# Who are Fans of the TV Show - UFO? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762 "2019-06-19T18:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [June 26, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/61 "2019-06-26T20:18:35Z")
> [@aa6vh](#): > > Supposedly the TV Series “Space: 1999” was a follow on series to “UFO”. > > And in that series, the Moon traveled to other star systems almost every week (and then slowed down enough to allow the planets to be visited). They had the assistance of the MUF. According to the Andersons, Moonbase Alpha was being…guided? Watched over? by a mysterious unknown force. That’s sort of why they ended up all over the place. The MUF was “sending” them to where they needed to be. Alpha had a role to play in the galactic story, they just weren’t told what it was. This admittedly wasn’t made clear at all. To use Gerry Anderson’s own quote back at him, how understated can something be before it becomes unstated? If you want to enjoy the show at all, you just have to believe that. Because without the MUF, the moon won’t even leave the solar system in the lifetime of anyone still alive on it. Naturally, you don’t _have_ to like the show. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/62 "2019-06-27T01:59:54Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > They had the assistance of the MUF. According to the Andersons, Moonbase Alpha was being…guided? Watched over? by a mysterious unknown force. That’s sort of why they ended up all over the place. The MUF was “sending” them to where they needed to be. Alpha had a role to play in the galactic story, they just weren’t told what it was. > > This admittedly wasn’t made clear at all. To use Gerry Anderson’s own quote back at him, how understated can something be before it becomes unstated? > > If you want to enjoy the show at all, you just have to believe that. Because without the MUF, the moon won’t even leave the solar system in the lifetime of anyone still alive on it. > > Naturally, you don’t _have_ to like the show. 🙂 Cool **Just Asking Questions**. I typed in “Space Muf” and did not get the results I was looking for 🙂 MUF is Mysterious Unkown Force. A second search found [http://catacombs.space1999.net/press/vxmuf.html](http://catacombs.space1999.net/press/vxmuf.html) I lurved Space 1999. Especially the first season. Everything looked so high tech and the performances were not over the top like on Star Trek. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/63 "2019-06-27T02:19:48Z")
> [@Mikemike2](#): > > MUF is Mysterious Unkown Force. > > A second search found [http://catacombs.space1999.net/press/vxmuf.html](http://catacombs.space1999.net/press/vxmuf.html) That article sums it up good. I always figured Collision Course is the introduction to the MUF and Alpha’s role in the universe. Arra knew Alpha was coming, and eagerly awaited the transformation it would bring. Alphans don’t understand it any more than the Overlords in Clarke’s Childhood’s End understood what they helped bring about. On the other hand, I recently watch Black Sun but I had a different take. Alphans didn’t survive the passage through the black hole. But, their consciousness did. At the singularity, they became “as gods”, superbeings similar to the Organians. They knew all, understood the universe. It is sort of made clear in Koenig’s and Bergman’s conversation. Going through the black hole made the Alphans transcendent. They could have done anything. Return home. However, their primitive minds were too rational, to trapped in conventional thinking. Instead of accepting their advance and joining the galaxy’s superbeing community, all they could imagine to do was to…put everything back the way it was. So they “emerged” from the black hole, not knowing that they themselves did it. So humans missed out on advancement. They weren’t ready. But someday, they may get another chance. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/64 "2019-06-27T02:58:40Z")
Interesting thesis JAQ. More things I learned. - Men in positions of authority shouldn’t wear tan jumpsuits so they look like a large toddler. - Sky 1 must use rockets instead of jets, right? - People in charge put too much trust in computers and psychiatrists. - It is cool how SkyDiver is written on the sub, but separates when the plane takes off, leaving just Diver. - Women in purple wigs mostly communicate computer coordinates which should be sent directly by computer! ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/65 "2019-06-27T03:06:25Z")
- UFOs that have traveled from other star systems at greater than the speed of light are easy to destroy with conventional explosives. - Jockstraps should be worn when it can be seen what side the package is on. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/66 "2019-06-27T03:20:13Z")
- UFOs should adapt the laser weapon technology their spacecraft have to their handheld guns. - If you get involved in a fist fight with an alien, don’t pull your punches. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/67 "2019-06-27T04:32:18Z")
> [@Mikemike2](#): > > - Women in purple wigs mostly communicate computer coordinates which should be sent directly by computer! “Look! I have one job on this lousy ship, it’s _stupid_, but I’m gonna do it! Okay?” ---
**Author:** ![bionic\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@bionic\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bionic_man)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/68 "2019-06-27T20:24:38Z")
Someone mentioned the girls with the purple hair thats my fav. [part of the show!b ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/69 "2019-06-27T21:09:00Z")
SOL was speed of light. There was one episode where SID mentions the UFO speed in SOLs and then starts a sequence of call outs of the distance as it approached; which in my anal retentive youth I timed and calculated and found out that the miles clicked off in the given time interval tracked with the speed being that multiple of ‘c’. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/70 "2019-06-28T04:56:22Z")
Ayshea’s character was never at Moonbase. Sky 1 (was there more?) has a weird nose that sorta looks like a jet intake, but isn’t, so it must be a rocket? I dunno. I agree that the Moonbase shuttle looked like a red snapper. The show made an impression on me, but even 10 year old me could tell some of those scripts were stupid. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/71 "2019-06-28T05:08:57Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I somehow missed this entirely back in the day, but have started going through the eps available on YouTube. It’s a real hoot, a bizarre mixture of kiddie-level sci-fi and surprisingly heavy emotional content. > > I’ve also enjoyed playing ‘spot the actor from another, perhaps better-known role’: > > So far (3 episodes in) I’ve seen George Sewell as Col. Freeman (Con McCarty in the classic gangster flick _Get Carter_); Vladek Sheybal as the decidedly odd Dr. Jackson (played the chess grandmaster/SPECTRE agent in _From Russia With Love_; and best of all, Lois Maxwell as SHADO receptionist Miss Holland, basically an exact duplicate of her iconic Miss Moneypenny from the Bond films. Michael Billington (Col. Foster) was Agent XXX’s bf in The Spy Who Loved Me, killed in the opening ski/ parachute jump sequence. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/72 "2019-07-01T23:38:52Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Or that someone thought in flight retrieval of lunar shuttles was a good idea. I actually thought of a (good?) reason to do this on the way home tonight. We know that SHADO is headquartered in the UK, yes? There is \*nowhere \*in the UK from which you can launch or land a rocket without thousands of people seeing and hearing it and knowing about the launch facilities, and there goes your cover. On the other hand, launch and retrieval of a ship that’s, essentially, a space shuttle-type vehicle from a plane in midair is something you can do anywhere over a whole lot of empty ocean that the UK happens to sit next to. And it seems to me that if you can do a midair fueling, then a docking is … okay, it \*is \*harder but still not out of the realm of possibility. Not only that, but IIRC, at least one of the companies going for the Space X prize planned to do just that: carry the spaceship up to 50,000 or so feet (I forget how high up), then drop it and let it fire up its rockets and go. Admittedly, this is a spaceship to LEO, not one that can go to the moon, but the concept is plausible. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/73 "2019-07-01T23:53:46Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Not only that, but IIRC, at least one of the companies going for the Space X prize planned to do just that: carry the spaceship up to 50,000 or so feet (I forget how high up), then drop it and let it fire up its rockets and go. Admittedly, this is a spaceship to LEO, not one that can go to the moon, but the concept is plausible. Launching is fine, though there has been [examples](https://youtu.be/GMyC2urCl_4?t=179) of trouble doing that. But you could make it work. Recovery? That just sounds like a collision waiting to happen. Any rough wind could make a successful recovery impossible. It always looked so smooooth on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/74 "2019-07-03T16:01:13Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > “Look! I have one job on this lousy ship, it’s _stupid_, but I’m gonna do it! Okay?” HAHA Exactly the same. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/75 "2019-07-03T16:27:58Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > The show made an impression on me, but even 10 year old me could tell some of those scripts were stupid. The one that bugs me more than, say, Mindbender, is The Square Triangle. While pursuing a downed alien, SHADO stumbles across a murderous love triangle. A woman and her lover are in the process of killing her husband. SDADO does the non-flashy thing and wipes their memories of the alien, but Alec notes that that isn’t going to stop her from killing her husband, and he notes they can’t tell anyone without giving away their existence. The last scene implies that she did just that. But that’s just stupid! They don’t have to necessarily go to the police, but an anonymous note? Hey, bloke your wife is planning to kill you? How does that give anything away? Sure it’s not technically “their business”. But a little compassion doesn’t cost anything. It wasn’t a question of priorities. They lose nothing by intervening. As it is, through inaction they allowed an innocent person to be murdered. Must be a British thing. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762/76 "2019-07-10T12:31:11Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Launching is fine, though there has been [examples](https://youtu.be/GMyC2urCl_4?t=179) of trouble doing that. But you could make it work. > > Recovery? That just sounds like a collision waiting to happen. Any rough wind could make a successful recovery impossible. It always looked so smooooth on TV. It’s only a model. 😉 Last night I finished watching the last episode on YouTube. Despite the (to our 21[sup]st[/sup] century eyes) cheeziness, a lot of it holds up surprisingly well. And I didn’t remember a single episode from when I watched it during its initial run, so at least it was always unexpected. Sometime in the next few days I think I’ll start watching Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. Nothing like rediscovering your childhood! They really needed a better fight coordinator, though. Or better stuntmen. Or both. Probably both. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-fans-of-the-tv-show-ufo/835762.md?page=3)