UFO: Tea in the Midlands Channel Orientation - What to Expect!

[@AdamSouthward]

You signed off with the thing! So chuffed you took my suggestion on board. Great to have a whole channel devoted to the show. Like you, there aren't too many people I can discuss it with "IRL," so I look forward to seeing what you come up with and hopefully adding a few comments!

[@teainthemidlands]

It was a great suggestion!

[@Adam_Le-Roi_Davis.]

I'm really looking forward to all of this, Alexa, as UFO is my favourite Sci-Fi series of all time, for me everything was excellent about it, from the opening music and titles onwards.

[@teainthemidlands]

Wonderful!!

[@NerdJiveGaming]

Love this and can’t wait to see more!

[@greedycapitalist8590]

Subscribed. I'm so old that I remember watching UFO when it was first broadcast, and 1980 was the distant future, so I'm glad it still appeals to some of the more intelligent and cultured members of the younger generation. I don't have any particular preferred broadcast order, other than the obvious fact that the episode introducing Foster should be among the first.

[@teainthemidlands]

I entirely agree! Not sure why some viewing orders show his episode intro much later. What do you think about maybe showing his episode as the first intro to the show?

[@robinmathews2446]

Great to see your enthusiasm.. I'm sure that you will be rewarded with lots of comments? UFO was a great show, that deserves more viewers? To think that it was made before 1970, and portrayed a "then" future of 1980, was a bold move from the producers Gerry and Sylvia, but one must remember that many of their Puppet shows were also set in a further distant future? Their first TV series under their own banner, was a "Western" called "Four Feather Falls"... Many of their same associates were still working faithfully, right through to Space 1999 and even the later "Terrahawks" & "Space Precinct".. (Another show worth a review if you can find it)? It starred Ted Shackleford from early episodes of "Dallas" with direction by John Glenn a director of "Bond Movies"?

[@pskopsyke]

The EON Anderson connection was strong.

[@derekvallem]

One of my favorite shows. Looking forward to going on this journey with you. I’m not sure what the best order for the show is but I think new viewers should start with “Confetti Check” to get a good introduction to Straker and Shado.

[@teainthemidlands]

That would certainly be an intense introduction, I like it!

[@stephenrosenthal5337]

You had me at "UFO." Subscribed.

[@teainthemidlands]

Thank you!

[@michaellevenson2200]

Great channel, thanks. Episode order? That is a can of worms, I have my own preferred order which I ALWAYS follow. Some basic rules I worked out when making my order. Mindbender and Subsmash after QOP because they contain flashbacks of QOP. Long Sleep as last, Reflections In The Water as final attempt by Aliens with their 50 craft attack, so 2nd last, Long Sleep is a flashback episode mainly. Now, do we mix final 9 Pinewood episodes in with the Borehamwood ones or not. Yes IMO, otherwise we have a sudden departure of characters for no reason , and originally they were mixed. Foster's harrowing experience in Survival leads to him having time off, so followed by a rare Borehamwood episode without him. Want a good send off for Freeman, so the last Borehamwood episode is Responsibility Seat. Early Foster episodes he is on the moon before he moves to an important " second in command" HQ role. Foster's girlfriends? His early one in Survival ends before he seeks to try with Virginia Lake. Computer Affair was made early but originally shown late, and as Mark Bradley I think says to Gay Ellis in restaurant that it's 1984, so that is a late one. Cat with 10 Lives with it's extraordinary revelation must be a late one. Straker's premonition about massive UFO attack puts Kill Straker a fair bit before Reflections but not necessarily too much before. Which Pinewood episode should be first? Man Who Came Back has Col Lake on the moon , before her elevation in importance, and Col Gray as one episode character , so that's my first Pinewood episode. Confetti Check or QOP , which is first? I prefer Confetti first so we don't pre know Straker's marriage is doomed. At the start of story Straker looks sad as officer announces his wife has given birth, not necessarily because he remembers his son's death, but because he remembers his marriage disaster and his son is living with a new father.Finally Foster after his introduction is away for an episode training. My order is; 1.Identified 2. Exposed 3. Flight Path 4. Conflict 5. The Square Triangle 6. Dalotek Affair 7. Confetti Check 8. ESP 9. Survival 10. Question of Priorities 11. Man Who Came Back 12. Sound of Silence 13. Sub-Smash 14. Court Martial 15. Destruction 16. Ordeal 17. Close Up 18. Kill Straker 19. Cat with 10 Lives 20. Computer Affair 21. Psychobombs 22. Mindbender 23. Responsibility Seat 24. Timelash 25. Reflections In the Water 26. Long Sleep.

[@teainthemidlands]

This is a fascinating order, I've added it to my excel doc of options to try out!

[@stuhh]

When I was growing up in the '80s, ITV repeated the full run of Space: 1999 half a dozen times, so it was a show I was very familiar with. UFO, on the other hand, was a complete mystery. I had read about this enigma in various magazines so was over the moon when I was finally able to buy the 2002 Carlton DVD release. Every aspect of the show is of the highest quality and there are endless beautiful details, even down to the Certina Certiday watch that Ed Bishop wore. 🛸

[@dallassukerkin6878]

As someone who lives in the Midlands ... and drinks an ocean of tea per day ... how could I resist? :D A definite salute for the facepalm about those who don't know who a certain Mr. Anderson is :)

[@teainthemidlands]

I also drink an ocean of tea a day so cheers to that! Any favorite teas? Mine is Rooibos.

[@dallassukerkin6878]

@@teainthemidlands For me, I have to say my favourite is Yorkshire Tea by Taylors of Harrogate. It's about the only 'bagged' tea that is up to the job. I do keep chiding myself that I really need to go back to 'old days' of making pots of tea using loose leaf. We just get so used to doing things the convenient way and forget that sometimes the things are worth a bit more effort if we want truly better results.

[@eleanorburns8686]

As Jon Pertwee was fond of observing, a Yeti on your loo in Tooting Bec is more frightening than one on some indeterminate alien planet. Come to think of it, Doctor Who's 1970 season was going in much the same direction as UFO, being earthbound, heavily Quatermass-influenced SF horror themes, stronger roles for women, adult-oriented... though they were soon told to put a stop to all that nonsense, alas. At any rate, the tea in the Midlands is kind of the point. Familiar context adds to the horror element, and establishes what the characters are fighting for (The Battle of Britain has been suggested as an inspiration for the series, the Moonbase staff as the WAAF radar operators and the interceptor pilots as the RAF flyboys). Also, of course, Earth settings are cost-effective. Black Park and the Pinewood backlot make much more immersive settings than whatever alien landscape papier mache, tinfoil, and lousy early '70s chromakey can conjure up (All very well if you can fly to Tunisia, but even George Lucas could barely scrape the budget for that in 1976). But that's network executives for you. I always assumed the you-foe pronunciation was SHADO protocol as it's the more concise phrase, but trust Paul to be the maverick... I'm used to watching in production order (first column in the "Alternative viewing orders" table on the series Wikipedia page), and that generally makes sense to me. It positions "The Cat With Ten Tives" late, which I definitely feel is where it belongs as it introduces new hardware and lore, shows the massed UFO attack that Straker has been predicting, and casts the aliens in a more powerful and malevolent light than early episodes that suggested they were just desperate and a bit callous. Also, some of the placements in the standard transmission order seem to really mess up careful character development. "Computer Affair" as a late episode always confused me, as it depicts SHADO as an internally distrusting, insecure organisation, and Straker as particularly distrusted by his juniors: they leap to blame him for their competence inquiry - a bit unfairly, given it was Alec's idea, and Straker is quick to dismiss its result as soon as better data comes to light. That said, Straker still comes off poorly - killing the alien prisoner in his desperate, ill-advised use of the truth serum. Again, an action that speaks of an organisation still finding its feet, perhaps hoping for early decisive victories, before it and its people matured and accepted they were in it for the long game.

[@teainthemidlands]

Excellent notion about why it is "you-foe" to be shorter and easier to use on a day-to-day basis. Love your ideas about "Computer Affair" I think I'll make that episode my first episode-specific video. A lot to unpack in the story and the viewing order!

[@michaellevenson2200]

Computer Affair was of course second made, but originally shown late, and IMO that is correct. One thing that is sacrosanct for me when determining the order is when a date is mentioned in the story. I've just rechecked and Mark Bradley picks up a wine bottle and says to Gay Ellis, " 1984, what will it be like in 10 years?" So it's 1984, the series started in 1980, perhaps end of year, perhaps this is early 1984, so three whole years and a few months, let's say 40 months. I've got this episode as 20 in my order, so an adventure for SHADO every two months. The aliens are from a dying planet with dwindling resources , so would wait until word received that their attempt had failed before launching another craft. In Close Up we learn that it takes several months until UFO reaches home and photos transmitted back to Earth , so a couple of months between " televised " adventures seems right. Also not keen on Freeman handing in resignation in episode 2 , it lacks dramatic effect, better if he's really established, or the only times SHADO captures an alien are in the first two episodes. So Computer Affair round about episode 20 fo me.

[@teainthemidlands]

@@michaellevenson2200 Well said! Also, as a 1984 kid I love that there is a reference.

[@michaellevenson2200]

​​​​@@teainthemidlands it's interesting to ask why that 1984 line was put in, WHY? It's not an important line, it's the second episode, a big thing is made of it being set in 1980, Mark could have said 1981 or 2, but no it was deliberately written in, an unnecessary line of him dating the episode 1984. My pure guess is that the script was well thought of, very much so, lots of intrigue, Gay and Mark intertwining storyline, Alex resigning, Alien gets captured , all good stuff, and despite being second made it was realised this is too good to bung as episode 2, the series needs time to mature for this episode to really hit home. Very clever decision by the script editor presumably to earmark this as a later episode. Also I think Mark is in only 6 episodes, so nice to have them spread out. Spreading out Mark's episodes was only a minor part in reasoning my episode order, but I wanted him in the early middle and latter part of the series somewhere. He is in my episodes 1,2, 8,9,18 and 20.

[@chrisgibbings9499]

Totally agree with you and Pertwee, it's what I've always thought. Almost all the scary stories were set on Earth. Looking forward to a blu-ray box set release of Pertwee's first season, one of the best three seasons in the show's history (Hartnell's first and Troughton's second being the other two).

[@chrisgibbings9499]

My order preference: Identified (especially the original edit which is on the special features on disc), Exposed, Flight Path (Foster off training somewhere), Survival, The Dalotek Affair (which starts imo with Foster taking Alec for the drink he offered at the end of the previous episode after Tina gave him the elbow), ESP (a good place to reiterate for viewers the aims of the Aliens speaking through Croxley), The Sound of Silence (Straker in my order calls Foster by his first name regularly here after Foster saves him and Freeman at the end of the previous story), Destruction, A Question of Priorities, The Square Triangle, Computer Affair (Alec resigning but not too early in the series), Court Martial, Ordeal, Close Up, The Man who Came Back, The Psychobombs, Confetti Check A-OK, Conflict (SID back on the scene after being zapped at the start of Man who came back), Sub Smash, The Responsibility Seat, Kill Straker! The Cat with Ten Lives, Mindbender, Reflections in the Water, The Long Sleep (Lake moving to console Straker at the end in the garden), and Timelash last (Straker and Lake relaxed and joking with each other when he collects her from the space terminal at the start. They've never been like that before). I placed Priorities, Square Triangle and Computer Affair in a loose trilogy with each other with the connection being Straker set on capturing an Alien alive and making him talk no matter what the cost; placing Computer Affair at the end of them is a good point for Freeman to say he's had enough and is quitting. I'd have had UFO 2 start with a direct sequel to Timelash (where the UFO was damaged but got away) before advancing the series a few years. Tea in the Midlands! (how about a village in the Cotswolds? Would that count? Or that area where Tolkien was brought up?)

[@teainthemidlands]

Wonderful, I'll give your order a try in one of my rewatches!

[@UFO_computers]

🌏🛸🛸🛸🌗🚀🚀🚀🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸

[@simongvs]

Subbed! Tea in the Midlands is a suitable subtitle for your new channel, Alexa. Although, I probably would have gone for one of my favourite quotes from the series, Alec’s “…invite the Aliens round for drinks!”😁 As a video suggestion, I’d love to get your thoughts on the series merch we’ve had especially in the last ten-fifteen years.

[@teainthemidlands]

You are going to enjoy Monday’s video, then! It’s all about Alec and his whisky!

[@y00t00b3r]

You Foe! You Foe!

[@teainthemidlands]

Exactly lol!

[@pskopsyke]

Well, when you put it like that… I get it.

[@eleanorburns8686]

To be fair, I had forgotten the "1984" date drop in "Computer Affair", though I still prefer it as early viewing, as otherwise it looks like dear old Captain Waterman gets demoted when he turns up as an interceptor pilot instead of Skydiver commander (and we'll assume he didn't get busted down for disobeying orders in Paul Foster's dream). Instead of the real reason, of course, which was Peter Gordeno buggering off the production and leaving his "captaincy" open... As in "Doctor Who" and its infamous "UNIT dating controversy" (an internal failure of the writers and producers to agree whether the earthbound shows were meant to be present or near-future), this is the sort of thing which makes it a very good idea in multi-writer shows to keep dates vague. Unless Mark slipped up and was actually reading the best before date on the wine... ;)

[@teainthemidlands]

Of course the most pressing question being why was he pouring a new red without decanting it!

[@eleanorburns8686]

@@teainthemidlands Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick clearly felt the 1980s would be less of a time for connoisseurs and more of a time for alcoholics, which to be fair wasn't wide of the mark.