UFO-Gerry Anderson

[Gorn Captain]

Just rewatched this series, and I can't help it, I think it's Anderson at his best. It's cool, calm and collected, great model work.
I wish they had made more episodes.

Just picked up this repro poster:
UFO Gerry Anderson Reproduction Film Poster on eBay (end time 18-Nov-09 2203 GMT)
Isn't that style fantastic?
All 60s, Barbarella like.
You never saw this much kinetic action in the show, but it sure sells it.

Can a remake be far away?
No!
Will Smith in a white wig, and Angelina Jolie in a purple wig.

Sigh....

[Mikey]

Cool poster

I never knew it was released in the theatre.

Was that the pilot episode ?

[jds1911a1]

I prefer Capt Scarlet to UFO

[garagesale]

Watched it a couple years ago and it's a hoot! You can see that Austin Powers took a ton of influence from UFO. More, I think, than the James Bond movies. It's so MOD!

I also think it was way ahead of its time in terms of using jump cutting like MTV videos would grab hold of ten years later. The opening could have been an MTV video!

It's fun and I think they should remake it, either in a serious way (like the new Battlestar Galactica) or as a spoof (like Land of the Lost). I'd see it either way!

JamesD

[wolfie]

Lets get one thing straight right now.

NO REMAKE!!!!!!!!!

[HardyGirl]

I prefer Capt Scarlet to UFO

Yeah, I do too, but it was cool that Captain Blue was in it!

[Meule]

Errrr, never saw UFO

[palitoy]

NO REMAKE!!!!!!!!!

Too late, that's happening according to variety.

I'm a huge fan of the series, very ahead of it's time in a lot of ways. It's really unfairly dismissed as just about everything in the 70s was when compared to the "genius" of original trek but UFO had depth and grit below the funky sets and costumes. Ed Bishop does a great job as Straker, he's tortured and not all that likable as a character.

[ctc]

>NO REMAKE!!!!!!!!!

I agree. And also no retcon, redo, alternate universe.... Hell; I'm even leary of a sequel! Like a lot of folks have said; it has it's own "60's Future" feel, that you'd lose. And you'd lose a lot of the little things that made it unique: like everyone having manga hair. That'd be considered too stupid for a "serious" show (even though a lot of real-life fashions SINCE have been STUPIDER. The 80's.... *shudder*) and ofr a hilarious comedic sendup they'd all end up looking like Yugi-Oh characters.

I can only imagine what they'd do with the aliens.

Don C.

[Mikey]

The only reason a total redo might work today is because of American society itself (if it's set in the US)

Back in the late 60's early 70's the biggest threat to our very life (as perceived by the media and spoonfed to the majority of people) were THE COMMUNINISTS... This went on from the 50's all the way to the end of the Vietnam War ...
UFO was the perfect show for taking reality and changing it a bit and then sending it back out.

Throughout the mid 70's all the way up to 2000 this kind of show wouldn't fly because our society got fat and couldn't concieve of it.

Today, communinists are replaced with terrorists --- but the results are the same.
Our society is once again paranoid because of an outside destructive threat.

This leads me to believe a remake of UFO might work today ... Perhaps even better and longer then the original shows initial run.

[ctc]

>Our society is once again paranoid because of an outside destructive threat.

Well.... N. America is ALWAYS afraid of SOMEONE out there, wether it's communists or terrorists or hippies or evil corporations or druggies or our own government; so while I don't disagree, I don't think it really matters overall for the show. A big problem would be if they decided to identify the aliens directly with the threat du'jeur. That sort of thing tends to make stuff all seem too similar. (Like the evil megacorp from the new prisioner. I was around in the 80's, I've seen the evil megacorp thing done to death....) And it's exactly where they usually go.

I dunno.... I think a remake of UFO would end up being the X-Files again, with "FBI" scratched out and "SHADO" pencilled in.

>Too late, that's happening according to variety.

I think it's safe to assume that ANYTHING you can remember the name of has been pitched to someone, somewhere for remaking. "Small Wonder," the gritty cable series? It's only a matter of time....

Don C.

[trekman101]

I'd like to see UFO get a second chance....lets hope its done right

[Gorn Captain]

Errrr, never saw UFO

I'll come over with the entire DVD box tomorrow....
Make some popcorn....

[Gorn Captain]

Cool poster

I never knew it was released in the theatre.

Was that the pilot episode ?

I don't think it ever made it to the theatres.
This poster seems more like an artist's impression of how he saw the series (in his own mind).

[Gorn Captain]

Too late, that's happening according to variety.

I'm a huge fan of the series, very ahead of it's time in a lot of ways. It's really unfairly dismissed as just about everything in the 70s was when compared to the "genius" of original trek but UFO had depth and grit below the funky sets and costumes. Ed Bishop does a great job as Straker, he's tortured and not all that likable as a character.

Yeah, Straker is a very unlikely (and unlikable) hero. Cool customer. Wouldn't/couldn't be his friend.
If you like the harder edge of Space 1999, UFO is a great companion. Not too many laughs in 1999 either.
It certainly has that "cold war" feeling to it.