The 1970s TV Series UFO

After the demise of the original Star Trek series in 1969 there wasn't much for fans of Science Fiction on television.

But in 1970 Gerry Andersen (producer of Thunderbirds Are Go) brought out the series UFO. A combination of live action and the model work used in Thunderbirds.

Produced in 1970, UFO was set in the "far distant future" of 1980. (It may have actually first aired in 1969 in the UK, but on YouTube it's mostly listed as 1970)

The series was uploaded to YouTube in "HD." 720 is HD, if only just, and it is a huge step up from what had been available in the past (480 or 360 for some episodes - which is nearly unwatchable after 1080p and 4K). I was going to say "recently uploaded," but it has been at least a year.

It's like a train wreck. I can't look away, even if I want to. Still it isn't all bad...

I've mentioned this series before, but the new, higher-quality version seems worth noting.

The perpetually offended will, of course, be offended by some things. The late '60s and early '70s did not have your "modern" sensibilities. BUT. It could almost have been produced under DEI. Women are in control of Moonbase. A Burmese actor is cast as captain of the submarine Skydiver 1. Etc. Smoking was still a thing. (Smoking was everywhere until the 1990s... even on airplanes in the 1980s. In 1970 I don't think restaurants even had "No Smoking" sections.) The image above is one of the women officers on Moonbase.

I won't tell you anything more. All of what I have said is revealed in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the pilot episode. There are a total of 26 episodes of about 45 minutes each.

You can find the first episode in the series, "Identified," at this link. It is the first entry in a playlist, so all 26 episodes will play in order if you take no action.