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UFO - Exposed
episode 2
UK 1970
produced by Reg Hill, Gerry Anderson (executive) for Century 21 Television, ITC
directed by David Lane
starring Ed Bishop, George Sewell, Peter Gordeno, Michael Billington, Vladek Sheybal, Jean Marsh, Gary Myers, Basil Moss, Matt Zimmerman, Paula Li Shiu, Norma Ronald, Keith Alexander, Robin Bailey, Harry Baird, Arthur Cox, Antonia Ellis, Dolores Mantez, Sue Gerrard, Ayshea Brough
screenplay by Tony Barwick, created by Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson, Reg Hill, visual effects by Derek Meddings, costumes by Sylvia Anderson/Century 21
TV-series UFO
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Testpilot Paul Foster (Michael Billington) rather accidently flies his
plane into an area where a UFO is shot down by an interceptor of SHADO,
the top secret UFO-fighting organisation. Foster's plane is hit as well
and soon crashes, a crash that kills Foster's co-pilot (Matt Zimmerman)
but leaves him pretty much unscathed. The problem is that now Foster knows
about the existence of UFOs, an information the gouvernment tried to
supress for decades just to avoid a mass panic. And now that he has that
knowledge, Foster is determined to dig deeper. Everybody seems to try and
dissuade him from investigating further, from his boss to a shady
psychiatrist (Vladek Sheybal) to two brutes thrashing his apartment.
Through all of this, only the dead co-pilots sister Jana (Jean Marsh)
sticks to him. Eventually, Foster finds out about Straker (Ed Bishop),
who poses as a film producer, but has a background in the Air Force, and
seems to be somehow involved with the UFO-cover-up. Straker of course
really is the head of SHADO, and he would go to any length to keep the
company a secret. And he has long been informed about Foster's
investigations, too, and how close he has come to the truth. So he agrees
to meet Foster, and at first keeps up his charade of being a filmproducer,
before he drops his act and threaten's Foster's life ... before dropping
that idea and giving Foster a tour of top secret SHADO headquarters. Why
all of this? Foster's efforts to find out about SHADO were not only
monitored but even guided by Straker, and most of those Foster was
involved with, from the psychiatrist to Jana even, were SHADO-field
operatives. And why all of this? Because the whole process was a test
to determine whether Foster was fit for a job with SHADO - and Foster
passed, too ...
For the most part, this is one of the more
interesting episodes of UFO, plotwise, as focuses up on the
conspiracy angle of the series and introduces key cast member Michael
Billington into the story in quite an exciting manner. Unfortunately, in
the finale, the episode drops the ball, as the happy ending seems terribly
pulled out of the hat rather than built up by the story leading to it. Still,
a pretty decent effort, and a competent cast and the usual great miniature
effects don't hurt one bit, either.
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