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Why did the concept of the aliens never go anywhere?

posted 7 years ago by zooeyhall
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Why did the series never really explore the concept of the aliens---Who were they? Where they came from? Motivations? Background information on what they wanted, etc.?

It seems that no one involved in the conception and creation of "UFO" really gave much thought to answering these questions.

The very first episode (Identified) made a great start on the alien concept. Some intriguing and unusual ideas were put forth: that they used breathable liquid, traveled at hyper light speeds, and used human organs to sustain themselves.

In "Survival", it seems the aliens have some feelings of human empathy.

But the series went very little beyond this.

One of the most tantalizing---and frustrating--episodes was "Closeup". Where a space satellite follows a UFO back to its origin. With the intent of sending pictures back to Earth. An episode that had the potential to truly blow this series right out of the water. But after viewers have watched with baited breath for nearly an hour, the writers totally dropped the ball. Concluding the episode with an incredible "deus ex machina"---a slap-dash explanation involving "scale of measurement", pollen grains, and (apparently) an ultra-closeup girl's leg(!)

In another episode, it is speculated that the aliens are "living computers". Whatever that implies.

The only clear hint of the aliens motivation (the need to harvest human organs for their own dying bodies) seems to have been forgotten by the later episodes. For example, in the episode "Destruction", the aliens' intent was to cause the release of an ultra-deadly nerve gas, that would destroy all life on Earth. But if they destroyed all life on the planet, how would they get the organs that was supposedly the reason for their coming to Earth at all?

Granted--this was a 1970 TV production, and didn't have the budget or resources to go really big into any of this (from what I have read, the production only had two alien spacesuits to work with). Yet for something so central and critical to the storyline, it appears little effort was expended on developing the alien concept. Much less than what was lavished on other things in the series.

Perhaps if UFO had lasted more than one season, this might have developed further.

Thoughts? Opinions?

[–] phantom2-2 7 years ago

almost the entire series was created from the humans' point of view.

why would we know what the aliens' motivation was, since we could never communicate with them? the shado men throw out wild guesses pretty frequently (especially straker and jackson) but they could just as easily be wrong as right. we understand the "how" pretty well, it's the "why" that's never clear.

maybe in future years non-hostile contact would be made and we'd know, but until then...the mystery continues. and the mystery is half the fun.

it's possible/likely that even the aliens don't have a single motivation, and that different factions are sending ufos to earth for their own particular reasons.

there's a lot of room for the show to grow into...it just never got a chance to do so.

[–] zooeyhall 7 years ago

You raise some interesting points. Perhaps the very nature of "alien" means that there can NEVER be any real understanding (?)

Your speculation about different factions with the aliens also brings up some intriguing ideas. I seem to recall in one episode, there was a man who was in telepathic communication with the aliens. He says at one point "our [the aliens] national resources are exhausted...". This apparently implies that there are nation-states on the alien home world, just as on Earth. Perhaps this explains your speculation about "factions" in the alien presence on Earth.

"UFO" continuing beyond a single season is one of the great "might have beens" of TV history. In some ways, it was a precursor of today's shows such as "The X Files".

I think a modern-day remake of this series would be really awesome. The original show premise could go in some really wild directions.