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UFO - Sub-Smash
episode 8
UK 1970
produced by Reg Hill, Gerry Anderson (executive) for Century 21 Television, ITC
directed by David Lane
starring Ed Bishop, Michael Billington, Dolores Mantez, Paul Maxwell, George Sewell, Anthony Chinn, Gary Myers, Burnell Tucker, John Golightly, Alan Haywood
screenplay by Alan Fennell, 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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An underwater UFO (?) has sunk some freight ship, so Commander Straker
(Ed Bishop) of the secret alien defense organisation SHADO goes down to
the organisation's own sub/underwater interceptor launch pad Skydiver 1 to
... well, I don't know what he was exactly planning to do, but it should
be noted Straker suffers from claustrophopia - not the perfect pet on a
submarine, right? Incidently, rather little emphasis is put on his
claustrophobia though, but the Skydiver is attacked by the underwater UFO,
and while the UFO is later shot out of the sky, Skydiver gets sunk, and
Straker tries his best to get the whole crew out of the sub - also because
the air is running out -, but while the captain (Paul Maxwell) and the ace
pilot (Michael Billington) make it out just fine, another crewmember
(Anthony Chinn) dies and yet another (Dolores Mantez) gets stuck in a tube
and suffers massive panic attacks. Everything ends happily, though. Hm
... on the plus side, this episode is brilliantly acted, and all of the
miniature effects are first rate (and most of them are actually made for
this episode and not shared footage) - but then again, plot and narrative
development are rather on the weak side. Basically, everything is 100%
predictable, and the key plot element - Straker's claustrophobia - is
dropped waaay to early in the story. As a whole, the thing is pretty ok I
suppose, it just doesn't live up to its promise ...
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