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[[caption-width-right:350:Ah, the 1980's. When men were real men and women wore purple wigs.]]
->''"The Earth is faced with a powerful threat from an extraterrestrial source. We've moved into an age where science fiction has become fact. We need to defend ourselves."''
-->-- '''Commander Ed Straker''', "Identified"
->''"Our planet is dying. Our natural resources are exhausted. We must come to Earth. We must come to Earth to survive!"''
-->-- '''Alien-possessed human''', "E.S.P"
''UFO'' (1969-71) is a [[BritishSeries British]] live-action ScienceFiction television series created by Creator/GerryAnderson and his wife Creator/SylviaAnderson (with Reg Hill), the creators of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''. It was Gerry Anderson's first live-action series.
In the future year of... [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 1980]], Earth is under attack by [[FlyingSaucer UFOs]] sent by a {{dying race}} (no name for the aliens [[NoNameGiven is ever given]]) seeking to [[HumanResources harvest our organs]]. A top-secret [[MultinationalTeam multinational organisation]] called SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation, pronounced "[[FunWithAcronyms Shadow]]"), led by the dedicated Commander Straker, is given unprecedented (though not limitless) resources to [[TheMenInBlack suppress knowledge of the aliens]] while at the same time sussing out ways to fight them.
The series is remembered for its garish decor, glamorous girls in [[BestKnownForTheFanservice miniskirts]], and dark (for the time) subject matter. Few episodes had genuinely satisfactory endings; at most SHADO would prevent major acts of destruction while sacrificing a few innocent people, and their attempts to discover more about the aliens [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption frequently came to naught]]. The stories included such adult themes as drug use, adultery, inter-racial relationships, and the breakdown of Straker's marriage under the strain of the job.
This dark reimagining of ''[[Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons Captain Scarlet]]'' unfortunately backfired, as most broadcasters were expecting the Andersons' [[MagnumOpusDissonance usual children's fare]]. [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Erratic broadcasting schedules]] (no two regional stations ever simulcast the show) and indifferent American broadcasters, who reacted with a collective "WTF?", prevented ''UFO'' from cultivating an audience. Without US support, a second season set on a more advanced Moonbase in the 1990's was scrapped, and the pre-production design and model work (and basic concepts) reused for the marginally more successful ''Series/{{Space 1999}}''.
Even if ''UFO''[='s=] original impact was limited, [[ShortLivedBigImpact it still had a significant influence on international pop culture]]. Both the video-game developer Creator/MicroProse and the anime studio [[Creator/StudioGainax Gainax]] have cited the series as a main inspiration for ''VideoGame/XCom'' and ''Franchise/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', respectively.
After languishing in DevelopmentHell for years, a feature film based on the series was [[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104013654/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011722?refCatId=13 supposedly moving ahead]] for release in 2012. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing seemed to come of it.
No relation to ''Series/ProjectUFO''. nor to the rock group Music/UFOBand.
----
!!''UFO'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* ActionHoggingOpening: A fast-cut montage, over an uncharacteristically (as compared to the orchestral martial-sounding ThemeTune of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'') [[TheSixties Swinging Sixties]] theme music, shows us all the relevant people, places, and hardware featured on the show.
* AgentsDating: One of the SHADO pilots is dating Lt. Ellis from MissionControl, so computer-psych tests are run to see if it will affect their performance. The test suggests that a recent tactical decision by Ellis was overly protective of her boyfriend, so she deliberately sends him into a dangerous situation to prove otherwise. He survives, but isn't bothered by her decision because [[BloodKnight it gave him a chance to see some action]].
* AlienAbduction: [=UFO=]s visit Earth to abduct humans, either to harvest their organs or to take over their entire bodies.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Inverted in that the aliens are [[TheSpeechless never heard to speak]].
* AllMenArePerverts: In one episode the aliens are using a weapon that freezes time. Straker enters the film studio used to disguise SHADO headquarters and sees an actor permanently "glancing" down the cleavage of the well-endowed actress opposite him. Apparently even Straker is not immune — in "Close Up" he uses a sophisticated macroscope to look up the skirt of a posing Lieutenant Gay Ellis. Supposedly it's part of a demonstration on how it's impossible to judge magnification without reference points, but even after he gets the point Straker zooms in for a second look... you're not fooling anyone, you sly dog!
* AppliedPhlebotinum: Usually drugs such as [[TruthSerum GL-7]] and [[CaffeineBulletTime X-50]]. Also the neutronic detection equipment.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
** In "Computer Affairs" man is shot from a submerged submarine into the air. If the submarine's interior had been at normal atmospheric pressure it would have been very difficult to open a hatch against the water pressure, and when the hatch opened the compartment inside would be very forcefully flooded. On the other hand, if the internal air pressure had been increased to match the water pressure (as is done in similar situations in RealLife) the man would have had to be treated for the bends afterwards.
** The speed, acceleration and maneuverability of the [=UFO=]s defy all known laws of physics. This is just [[ClarkesThirdLaw taken for granted and not even handwaved away]].
* AsHimself: Frank E. Stranges in ''The Dalotek Affair'.
* AutoKitchen: In the first episode "Identified", the break room in Moonbase has what appears to be an automat-style setup on one wall, with six different sets of slots divided by nationality. Apparently they didn't foresee the introduction of fusion cuisine.
* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The fully-tracked Mobiles of SHADO have a radar dish on top and carry a squad of assault rifle-toting {{redshirt}}s for taking on the anonymous alien invaders, yet are small enough to be deployed via aircraft. Somewhat incongrously they don't seem to be at all armoured or otherwise equipped to deal with hostile armed aliens.
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: "ESP". While John Croxley is holding Ed Straker and Alec Freeman at gunpoint two shots ring out and Croxley crumples to the ground, dead. Paul Foster appears behind Croxley holding a gun - he heard Croxley threatening them and shot him to save their lives.
* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou:
** If two SHADO employees are having an affair, computer-psych tests are run to see if it will affect their performance.
** Straker wants to tell his wife the truth about his job, but it would [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade put her life at risk]] from SHADO's own Security department.
* BodySnatcher: After discovering a completely human 'alien', it's theorised that the aliens are EnergyBeings who just use the bodies as hosts.
* {{Brainwashed}}: A favourite tactic of the aliens, especially ManchurianAgent ("The Psychobombs", "Kill Straker!", "E.S.P", "The Cat With Ten Lives", "Destruction", "Mindbender" and "The Man Who Came Back"). "Timelash" is a notable exception, in that a voluntary traitor is used.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In "Mindbender" [[GreenRocks alien crystals]] make Commander Straker hallucinate that he's [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs an actor in a sci-fi television series]]. As he remembers being Straker, but can clearly see the cameras and backstage crew around him, he naturally starts to go insane.
* BridgeBunnies
** PlayedStraight in [[TheWarRoom SHADO headquarters]]. With very few exceptions the female personnel are young and shapely, wear skin-tight clothes and don't actually seem to do very much.
** Subverted on Moonbase during normal operations: despite their {{Stripperific}} clothing, the female personnel run the base and command the male pilots.
** ...until a male main character turns up and takes over, and the trope is played straight again. This is partly justified because those men are higher in rank, but raises the questions why they have to micro-manage the women instead of letting them continue to do their jobs.
* TheCasanova: Alec Freeman is introduced flirting with Straker's SexySecretary and then the BridgeBunnies. This verges on KavorkaMan as he's the oldest of the main characters.
* CassetteFuturism: TheEighties as viewed from the TheSeventies, with tape drives and blinking lights galore. Had the follow-up project that was modified to create ''SerieS/Space1999'' had been followed through, then there wouldn't have been much in the way of change in computer technology on TheNineties, even with the capacity to go into deep space.
* CatapultNightmare: "Exposed". Paul Foster spots a UFO while piloting an experimental plane. Sky One destroys the UFO, but the explosion damages the plane and sends it into a dive. Paul Foster wakes up with a yell and sits up in a hospital bed, apparently after having a nightmare of the flight.
* {{Celibate Hero}}:
** Cmdr. Straker has been divorced for ten years and hasn't been in any serious relationship since then (or at least no such relationship is mentioned). [[MarriedToTheJob He devotes all his energy to his work, and doesn't seem very interested in women.]]
** Averted, however, in the episode "The Responsibility Seat", in which Straker comes close to having an affair with a young woman.
* ColonelBadass: Straker. It's a good reason why the aliens actually target him for assassination about three or four times throughout the show.
* CommLinks: "Computer Affair". When a team of SHADO troops is sent in on foot to attack a UFO, the leader communicates with his superiors with a "wrist radio" version, complete with extendable antenna.
* CompilationMovie: Several episodes were edited together in the late 1970's to make ''Invasion: UFO".
* CompressedVice: Straker suffers from {{claustrophobia}}, which causes problems when he's trapped on a damaged submarine (though [[FridgeLogic though you'd think]] it'd cause problems in the confines of a spacecraft too).
* ComputerEqualsTapedrive (along with BeepingComputers, BillionsOfButtons, and OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture): A montage of flashing lights, spinning tape drives, [[ViewerFriendlyInterface large font letters]] on coloured monitors, [[BridgeBunnies swaying female buttocks]], and rows of large luminous buttons accompany every RedAlert. SID (the computer-controlled radar satellite) is given a more 'advanced' look, being a [[ComputerVoice talking computer]] and all.
* ConcealingCanvas: "Exposed". Paul Foster breaks into the Ventura Aircraft Corporation to find evidence that he saw a UFO. He looks behind several paintings on a wall and eventually pulls one back, revealing a safe hidden behind it.
* ContinuousDecompression: "[[EnemyMine Survival]]", "Kill Straker!", "The Man Who Came Back."
* CoolCar, CoolBoat, CoolStarship, ElaborateUndergroundBase: What do you expect from the people who made ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''?
* CrazyPrepared: In the episode ''Court Martial'' it turns out that the pretty light show which we've seen behind Straker's desk for the previous 11 episodes isn't a decoration. It's [[spoiler: an escape route]]. Better still, someone else figures Straker would arrange this, and helps himself.
* DeathOfAChild: In "A Matter of Priorities". Straker's son is involved in an automobile accident and requires an experimental drug from America, but regular transport options would be too slow. After wrestling with using his position for a personal reason, Straker orders a SHADO transport to bring the drug to the UK. It is diverted en route to deal with a UFO sighting, which meant the drug did not arrive in time to save his son. [[AllForNothing Worse, the SHADO mission the plane was diverted for didn't work out either.]]
* DeathSeeker: Straker sees Freeman about to shoot Croxley and can't help thinking, "Shoot, for God's sake shoot!" Even though Crosley can read minds, he doesn't move to defend himself.
* DistantPrologue: Begins one year in the future (i.e. 1970) with Colonel Straker witnessing a UFO attack. The rest of the series takes place 11 years in the future (1980) when Straker is head of SHADO. As of the finale, it is implied that "now" is 1984[[note]]from a reference to an event in "1974", and dating the precipitating events of the episode to that time as well[[/note]], helped along by the reference to more advanced and sophisticated Moonbase defence systems against massed UFO attacks.
* {{Doppelganger}}: "Reflections in the Water."
* [[DownerEnding/LiveActionTV Downer Ending]]: "The Square Triangle," "Survival," "Flight Path," "The Cat With Ten Lives" and especially "A Question Of Priorities."
* DrinkingOnDuty: Straker has an automatic booze dispenser in his office, though he never partakes of it himself (guests and coworkers do use it). Given SHADO's mandate there must be many times when personnel seriously need a [[INeedAFreakingDrink Freaking Drink]].
* EarlyBirdCameo: Wanda Ventham makes a brief appearance as Col. Lake in the very first episode, and then does not appear again in the series until its final set of episodes in which she becomes the co-star.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Straker's iron self-control and willingness to ShootTheDog is joked upon (and sometimes criticised) by his officers.
* EnemyMine: While shooting down an alien craft in one episode, Foster crashes on the Moon. His radio is broken, but he discovers that an alien is also alive (and his communications are also broken), and the two form a truce and co-operate to reach Moonbase. There's a hope that this show of good faith could lead to the alien entering Moonbase alive and opening negotiations with SHADO - but once they reach Moonbase, the guards think the the pilot is being held captive, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption and they shoot the alien.]]
* EnergyWeapon: The [=UFOs=] have them, but their ground troops use chrome [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter assault rifles firing ordinary bullets]].
* EurekaMoment: "The Dalotek Affair". As part of one of their plots the aliens drop a meteor on the Moon. Late in the episode Commander Straker remembers a single word from a 10 year old TV broadcast ("fireball") and realizes that his subconscious mind is trying to tell him about the meteor's significance.
* EverybodySmokes: Even on the Moonbase, medical areas, and computer rooms! Averted in "Sub Smash" where a nurse tells Commander Straker he can't smoke inside a hospital room.
* FacelessGoons: The aliens are normally shown wearing spacesuits with helmets with opaque visors. In this case it's to enhance their mysterious and threatening nature, so the audience won't identify with them. Though episodes where we're supposed to feel sympathy for a space-suited invader feature [[InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace a lot more close-ups]].
* FailedFutureForecast: For whatever reason, Gerry Anderson decided to predict that England roads would switch to right-hand traffic within ten years. Thirty years on, and it's still not even discussed.
* {{Fanservice}}: There is no nudity, except for a few [[LingerieScene Lingerie Scenes]] (themselves something unexpected to see in a series that some broadcasters marketed for kids), but other kinds of FanService by both genders.
** The uniforms worn by most HQ personnel are white, skin-tight jumpsuits which leave little to the imagination.
** The female moonbase personnel wear purple wigs and silver catsuits which are even tighter than the HQ uniforms and really emphasize their figures.
** When off-duty, some of the (all male) moonbase pilots unzip their flight suits to show off their bare chests.
** Then there's the fishnet shirts of the male and female Skydiver crew that show off the men's nipples (the women's shirts have skin-coloured lining in front).
** There's this famous [[https://youtu.be/r8auw4vXijk?t=27 clothes-changing scene]], which seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a ten minute coffee break. Lt. Ellis removes the legs and sleeves of her catsuit and puts on a skirt on top of it, turning it into a mini-dress.
* FighterLaunchingSequence: Every time the Moonbase intercepters, SHADO mobiles or Sky One deploy.
* {{Flashback}}: Several episodes start with some event or line that makes a character remember where it all began.
** "Court Martial: Colonel Foster's death sentence for espionage leads other characters to go over the events that led to the accusation and trial.
** "The Dalotek Affair": An encounter with a woman at a restaurant leads Colonel Foster to recount their first meeting on the Moon [[spoiler: which she has forgotten because of amnesia drugs]].
** "Confetti Check a-OK": A SHADO technician's wife has given birth to twins. A celebratory cigar makes Straker remember the early days of SHADO, his marriage to Mary, and the birth of his own son.
* FlashbackEffects:
** "Court Martial". The teaser shows Colonel Foster being sentenced to death. The first act starts with a shimmering effect on the screen like falling water, then continues with the beginning of the events that led to the sentencing.
** "Do you remember the Dalotek Affair, six months ago?" ''[[FlashbackBackBack The Dalotek Affair...the Dalotek Affair...]]''
* {{Flatline}}: In the episodes "Identified" and "Computer Affair" the death of a captured alien is graphically depicted by their pulses flattening out on a heart monitor machine.
* FlyingSaucer: The [=UFOs=], though they are more conical than saucer shaped, presumably to [[WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens help them spin better]].
* FrontOrganisation: SHADO headquarters is hidden under a film studio, where all the odd goings-on can be passed off as [[AllPartOfTheShow something to do with a movie]]. Fair enough, [[FridgeLogic but how does Straker have the time to run a film studio]] ''and'' be the leader of an international alien-fighting organisation? Wouldn't hiring a front man as studio boss make more sense? Of course the real reason for disguising the base as a film studio was that the series was shot at a film studio! (Actually two in succession, because the first studio closed down during production.) In one of the few times it comes up in the show, a director praises Straker for his "hands-off" approach to films.
* FutureMusic: "Ordeal" wrongly predicts that you can go to a party in the future dressed like [[Film/AustinPowers Goldmember]] and not get laughed at; however it is correct in assuming that Music/{{the Beatles}} song "Get Back" will still be popular.
* TheFutureWillBeBetter: Overt violent racism has died out by TheEighties, though it's pointed out that the more subtle forms of prejudice still exist.
* GetItOverWith: In "Kill Straker", Foster's response to realizing that Straker intends to kill him is to say that he understands that it has to be done because HeKnowsTooMuch, but "For God's sake, get it over with!" Since Straker's actual goal is to tempt Foster to kill ''him'' (to test if he's still a ManchurianAgent), this just leads Straker to make up other reasons that are more inflammatory and unfair.
* GovernmentConspiracy: SHADO conceals evidence that [=UFOs=] exist to prevent worldwide panic. Their methods include intimidation (ranging from beatings to pressure on the employers of the witness), [[ResignedToTheCall conscription into SHADO]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesia pills]], and even [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade murder]].
* {{Guyliner}}: Commander Straker and Colonel Foster both wear black eyeliner and blue eye shadow. In "Destruction" you can even see a bit of a 60s "cat eye" look on Foster.
* HandcuffedBriefcase: In "Identified", Colonel Straker has a briefcase containing evidence of the existence of U.F.O.s chained to his wrist. When the car he's riding in is attacked by a U.F.O., he's thrown out of it and the chain is broken. The evidence burns up in the fiery wreck of the car.
* HandSignals: Used in "Computer Affair", "Survival" and "Court Martial".
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Test pilot Paul Foster is given a choice between joining SHADO or dying when he witnesses a UFO attack and starts asking questions. Later when Foster becomes unreliable due to alien brainwashing it's expected by all concerned (including Foster) that Straker will kill him as [[ResignationsNotAccepted it's impossible to simply fire the man]]. Instead Straker forces the issue with an intense KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand moment in a ShootingGallery.
* HesDeadJim: Played straight in the episode "Sub Smash". After a Skydiver officer is injured during an attack he goes berserk and falls to the deck. Commander Straker (possibly) checks his pulse, puts his ear to the man's chest and says "He's out of it", meaning that he's dead.
* HumanAliens: Justified in that the aliens are using human bodies. Even the legendary LittleGreenMen look is {{Handwaved}} as being from the fluid used to [[InertialDampening cushion their bodies]] for faster-than-light travel.
* HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: Extra-Sensory Perception is treated by mainstream psychologists like any other mental condition. While most sufferers [[BlessedWithSuck adjust to its effects]], the subject of the episode "E.S.P." cannot cope with knowing everything that's going to happen before it occurs.
* ICanExplain: When his wife wants a divorce because she thinks her husband is cheating, Straker blurts out that he's willing to tell her everything. However Mary cuts him off, [[TooMuchInformation thinking he's referring to his affair.]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Very much. There's lots of BlackAndGreyMorality, and plenty of WhatTheHellHero moments.
* IdiotBall:
** In "The Dalotek Affair", both Colonel Foster and the crew of a Moonship pick it up, causing the death of two SHADO Moonship pilots. The lunar module pilots stubbornly remain on computer remote control, despite the latest in a series of communications failures. Foster is actually smart enough to force the issue by shutting down the Moonbase computer, but by then it's too late. Meanwhile, ''everybody'' is only too happy to accept that the new crater near the Dalotek base is a common meteor, even though it happened in the wake of a UFO feint, and Straker ''ordered'' Foster to look for subterfuge.
** As Chris Bentley points out in ''The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide'', there's no logical reason why the aliens should try to wipe out all life on Earth with nerve gas (in "Destruction") when they need transplantable organs and living hosts to, you know, '''survive'''.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: "The Man Who Came Back". Commander Straker tries this when his friend Collins turns out to be a ManchurianAgent sent by the aliens, but to no avail.
* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace: Applies to the humans, though the aliens are usually [[FacelessGoons obscured by their liquid-filled helmets]].
* ItsQuietTooQuiet: "The Sound of Silence". Twice while near a lake a woman mentions that there's no sound from local animals. This is because there's a UFO hiding in the lake and a bodysnatching alien wandering around nearby.
* ItWasAllJustADream: "Ordeal", "[[BreakingTheFourthWall Mindbender]]"
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: "Survival". While on the surface of the Moon, Paul Foster is captured by an alien. He manages to grab his gun back from the alien, only for the alien to open his hand to display the weapon's ammo clip.
* KarmaHoudini: In "The Square Triangle", SHADO accidentally interrupts a plot by a wife and her lover to murder her husband. However they can't just hand them over to the police as they've seen an alien, so the conspirators just get their memories wiped and it's implied the murder goes ahead as planned.
* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: "Kill Straker!". Colonel Foster has been [[ManchurianAgent given a subliminal command]] to kill his superior Commander Straker. Straker needs to be absolutely sure the command has been erased, so he orders the guards to lock them in the ShootingGallery, then proceeds to take pot shots at Foster in order to provoke him, screaming "Kill! Kill!" when Foster finally picks up a gun to defend himself.
* LimitedWardrobe: A real-world example. They only had two alien uniforms, so there are never more than two aliens on screen at once. Also, there's a rather memorable red dress that shows up on several different female characters throughout the series.
* LingerieScene:
** A female journalist strips down to her bra and panties in an attempt to seduce Straker (as a part of a plot to extract classified information). [[IgnoreTheFanService It only makes him more suspicious of her motives]].
** In [[https://youtu.be/r8auw4vXijk?t=9 this video]] from the pilot episode we briefly see one of the female moon base crewmembers in her [[SpaceClothes silver underwear]] while changing clothes in front of what looks like a glass door. A man walks up to the door and starts talking to her. She doesn't react to him seeing her half-naked, and when the camera angle changes we see that the door is a one-way mirror and he is just seeing his own reflection.
** Foster gives a TwirlOfLove to his GirlOfTheWeek, gifting us with a PantyShot in the process.
* MadeOfExplodium: The [=UFOs=] disintegrate if they spend too much time in Earth's atmosphere. They can also be destroyed by conventional weapons.
* MaleGaze: The TitleSequence has two separate shots of a female SHADO operative sauntering towards or away from the camera, dressed in a very tight jumpsuit. In the from-behind shot, the camera focuses on her buttocks.
* ManchurianAgent
** In "Kill Straker!" The aliens give Paul Foster a subliminal command to kill Commander Straker.
** In "The Man Who Came Back", Commander Straker's friend Collins turns out to have been brainwashed by the aliens into an assassin. His orders: kill Straker.
* TheMenInBlack: Though dressed a lot more stylishly. Well...colourfully anyway.
* MilitaryMashupMachine: Skydiver, an atomic submarine with hydrofoil capability and a jet fighter attached to its nose. The name makes a lot of sense when you see the opening titles: The sub is only ''ever'' shown from the left side, where "SKYDIVER" is written on the side of the hull. When the jet, "Sky One", separates from the sub, the word splits in two: the jet now says "SKY" and the sub "DIVER".
* MistakenForCheating: In "Confetti Check a-Ok", Straker's long hours and extreme secrecy during SHADO's early days leads his mother-in-law to believe he's cheating on Mary, to the point of hiring a private eye to follow him. He's spotted going into a flat with another woman (one of the Moonbase lieutenants and a celebration of SHADO becoming operational), which causes Mary to leave him.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Doug Jackson, who speaks with a noticeable [[DirtyCommunists Eastern European accent]] and always has a vaguely sinister air about him. It's possible he is a spy for Straker's superiors. As the doctor says on his first appearance, [[NinjaMaid things are not always what they seem]].
* MoveInTheFrozenTime: In "Timelash", Straker and Col. Lake drive into the base to find everyone in it frozen in time (which means it happened while they were out). They find that they can pick up some objects but others are completely frozen, and Straker soon finds a pattern: The objects they can pick up are those that weren't in motion when time was stopped. Later still they also notice they're slowing down, and take some stimulant drug to remain able to move for a little more time.
* MsFanservice: Lieutenant Gay Ellis, who is described in the DVDCommentary as having "the figure of a goddess", and usually wears skintight clothes.
* NecessarilyEvil: The aliens are motivated by desperation rather than malice.
* NeverRecycleYourSchemes: Each episode has a different alien plot to destroy SHADO headquarters, kill Ed Straker, release nerve gas or whatever. Each time a plot fails the aliens never try it again even if it has a good chance of working. Then again, Straker never builds a second electron telescope; he may not be the only one with budget troubles.
* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: In the 1980's wigs have replaced [[EightiesHair bad hairstyles]], suits and ties have given way to turtlenecks and Nehru jackets, while [[SpaceClothes catsuits and calf-boots]] are standard military uniform. Some of the civilian fashions aren't too different from the current fashion around 1970, while others are more on the bizarre side.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The aliens can adapt human organs to replace their own, yet die if exposed to our atmosphere for too long.
* NoPronunciationGuide: An idiosyncrasy of the series is that the term "UFO" is pronounced as a word ("you-foh"), as suggested by the real-world originator of the term Edward J. Ruppelt, and not as the more common "you-eff-oh". This is particularly true of the lead character, Ed Straker. Technically speaking the series title should properly be pronounced "you-foh" as well. However, the "you-foh" pronunciation was not consistently applied and some supporting characters use the now more common form.
* NudeColoredClothes: Female Skydiver crew get a flesh-colored lining under their fishnet shirts.
* NukeEm: Each Moonbase [[CoolShip Interceptor]] is armed with a single large nuclear missile on its nose, though the Sky One fighter (that operates in Earth's atmosphere) uses [[MacrossMissileMassacre multiple rocket launchers]] with conventional warheads.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: General Henderson of the International Astrophysical Committee, who's always going red in the face and shouting at Commander Straker, usually over SHADO's budget allocation. Ironically [[WeUsedToBeFriends Henderson and Straker are quite friendly]] in the 'contemporary' scenes that take place before SHADO is operational.
* OldSchoolDogfight: The series draws very much from [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle of Britain]] tropes. Moonbase is the beleaguered sector airfield, and SID (Space Intruder Detector) the early-warning radar. Calmly-speaking young women (the WAAF's) vector in Interceptors (Spitfires) against the anonymous alien invaders (German bombers). However special-effects limitations prevented much in the way of actual dog-fighting -- the combat between interceptors and [=UFO=]s consist mostly of missiles and energy weapons being fired at fairly long range.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Dr. Jackson appears to know most branches of medicine, ranging from ordinary GP diagnostics all the way to advanced psychiatry. In addition to wearing those hats, he also at one point serves as a rather competent prosecutor in a court martial!
* OrganizationWithUnlimitedFunding: Averted. Several episodes show Straker arguing with his superiors over his budget allocation. (Players of ''VideoGame/XCom'' might have a idea of how he feels.)
* PersonOfMassDestruction: "The Psychobombs"
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: At the end of "The Dalotek Affair" a woman apologises for the trouble her privately-operated moon-mining operation has caused, despite the fact that it was SHADO who disrupted their operation in the (unjustified, as it turned out) belief they had something to do with the crisis of the week.
* PutOnABus: The character of Col. Veronica Lake appears briefly in the very first episode - and then is not seen again until late in the season, when she becomes a regular.
* RapidAging: "Identified". After a UFO is shot down one of the aliens aboard it is captured. After he's exposed to the Earth's atmosphere he starts aging rapidly and quickly dies.
* RedAlert: SID (Space Intruder Detector), SHADO Control and Moonbase all call them whenever a UFO is detected, so it happens on an average of once per episode.
* ReentryScare: "Kill Straker!" While a SHADO Moon ship is forced to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at a steeper than normal angle a SHADO technician says "I have re-entry cessation on radio contact". The ship isn't found until 16 hours later, and Commander Straker comments on how worried he was.
* RewindReplayRepeat: "The Dalotek Affair". Straker catches a subliminal clue about UFO attacks from a documentary film, and insists on watching the clip over and over until he figures out what triggered the association. (He actually catches it the first time around).
* SecretWar: The ongoing alien invasion attempts and body-snatching must be kept secret to avoid widespread panic, which is why SHADO necessarily must operate without revealing itself to the general public.
* SelfDestructingSecurity: Straker is carrying a briefcase chained to his wrist with taped evidence of a FlyingSaucer. When a British minister wants to look at the contents, Straker flicks a catch hidden under a nameplate, exposing the words DESTRUCT NEGATIVE, before opening the briefcase.
* [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Distance]]
** "The Dalotek Affair" and "Ordeal". In both episodes Commander Straker says that aliens from another solar system came from a billion miles away, which would mean that they came from ''inside'' the solar system. The nearest star system to Earth is Proxima Centauri, approximately 4.24 light years or about 25 '''trillion''' miles away. Even if he had been using "billion" in the British sense, which is an American trillion, it still would have been wrong because a trillion miles is still much less than the necessary distance.
** The way the moon-based spaceships are able to intercept [=UFO=]s coming from a totally different direction shows some lack of understanding of the distances involved. Given that the Moon takes roughly 27 days to orbit the Earth, why don't the aliens just attack when Moonbase is on the opposite side of their target?
* ShaggyDogStory:
** "Close up" has Straker request a billion dollars for a special space probe outfitted with an advanced telescope to take images of the alien planet. There's the launch, a spacewalk to install the telescope, and then a nerve-wracking interception mission to force a UFO into an orbit near the probe so it can lock on and follow the alien craft when it retreats. And then a months-long wait for data to come back. [[spoiler: And all for naught since the photographs are missing range and magnification data that would allow reliable identification of their contents.]]
** "A Question of Priorities". Straker's son is injured and requires an experimental antibiotic from the United States. Realising that SHADO can get it there quicker than a commercial transport, Straker has the antibiotic secretly placed on a SHADO transporter. At the same time a possible alien defector lands in Ireland and tries to communicate with SHADO, so Foster diverts the transporter to pick him up. He offers to retask the transporter when Straker explains what it's carrying, but Straker can't put his own priorities above those of Earth. [[spoiler:In the end another UFO turns up to kill the defector before they make contact, and Straker's son dies because he doesn't have the antibiotic, earning Straker the lasting enmity of his ex-wife.]]
* ShootTheDog: "A Question of Priorities", "The Responsibility Seat", "Ordeal"
* SigilSpam: SHADO puts its name and logo on all of its vehicles, even though SHADO's existence itself is secret.
* SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable: Oh so averted by Gay Ellis, whose 'break outfit' of skin tight silver bodysuit and mini with high heeled silver go-go boots doesn't look any more comfortable than her skin tight silver all over duty uniform.
* SlowLaser: The aliens have a laser weapon in their ships. It fires a bolt of energy that travels slow enough for the human eye to see it moving.
* SmokingIsCool: Straker and Freeman.
* SolemnEndingTheme: It has a fast upbeat opening theme, but closes with an ominous atmospheric piece.
* SpaceClothes:
** The uniforms of the moonbase personnel, of course. The female command-and-control staff wear skin-tight, silver uniforms, while the male pilots wear more mundane, but somewhat futuristic, flightsuits with belts and boots of shiny plastic.
** The crew of the ''Skydiver'' wears very tight trousers and fishnet shirts [[VaporWear without anything underneath]] (the women's shirts, but not those of the men, have fabric lining to hide their nipples).
** The personnel at SHADO headquarters wear white, futuristic-looking jumpsuits. The female version is skin-tight but the male version has a looser fit, at least on top .
** Some of the civilian fashions also have a spacy, futuristic look, while other fashions are pretty mundane by early 70's standards.
** There's even Space Underwear: a scene with a female moonbase crewmember changing clothes shows that her bra and panties are of silver-metallic fabric.
* SpaceIsAnOcean, SpaceIsNoisy, SpaceIsSlowMotion, StandardizedSpaceViews
* StealthInSpace: Averted. Nothing escapes the eagle eye of SID; in fact most alien plots are about trying to get past the SHADO defence system.
* StockFootage: The underwing rocket packs on the Sky One fighter resemble those used by RAF ground attack fighters, saving money on shots of them firing.
* SweaterGirl: The female personnel at [=SHADO=] headquarters affect this look: their uniforms don't include actual sweaters, but the top half of their jumpsuits is long-sleeved with a high neckline, skin-tight and emphasizes their breasts.
* TapOnTheHead: "Ordeal". An alien punches Colonel Foster in the chin and he goes out like a light. It turned out to be {{Justified}} because it occurred during an ItWasAllADream sequence.
* TimeStandsStill: "Timelash", affecting all of SHADO headquarters including the film studio aboveground. Straker and Col. Lake were initially unaffected when they entered the base but have to use a very dangerous stimulant to keep moving. The episode's cold open has Straker suddenly smashing computers and a corpse in a runaway go-kart appearing out of nowhere as time resumes.
* ToTheBatpole: Pilots use chutes to quickly get to their interceptors on Moonbase and the [=SkyDiver=] submarine. SHADO's headquarters (hidden under a film studio) is accessed by [[SuperMultipurposeRoom Straker's office which serves as an elevator]]. As Gerry Anderson pointed out in a DVDCommentary, it's just as well no-one peeked into the boss' window and wondered why his office was sinking into the ground.
* TruthSerums: "Computer Affair". The "GL-7 serum", one of the "new anodynes", is used on a captured alien at Straker's orders to lower his resistance so he'll talk. Unfortunately it kills him instead, due to either his different biology or him somehow [[InvoluntarySuicideMechanism committing suicide to prevent himself from talking]].
* VanityIsFeminine: Those shiny metal belt pouches the BridgeBunnies wear? That's not some high-tech EverythingSensor or computer repair tools; it contains a mirror and makeup kit.
* VaporWear: The Skydiver crew wear fishnet tops without undergarments. The women's uniforms have nude fabric lining in front, covering their nipples. The men have no such luxury.
* VideoPhone: Multiple examples during Earth-Moon communications in "The Dalotek Affair" and one in "The Responsibility Seat".
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Straker thinks that Henderson should be in charge of SHADO; ten years later, they're constantly at each other's throats.
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: "ESP". John Croxley's wife was killed by a UFO crashing into his house and he blames SHADO for her death. He lures Ed Straker and Alec Freeman to the ruins of his house with the intent of killing them at midnight.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: One of the rare Western examples, and from before anime became popular to boot. The female moonbase officers all wear purple wigs. For some reason, only the women wear them, and just when on the moonbase and not when vising the earth.
* {{Zeerust}}
** Most of the "futuristic" fashions in the series seem ''very'' 1969-ish today. Even though most of the series was actually filmed in TheSeventies, the design was probably done in the previous decade.
** The turbine-powered, streamlined cars are obviously inspired by the concept cars of the 1960's.
** The gender roles, with women mostly in subordinate jobs or as housewives, and lots of BridgeBunnies around. Averted for the moonbase which has a female commander.
** While not exactly outdated, the predictions of an extensive space/lunar industry and widespread use of supersonic transport already by 1980 feels like Apollo-era optimism today.
** Averted in some cases: the series foresees the pervasive use (though not the nature) of computers in everyday life, spacecraft piggy-back launched from aircraft, voice print identification, car and cordless telephones, and that space debris will become a serious concern. Also, advanced or impossible (for the 1960s) tissue identification methods (e.g. DNA analysis) are nonetheless implied to be used routinely by the show's era.
----
[[caption-width-right:350:Ah, the 1980's. When men were real men and women wore purple wigs.]]
->''"The Earth is faced with a powerful threat from an extraterrestrial source. We've moved into an age where science fiction has become fact. We need to defend ourselves."''
-->-- '''Commander Ed Straker''', "Identified"
->''"Our planet is dying. Our natural resources are exhausted. We must come to Earth. We must come to Earth to survive!"''
-->-- '''Alien-possessed human''', "E.S.P"
''UFO'' (1969-71) is a [[BritishSeries British]] live-action ScienceFiction television series created by Creator/GerryAnderson and his wife Creator/SylviaAnderson (with Reg Hill), the creators of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''. It was Gerry Anderson's first live-action series.
In the future year of... [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 1980]], Earth is under attack by [[FlyingSaucer UFOs]] sent by a {{dying race}} (no name for the aliens [[NoNameGiven is ever given]]) seeking to [[HumanResources harvest our organs]]. A top-secret [[MultinationalTeam multinational organisation]] called SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation, pronounced "[[FunWithAcronyms Shadow]]"), led by the dedicated Commander Straker, is given unprecedented (though not limitless) resources to [[TheMenInBlack suppress knowledge of the aliens]] while at the same time sussing out ways to fight them.
The series is remembered for its garish decor, glamorous girls in [[BestKnownForTheFanservice miniskirts]], and dark (for the time) subject matter. Few episodes had genuinely satisfactory endings; at most SHADO would prevent major acts of destruction while sacrificing a few innocent people, and their attempts to discover more about the aliens [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption frequently came to naught]]. The stories included such adult themes as drug use, adultery, inter-racial relationships, and the breakdown of Straker's marriage under the strain of the job.
This dark reimagining of ''[[Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons Captain Scarlet]]'' unfortunately backfired, as most broadcasters were expecting the Andersons' [[MagnumOpusDissonance usual children's fare]]. [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Erratic broadcasting schedules]] (no two regional stations ever simulcast the show) and indifferent American broadcasters, who reacted with a collective "WTF?", prevented ''UFO'' from cultivating an audience. Without US support, a second season set on a more advanced Moonbase in the 1990's was scrapped, and the pre-production design and model work (and basic concepts) reused for the marginally more successful ''Series/{{Space 1999}}''.
Even if ''UFO''[='s=] original impact was limited, [[ShortLivedBigImpact it still had a significant influence on international pop culture]]. Both the video-game developer Creator/MicroProse and the anime studio [[Creator/StudioGainax Gainax]] have cited the series as a main inspiration for ''VideoGame/XCom'' and ''Franchise/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', respectively.
After languishing in DevelopmentHell for years, a feature film based on the series was [[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104013654/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011722?refCatId=13 supposedly moving ahead]] for release in 2012. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing seemed to come of it.
No relation to ''Series/ProjectUFO''. nor to the rock group Music/UFOBand.
----
!!''UFO'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* ActionHoggingOpening: A fast-cut montage, over an uncharacteristically (as compared to the orchestral martial-sounding ThemeTune of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'') [[TheSixties Swinging Sixties]] theme music, shows us all the relevant people, places, and hardware featured on the show.
* AgentsDating: One of the SHADO pilots is dating Lt. Ellis from MissionControl, so computer-psych tests are run to see if it will affect their performance. The test suggests that a recent tactical decision by Ellis was overly protective of her boyfriend, so she deliberately sends him into a dangerous situation to prove otherwise. He survives, but isn't bothered by her decision because [[BloodKnight it gave him a chance to see some action]].
* AlienAbduction: [=UFO=]s visit Earth to abduct humans, either to harvest their organs or to take over their entire bodies.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Inverted in that the aliens are [[TheSpeechless never heard to speak]].
* AllMenArePerverts: In one episode the aliens are using a weapon that freezes time. Straker enters the film studio used to disguise SHADO headquarters and sees an actor permanently "glancing" down the cleavage of the well-endowed actress opposite him. Apparently even Straker is not immune — in "Close Up" he uses a sophisticated macroscope to look up the skirt of a posing Lieutenant Gay Ellis. Supposedly it's part of a demonstration on how it's impossible to judge magnification without reference points, but even after he gets the point Straker zooms in for a second look... you're not fooling anyone, you sly dog!
* AppliedPhlebotinum: Usually drugs such as [[TruthSerum GL-7]] and [[CaffeineBulletTime X-50]]. Also the neutronic detection equipment.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
** In "Computer Affairs" man is shot from a submerged submarine into the air. If the submarine's interior had been at normal atmospheric pressure it would have been very difficult to open a hatch against the water pressure, and when the hatch opened the compartment inside would be very forcefully flooded. On the other hand, if the internal air pressure had been increased to match the water pressure (as is done in similar situations in RealLife) the man would have had to be treated for the bends afterwards.
** The speed, acceleration and maneuverability of the [=UFO=]s defy all known laws of physics. This is just [[ClarkesThirdLaw taken for granted and not even handwaved away]].
* AsHimself: Frank E. Stranges in ''The Dalotek Affair'.
* AutoKitchen: In the first episode "Identified", the break room in Moonbase has what appears to be an automat-style setup on one wall, with six different sets of slots divided by nationality. Apparently they didn't foresee the introduction of fusion cuisine.
* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The fully-tracked Mobiles of SHADO have a radar dish on top and carry a squad of assault rifle-toting {{redshirt}}s for taking on the anonymous alien invaders, yet are small enough to be deployed via aircraft. Somewhat incongrously they don't seem to be at all armoured or otherwise equipped to deal with hostile armed aliens.
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: "ESP". While John Croxley is holding Ed Straker and Alec Freeman at gunpoint two shots ring out and Croxley crumples to the ground, dead. Paul Foster appears behind Croxley holding a gun - he heard Croxley threatening them and shot him to save their lives.
* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou:
** If two SHADO employees are having an affair, computer-psych tests are run to see if it will affect their performance.
** Straker wants to tell his wife the truth about his job, but it would [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade put her life at risk]] from SHADO's own Security department.
* BodySnatcher: After discovering a completely human 'alien', it's theorised that the aliens are EnergyBeings who just use the bodies as hosts.
* {{Brainwashed}}: A favourite tactic of the aliens, especially ManchurianAgent ("The Psychobombs", "Kill Straker!", "E.S.P", "The Cat With Ten Lives", "Destruction", "Mindbender" and "The Man Who Came Back"). "Timelash" is a notable exception, in that a voluntary traitor is used.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In "Mindbender" [[GreenRocks alien crystals]] make Commander Straker hallucinate that he's [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs an actor in a sci-fi television series]]. As he remembers being Straker, but can clearly see the cameras and backstage crew around him, he naturally starts to go insane.
* BridgeBunnies
** PlayedStraight in [[TheWarRoom SHADO headquarters]]. With very few exceptions the female personnel are young and shapely, wear skin-tight clothes and don't actually seem to do very much.
** Subverted on Moonbase during normal operations: despite their {{Stripperific}} clothing, the female personnel run the base and command the male pilots.
** ...until a male main character turns up and takes over, and the trope is played straight again. This is partly justified because those men are higher in rank, but raises the questions why they have to micro-manage the women instead of letting them continue to do their jobs.
* TheCasanova: Alec Freeman is introduced flirting with Straker's SexySecretary and then the BridgeBunnies. This verges on KavorkaMan as he's the oldest of the main characters.
* CassetteFuturism: TheEighties as viewed from the TheSeventies, with tape drives and blinking lights galore. Had the follow-up project that was modified to create ''SerieS/Space1999'' had been followed through, then there wouldn't have been much in the way of change in computer technology on TheNineties, even with the capacity to go into deep space.
* CatapultNightmare: "Exposed". Paul Foster spots a UFO while piloting an experimental plane. Sky One destroys the UFO, but the explosion damages the plane and sends it into a dive. Paul Foster wakes up with a yell and sits up in a hospital bed, apparently after having a nightmare of the flight.
* {{Celibate Hero}}:
** Cmdr. Straker has been divorced for ten years and hasn't been in any serious relationship since then (or at least no such relationship is mentioned). [[MarriedToTheJob He devotes all his energy to his work, and doesn't seem very interested in women.]]
** Averted, however, in the episode "The Responsibility Seat", in which Straker comes close to having an affair with a young woman.
* ColonelBadass: Straker. It's a good reason why the aliens actually target him for assassination about three or four times throughout the show.
* CommLinks: "Computer Affair". When a team of SHADO troops is sent in on foot to attack a UFO, the leader communicates with his superiors with a "wrist radio" version, complete with extendable antenna.
* CompilationMovie: Several episodes were edited together in the late 1970's to make ''Invasion: UFO".
* CompressedVice: Straker suffers from {{claustrophobia}}, which causes problems when he's trapped on a damaged submarine (though [[FridgeLogic though you'd think]] it'd cause problems in the confines of a spacecraft too).
* ComputerEqualsTapedrive (along with BeepingComputers, BillionsOfButtons, and OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture): A montage of flashing lights, spinning tape drives, [[ViewerFriendlyInterface large font letters]] on coloured monitors, [[BridgeBunnies swaying female buttocks]], and rows of large luminous buttons accompany every RedAlert. SID (the computer-controlled radar satellite) is given a more 'advanced' look, being a [[ComputerVoice talking computer]] and all.
* ConcealingCanvas: "Exposed". Paul Foster breaks into the Ventura Aircraft Corporation to find evidence that he saw a UFO. He looks behind several paintings on a wall and eventually pulls one back, revealing a safe hidden behind it.
* ContinuousDecompression: "[[EnemyMine Survival]]", "Kill Straker!", "The Man Who Came Back."
* CoolCar, CoolBoat, CoolStarship, ElaborateUndergroundBase: What do you expect from the people who made ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''?
* CrazyPrepared: In the episode ''Court Martial'' it turns out that the pretty light show which we've seen behind Straker's desk for the previous 11 episodes isn't a decoration. It's [[spoiler: an escape route]]. Better still, someone else figures Straker would arrange this, and helps himself.
* DeathOfAChild: In "A Matter of Priorities". Straker's son is involved in an automobile accident and requires an experimental drug from America, but regular transport options would be too slow. After wrestling with using his position for a personal reason, Straker orders a SHADO transport to bring the drug to the UK. It is diverted en route to deal with a UFO sighting, which meant the drug did not arrive in time to save his son. [[AllForNothing Worse, the SHADO mission the plane was diverted for didn't work out either.]]
* DeathSeeker: Straker sees Freeman about to shoot Croxley and can't help thinking, "Shoot, for God's sake shoot!" Even though Crosley can read minds, he doesn't move to defend himself.
* DistantPrologue: Begins one year in the future (i.e. 1970) with Colonel Straker witnessing a UFO attack. The rest of the series takes place 11 years in the future (1980) when Straker is head of SHADO. As of the finale, it is implied that "now" is 1984[[note]]from a reference to an event in "1974", and dating the precipitating events of the episode to that time as well[[/note]], helped along by the reference to more advanced and sophisticated Moonbase defence systems against massed UFO attacks.
* {{Doppelganger}}: "Reflections in the Water."
* [[DownerEnding/LiveActionTV Downer Ending]]: "The Square Triangle," "Survival," "Flight Path," "The Cat With Ten Lives" and especially "A Question Of Priorities."
* DrinkingOnDuty: Straker has an automatic booze dispenser in his office, though he never partakes of it himself (guests and coworkers do use it). Given SHADO's mandate there must be many times when personnel seriously need a [[INeedAFreakingDrink Freaking Drink]].
* EarlyBirdCameo: Wanda Ventham makes a brief appearance as Col. Lake in the very first episode, and then does not appear again in the series until its final set of episodes in which she becomes the co-star.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Straker's iron self-control and willingness to ShootTheDog is joked upon (and sometimes criticised) by his officers.
* EnemyMine: While shooting down an alien craft in one episode, Foster crashes on the Moon. His radio is broken, but he discovers that an alien is also alive (and his communications are also broken), and the two form a truce and co-operate to reach Moonbase. There's a hope that this show of good faith could lead to the alien entering Moonbase alive and opening negotiations with SHADO - but once they reach Moonbase, the guards think the the pilot is being held captive, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption and they shoot the alien.]]
* EnergyWeapon: The [=UFOs=] have them, but their ground troops use chrome [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter assault rifles firing ordinary bullets]].
* EurekaMoment: "The Dalotek Affair". As part of one of their plots the aliens drop a meteor on the Moon. Late in the episode Commander Straker remembers a single word from a 10 year old TV broadcast ("fireball") and realizes that his subconscious mind is trying to tell him about the meteor's significance.
* EverybodySmokes: Even on the Moonbase, medical areas, and computer rooms! Averted in "Sub Smash" where a nurse tells Commander Straker he can't smoke inside a hospital room.
* FacelessGoons: The aliens are normally shown wearing spacesuits with helmets with opaque visors. In this case it's to enhance their mysterious and threatening nature, so the audience won't identify with them. Though episodes where we're supposed to feel sympathy for a space-suited invader feature [[InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace a lot more close-ups]].
* FailedFutureForecast: For whatever reason, Gerry Anderson decided to predict that England roads would switch to right-hand traffic within ten years. Thirty years on, and it's still not even discussed.
* {{Fanservice}}: There is no nudity, except for a few [[LingerieScene Lingerie Scenes]] (themselves something unexpected to see in a series that some broadcasters marketed for kids), but other kinds of FanService by both genders.
** The uniforms worn by most HQ personnel are white, skin-tight jumpsuits which leave little to the imagination.
** The female moonbase personnel wear purple wigs and silver catsuits which are even tighter than the HQ uniforms and really emphasize their figures.
** When off-duty, some of the (all male) moonbase pilots unzip their flight suits to show off their bare chests.
** Then there's the fishnet shirts of the male and female Skydiver crew that show off the men's nipples (the women's shirts have skin-coloured lining in front).
** There's this famous [[https://youtu.be/r8auw4vXijk?t=27 clothes-changing scene]], which seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a ten minute coffee break. Lt. Ellis removes the legs and sleeves of her catsuit and puts on a skirt on top of it, turning it into a mini-dress.
* FighterLaunchingSequence: Every time the Moonbase intercepters, SHADO mobiles or Sky One deploy.
* {{Flashback}}: Several episodes start with some event or line that makes a character remember where it all began.
** "Court Martial: Colonel Foster's death sentence for espionage leads other characters to go over the events that led to the accusation and trial.
** "The Dalotek Affair": An encounter with a woman at a restaurant leads Colonel Foster to recount their first meeting on the Moon [[spoiler: which she has forgotten because of amnesia drugs]].
** "Confetti Check a-OK": A SHADO technician's wife has given birth to twins. A celebratory cigar makes Straker remember the early days of SHADO, his marriage to Mary, and the birth of his own son.
* FlashbackEffects:
** "Court Martial". The teaser shows Colonel Foster being sentenced to death. The first act starts with a shimmering effect on the screen like falling water, then continues with the beginning of the events that led to the sentencing.
** "Do you remember the Dalotek Affair, six months ago?" ''[[FlashbackBackBack The Dalotek Affair...the Dalotek Affair...]]''
* {{Flatline}}: In the episodes "Identified" and "Computer Affair" the death of a captured alien is graphically depicted by their pulses flattening out on a heart monitor machine.
* FlyingSaucer: The [=UFOs=], though they are more conical than saucer shaped, presumably to [[WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens help them spin better]].
* FrontOrganisation: SHADO headquarters is hidden under a film studio, where all the odd goings-on can be passed off as [[AllPartOfTheShow something to do with a movie]]. Fair enough, [[FridgeLogic but how does Straker have the time to run a film studio]] ''and'' be the leader of an international alien-fighting organisation? Wouldn't hiring a front man as studio boss make more sense? Of course the real reason for disguising the base as a film studio was that the series was shot at a film studio! (Actually two in succession, because the first studio closed down during production.) In one of the few times it comes up in the show, a director praises Straker for his "hands-off" approach to films.
* FutureMusic: "Ordeal" wrongly predicts that you can go to a party in the future dressed like [[Film/AustinPowers Goldmember]] and not get laughed at; however it is correct in assuming that Music/{{the Beatles}} song "Get Back" will still be popular.
* TheFutureWillBeBetter: Overt violent racism has died out by TheEighties, though it's pointed out that the more subtle forms of prejudice still exist.
* GetItOverWith: In "Kill Straker", Foster's response to realizing that Straker intends to kill him is to say that he understands that it has to be done because HeKnowsTooMuch, but "For God's sake, get it over with!" Since Straker's actual goal is to tempt Foster to kill ''him'' (to test if he's still a ManchurianAgent), this just leads Straker to make up other reasons that are more inflammatory and unfair.
* GovernmentConspiracy: SHADO conceals evidence that [=UFOs=] exist to prevent worldwide panic. Their methods include intimidation (ranging from beatings to pressure on the employers of the witness), [[ResignedToTheCall conscription into SHADO]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesia pills]], and even [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade murder]].
* {{Guyliner}}: Commander Straker and Colonel Foster both wear black eyeliner and blue eye shadow. In "Destruction" you can even see a bit of a 60s "cat eye" look on Foster.
* HandcuffedBriefcase: In "Identified", Colonel Straker has a briefcase containing evidence of the existence of U.F.O.s chained to his wrist. When the car he's riding in is attacked by a U.F.O., he's thrown out of it and the chain is broken. The evidence burns up in the fiery wreck of the car.
* HandSignals: Used in "Computer Affair", "Survival" and "Court Martial".
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Test pilot Paul Foster is given a choice between joining SHADO or dying when he witnesses a UFO attack and starts asking questions. Later when Foster becomes unreliable due to alien brainwashing it's expected by all concerned (including Foster) that Straker will kill him as [[ResignationsNotAccepted it's impossible to simply fire the man]]. Instead Straker forces the issue with an intense KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand moment in a ShootingGallery.
* HesDeadJim: Played straight in the episode "Sub Smash". After a Skydiver officer is injured during an attack he goes berserk and falls to the deck. Commander Straker (possibly) checks his pulse, puts his ear to the man's chest and says "He's out of it", meaning that he's dead.
* HumanAliens: Justified in that the aliens are using human bodies. Even the legendary LittleGreenMen look is {{Handwaved}} as being from the fluid used to [[InertialDampening cushion their bodies]] for faster-than-light travel.
* HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: Extra-Sensory Perception is treated by mainstream psychologists like any other mental condition. While most sufferers [[BlessedWithSuck adjust to its effects]], the subject of the episode "E.S.P." cannot cope with knowing everything that's going to happen before it occurs.
* ICanExplain: When his wife wants a divorce because she thinks her husband is cheating, Straker blurts out that he's willing to tell her everything. However Mary cuts him off, [[TooMuchInformation thinking he's referring to his affair.]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Very much. There's lots of BlackAndGreyMorality, and plenty of WhatTheHellHero moments.
* IdiotBall:
** In "The Dalotek Affair", both Colonel Foster and the crew of a Moonship pick it up, causing the death of two SHADO Moonship pilots. The lunar module pilots stubbornly remain on computer remote control, despite the latest in a series of communications failures. Foster is actually smart enough to force the issue by shutting down the Moonbase computer, but by then it's too late. Meanwhile, ''everybody'' is only too happy to accept that the new crater near the Dalotek base is a common meteor, even though it happened in the wake of a UFO feint, and Straker ''ordered'' Foster to look for subterfuge.
** As Chris Bentley points out in ''The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide'', there's no logical reason why the aliens should try to wipe out all life on Earth with nerve gas (in "Destruction") when they need transplantable organs and living hosts to, you know, '''survive'''.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: "The Man Who Came Back". Commander Straker tries this when his friend Collins turns out to be a ManchurianAgent sent by the aliens, but to no avail.
* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace: Applies to the humans, though the aliens are usually [[FacelessGoons obscured by their liquid-filled helmets]].
* ItsQuietTooQuiet: "The Sound of Silence". Twice while near a lake a woman mentions that there's no sound from local animals. This is because there's a UFO hiding in the lake and a bodysnatching alien wandering around nearby.
* ItWasAllJustADream: "Ordeal", "[[BreakingTheFourthWall Mindbender]]"
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: "Survival". While on the surface of the Moon, Paul Foster is captured by an alien. He manages to grab his gun back from the alien, only for the alien to open his hand to display the weapon's ammo clip.
* KarmaHoudini: In "The Square Triangle", SHADO accidentally interrupts a plot by a wife and her lover to murder her husband. However they can't just hand them over to the police as they've seen an alien, so the conspirators just get their memories wiped and it's implied the murder goes ahead as planned.
* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: "Kill Straker!". Colonel Foster has been [[ManchurianAgent given a subliminal command]] to kill his superior Commander Straker. Straker needs to be absolutely sure the command has been erased, so he orders the guards to lock them in the ShootingGallery, then proceeds to take pot shots at Foster in order to provoke him, screaming "Kill! Kill!" when Foster finally picks up a gun to defend himself.
* LimitedWardrobe: A real-world example. They only had two alien uniforms, so there are never more than two aliens on screen at once. Also, there's a rather memorable red dress that shows up on several different female characters throughout the series.
* LingerieScene:
** A female journalist strips down to her bra and panties in an attempt to seduce Straker (as a part of a plot to extract classified information). [[IgnoreTheFanService It only makes him more suspicious of her motives]].
** In [[https://youtu.be/r8auw4vXijk?t=9 this video]] from the pilot episode we briefly see one of the female moon base crewmembers in her [[SpaceClothes silver underwear]] while changing clothes in front of what looks like a glass door. A man walks up to the door and starts talking to her. She doesn't react to him seeing her half-naked, and when the camera angle changes we see that the door is a one-way mirror and he is just seeing his own reflection.
** Foster gives a TwirlOfLove to his GirlOfTheWeek, gifting us with a PantyShot in the process.
* MadeOfExplodium: The [=UFOs=] disintegrate if they spend too much time in Earth's atmosphere. They can also be destroyed by conventional weapons.
* MaleGaze: The TitleSequence has two separate shots of a female SHADO operative sauntering towards or away from the camera, dressed in a very tight jumpsuit. In the from-behind shot, the camera focuses on her buttocks.
* ManchurianAgent
** In "Kill Straker!" The aliens give Paul Foster a subliminal command to kill Commander Straker.
** In "The Man Who Came Back", Commander Straker's friend Collins turns out to have been brainwashed by the aliens into an assassin. His orders: kill Straker.
* TheMenInBlack: Though dressed a lot more stylishly. Well...colourfully anyway.
* MilitaryMashupMachine: Skydiver, an atomic submarine with hydrofoil capability and a jet fighter attached to its nose. The name makes a lot of sense when you see the opening titles: The sub is only ''ever'' shown from the left side, where "SKYDIVER" is written on the side of the hull. When the jet, "Sky One", separates from the sub, the word splits in two: the jet now says "SKY" and the sub "DIVER".
* MistakenForCheating: In "Confetti Check a-Ok", Straker's long hours and extreme secrecy during SHADO's early days leads his mother-in-law to believe he's cheating on Mary, to the point of hiring a private eye to follow him. He's spotted going into a flat with another woman (one of the Moonbase lieutenants and a celebration of SHADO becoming operational), which causes Mary to leave him.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Doug Jackson, who speaks with a noticeable [[DirtyCommunists Eastern European accent]] and always has a vaguely sinister air about him. It's possible he is a spy for Straker's superiors. As the doctor says on his first appearance, [[NinjaMaid things are not always what they seem]].
* MoveInTheFrozenTime: In "Timelash", Straker and Col. Lake drive into the base to find everyone in it frozen in time (which means it happened while they were out). They find that they can pick up some objects but others are completely frozen, and Straker soon finds a pattern: The objects they can pick up are those that weren't in motion when time was stopped. Later still they also notice they're slowing down, and take some stimulant drug to remain able to move for a little more time.
* MsFanservice: Lieutenant Gay Ellis, who is described in the DVDCommentary as having "the figure of a goddess", and usually wears skintight clothes.
* NecessarilyEvil: The aliens are motivated by desperation rather than malice.
* NeverRecycleYourSchemes: Each episode has a different alien plot to destroy SHADO headquarters, kill Ed Straker, release nerve gas or whatever. Each time a plot fails the aliens never try it again even if it has a good chance of working. Then again, Straker never builds a second electron telescope; he may not be the only one with budget troubles.
* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: In the 1980's wigs have replaced [[EightiesHair bad hairstyles]], suits and ties have given way to turtlenecks and Nehru jackets, while [[SpaceClothes catsuits and calf-boots]] are standard military uniform. Some of the civilian fashions aren't too different from the current fashion around 1970, while others are more on the bizarre side.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The aliens can adapt human organs to replace their own, yet die if exposed to our atmosphere for too long.
* NoPronunciationGuide: An idiosyncrasy of the series is that the term "UFO" is pronounced as a word ("you-foh"), as suggested by the real-world originator of the term Edward J. Ruppelt, and not as the more common "you-eff-oh". This is particularly true of the lead character, Ed Straker. Technically speaking the series title should properly be pronounced "you-foh" as well. However, the "you-foh" pronunciation was not consistently applied and some supporting characters use the now more common form.
* NudeColoredClothes: Female Skydiver crew get a flesh-colored lining under their fishnet shirts.
* NukeEm: Each Moonbase [[CoolShip Interceptor]] is armed with a single large nuclear missile on its nose, though the Sky One fighter (that operates in Earth's atmosphere) uses [[MacrossMissileMassacre multiple rocket launchers]] with conventional warheads.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: General Henderson of the International Astrophysical Committee, who's always going red in the face and shouting at Commander Straker, usually over SHADO's budget allocation. Ironically [[WeUsedToBeFriends Henderson and Straker are quite friendly]] in the 'contemporary' scenes that take place before SHADO is operational.
* OldSchoolDogfight: The series draws very much from [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle of Britain]] tropes. Moonbase is the beleaguered sector airfield, and SID (Space Intruder Detector) the early-warning radar. Calmly-speaking young women (the WAAF's) vector in Interceptors (Spitfires) against the anonymous alien invaders (German bombers). However special-effects limitations prevented much in the way of actual dog-fighting -- the combat between interceptors and [=UFO=]s consist mostly of missiles and energy weapons being fired at fairly long range.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Dr. Jackson appears to know most branches of medicine, ranging from ordinary GP diagnostics all the way to advanced psychiatry. In addition to wearing those hats, he also at one point serves as a rather competent prosecutor in a court martial!
* OrganizationWithUnlimitedFunding: Averted. Several episodes show Straker arguing with his superiors over his budget allocation. (Players of ''VideoGame/XCom'' might have a idea of how he feels.)
* PersonOfMassDestruction: "The Psychobombs"
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: At the end of "The Dalotek Affair" a woman apologises for the trouble her privately-operated moon-mining operation has caused, despite the fact that it was SHADO who disrupted their operation in the (unjustified, as it turned out) belief they had something to do with the crisis of the week.
* PutOnABus: The character of Col. Veronica Lake appears briefly in the very first episode - and then is not seen again until late in the season, when she becomes a regular.
* RapidAging: "Identified". After a UFO is shot down one of the aliens aboard it is captured. After he's exposed to the Earth's atmosphere he starts aging rapidly and quickly dies.
* RedAlert: SID (Space Intruder Detector), SHADO Control and Moonbase all call them whenever a UFO is detected, so it happens on an average of once per episode.
* ReentryScare: "Kill Straker!" While a SHADO Moon ship is forced to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at a steeper than normal angle a SHADO technician says "I have re-entry cessation on radio contact". The ship isn't found until 16 hours later, and Commander Straker comments on how worried he was.
* RewindReplayRepeat: "The Dalotek Affair". Straker catches a subliminal clue about UFO attacks from a documentary film, and insists on watching the clip over and over until he figures out what triggered the association. (He actually catches it the first time around).
* SecretWar: The ongoing alien invasion attempts and body-snatching must be kept secret to avoid widespread panic, which is why SHADO necessarily must operate without revealing itself to the general public.
* SelfDestructingSecurity: Straker is carrying a briefcase chained to his wrist with taped evidence of a FlyingSaucer. When a British minister wants to look at the contents, Straker flicks a catch hidden under a nameplate, exposing the words DESTRUCT NEGATIVE, before opening the briefcase.
* [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Distance]]
** "The Dalotek Affair" and "Ordeal". In both episodes Commander Straker says that aliens from another solar system came from a billion miles away, which would mean that they came from ''inside'' the solar system. The nearest star system to Earth is Proxima Centauri, approximately 4.24 light years or about 25 '''trillion''' miles away. Even if he had been using "billion" in the British sense, which is an American trillion, it still would have been wrong because a trillion miles is still much less than the necessary distance.
** The way the moon-based spaceships are able to intercept [=UFO=]s coming from a totally different direction shows some lack of understanding of the distances involved. Given that the Moon takes roughly 27 days to orbit the Earth, why don't the aliens just attack when Moonbase is on the opposite side of their target?
* ShaggyDogStory:
** "Close up" has Straker request a billion dollars for a special space probe outfitted with an advanced telescope to take images of the alien planet. There's the launch, a spacewalk to install the telescope, and then a nerve-wracking interception mission to force a UFO into an orbit near the probe so it can lock on and follow the alien craft when it retreats. And then a months-long wait for data to come back. [[spoiler: And all for naught since the photographs are missing range and magnification data that would allow reliable identification of their contents.]]
** "A Question of Priorities". Straker's son is injured and requires an experimental antibiotic from the United States. Realising that SHADO can get it there quicker than a commercial transport, Straker has the antibiotic secretly placed on a SHADO transporter. At the same time a possible alien defector lands in Ireland and tries to communicate with SHADO, so Foster diverts the transporter to pick him up. He offers to retask the transporter when Straker explains what it's carrying, but Straker can't put his own priorities above those of Earth. [[spoiler:In the end another UFO turns up to kill the defector before they make contact, and Straker's son dies because he doesn't have the antibiotic, earning Straker the lasting enmity of his ex-wife.]]
* ShootTheDog: "A Question of Priorities", "The Responsibility Seat", "Ordeal"
* SigilSpam: SHADO puts its name and logo on all of its vehicles, even though SHADO's existence itself is secret.
* SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable: Oh so averted by Gay Ellis, whose 'break outfit' of skin tight silver bodysuit and mini with high heeled silver go-go boots doesn't look any more comfortable than her skin tight silver all over duty uniform.
* SlowLaser: The aliens have a laser weapon in their ships. It fires a bolt of energy that travels slow enough for the human eye to see it moving.
* SmokingIsCool: Straker and Freeman.
* SolemnEndingTheme: It has a fast upbeat opening theme, but closes with an ominous atmospheric piece.
* SpaceClothes:
** The uniforms of the moonbase personnel, of course. The female command-and-control staff wear skin-tight, silver uniforms, while the male pilots wear more mundane, but somewhat futuristic, flightsuits with belts and boots of shiny plastic.
** The crew of the ''Skydiver'' wears very tight trousers and fishnet shirts [[VaporWear without anything underneath]] (the women's shirts, but not those of the men, have fabric lining to hide their nipples).
** The personnel at SHADO headquarters wear white, futuristic-looking jumpsuits. The female version is skin-tight but the male version has a looser fit, at least on top .
** Some of the civilian fashions also have a spacy, futuristic look, while other fashions are pretty mundane by early 70's standards.
** There's even Space Underwear: a scene with a female moonbase crewmember changing clothes shows that her bra and panties are of silver-metallic fabric.
* SpaceIsAnOcean, SpaceIsNoisy, SpaceIsSlowMotion, StandardizedSpaceViews
* StealthInSpace: Averted. Nothing escapes the eagle eye of SID; in fact most alien plots are about trying to get past the SHADO defence system.
* StockFootage: The underwing rocket packs on the Sky One fighter resemble those used by RAF ground attack fighters, saving money on shots of them firing.
* SweaterGirl: The female personnel at [=SHADO=] headquarters affect this look: their uniforms don't include actual sweaters, but the top half of their jumpsuits is long-sleeved with a high neckline, skin-tight and emphasizes their breasts.
* TapOnTheHead: "Ordeal". An alien punches Colonel Foster in the chin and he goes out like a light. It turned out to be {{Justified}} because it occurred during an ItWasAllADream sequence.
* TimeStandsStill: "Timelash", affecting all of SHADO headquarters including the film studio aboveground. Straker and Col. Lake were initially unaffected when they entered the base but have to use a very dangerous stimulant to keep moving. The episode's cold open has Straker suddenly smashing computers and a corpse in a runaway go-kart appearing out of nowhere as time resumes.
* ToTheBatpole: Pilots use chutes to quickly get to their interceptors on Moonbase and the [=SkyDiver=] submarine. SHADO's headquarters (hidden under a film studio) is accessed by [[SuperMultipurposeRoom Straker's office which serves as an elevator]]. As Gerry Anderson pointed out in a DVDCommentary, it's just as well no-one peeked into the boss' window and wondered why his office was sinking into the ground.
* TruthSerums: "Computer Affair". The "GL-7 serum", one of the "new anodynes", is used on a captured alien at Straker's orders to lower his resistance so he'll talk. Unfortunately it kills him instead, due to either his different biology or him somehow [[InvoluntarySuicideMechanism committing suicide to prevent himself from talking]].
* VanityIsFeminine: Those shiny metal belt pouches the BridgeBunnies wear? That's not some high-tech EverythingSensor or computer repair tools; it contains a mirror and makeup kit.
* VaporWear: The Skydiver crew wear fishnet tops without undergarments. The women's uniforms have nude fabric lining in front, covering their nipples. The men have no such luxury.
* VideoPhone: Multiple examples during Earth-Moon communications in "The Dalotek Affair" and one in "The Responsibility Seat".
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Straker thinks that Henderson should be in charge of SHADO; ten years later, they're constantly at each other's throats.
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: "ESP". John Croxley's wife was killed by a UFO crashing into his house and he blames SHADO for her death. He lures Ed Straker and Alec Freeman to the ruins of his house with the intent of killing them at midnight.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: One of the rare Western examples, and from before anime became popular to boot. The female moonbase officers all wear purple wigs. For some reason, only the women wear them, and just when on the moonbase and not when vising the earth.
* {{Zeerust}}
** Most of the "futuristic" fashions in the series seem ''very'' 1969-ish today. Even though most of the series was actually filmed in TheSeventies, the design was probably done in the previous decade.
** The turbine-powered, streamlined cars are obviously inspired by the concept cars of the 1960's.
** The gender roles, with women mostly in subordinate jobs or as housewives, and lots of BridgeBunnies around. Averted for the moonbase which has a female commander.
** While not exactly outdated, the predictions of an extensive space/lunar industry and widespread use of supersonic transport already by 1980 feels like Apollo-era optimism today.
** Averted in some cases: the series foresees the pervasive use (though not the nature) of computers in everyday life, spacecraft piggy-back launched from aircraft, voice print identification, car and cordless telephones, and that space debris will become a serious concern. Also, advanced or impossible (for the 1960s) tissue identification methods (e.g. DNA analysis) are nonetheless implied to be used routinely by the show's era.
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to:
[[caption-width-right:350:Ah, the 1980's. When men were real men and women wore purple wigs.]]
->''"The Earth is faced with a powerful threat from an extraterrestrial source. We've moved into an age where science fiction has become fact. We need to defend ourselves."''
-->-- '''Commander Ed Straker''', "Identified"
->''"Our planet is dying. Our natural resources are exhausted. We must come to Earth. We must come to Earth to survive!"''
-->-- '''Alien-possessed human''', "E.S.P"
''UFO'' (1969-71) is a [[BritishSeries British]] live-action ScienceFiction television series created by Creator/GerryAnderson and his wife Creator/SylviaAnderson (with Reg Hill), the creators of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''. It was Gerry Anderson's first live-action series.
In the future year of... [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 1980]], Earth is under attack by [[FlyingSaucer UFOs]] sent by a {{dying race}} (no name for the aliens [[NoNameGiven is ever given]]) seeking to [[HumanResources harvest our organs]]. A top-secret [[MultinationalTeam multinational organisation]] called SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation, pronounced "[[FunWithAcronyms Shadow]]"), led by the dedicated Commander Straker, is given unprecedented (though not limitless) resources to [[TheMenInBlack suppress knowledge of the aliens]] while at the same time sussing out ways to fight them.
The series is remembered for its garish decor, glamorous girls in [[BestKnownForTheFanservice miniskirts]], and dark (for the time) subject matter. Few episodes had genuinely satisfactory endings; at most SHADO would prevent major acts of destruction while sacrificing a few innocent people, and their attempts to discover more about the aliens [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption frequently came to naught]]. The stories included such adult themes as drug use, adultery, inter-racial relationships, and the breakdown of Straker's marriage under the strain of the job.
This dark reimagining of ''[[Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons Captain Scarlet]]'' unfortunately backfired, as most broadcasters were expecting the Andersons' [[MagnumOpusDissonance usual children's fare]]. [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Erratic broadcasting schedules]] (no two regional stations ever simulcast the show) and indifferent American broadcasters, who reacted with a collective "WTF?", prevented ''UFO'' from cultivating an audience. Without US support, a second season set on a more advanced Moonbase in the 1990's was scrapped, and the pre-production design and model work (and basic concepts) reused for the marginally more successful ''Series/{{Space 1999}}''.
Even if ''UFO''[='s=] original impact was limited, [[ShortLivedBigImpact it still had a significant influence on international pop culture]]. Both the video-game developer Creator/MicroProse and the anime studio [[Creator/StudioGainax Gainax]] have cited the series as a main inspiration for ''VideoGame/XCom'' and ''Franchise/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', respectively.
After languishing in DevelopmentHell for years, a feature film based on the series was [[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104013654/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011722?refCatId=13 supposedly moving ahead]] for release in 2012. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing seemed to come of it.
No relation to ''Series/ProjectUFO''. nor to the rock group Music/UFOBand.
----
!!''UFO'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* ActionHoggingOpening: A fast-cut montage, over an uncharacteristically (as compared to the orchestral martial-sounding ThemeTune of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'') [[TheSixties Swinging Sixties]] theme music, shows us all the relevant people, places, and hardware featured on the show.
* AgentsDating: One of the SHADO pilots is dating Lt. Ellis from MissionControl, so computer-psych tests are run to see if it will affect their performance. The test suggests that a recent tactical decision by Ellis was overly protective of her boyfriend, so she deliberately sends him into a dangerous situation to prove otherwise. He survives, but isn't bothered by her decision because [[BloodKnight it gave him a chance to see some action]].
* AlienAbduction: [=UFO=]s visit Earth to abduct humans, either to harvest their organs or to take over their entire bodies.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Inverted in that the aliens are [[TheSpeechless never heard to speak]].
* AllMenArePerverts: In one episode the aliens are using a weapon that freezes time. Straker enters the film studio used to disguise SHADO headquarters and sees an actor permanently "glancing" down the cleavage of the well-endowed actress opposite him. Apparently even Straker is not immune — in "Close Up" he uses a sophisticated macroscope to look up the skirt of a posing Lieutenant Gay Ellis. Supposedly it's part of a demonstration on how it's impossible to judge magnification without reference points, but even after he gets the point Straker zooms in for a second look... you're not fooling anyone, you sly dog!
* AppliedPhlebotinum: Usually drugs such as [[TruthSerum GL-7]] and [[CaffeineBulletTime X-50]]. Also the neutronic detection equipment.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
** In "Computer Affairs" man is shot from a submerged submarine into the air. If the submarine's interior had been at normal atmospheric pressure it would have been very difficult to open a hatch against the water pressure, and when the hatch opened the compartment inside would be very forcefully flooded. On the other hand, if the internal air pressure had been increased to match the water pressure (as is done in similar situations in RealLife) the man would have had to be treated for the bends afterwards.
** The speed, acceleration and maneuverability of the [=UFO=]s defy all known laws of physics. This is just [[ClarkesThirdLaw taken for granted and not even handwaved away]].
* AsHimself: Frank E. Stranges in ''The Dalotek Affair'.
* AutoKitchen: In the first episode "Identified", the break room in Moonbase has what appears to be an automat-style setup on one wall, with six different sets of slots divided by nationality. Apparently they didn't foresee the introduction of fusion cuisine.
* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The fully-tracked Mobiles of SHADO have a radar dish on top and carry a squad of assault rifle-toting {{redshirt}}s for taking on the anonymous alien invaders, yet are small enough to be deployed via aircraft. Somewhat incongrously they don't seem to be at all armoured or otherwise equipped to deal with hostile armed aliens.
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: "ESP". While John Croxley is holding Ed Straker and Alec Freeman at gunpoint two shots ring out and Croxley crumples to the ground, dead. Paul Foster appears behind Croxley holding a gun - he heard Croxley threatening them and shot him to save their lives.
* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou:
** If two SHADO employees are having an affair, computer-psych tests are run to see if it will affect their performance.
** Straker wants to tell his wife the truth about his job, but it would [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade put her life at risk]] from SHADO's own Security department.
* BodySnatcher: After discovering a completely human 'alien', it's theorised that the aliens are EnergyBeings who just use the bodies as hosts.
* {{Brainwashed}}: A favourite tactic of the aliens, especially ManchurianAgent ("The Psychobombs", "Kill Straker!", "E.S.P", "The Cat With Ten Lives", "Destruction", "Mindbender" and "The Man Who Came Back"). "Timelash" is a notable exception, in that a voluntary traitor is used.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In "Mindbender" [[GreenRocks alien crystals]] make Commander Straker hallucinate that he's [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs an actor in a sci-fi television series]]. As he remembers being Straker, but can clearly see the cameras and backstage crew around him, he naturally starts to go insane.
* BridgeBunnies
** PlayedStraight in [[TheWarRoom SHADO headquarters]]. With very few exceptions the female personnel are young and shapely, wear skin-tight clothes and don't actually seem to do very much.
** Subverted on Moonbase during normal operations: despite their {{Stripperific}} clothing, the female personnel run the base and command the male pilots.
** ...until a male main character turns up and takes over, and the trope is played straight again. This is partly justified because those men are higher in rank, but raises the questions why they have to micro-manage the women instead of letting them continue to do their jobs.
* TheCasanova: Alec Freeman is introduced flirting with Straker's SexySecretary and then the BridgeBunnies. This verges on KavorkaMan as he's the oldest of the main characters.
* CassetteFuturism: TheEighties as viewed from the TheSeventies, with tape drives and blinking lights galore. Had the follow-up project that was modified to create ''SerieS/Space1999'' had been followed through, then there wouldn't have been much in the way of change in computer technology on TheNineties, even with the capacity to go into deep space.
* CatapultNightmare: "Exposed". Paul Foster spots a UFO while piloting an experimental plane. Sky One destroys the UFO, but the explosion damages the plane and sends it into a dive. Paul Foster wakes up with a yell and sits up in a hospital bed, apparently after having a nightmare of the flight.
* {{Celibate Hero}}:
** Cmdr. Straker has been divorced for ten years and hasn't been in any serious relationship since then (or at least no such relationship is mentioned). [[MarriedToTheJob He devotes all his energy to his work, and doesn't seem very interested in women.]]
** Averted, however, in the episode "The Responsibility Seat", in which Straker comes close to having an affair with a young woman.
* ColonelBadass: Straker. It's a good reason why the aliens actually target him for assassination about three or four times throughout the show.
* CommLinks: "Computer Affair". When a team of SHADO troops is sent in on foot to attack a UFO, the leader communicates with his superiors with a "wrist radio" version, complete with extendable antenna.
* CompilationMovie: Several episodes were edited together in the late 1970's to make ''Invasion: UFO".
* CompressedVice: Straker suffers from {{claustrophobia}}, which causes problems when he's trapped on a damaged submarine (though [[FridgeLogic though you'd think]] it'd cause problems in the confines of a spacecraft too).
* ComputerEqualsTapedrive (along with BeepingComputers, BillionsOfButtons, and OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture): A montage of flashing lights, spinning tape drives, [[ViewerFriendlyInterface large font letters]] on coloured monitors, [[BridgeBunnies swaying female buttocks]], and rows of large luminous buttons accompany every RedAlert. SID (the computer-controlled radar satellite) is given a more 'advanced' look, being a [[ComputerVoice talking computer]] and all.
* ConcealingCanvas: "Exposed". Paul Foster breaks into the Ventura Aircraft Corporation to find evidence that he saw a UFO. He looks behind several paintings on a wall and eventually pulls one back, revealing a safe hidden behind it.
* ContinuousDecompression: "[[EnemyMine Survival]]", "Kill Straker!", "The Man Who Came Back."
* CoolCar, CoolBoat, CoolStarship, ElaborateUndergroundBase: What do you expect from the people who made ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''?
* CrazyPrepared: In the episode ''Court Martial'' it turns out that the pretty light show which we've seen behind Straker's desk for the previous 11 episodes isn't a decoration. It's [[spoiler: an escape route]]. Better still, someone else figures Straker would arrange this, and helps himself.
* DeathOfAChild: In "A Matter of Priorities". Straker's son is involved in an automobile accident and requires an experimental drug from America, but regular transport options would be too slow. After wrestling with using his position for a personal reason, Straker orders a SHADO transport to bring the drug to the UK. It is diverted en route to deal with a UFO sighting, which meant the drug did not arrive in time to save his son. [[AllForNothing Worse, the SHADO mission the plane was diverted for didn't work out either.]]
* DeathSeeker: Straker sees Freeman about to shoot Croxley and can't help thinking, "Shoot, for God's sake shoot!" Even though Crosley can read minds, he doesn't move to defend himself.
* DistantPrologue: Begins one year in the future (i.e. 1970) with Colonel Straker witnessing a UFO attack. The rest of the series takes place 11 years in the future (1980) when Straker is head of SHADO. As of the finale, it is implied that "now" is 1984[[note]]from a reference to an event in "1974", and dating the precipitating events of the episode to that time as well[[/note]], helped along by the reference to more advanced and sophisticated Moonbase defence systems against massed UFO attacks.
* {{Doppelganger}}: "Reflections in the Water."
* [[DownerEnding/LiveActionTV Downer Ending]]: "The Square Triangle," "Survival," "Flight Path," "The Cat With Ten Lives" and especially "A Question Of Priorities."
* DrinkingOnDuty: Straker has an automatic booze dispenser in his office, though he never partakes of it himself (guests and coworkers do use it). Given SHADO's mandate there must be many times when personnel seriously need a [[INeedAFreakingDrink Freaking Drink]].
* EarlyBirdCameo: Wanda Ventham makes a brief appearance as Col. Lake in the very first episode, and then does not appear again in the series until its final set of episodes in which she becomes the co-star.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Straker's iron self-control and willingness to ShootTheDog is joked upon (and sometimes criticised) by his officers.
* EnemyMine: While shooting down an alien craft in one episode, Foster crashes on the Moon. His radio is broken, but he discovers that an alien is also alive (and his communications are also broken), and the two form a truce and co-operate to reach Moonbase. There's a hope that this show of good faith could lead to the alien entering Moonbase alive and opening negotiations with SHADO - but once they reach Moonbase, the guards think the the pilot is being held captive, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption and they shoot the alien.]]
* EnergyWeapon: The [=UFOs=] have them, but their ground troops use chrome [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter assault rifles firing ordinary bullets]].
* EurekaMoment: "The Dalotek Affair". As part of one of their plots the aliens drop a meteor on the Moon. Late in the episode Commander Straker remembers a single word from a 10 year old TV broadcast ("fireball") and realizes that his subconscious mind is trying to tell him about the meteor's significance.
* EverybodySmokes: Even on the Moonbase, medical areas, and computer rooms! Averted in "Sub Smash" where a nurse tells Commander Straker he can't smoke inside a hospital room.
* FacelessGoons: The aliens are normally shown wearing spacesuits with helmets with opaque visors. In this case it's to enhance their mysterious and threatening nature, so the audience won't identify with them. Though episodes where we're supposed to feel sympathy for a space-suited invader feature [[InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace a lot more close-ups]].
* FailedFutureForecast: For whatever reason, Gerry Anderson decided to predict that England roads would switch to right-hand traffic within ten years. Thirty years on, and it's still not even discussed.
* {{Fanservice}}: There is no nudity, except for a few [[LingerieScene Lingerie Scenes]] (themselves something unexpected to see in a series that some broadcasters marketed for kids), but other kinds of FanService by both genders.
** The uniforms worn by most HQ personnel are white, skin-tight jumpsuits which leave little to the imagination.
** The female moonbase personnel wear purple wigs and silver catsuits which are even tighter than the HQ uniforms and really emphasize their figures.
** When off-duty, some of the (all male) moonbase pilots unzip their flight suits to show off their bare chests.
** Then there's the fishnet shirts of the male and female Skydiver crew that show off the men's nipples (the women's shirts have skin-coloured lining in front).
** There's this famous [[https://youtu.be/r8auw4vXijk?t=27 clothes-changing scene]], which seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a ten minute coffee break. Lt. Ellis removes the legs and sleeves of her catsuit and puts on a skirt on top of it, turning it into a mini-dress.
* FighterLaunchingSequence: Every time the Moonbase intercepters, SHADO mobiles or Sky One deploy.
* {{Flashback}}: Several episodes start with some event or line that makes a character remember where it all began.
** "Court Martial: Colonel Foster's death sentence for espionage leads other characters to go over the events that led to the accusation and trial.
** "The Dalotek Affair": An encounter with a woman at a restaurant leads Colonel Foster to recount their first meeting on the Moon [[spoiler: which she has forgotten because of amnesia drugs]].
** "Confetti Check a-OK": A SHADO technician's wife has given birth to twins. A celebratory cigar makes Straker remember the early days of SHADO, his marriage to Mary, and the birth of his own son.
* FlashbackEffects:
** "Court Martial". The teaser shows Colonel Foster being sentenced to death. The first act starts with a shimmering effect on the screen like falling water, then continues with the beginning of the events that led to the sentencing.
** "Do you remember the Dalotek Affair, six months ago?" ''[[FlashbackBackBack The Dalotek Affair...the Dalotek Affair...]]''
* {{Flatline}}: In the episodes "Identified" and "Computer Affair" the death of a captured alien is graphically depicted by their pulses flattening out on a heart monitor machine.
* FlyingSaucer: The [=UFOs=], though they are more conical than saucer shaped, presumably to [[WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens help them spin better]].
* FrontOrganisation: SHADO headquarters is hidden under a film studio, where all the odd goings-on can be passed off as [[AllPartOfTheShow something to do with a movie]]. Fair enough, [[FridgeLogic but how does Straker have the time to run a film studio]] ''and'' be the leader of an international alien-fighting organisation? Wouldn't hiring a front man as studio boss make more sense? Of course the real reason for disguising the base as a film studio was that the series was shot at a film studio! (Actually two in succession, because the first studio closed down during production.) In one of the few times it comes up in the show, a director praises Straker for his "hands-off" approach to films.
* FutureMusic: "Ordeal" wrongly predicts that you can go to a party in the future dressed like [[Film/AustinPowers Goldmember]] and not get laughed at; however it is correct in assuming that Music/{{the Beatles}} song "Get Back" will still be popular.
* TheFutureWillBeBetter: Overt violent racism has died out by TheEighties, though it's pointed out that the more subtle forms of prejudice still exist.
* GetItOverWith: In "Kill Straker", Foster's response to realizing that Straker intends to kill him is to say that he understands that it has to be done because HeKnowsTooMuch, but "For God's sake, get it over with!" Since Straker's actual goal is to tempt Foster to kill ''him'' (to test if he's still a ManchurianAgent), this just leads Straker to make up other reasons that are more inflammatory and unfair.
* GovernmentConspiracy: SHADO conceals evidence that [=UFOs=] exist to prevent worldwide panic. Their methods include intimidation (ranging from beatings to pressure on the employers of the witness), [[ResignedToTheCall conscription into SHADO]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesia pills]], and even [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade murder]].
* {{Guyliner}}: Commander Straker and Colonel Foster both wear black eyeliner and blue eye shadow. In "Destruction" you can even see a bit of a 60s "cat eye" look on Foster.
* HandcuffedBriefcase: In "Identified", Colonel Straker has a briefcase containing evidence of the existence of U.F.O.s chained to his wrist. When the car he's riding in is attacked by a U.F.O., he's thrown out of it and the chain is broken. The evidence burns up in the fiery wreck of the car.
* HandSignals: Used in "Computer Affair", "Survival" and "Court Martial".
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Test pilot Paul Foster is given a choice between joining SHADO or dying when he witnesses a UFO attack and starts asking questions. Later when Foster becomes unreliable due to alien brainwashing it's expected by all concerned (including Foster) that Straker will kill him as [[ResignationsNotAccepted it's impossible to simply fire the man]]. Instead Straker forces the issue with an intense KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand moment in a ShootingGallery.
* HesDeadJim: Played straight in the episode "Sub Smash". After a Skydiver officer is injured during an attack he goes berserk and falls to the deck. Commander Straker (possibly) checks his pulse, puts his ear to the man's chest and says "He's out of it", meaning that he's dead.
* HumanAliens: Justified in that the aliens are using human bodies. Even the legendary LittleGreenMen look is {{Handwaved}} as being from the fluid used to [[InertialDampening cushion their bodies]] for faster-than-light travel.
* HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: Extra-Sensory Perception is treated by mainstream psychologists like any other mental condition. While most sufferers [[BlessedWithSuck adjust to its effects]], the subject of the episode "E.S.P." cannot cope with knowing everything that's going to happen before it occurs.
* ICanExplain: When his wife wants a divorce because she thinks her husband is cheating, Straker blurts out that he's willing to tell her everything. However Mary cuts him off, [[TooMuchInformation thinking he's referring to his affair.]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Very much. There's lots of BlackAndGreyMorality, and plenty of WhatTheHellHero moments.
* IdiotBall:
** In "The Dalotek Affair", both Colonel Foster and the crew of a Moonship pick it up, causing the death of two SHADO Moonship pilots. The lunar module pilots stubbornly remain on computer remote control, despite the latest in a series of communications failures. Foster is actually smart enough to force the issue by shutting down the Moonbase computer, but by then it's too late. Meanwhile, ''everybody'' is only too happy to accept that the new crater near the Dalotek base is a common meteor, even though it happened in the wake of a UFO feint, and Straker ''ordered'' Foster to look for subterfuge.
** As Chris Bentley points out in ''The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide'', there's no logical reason why the aliens should try to wipe out all life on Earth with nerve gas (in "Destruction") when they need transplantable organs and living hosts to, you know, '''survive'''.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: "The Man Who Came Back". Commander Straker tries this when his friend Collins turns out to be a ManchurianAgent sent by the aliens, but to no avail.
* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace: Applies to the humans, though the aliens are usually [[FacelessGoons obscured by their liquid-filled helmets]].
* ItsQuietTooQuiet: "The Sound of Silence". Twice while near a lake a woman mentions that there's no sound from local animals. This is because there's a UFO hiding in the lake and a bodysnatching alien wandering around nearby.
* ItWasAllJustADream: "Ordeal", "[[BreakingTheFourthWall Mindbender]]"
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: "Survival". While on the surface of the Moon, Paul Foster is captured by an alien. He manages to grab his gun back from the alien, only for the alien to open his hand to display the weapon's ammo clip.
* KarmaHoudini: In "The Square Triangle", SHADO accidentally interrupts a plot by a wife and her lover to murder her husband. However they can't just hand them over to the police as they've seen an alien, so the conspirators just get their memories wiped and it's implied the murder goes ahead as planned.
* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: "Kill Straker!". Colonel Foster has been [[ManchurianAgent given a subliminal command]] to kill his superior Commander Straker. Straker needs to be absolutely sure the command has been erased, so he orders the guards to lock them in the ShootingGallery, then proceeds to take pot shots at Foster in order to provoke him, screaming "Kill! Kill!" when Foster finally picks up a gun to defend himself.
* LimitedWardrobe: A real-world example. They only had two alien uniforms, so there are never more than two aliens on screen at once. Also, there's a rather memorable red dress that shows up on several different female characters throughout the series.
* LingerieScene:
** A female journalist strips down to her bra and panties in an attempt to seduce Straker (as a part of a plot to extract classified information). [[IgnoreTheFanService It only makes him more suspicious of her motives]].
** In [[https://youtu.be/r8auw4vXijk?t=9 this video]] from the pilot episode we briefly see one of the female moon base crewmembers in her [[SpaceClothes silver underwear]] while changing clothes in front of what looks like a glass door. A man walks up to the door and starts talking to her. She doesn't react to him seeing her half-naked, and when the camera angle changes we see that the door is a one-way mirror and he is just seeing his own reflection.
** Foster gives a TwirlOfLove to his GirlOfTheWeek, gifting us with a PantyShot in the process.
* MadeOfExplodium: The [=UFOs=] disintegrate if they spend too much time in Earth's atmosphere. They can also be destroyed by conventional weapons.
* MaleGaze: The TitleSequence has two separate shots of a female SHADO operative sauntering towards or away from the camera, dressed in a very tight jumpsuit. In the from-behind shot, the camera focuses on her buttocks.
* ManchurianAgent
** In "Kill Straker!" The aliens give Paul Foster a subliminal command to kill Commander Straker.
** In "The Man Who Came Back", Commander Straker's friend Collins turns out to have been brainwashed by the aliens into an assassin. His orders: kill Straker.
* TheMenInBlack: Though dressed a lot more stylishly. Well...colourfully anyway.
* MilitaryMashupMachine: Skydiver, an atomic submarine with hydrofoil capability and a jet fighter attached to its nose. The name makes a lot of sense when you see the opening titles: The sub is only ''ever'' shown from the left side, where "SKYDIVER" is written on the side of the hull. When the jet, "Sky One", separates from the sub, the word splits in two: the jet now says "SKY" and the sub "DIVER".
* MistakenForCheating: In "Confetti Check a-Ok", Straker's long hours and extreme secrecy during SHADO's early days leads his mother-in-law to believe he's cheating on Mary, to the point of hiring a private eye to follow him. He's spotted going into a flat with another woman (one of the Moonbase lieutenants and a celebration of SHADO becoming operational), which causes Mary to leave him.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Doug Jackson, who speaks with a noticeable [[DirtyCommunists Eastern European accent]] and always has a vaguely sinister air about him. It's possible he is a spy for Straker's superiors. As the doctor says on his first appearance, [[NinjaMaid things are not always what they seem]].
* MoveInTheFrozenTime: In "Timelash", Straker and Col. Lake drive into the base to find everyone in it frozen in time (which means it happened while they were out). They find that they can pick up some objects but others are completely frozen, and Straker soon finds a pattern: The objects they can pick up are those that weren't in motion when time was stopped. Later still they also notice they're slowing down, and take some stimulant drug to remain able to move for a little more time.
* MsFanservice: Lieutenant Gay Ellis, who is described in the DVDCommentary as having "the figure of a goddess", and usually wears skintight clothes.
* NecessarilyEvil: The aliens are motivated by desperation rather than malice.
* NeverRecycleYourSchemes: Each episode has a different alien plot to destroy SHADO headquarters, kill Ed Straker, release nerve gas or whatever. Each time a plot fails the aliens never try it again even if it has a good chance of working. Then again, Straker never builds a second electron telescope; he may not be the only one with budget troubles.
* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: In the 1980's wigs have replaced [[EightiesHair bad hairstyles]], suits and ties have given way to turtlenecks and Nehru jackets, while [[SpaceClothes catsuits and calf-boots]] are standard military uniform. Some of the civilian fashions aren't too different from the current fashion around 1970, while others are more on the bizarre side.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The aliens can adapt human organs to replace their own, yet die if exposed to our atmosphere for too long.
* NoPronunciationGuide: An idiosyncrasy of the series is that the term "UFO" is pronounced as a word ("you-foh"), as suggested by the real-world originator of the term Edward J. Ruppelt, and not as the more common "you-eff-oh". This is particularly true of the lead character, Ed Straker. Technically speaking the series title should properly be pronounced "you-foh" as well. However, the "you-foh" pronunciation was not consistently applied and some supporting characters use the now more common form.
* NudeColoredClothes: Female Skydiver crew get a flesh-colored lining under their fishnet shirts.
* NukeEm: Each Moonbase [[CoolShip Interceptor]] is armed with a single large nuclear missile on its nose, though the Sky One fighter (that operates in Earth's atmosphere) uses [[MacrossMissileMassacre multiple rocket launchers]] with conventional warheads.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: General Henderson of the International Astrophysical Committee, who's always going red in the face and shouting at Commander Straker, usually over SHADO's budget allocation. Ironically [[WeUsedToBeFriends Henderson and Straker are quite friendly]] in the 'contemporary' scenes that take place before SHADO is operational.
* OldSchoolDogfight: The series draws very much from [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle of Britain]] tropes. Moonbase is the beleaguered sector airfield, and SID (Space Intruder Detector) the early-warning radar. Calmly-speaking young women (the WAAF's) vector in Interceptors (Spitfires) against the anonymous alien invaders (German bombers). However special-effects limitations prevented much in the way of actual dog-fighting -- the combat between interceptors and [=UFO=]s consist mostly of missiles and energy weapons being fired at fairly long range.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Dr. Jackson appears to know most branches of medicine, ranging from ordinary GP diagnostics all the way to advanced psychiatry. In addition to wearing those hats, he also at one point serves as a rather competent prosecutor in a court martial!
* OrganizationWithUnlimitedFunding: Averted. Several episodes show Straker arguing with his superiors over his budget allocation. (Players of ''VideoGame/XCom'' might have a idea of how he feels.)
* PersonOfMassDestruction: "The Psychobombs"
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: At the end of "The Dalotek Affair" a woman apologises for the trouble her privately-operated moon-mining operation has caused, despite the fact that it was SHADO who disrupted their operation in the (unjustified, as it turned out) belief they had something to do with the crisis of the week.
* PutOnABus: The character of Col. Veronica Lake appears briefly in the very first episode - and then is not seen again until late in the season, when she becomes a regular.
* RapidAging: "Identified". After a UFO is shot down one of the aliens aboard it is captured. After he's exposed to the Earth's atmosphere he starts aging rapidly and quickly dies.
* RedAlert: SID (Space Intruder Detector), SHADO Control and Moonbase all call them whenever a UFO is detected, so it happens on an average of once per episode.
* ReentryScare: "Kill Straker!" While a SHADO Moon ship is forced to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at a steeper than normal angle a SHADO technician says "I have re-entry cessation on radio contact". The ship isn't found until 16 hours later, and Commander Straker comments on how worried he was.
* RewindReplayRepeat: "The Dalotek Affair". Straker catches a subliminal clue about UFO attacks from a documentary film, and insists on watching the clip over and over until he figures out what triggered the association. (He actually catches it the first time around).
* SecretWar: The ongoing alien invasion attempts and body-snatching must be kept secret to avoid widespread panic, which is why SHADO necessarily must operate without revealing itself to the general public.
* SelfDestructingSecurity: Straker is carrying a briefcase chained to his wrist with taped evidence of a FlyingSaucer. When a British minister wants to look at the contents, Straker flicks a catch hidden under a nameplate, exposing the words DESTRUCT NEGATIVE, before opening the briefcase.
* [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Distance]]
** "The Dalotek Affair" and "Ordeal". In both episodes Commander Straker says that aliens from another solar system came from a billion miles away, which would mean that they came from ''inside'' the solar system. The nearest star system to Earth is Proxima Centauri, approximately 4.24 light years or about 25 '''trillion''' miles away. Even if he had been using "billion" in the British sense, which is an American trillion, it still would have been wrong because a trillion miles is still much less than the necessary distance.
** The way the moon-based spaceships are able to intercept [=UFO=]s coming from a totally different direction shows some lack of understanding of the distances involved. Given that the Moon takes roughly 27 days to orbit the Earth, why don't the aliens just attack when Moonbase is on the opposite side of their target?
* ShaggyDogStory:
** "Close up" has Straker request a billion dollars for a special space probe outfitted with an advanced telescope to take images of the alien planet. There's the launch, a spacewalk to install the telescope, and then a nerve-wracking interception mission to force a UFO into an orbit near the probe so it can lock on and follow the alien craft when it retreats. And then a months-long wait for data to come back. [[spoiler: And all for naught since the photographs are missing range and magnification data that would allow reliable identification of their contents.]]
** "A Question of Priorities". Straker's son is injured and requires an experimental antibiotic from the United States. Realising that SHADO can get it there quicker than a commercial transport, Straker has the antibiotic secretly placed on a SHADO transporter. At the same time a possible alien defector lands in Ireland and tries to communicate with SHADO, so Foster diverts the transporter to pick him up. He offers to retask the transporter when Straker explains what it's carrying, but Straker can't put his own priorities above those of Earth. [[spoiler:In the end another UFO turns up to kill the defector before they make contact, and Straker's son dies because he doesn't have the antibiotic, earning Straker the lasting enmity of his ex-wife.]]
* ShootTheDog: "A Question of Priorities", "The Responsibility Seat", "Ordeal"
* SigilSpam: SHADO puts its name and logo on all of its vehicles, even though SHADO's existence itself is secret.
* SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable: Oh so averted by Gay Ellis, whose 'break outfit' of skin tight silver bodysuit and mini with high heeled silver go-go boots doesn't look any more comfortable than her skin tight silver all over duty uniform.
* SlowLaser: The aliens have a laser weapon in their ships. It fires a bolt of energy that travels slow enough for the human eye to see it moving.
* SmokingIsCool: Straker and Freeman.
* SolemnEndingTheme: It has a fast upbeat opening theme, but closes with an ominous atmospheric piece.
* SpaceClothes:
** The uniforms of the moonbase personnel, of course. The female command-and-control staff wear skin-tight, silver uniforms, while the male pilots wear more mundane, but somewhat futuristic, flightsuits with belts and boots of shiny plastic.
** The crew of the ''Skydiver'' wears very tight trousers and fishnet shirts [[VaporWear without anything underneath]] (the women's shirts, but not those of the men, have fabric lining to hide their nipples).
** The personnel at SHADO headquarters wear white, futuristic-looking jumpsuits. The female version is skin-tight but the male version has a looser fit, at least on top .
** Some of the civilian fashions also have a spacy, futuristic look, while other fashions are pretty mundane by early 70's standards.
** There's even Space Underwear: a scene with a female moonbase crewmember changing clothes shows that her bra and panties are of silver-metallic fabric.
* SpaceIsAnOcean, SpaceIsNoisy, SpaceIsSlowMotion, StandardizedSpaceViews
* StealthInSpace: Averted. Nothing escapes the eagle eye of SID; in fact most alien plots are about trying to get past the SHADO defence system.
* StockFootage: The underwing rocket packs on the Sky One fighter resemble those used by RAF ground attack fighters, saving money on shots of them firing.
* SweaterGirl: The female personnel at [=SHADO=] headquarters affect this look: their uniforms don't include actual sweaters, but the top half of their jumpsuits is long-sleeved with a high neckline, skin-tight and emphasizes their breasts.
* TapOnTheHead: "Ordeal". An alien punches Colonel Foster in the chin and he goes out like a light. It turned out to be {{Justified}} because it occurred during an ItWasAllADream sequence.
* TimeStandsStill: "Timelash", affecting all of SHADO headquarters including the film studio aboveground. Straker and Col. Lake were initially unaffected when they entered the base but have to use a very dangerous stimulant to keep moving. The episode's cold open has Straker suddenly smashing computers and a corpse in a runaway go-kart appearing out of nowhere as time resumes.
* ToTheBatpole: Pilots use chutes to quickly get to their interceptors on Moonbase and the [=SkyDiver=] submarine. SHADO's headquarters (hidden under a film studio) is accessed by [[SuperMultipurposeRoom Straker's office which serves as an elevator]]. As Gerry Anderson pointed out in a DVDCommentary, it's just as well no-one peeked into the boss' window and wondered why his office was sinking into the ground.
* TruthSerums: "Computer Affair". The "GL-7 serum", one of the "new anodynes", is used on a captured alien at Straker's orders to lower his resistance so he'll talk. Unfortunately it kills him instead, due to either his different biology or him somehow [[InvoluntarySuicideMechanism committing suicide to prevent himself from talking]].
* VanityIsFeminine: Those shiny metal belt pouches the BridgeBunnies wear? That's not some high-tech EverythingSensor or computer repair tools; it contains a mirror and makeup kit.
* VaporWear: The Skydiver crew wear fishnet tops without undergarments. The women's uniforms have nude fabric lining in front, covering their nipples. The men have no such luxury.
* VideoPhone: Multiple examples during Earth-Moon communications in "The Dalotek Affair" and one in "The Responsibility Seat".
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Straker thinks that Henderson should be in charge of SHADO; ten years later, they're constantly at each other's throats.
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: "ESP". John Croxley's wife was killed by a UFO crashing into his house and he blames SHADO for her death. He lures Ed Straker and Alec Freeman to the ruins of his house with the intent of killing them at midnight.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: One of the rare Western examples, and from before anime became popular to boot. The female moonbase officers all wear purple wigs. For some reason, only the women wear them, and just when on the moonbase and not when vising the earth.
* {{Zeerust}}
** Most of the "futuristic" fashions in the series seem ''very'' 1969-ish today. Even though most of the series was actually filmed in TheSeventies, the design was probably done in the previous decade.
** The turbine-powered, streamlined cars are obviously inspired by the concept cars of the 1960's.
** The gender roles, with women mostly in subordinate jobs or as housewives, and lots of BridgeBunnies around. Averted for the moonbase which has a female commander.
** While not exactly outdated, the predictions of an extensive space/lunar industry and widespread use of supersonic transport already by 1980 feels like Apollo-era optimism today.
** Averted in some cases: the series foresees the pervasive use (though not the nature) of computers in everyday life, spacecraft piggy-back launched from aircraft, voice print identification, car and cordless telephones, and that space debris will become a serious concern. Also, advanced or impossible (for the 1960s) tissue identification methods (e.g. DNA analysis) are nonetheless implied to be used routinely by the show's era.
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No relation to ''Series/ProjectUFO''. nor to the rock group ''Music/UFOBand''.
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No relation to ''Series/ProjectUFO''. nor to the rock group ''Music/UFOBand''.Music/UFOBand.
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No relation to ''Series/ProjectUFO''. nor to Michael Schenker's rock band ''Music/{{UFO}}''.
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No relation to ''Series/ProjectUFO''. nor to Michael Schenker's the rock band ''Music/{{UFO}}''.group ''Music/UFOBand''.
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I'm not sure which scene is menat by "our first view of the 1980's". The first scene does feature a woman in a miniskirt, but she's running for her life from a machine gun-wielding alien, and there is no male gazing going on. Deleting the "example" for now.
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* MaleGaze: Our first view of the 1980's is a mini-skirted woman sashaying away from the camera, which is positioned at hemline level. The TitleSequence has two separate shots of a female SHADO operative sauntering towards or away from the camera, dressed in a very tight jumpsuit. In the from-behind shot, the camera focuses on her buttocks.
to:
* MaleGaze: Our first view of the 1980's is a mini-skirted woman sashaying away from the camera, which is positioned at hemline level. The TitleSequence has two separate shots of a female SHADO operative sauntering towards or away from the camera, dressed in a very tight jumpsuit. In the from-behind shot, the camera focuses on her buttocks.
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Replaced link with archived version.
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After languishing in DevelopmentHell for years, a feature film based on the series was [[http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011722.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 supposedly moving ahead]] for release in 2012. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing seemed to come of it.
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After languishing in DevelopmentHell for years, a feature film based on the series was [[http://www.[[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104013654/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011722.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 com/article/VR1118011722?refCatId=13 supposedly moving ahead]] for release in 2012. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing seemed to come of it.
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''UFO'' (1969-71) is a [[BritishSeries British]] live-action ScienceFiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (with Reg Hill), the creators of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''. It was Gerry Anderson's first live-action series.
to:
''UFO'' (1969-71) is a [[BritishSeries British]] live-action ScienceFiction television series created by Gerry Creator/GerryAnderson and Sylvia Anderson his wife Creator/SylviaAnderson (with Reg Hill), the creators of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''. It was Gerry Anderson's first live-action series.
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* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The fully-tracked Mobiles of SHADO have a radar dish on top and carry a squad of assault rifle-toting {{redshirt}}s for taking on the anonymous alien invaders, yet are small enough to be deployed via aircraft.
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* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The fully-tracked Mobiles of SHADO have a radar dish on top and carry a squad of assault rifle-toting {{redshirt}}s for taking on the anonymous alien invaders, yet are small enough to be deployed via aircraft. Somewhat incongrously they don't seem to be at all armoured or otherwise equipped to deal with hostile armed aliens.
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Removed unnecessarily derogatory language. No New Fashions In The Future doesn't really apply if said future is only ten years away (and the show really tries to avert the trope in other places).
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* MaleGaze: Our first view of the 1980's is a [[NoNewFashionsInTheFuture mini-skirted dolly bird]] [[ShakingTheRump sashaying away]] from the camera, which is positioned at hemline level. The TitleSequence alone has two separate shots of a female SHADO operative sauntering towards or away from the camera.
to:
* MaleGaze: Our first view of the 1980's is a [[NoNewFashionsInTheFuture mini-skirted dolly bird]] [[ShakingTheRump woman sashaying away]] away from the camera, which is positioned at hemline level. The TitleSequence alone has two separate shots of a female SHADO operative sauntering towards or away from the camera.camera, dressed in a very tight jumpsuit. In the from-behind shot, the camera focuses on her buttocks.
