Gerry Anderson\’s UFO has always been one of my favourite telefantasy series. This past week, I\’ve been indulging myself with a marathon session, watching all twenty-six episodes, spread over two box sets and eight DVDs.
Tonight, I\’m sitting here with a couple of old friends, watching the final DVD, which contains the last four episodes of the series – Reflections in the Water, Timelash, Mindbender and The Long Sleep. These four episodes, the last three in particular, are among my favourites of the entire series.
Towards the end, UFO went down an increasingly psychedelic path, with more complex and interesting scripts, which I preferred to the earlier more linear and simplistic stories. Given how the series was developing, I\’ve always thought that it was such a great pity that UFO didn\’t get the green light for another season.
We\’re almost at the end of The Long Sleep, and the end of the series itself. I\’ve always thought that this one had a particularly sad ending, with the rather gruesome death of the girl and the obvious emotional impact that this had on Straker, who had become very fond of her.
But, then, UFO never did have happy endings anyway, in contrast to almost every other contemporary television series. And that\’s possibly one of the things I liked most about it…
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