truly oddball episode. It was almost like watching a documentary about SHADO - a day in the life, even though it actually covered a period of several months all in all. We saw a lot of the procedural efforts of SHADO from monitoring a test satellite, requesting a budget increase, launching a satellite, fitting it with an electron telescope and then maneuvering a UFO to take a flight path where it could be followed by a SHADO satellite. All interesting but without any real dramatic flavor; the only really suspenseful bit was trying to maneuver the UFO. Then we also have the ironic ending where the billion dollar project fails due to a flaw, but the rejected $50,000 project either could have saved it or might eventually make it work better. Kind of bizarre.
We get a little bit of background on the characters showing that Straker respects Lt. Ellis, maybe even has feelings for her. It sounded like he called her Gabe. The first time I heard it, I thought hed inadvertently used her real first name by mistake, but when he said it three times I figured that meant her character name was the same as her real name Gabrielle. I saw that on the IMDB website, she is listed as Lt. Gay Ellis. Did anyone else hear her name like I did?
Except for the ironic twist at the end of the show, this was like watching a murder mystery where the killer confesses at the beginning of the show and we just watch him being booked, interviewed, and then making a plea deal. Maybe then we get a twist at the end that he lied about how the crime was committed, selling it as a crime of passion when it was really cold-blooded and calculated. Might be interesting to watch but not particularly exciting. So Ill give it
5 attachments to an electron telescope that transmits distance and magnification
, without which the whole thing has limited usage.
Random thoughts:
I remember getting a Viewmaster (a set of stereoscopic reels of pictures with a little booklet to tell the story) of the UFO series and the storyline was msimilar to this one, only ending with them commenting that the other planet was similar to ours even having freeways and people in houses with picket fences. Nothing was mentioned of the aliens being dangerous; the storyline indicated they were just following the spaceships out of curiosity. I initially though they had just taken a series of pictures from the show and cobbled together their own plot, but now I wonder if it was loosely based on this episode.
Two things bothered me about their setup for launching the satellite from Earth, sending it to a moon orbit and then attaching the telescope. One was why didnt they just carry it on their transport ship to the moon? Once I saw how big it was compared to their transport ship, that question was answered. But the other one was if they had to attach the telescope on the moon because it was top secret, how did they launch the satellite from Earth the first time in order to test the top secret telescope in our atmosphere? That question was not resolved.
Other problems: How would the UFO not know something was following it, or even it the ship didnt see it, dont they have radar and such on their planet than they would notice a strange object approaching and then entering their orbit. They should have claimed some sort of cloaking device was on it. Another problem: when other UFOs approached they just pushed through on their course even if they were shot at in Computer Affair they even collided with an interceptor and took it out. Why this time did they fly different patterns to avoid the missiles, and then give up and turn around? And finally, even with the lack of information from the photos, theyd be able to figure out the correct interpretation of at least some of them.
The model work on Skydiver one showed a little aerial popping up in the middle of the ship. Very impressive detail work, but pretty much what we expect from this show.
Think I caught a blooper early on when they looked at a photo of the Earth from a huge altitude, but somebody claimed it looked like a shot from a helicopter. Only if a copter could fly in space.
Loved their interpretation of our NASA with the one tech having a thick Texas accent. Also one of them mispronounced telemetry as tell-a-
me
-tree instead of tell-
em
-e-tree. Or is that the British pronunciation of it?
Someone said Straker keeps things close to his chest. Ive heard the expression close to the vest, but not that one. Has anyone else ever heard that expression? Its close enough that I knew what they meant anyway.
I got a kick out of the fact that they called the satellite B-142, and then they said the UFO was coming in on course 142 Blue. (I guess Im easily amused.)
The punchline that the B&W close up on the screen was really a girls leg was given away by the screen capture they used for part 4. I was wondering why they were using that picture when I started the last part.
And finally, since were back to -
madp — 9 years ago(October 07, 2016 08:44 PM)
by brimfin
The punchline that the B&W close up on the screen was really a girls leg was given away by the screen capture they used for part 4. I was wondering why they were using that picture when I started the last part.
Hmmm. This is not the first time you've mentioned some plot element being spoiled by the screen capture. I think the other one was Straker's wife falling down the stairs. Anyway, this is so you know that this time I found another channel where I could watch this episode in only one part. I think if you look you'll always find something better. -
Simian_Jack — 9 years ago(October 08, 2016 04:25 AM)
Close Up
I spent the evening watching coverage of one of the day's bigger news stories unfolding and couldn't help seeing its echo in Close Up. Frankly, this episode baffles me, all the more for having been written by Tony Barwick.
Straker has a new plan to stoke his passions for, a probe satellite that takes images not by conventional camera but by electron telescope. He wants to lure a UFO close enough to send the probe after it back to the aliens' home world. Everything goes swimmingly untilwell, until the final minutes of the episode. Really, that's it. The A-plot of Close Up is a procedural that takes us from trial tests through funding to implementation. While this is a major step forward for SHADO and promises tantalizing discoveries for the audience, its telling is fairly dull. This is the first of three major problems.
BTW, I did a lazy-fast search on electron telescopy and couldn't find anything. I'm guessing it was still an exciting theory back in 1970, so maybe I shouldn't be too harshstill, from the photographs that Straker and company were oohing and aahing over I have to say they didn't strike me as all that impressive. Conventional spy satellites were already projected to yield more breathtaking results. In color, while we're at it.
The second problem is plausibility. UFOs travel at FTL speeds, which we know the probe cannot. I've grown up on filmed sci-fi entertainment and have learned to put up with non-science nonsense, and it's often not easy. When a show violates its own established rules, it makes things unnecessarily harder. We might also wonder why the aliens would not spot a tail, but I'm not overly fussed with that (perhaps they hibernate on the voyage between solar systems). At story's end we find it's all been for naught as the craft's telemetry has malfunctioned, failing to provide crucial information with which to measure the images it sends back. Yet, the images are crystal clear, and one wonders that technicians could not reconstruct the missing info from the original programming: distances from the planet at which the scanning was meant to begin, speed of the craft, etc. Really,
none
of the photos have any worth?
That's quite an expensive gamble, too, that the UFO thwarted from its path will give up easily and just run off home instead of hanging around out of range for another go. We've seen them do that often enough. SHADO may have trouble appropriating funds, apparently that's pocket change to these aliens.
There area few nice things here of note, foremost being the fx work - not just the models. There's a launch sequence that meticulously recreates genuine rocket launches that were still an exciting staple of popular TV at the time. FX master Derek Meddings was probably responsible for this and would go on to perfect the immaculate launch fakery in Moonraker - the final element being the blinding glare of the rocket fire.
It's the third problem that drops my rating. The B-plot, where I think the real story might have been intended. The human factor, as Straker himself alludes to in one of several awkward scenes involving a bewildered Lt. Ellis. I'm not sure if even Gabrielle Drake knew how her character was supposed to react to Commander Straker's speeches most of the time. What are we supposed to make of them?
Sigh. Okay. Let's back up. The ep's "human factor" begins with a technician developing the satellite who pleads with Straker for funding to develop micro-photography, insisting that it could be applied to space research. Straker is unimpressed and unsupportive. At least he doesn't verbally backhand the guy - he'll save that for Ellis after her diligent work. He just can't help himself. He's got to put her in her place, a woman and beneath him.
Now, this is fully in keeping with his character as we've come to know him, and as previously written by Barwickbut it comes out of nowhere in the middle of this story that had not hinted at being a character piece. The look on Gabrielle Drake's face is wonderful acting, Ellis' humiliation and shock. I felt it with her. It's an ugly moment. I felt something I've not felt before from UFO: uncomfortable. We've just shifted gears; where is this going?
I still cannot answer that. What did Barwick intend to do with this? Straker has been set up for a humbling that never comes. He realizes almost immediately that he has put his foot in it, but - again according to character - assumes that Ellis faults herself rather than his own chauvinism. Okay, here's my big problem - I'm not sure that Barwick doesn't think so too.
Coming from Barwick, that's upsetting. He's the guy whose scripts have deftly pointed out more than once that Straker's smug superiority is partially based on an ignorance of others' experiences (his insistence that racism has died out, for example). We've seen him patronize SHADO's female personnel in the same sentence as he's applauding equality in the workplace. So why is -
lorkris — 9 years ago(October 08, 2016 12:37 PM)
Great episode if you are into all the models. (Im not). It was like watching someone playing with their new toys on Christmas morning.
Straker once again shows his total lack of empathy. We get it Straker, you will get the money and Kelly will not, but do you have to gloat about it? However, the actor playing Kelly did a great deflated look.
Well Ellis, not only are you able to do a mans job but your commanding officer also thinks you are an attractive woman. Lucky! Lucky!
Straker tells Foster not to judge a conversation by the end. So later when Straker says to Ellis to drop by and see him next time she is on furlough and she says Yes, I will does that mean we should not judge that conversation by the same measure? I mean, we heard the whole conversation and it sounds bad. It appears they are telling us one thing but showing us another.
So Strakers ego made him not look at the big picture, which would have involved looking at the little picture (the mans $50,000 request) thus making Hendersons billion dollar investment in his project worthless. I am thinking maybe Hendersons attitude is not so far off the mark when it comes to Straker.
The BIG question of the episode:
Did Ellis call Straker when she went on furlough? From the looks on their faces when they meet at Kellys office I would say no. Oops! All that power and he still cant get the girl.
In summary:
I kept thinking I was missing the lesson in this episode. Straker does say to Henderson we have all been looking at it the wrong way so I was wondering if he was supposed to be learning to be more introspective.
He told Foster that he couldnt judge just by the end of the conversation (although the WHOLE conversation was cringe worthy) and then the pictures he ends up with are worthless because Straker didnt look at the whole problem of what was needed to get usable pictures. But if that was what they were going for they did a bad job of it and its more likely I just made that arc up.
The one thing I do think is Straker was shocked that Ellis was on furlough and hadnt called him so I do think if there was a lesson it was lost on Straker.
A lot of toy model action but not what I care about.
4 out of 10 -
michaellevenson1 — 9 years ago(October 08, 2016 01:51 PM)
Lorkris, I agree with what you say about Straker, and have done since we started, but there's a cultural thing going on here. We British love anti heroes, maybe that doesn't sit well in the US , but our shows are littered with t***ers who are flawed characters, but we love them anyway.
Straker is such a strong creation, he commands respect despite being someone you'd run a mile from in real life. -
lorkris — 9 years ago(October 08, 2016 01:15 PM)
madp
I kept taking a look at the time count.
The model scenes just went on and on. It made me wonder if the director cut out unneeded dialog? to play with the toys.
Simian_Jack
At least he doesn't verbally backhand the guy
I kind of felt he did verbally backhand Kelly. To paraphrase he told him that space was where the money is and Kellys project is not worth getting money because it does not have to do with space. When Kelly quite kindly says I hope you get your money to Straker then Straker smugly says he will get it because it is for space. Straker could have just said good luck to you also but he had to make a last dig to Kelly. Of course it was nowhere near what he does to Ellis but it does make me wonder if Straker pulls the wings off flies in his free time. -
michaellevenson1 — 9 years ago(October 10, 2016 04:00 AM)
Guys the landscape on youtube viz. UFO has changed a bit.
The playlist with each episode in four parts is still there but for our next one the parts are not in order, so be careful there.
There's also some non English contributors, Original soundtrack with foreign language subtitles, and also versions coming in at about 42 minutes length. These are not edited but speeded up versions.
With all this in mind I wonder if we should speed up , do two a week , Friday and perhaps Tuesday to increase our chances of finishing it all. Just an idea. -
madp — 9 years ago(October 10, 2016 01:31 PM)
by michaellevenson1
Guys the landscape on youtube viz. UFO has changed a bit.
I just checked and I have to agree with you: the situation is alarming. Thanks for the warning. I'm trying to download it from other sources. -
michaellevenson1 — 9 years ago(October 10, 2016 04:43 PM)
That's why I suggested speeding this up.
At present the episodes we need are still there.
Type in UFO tv series badboyxxx61 or the full title to get to either four part versions, foreign subtitles version, or 42 minute speeded up versions.
I have dvd player that can adjust the speed from normal play to 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 times the speed. Someone obviously uploaded at faster speed , they're ok to watch if only as a last resort. -
JohnQ1127 — 9 years ago(October 10, 2016 07:11 PM)
What a strange episode. I don't mean strange in a weird bizarre way, I mean it was strange that there was very little plot or story. It seemed like they just wanted to have an excuse to show all these cool models. I think it has to be the episode with the most model use. It might have been a bigger deal back in 1970 but it's not that big a deal anymore. I guess the concept of a "fax" machine was a big deal back in 1970 but it seems a bit laughable now that they're in awe of the device.
Basically Straker want to create a probe to follow a UFO back to its planet in order to get high resolution photos. There's also a very minor sub plot about the guy that developed the telescopic camera attachment. Literally 1/2 hour to 40 minutes go by before we get into any kind of actual plot or story. The first 1/2 hour is the typical U.F.O. appropriation battle with General Henderson, mixed in with a bunch of model shots of various spacecraft. There's some pointless sub scenes for some reason. There's a superfluous NASA scene. Then there's a lengthy scene in space installing the camera.
The Probe follows the UFO to the alien planet and takes the photos. The photos are then faxed back to Earth. Straker thinks they struck gold but Kelly informs them without proper calibrations of magnifications and distance, the pictures are mostly worthless. WTF??? What was the point then? Couldn't they have cleared all that up before they launched the craft? I felt cheated watching this episode.
Random Thoughts/Questions:
*What was the point of that episode? It felt like an excuse to get all these cool models on the show.
*Brimfin brought up a good observation that it was like a "Day in the Life" of SHADO.
*I seriously felt like this episode was going to break into a soft core porno during several moments. That scene with Lt. Ellis and Straker was odd and creepy. Then it seemed like they suddenly put Lt. Ellis in the shortest skirt possible. Then at the end It looked like Straker was going to take that camera and stick it right up Lt. Ellis crotch for a full magnification.
*How the heck could that probe go all the way to the alien planet in such a short amount of time? Wouldn't that take years??
*It's pretty amazing how patronizing a man could be towards an adult woman back in 1970.
*I don't really understand the value of taking a bunch of photos of the alien planet.
*The whole ending of Straker's philosophical musings about "inner space" is interesting but it felt completely tacked on. I guess they felt like they had this great zinger at the end but there was no set up.
*You literally could have taken out the first 1/2 hour of the episode and lost nothing.
There's just nothing here, it was boring. Maybe the models and special effects were a bigger deal in 1970. There's not really an idea for a story or a compelling plot. All they have is that tacked on ending about "inner space" which would have been an interesting idea to develop. I give it a 3/10. -
JohnQ1127 — 9 years ago(October 11, 2016 07:17 AM)
Will you be catching up with the previous episode" Cat with ten lives" ?
Yeah, I was busy last weekend and couldn't watch "Cat with Ten Lives". I'll catch up. Friday and Saturdays aren't great for me. Mondays are usually my best day to take the time to watch these episodes. -
madp — 9 years ago(October 11, 2016 10:54 AM)
by JohnQ1127
Friday and Saturdays aren't great for me. Mondays are usually my best day to take the time to watch these episodes.
So this is why your comments usually get here late. If I were you I'd start checking the current week's episode on Monday ahead of everyone, so that when the weekend came, the review would be posted along with everyone else's in the same discussion. You can find the episode order in the initial post on this board.
Anyway, we're looking forward to your comments on the cat episode!