UFO Episodes: Computer Affair

[@UFO_computers]

Great video. Very appreciated as I just happened to watch it a couple days ago. I also found it a stand out episode. Your video is an excellent companion piece to it. “Love” “Blackbird”

[@jgulner]

I have never heard of this show, and I have no idea why your review was in my recommendations, but you definitely made it sound worthy of a watch.

[@UFO_computers]

It’s a must see series.

[@teainthemidlands]

Welcome in! It is an often overlooked early scifi show.

[@greedycapitalist8590]

A new soul for the faith.

[@johnswift376]

Early viewing order; two of the characters vanish when the show goes on hiatus during the studio closure. Great character development, nice to see an actual relationship.

[@anthonyastley7425]

The loyalty of Alec stands out during his time in the series. And it doesn’t matter the rank of the person involved. At various times we have seen him defend the Moonbase team, Paul Foster,Ed. Alec is driven by his belief of what is right. He stands out in this episode, prepared to sacrifice his job for his beliefs. It was usual the Producers of the series left the question of the relationship between Gaye and Marc unanswered.

[@eleanorburns8686]

Bit of an irony in this one as well that everyone is quick to blame the computer, when it was just answering the questions it had been asked - which just happened to be irrelevant. When Straker finally thought to ask it the right question - did Gay Ellis do the right thing - it instantly gave a clear and simple "yes".

[@teainthemidlands]

Definitely; computers are fantastic tools, but we have to ask the right questions!

[@FandersonUfo]

it's the second episode filmed but was meant to be broadcast about mid season - most series are never meant to be viewed in their production order - 🛸✨

[@brainofmorbius]

This episode and “The Psycholobombs” are the ones that really stuck in my memories from when I saw the show as a child.

[@teainthemidlands]

That is another really memorable one!

[@greedycapitalist8590]

I think this episode shows Straker in a generally good light. He's right to be upset that one of the pilots died, and to want answers. Alec mentioning his feeling that there was something going on between Gay and Mark would naturally feed his concern that it was an avoidable command errror - and SHADO can't afford too many of those. As you correctly note, Straker's obviously as pleased as Punch to be proved wrong at the end. I do think his decision about the alien was completely illogical, though. There wasn't any obvious reason to assume the alien spoke English, so even if the truth drug had worked properly, they might not have got any information out of him. Better to prepare some prisoner's quarters (which SHADO should already have), so they could take their time studying him and try to establish communication. Ray Kroc once said that if an organisation has two executives who agree on everything, that's one executive too many. The fact that Straker and Freeman are so different means that they can cover for each other's weaknesses to a certain extent. It's probably also a big factor in their friendship. As far as dating goes, I incline towards the end of the series. Partly because of the date on the bottle (unless they've started putting "use by" dates on booze). But also because it gives Gay and Mark time to develop a serious relationship and explains why there weren't any other episodes showing them as a couple - because the majority of episodes are earlier in the series. Head canon, they ended up getting married - with a lot of awkward looking characters at the reception who neither set of parents has met before, and who don't seem to want to talk about what they do for a living or how they know Mark and Gay.

[@teainthemidlands]

Love your head canon! As for speaking English - the aliens have proved time and time again that they can figure that out, so it was logical to assume some sort of either knowledge or translation device.

[@andydavidson7595]

.....and to think Gay Ellis(Gabriel Drake lives only half an hours Drive from me at Much Wenlock😮

[@teainthemidlands]

How cool!

[@petersavage9456]

Yep the old bird is still going lol

[@michaellevenson2200]

Clearly this is NOT what's happening but, if this episode is shown after Cat with 10 Lives in which Straker's error in allowing Regan back on duty eventually causes a loss of an interceptor, explaining why he's tetchy in this, another interceptor lost. Also Cat sees the theory that the aliens are humans who have been taken over by bodiless alien intelligences, thus possibly why Ed orders a resistance lowering drug, hoping to reach the human mind still in there....perhaps. TBH not why I've put them back to back in my order, but a nice coincidence.

[@teainthemidlands]

I like this idea!

[@eleanorburns8686]

I totally blame Alec in this episode. Suddenly having to improvise life-or-death evasive manoeuvres for spaceships travelling at relativistic (and possibly even SOL+) speeds, likely with very little fuel to spare or room for error, is precisely not the time to micro-manage your air traffic controller. On first viewing, I genuinely thought he was handing in his resignation out of guilt for breathing down Gay's neck at such a crucial time.

[@drkblde]

I also agree it should be later in the watch order. If I hadn’t watched ‘exposed’ before this I would not have any context for Ellis and Bradley’s thing. I think Strakers jump suit was over starched with to much fabric softener. So the hair is a wig? A wig is a uniform item in a military organization?

[@teainthemidlands]

There are all sorts of wig theories, but that's the simplest one, yes!

[@FandersonUfo]

@@teainthemidlands - the purple wigs were supposed to deal with static electricity on the moon - before Apollo 11 some thought that static electricity would be a problem on the lunar surface - women's longer hair might get in contact with delicate electronics in the control sphere - that's why you never see a female in that room without the purple wigs

[@chrisgibbings9499]

I don't get how the UFO survived the collision with the Interceptor at the start. Still a good episode though. Note the scenes where the doctor is assessing them and part of his process seems to be to wrong-foot them ("Sit down - there!"). And the looks between Mark and Gay trying to support each other during the tests.

[@teainthemidlands]

I have no problem with the collision - it was described as clearly damaged later.