Long before I had even heard of Star Trek way back when I was a young padowan learner two series were on television that I could not miss. One was Land of The Giants which lasted two seasons beginning on September 22, 1968 and ending on March 22 1970. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, a name that would keep popping up again and again in my video library. The other show was way cooler and came from the mind of another man who would find lots of shelf space in the library, his name was Gerry Anderson along with his then wife Sylvia, these two were an institution with shows like Fireball XL-5, Captain Scarlett, Space 1999 and probably their biggest hit Thunderbirds. Yes, we are talking about the marionettes and some of the most awesome miniature work that ever graced the small screen, and all on a shoestring budget, remember that this is before CGI, Star Wars was still 7 years in the future. This brings use to UFO the series were Gerry replaced the marionettes with real people but kept the miniatures, the atmosphere of the show was more adult, people died on a regular basis, the aliens were just trying to survive on a poisoned planet, there was a more complex approach to the personal relationships, Jump ahead 30 years and I’m watching the DVD’s WOW the picture quality is great for such an old show, god bless the Brits, everything is as I remember it except that the girls are all wearing spandex, or did I just conveniently forget about that. Did they really think that was how the 80′s would look, probably not but it had to have a futuristic feel. I had heard Gabrielle Drake was on “Coronation Street” , you could forget all else about the show but those moon girls with the purple hair that stays with you for life. So early spring 2009 I run across an article saying Robert Evans has acquired the rights to UFO and wants to make a movie, I say ya right we will see. Well 6 months later and what do you know It’s actually going to happen. “Fringe” star Joshua Jackson will topline the feature film and it will be the directing debut of Iron Man‘s visual effects supervisor, Matthew Gratzner. Jackson will star as Paul Foster, a test pilot who joins S.H.A.D.O. (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization), a covert org built under a Hollywood studio that defends Earth against a race of aliens who have been abducting humans and using the body parts. The movie is produced by Henri M. Kessler and Avi Haas, who have a first-look deal with the Robert Evans Co. The film, written by Ryan Gaudet and Joseph Kanarek, is scheduled to start shooting in the spring in the UK. which is a good thing I’d hate to see what Hollywood would do to it and the Brits still make some very good Science Fiction. Now who is going to be the voice of S.I.D. and were’s that funky music
