No doubt published to coincide with the release of the series UFO on Blu-ray here in the UK (Paul’s review of the Blu-ray set for SFFWorld is here), this revised (from 2003) and expanded coffee-table book explains the trials and tribulations of creating and producing one of legendary directors and producers live-action television series.
Even fifteen years before, after the puppet series Thunderbirds and then Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons and Joe 90, it was clear that Gerry was determined to move into live-action television. He made a live action movie, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun in 1969, and UFO was his much vaunted return to television production. Like the Journey movie, UFO was darker, more adult and more violent – the first episode (Identified) had to have the first few minutes edited to ensure it could be shown on British television in 1970. (The Blu-ray episode, I understand, is the unexpurgated edition.)
And so it was. UFO combines much slower, more thoughtful episodes with the ground-breaking quality effects that Anderson, along with his wife Sylvia and his effects team led by Derek Meddings, were known for. (It should be no surprise that Meddings later went to work on the James Bond movies.)
When I first watched the series in the 1970’s, albeit when I was rather young, I remember I was rather disappointed. It wasn’t as exciting as Thunderbirds was, or as the later Space:1999 became. I remember sitting through the ‘boring talky bits’ to get to the exciting action parts. It is only when re-watching them, as an adult, that I realise how good they were. They are subtler, more nuanced and even creepier than I remembered.
Reading Chris Bentley’s book, I am rather amazed anything came of the series. Given a large budget by Lord Grade and the ITV television executives, Anderson set to produce a series that his detractors could not criticize. Sylvia, as ever, was also scriptwriter, producer and fashion designer, and Reg Hill, regular art director, producer and executive producer since Thunderbirds, was on board as a producer.
Determined to do things differently, the production used new techniques and ground-breaking methods of modelling to merge acting with realistic-looking effects. It wasn’t easy. Anderson often was dragged away to meet executives and have to justify his actions.
Despite all this, the series was not the ratings hit that ITV hoped for. Some found the combination of science fiction ideas with more realistic story-lines difficult to accept. There was confusion over whether the programme was an adult series or one for children/families. Clearly designed to cater for fans of Anderson’s earlier puppet series, and to compete against the BBC’s Doctor Who, the first few episodes were shown at teatime on Saturday, something that Anderson was unhappy about. One episode in particular, The Long Sleep, involved hallucinogenic drugs being taken. The episodes further covered adultery, divorce and moral dilemmas, not something expected at family-time on a national television network.
Whatever the reasons, after the initial success, ratings then declined over the 26 episodes. In an attempt to bolster things towards the end of the series, and after a six month production break, new directors were used, characters such as Peter Gordino’s Peter Carlin were replaced and other cast members such as those played by Wanda Ventham (these days better known as the mother of the rather famous Benedict Cumberbatch) made more prominent. Despite this, and some positive signs seen through syndicated episodes in the USA, a proposed second series was cancelled, and the work eventually evolved into the 1975 series Space:1999.
The book reflects the care and detail taken in the creation of the series. This is no mere cash-in. Written by the once-Chairman of Fanderson (the Gerry Anderson fan club) it is two hundred pages of quite small print, lavishly illustrated with rare photos and production sketches.
The chapter structure is straightforward. In five main sections the book looks at Gerry’s previous work up to UFO, the cast of the series, the places and machines of the secret organisation known as SHADO, an episode guide with deleted scenes and extracts from un-filmed scripts, as well as the complicated running order, which varied from country to country. The final section looks at the merchandise produced whilst and since the series was shown, as well as mentioning the newly released Bluray editions. To introduce the series’ context and the interest in UFO’s there is a section 0 which includes real newspaper extracts, quotes and photographs to outline the UFO phenomenon, as well as fictional ones to explain the context of the Pilot episode (‘Identified’).
There are interviews with lead actors Ed Bishop and George Sewell, stalwart members of the cast. Ed (sadly now diseased) wrote an introduction to the first edition and it is reprinted here. Detailed biographies of the main cast and supporting cast are given. The production side of things is also represented by detailed synopses, notes and interviews with many of the modellers, designers and directors of the series.
Chris has done a thorough job here, showing both the good and the challenges created when trying to create the series. The book is filled with anecdotes from cast and crew about the making of the series. Though Gerry died in 2012 and Sylvia in 2016, they are represented here by interviews done earlier in 2002. Reg Hill, co-producer also makes appropriate comments about working with the Andersons.
Though this is not a hagiography, it clearly has been written from the perspective of someone who knew many of the people well. Reading between the lines, though not explicitly said, Gerry sounds like quite a taskmaster to work for, with Sylvia being the calming influence. The main overall impression of the book is that all of the people involved in the series were doing the work in part out of love and respect for the Andersons and faith in the project itself.
Bringing the book up to date, there’s a nice section on series merchandising, something which the Andersons were known for since the days of Thunderbirds. New to this particular edition is a chapter on the Anderson’s 1969 movie Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (aka Doppelganger) which was made before UFO but is now regarded as a major influence on the UFO TV series in terms of its style and tone.
In summary, this is an ideal supplement to the Blu-ray series. I would recommend reading of each of the sections about each of the 26 episodes after watching it, but The Complete Book of Gerry Anderson’s UFO is a wonderfully detailed, brilliantly illustrated accompaniment to an underrated series that is worthy of your attention.
The Complete Book of Gerry Andersons’s UFO (revised edition) by Chris Bentley
Published by Signum Books, November 2016
200 pages
ISBN: 978-0995519107
Review by Mark Yon
Didn’t realise Ed Bishop was “diseased”. Which disease did he have?
Sorry to pass on the bad news, Jeff. Strangely coincidentally, Ed died five days after his UFO co-star Michael Billington (who played Col. Foster in the series). Ed died of a chest infection caught whilst undergoing treatment for leukemia in June 2005. Michael died of cancer.