a5c7b9f00b The missions of the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organization, which defends Earth from extra-terrestrial threats. In 1980, the Earth is threatened by an alien race who kidnap and kill humans and use them for body parts. A highly secret military organization is set up in the hope of defending the Earth from this alien threat. This organization is named SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organization) and operates from a secret location beneath a film studio. They also operate a fleet of submarines and have a base on the moonwellan early warning satellite that detects inbound UFOs. UFOs can be destroyed in space by Interceptors which are launched from Moonbase. If one gets through it can be attacked in the Earth&#39;s atmosphere by a high altitude aircraft launched from one of the submarines. If a UFO also avoids this and manages to land it can be tracked and destroyed by a number of Mobiles (armored vehicles) which are deployed throughout the world. UFO was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson who up until then had been responsible for a range of internationally successful puppet based shows eg Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet etc. The basic conceit being that Earth was being visited by Aliens who were &#39;harvesting&#39; humans for organs etc. and the travails of the defence arrangements made to respond to the threat. Set in 1980, there were two aspects to the production: the hardwarepresented by model-work and the human interactionsrepresented by a&#39;live&#39; cast.<br/><br/>Firstly, the show has an aspiration to be for &#39;grown-ups&#39; with many of the stories being to do with inter-human relationships against extraordinary backgrounds. This in itself is very ambitious, and I must say not entirely successful.<br/><br/>The nature of the alien threat is never taken beyond the flying saucer escapes interception and generates a threat to which SHADO, the defence organisation, deals with.<br/><br/>The show is attractive to watch in terms of production values and casting. The nature of SHADO, the global defence organisation, is well established but seems very lightweight in terms of the assets and personnel it controls to deal with the threat. But to be honest, I don&#39;t think this works against the show.<br/><br/>The main recurring characters are attractive and garner interest. The challenge of dealing with extraordinary situations is the main theme throughout the 26 episodes and in general terms the scripts superficially arrive at some kind of resolution, not always comforting or simple. <br/><br/>The show was an ambitious one, and for it&#39;s time (1969/70) was quite successful in presenting and dealing with big issues. But it was never clear to whom the show was being presented to. Often broadcasta kids show, even where issues involving extra-marital sex or drug addiction were plot themes, you do wonder if the broadcasting networks ever watched the show!<br/><br/>Attractive to watch and of its time, the show retains interest and can be recommended to Anderson fans and viewers of 1960s social commentaries/dramas. I must be the only person in the US who ever saw this show (or at least who remembers it :-) This was a fun showa kid, I enjoyed the Sci-Fi - it was pre-StarTrek, ya know. It was fun, it was neat, it was fantasy. Maybe someday, I&#39;ll buy the VHS and laugh at how cheesy it is (kinda like how I feel nowadays about Starsky and Hutch!)
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