In essence, Identified was a typical pilot episode.  All the hardware gets hauled out to show the waiting audience the fun stuff in store for the series.  Every facility is visited, so that we get a base of operations for the series to build on.  As far as that goes, it wasn't too bad.  Just rather boring to watch once you've seen episodes with better plotlines. 

But so many things about UFO made it memorable that even the poorly written (or directed) episodes have their fans.  Because the show had GREAT models -- Skydiver, Moonbase, the UFOs themselves, etc.  The show had intriguiing storylines, not always well-executed, but they definitely kept you thinking long after the credtis rolled each week.  And UFO had fascinating characters!  Straker (natch!), Freeman, Foster (some people actually dig him!), Lake, Ellis (for all the teenage boys!), Ford, and Jackson.  The more we saw of them, the more we wanted to see.  Which is why fanfic for the show still thrives 40 years later!  When a show has that much going for it, the fans are willing to pardon the faults. 

It's funny.  Star Trek was better written, better directed (most of the time), and had better continuity.  But I've never been tempted to write a Star Trek story.  None of the characters inspired me as the ones in UFO continually do.  And I'm talking in any of its incarnations -- tos, tng, ds9, Voyager, and whatever they called that mess they did at the end.  So Gerry did something very right with UFO.  Every fan has their own idea what that 'right thing' was, but the truth is, the series is still awesome today (even with all its faults.)

When I did the essay years ago for the ShadoFile mag, I focused on the favorite scenes of the fans.  Because there was no one episode that everyone loved!  It's wild!  Ones I can't stand to watch are the faves of others, and vice versa.  UFO spoke to so many people on so many levels that there really is no one best episode for the series.  And in their own way, all 26 were good -- depending on whose opinion you're hearing at the moment.  Gerry hit the jackpot with that one show.  No one else has been able to repeat that success since, even though numerous people have tried to resurrect the show.  Here's hoping the current movie try gets finished -- and is a joy to the fans! 

So, is anyone else going to comment on Identified?  Or should we move on to the next episode?  Louise?  Where are you?   :

Great, while trying to undo the caps lock, i lost my impassioned analysis of ST:OS vs UFO ... No, I'm not gonna try that again ........maybe later. It had a Pinky and the Brain reference, maybe it's better off lost ....

it was in reference to the ST:OS comment about Spock's brain. The line I remember is: Brain? What is brain? ... a genetically modified mouse who wants to take over the world ... oops, wrong universe. Now, of course, there's this little blurb of a story with Pinky and Brain loose in SHADO HQ; LOL

Stonehenge as a terraforming gizmo ... not good. (Syfy channel. Don't ask. Peter Wingfield <g> ... hmm, he'd make a good Straker. Beaky nose, slightly brit accent, but intensity. Major intensity ... whups, wrong thread)

I think my whole point about the viability of UFO vs ST:OS was that aside from Spock there are no tortured characters. McCoy is an old hand who lost his wife, but isn't really horribly torn up about it any more. Kirk is married to his ship. Sulu and Chekov are boy toys. Even christine chapel doesn't have much of an angst issue.  UFO on the other hand has obsessions and angst and horrible issues of personal nature because they're a secret, they're trapped on Earth and they've got to go on. Straker doesn't have a ship to help him stay stable, but he has Alec ... who has his own issues. Never married, borderline maintenance alcoholic, i'm sure there was a tragic story in his background that we never saw. Gay and Marc are almost romeo and juliet, except they have brains instead of just hormones.

I wrote Star Trek, but they were far more Self Insertions ( was 14, it's excusable at that age) and we ran without the major characters. They were peripheral to our being in the universe. UFO is far different, we want to get to the bottom of the characters they gave us, we want them to have better lives and kick the ass of the bad guys ... for that matter, some of us want to find out why the aliens are doing what they're doing. You can cross time and space but you can't figure out how to clone your own organs??? Huh? Seems incompatible. We fill holes in the plots for UFO. Star Trek with its succeeding generations filled in most of the universe holes. (We're going to ignore Andromeda. Much as I adored the characters, the universe made no sense at all. ... <fighting off Romy trying to give me an idea> back, back! Get away!

EeeeeeeeeK!(apparently the forum won't allow me to Eek in all caps. how annoying.)

laters

d

dragonhavn wrote on Jun 13^th, 2010 at 2:43am:



It's not that surprising: the Mayans never discovered the Wheel

Technically, the South American Indians had the wheel ... on toys. The terrain of most of the Yuchatan is unsuitable for cart traffic. Apparently, they're still unimpressed by the wheel given how few roads there are in the area that can be used by wheeled vehicles ... I looked it up for a story I was trying to write. (not UFO)  Still, we can't get out of the solar system, but we have successfully cloned non human things and are probably fairly close to being able to clone body parts (not that we probably will 'cause it's easier to rip open an organ donor and all those immuno suppressant drugs are keeping a lot of people in second homes in FL or the Caymans .. Ooooo ... Cynical dragon! LOL. If you need something as important as hearts and lungs, wouldn't it make more sense to work on medical stuff than spending all the material it takes to cross space/time??? ... although that would be a nasty twist ... the aliens are actually future humans. <snerk>)

laters

What a cool concept!  The aliens are actually US from the future?!  What a mindfry!    And yeah, it does fit better with the way they acted than the original concept from the sereis.  (But I think we already established that the premise wasn't well worked out in advance.)  Someone should write a story about that idea . . . hmmm . . .

Denise (off to twist the world on its ear for a while)  :

Yeah, i think some of the ufologists seriously believe the bermuda triangle and the dragon's triangle are gates to the future or past and that UFO's are transit time vehicles, not space vehicles. very kewl