# Nostalgia: SHADO / SUPREME HEADQUARTERS / ALIEN DEFENCE ORGANISATION **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981 "2014-10-10T16:33:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/1 "2014-10-10T16:33:04Z")
…beneath film studio. 🙂 Anyone else remember “UFO” fondly? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/2 "2014-10-10T16:46:52Z")
I watched it. I’m not sure fondly. All I remember is that each episode had a UFO buzzing around being attacked by a fighter or something, for no apparent reason. (I’ve read summaries, but at the time it was kind of murky.) Like Space: 1492 but not so scientifically accurate. Maybe I came in on the middle. Someday I should watch it from the beginning to see if I can make any sense out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/3 "2014-10-10T16:58:48Z")
I loved the fishnet uniform tops. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/4 "2014-10-10T17:02:16Z")
I loved it. I have the DVDs. Have the theme music in iTunes. Patiently await the day someone releases an accurate, affordable model kit of an Interceptor (maybe with crater display base). My dog is named Shado. Generally a great show. Plots usually made sense. Believable tech. But if it was so sekret, why did they run around England in armed assault vehicles with SHADO stenciled on the side?🙂 Hated the amnesia drug. It was a crutch, and likely wouldn’t work. The purple wigs were silly. Maybe if they had Foster wear one when he was moonbase commander, maybe… I liked that, of all the sci-fi shows, it had touches of realism you don’t see. Like Straker fighting for budget. You’d think that with an invading alien force, budget would be a non-issue, but then it makes sense if you know politics. My enduring question about You-foe is, was it ever syndicated as a half-hour show? I remember thinking that when Space 1999 came out, it got to go to a full hour, and that was an improvement. So I was surprised to find out they were always one hour shows. Maybe that explains why they made so little sense when they were in first run! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/5 "2014-10-10T17:17:00Z")
It’s pretty great in a campy 1970’s way. The physics are pretty good. Even the storyline isn’t ridiculous (it was rehashed in the Voyager [Phage](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Phage) story arc). ---
**Author:** ![MG1692](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MG1692](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MG1692)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/6 "2014-10-10T17:18:38Z")
The thing I most appreciated about UFO was there wasn’t always a happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/7 "2014-10-10T17:26:10Z")
> [@MG1692](#): > > The thing I most appreciated about UFO was there wasn’t always a happy ending. Oh yes! _Confetti Check A-OK_ and _A Question of Priorities_ really dealt with the human side of the alien battle, and did not have happy endings. AQoP really made a lasting impression on me. Good episode (even if I did possibly see only half of it…). Though I think Straker blew it in _The Square Triangle_. I can’t believe they ultimately let the wife murder her husband. There were ways to prevent it without revealing the shadowy side of SHADO, as it were. It seemed to me a very _British_ ending! Stiff upper lip, sorry you had to be murdered, old chap! ---
**Author:** ![MG1692](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MG1692](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MG1692)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/8 "2014-10-10T17:41:24Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Oh yes! _Confetti Check A-OK_ and _A Question of Priorities_ really dealt with the human side of the alien battle, and did not have happy endings. AQoP really made a lasting impression on me. Good episode (even if I did possibly see only half of it…). > > Though I think Straker blew it in _The Square Triangle_. I can’t believe they ultimately let the wife murder her husband. There were ways to prevent it without revealing the shadowy side of SHADO, as it were. It seemed to me a very _British_ ending! Stiff upper lip, sorry you had to be murdered, old chap! Computer Affair, although not as dark as some of the episodes you mentioned, always stuck with me. Even now a science fiction TV show that deals with the humaness of the situation is a very rare bird ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/9 "2014-10-10T17:46:09Z")
The Andersons brought supermarionation to new heights with that show. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/10 "2014-10-10T18:54:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Like Space: 1492 but not so scientifically accurate. Is that the one where an explosion of nuclear waste blows the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria out of orbit? ---
**Author:** ![aa6vh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@aa6vh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aa6vh)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/11 "2014-10-10T20:54:22Z")
No, it was the Mission Impossible show where two IMF agents were listening to a tape: “A large enemy organization is planning on attacking American interests by the light of the next full moon. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to prevent this from happening…” I think they got a little carried away with their plan. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/12 "2014-10-10T21:01:40Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Anyone else remember “UFO” fondly? Remember it? I have the series on DVD! (As well as _Space: 1999_, _Thunderbirds_, and _Stingray_. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/13 "2014-10-10T21:07:24Z")
[_U.F.O._ title sequence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQUdcYk82U) ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/14 "2014-10-10T21:13:31Z")
Loved it but it scared the hooey out of me! Sadly, all the principals are gone now. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/15 "2014-10-10T21:15:27Z")
_ **UFO** _ was way superior to _ **Space: 1999** _. I always wanted to have my own worldwide network of alien spacecraft spotters that I could control from my secret headquarters in the basement. :o ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/16 "2014-10-10T21:24:38Z")
I found it interesting that in The Future (1980) Britain had converted to left-hand drive. Man, those science fiction types are lousy at predictions! I had a friend who hated the episode\* Mindbender\* (where Straker hallucinates that he is an actor in a UFO-type TV series) because they used the actual soundstage as a set. You could see that moonbase was like 20 feet away from the underground base. It took the “magic” away for him I think. ---
**Author:** ![will567](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/51bf81/32.png) [@will567](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/will567)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/17 "2014-10-10T21:32:40Z")
Really liked the show back when it was on. Tried to get my kid to watch a year or so ago, no dice. I still think it’s great. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/18 "2014-10-10T21:34:40Z")
My father watched it a couple times but gave up on it because he thought it was too dumb. I kind of watched it with him didn’t pay that much attention to the episodes. All I remember was the girl in the purple wig who I later found out was [Gabrielle Drake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Drake), Nick’s sister. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostalgia-shado-supreme-headquarters-alien-defence-organisation/700981/19 "2014-10-10T23:37:58Z")
I grew up on this . For its time I think it was very advanced. Derek Meddings models were realistic and the plots were not stupid . Loved the show . Had a model interceptor which could fire a missile .