This movie, Invasion: UFO was produced at the ITC's New York offices in 1980 and not 1972 like this page suggests. It was made by compiling several episodes of the classic British made sci - fi series UFO which was produced by 'Thunderbirds' creator, Gerry Anderson. The movie was targeted at satellite and cable television services in America, and later found it's way on UK home video in 1983, the first UFO video release until Channel 5 video released the majority of the series including Invasion: UFO in 1986. The movie is comprised mainly from the three episodes 'Identified', 'Computer Affair' and 'Reflections in the Water', although it does feature some small clips from 'ESP', 'The Man Who Came Back' and 'Confetti Check A-OK'. The ITC New York Offices produced several TV movies from Gerry Anderson productions between 1980 and 1982, Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet were notably used, and some of these movies aren't too bad, as they were generally faithful to the original material, although missiles in both Captain Scarlet and Stingray were changed to some hideous video laser effect, and the new opening titles they created for the movies were ghastly. It is much the same for this movie. For the opening they have taken away the original theme music and replaced it with an awful 80's sounding pop theme. They have also added further 80's sounding rubbish to the incidental soundtrack, which does not fit the action and spoils some of the fear in the proceedings. Other than this they have not changed the original material apart from the obvious editing. 3 episodes, 'Identified', 'Computer Affair' and 'Reflections in the Water' are chopped virtually in half to allow for the maximum 100 minutes running time the makers of the movie had to comply with. They were also edited on videotape which you have to adjust to if you have been watching the series on DVD, and the quality is poor compared. On the plus side, many of the linking scenes are put together well, but it is still confusing at times. George Sewell who plays Col. Alec Freeman disappears 30 minutes before the end of the movie, because he was not in the final episode used, and his absence isn't explained. Peter Gordeno who played Capt. Carlin also disappears at the same time, which also isn't explained. Michael Billington doesn't appear till the last half hour of the movie but this is explained by a clip from 'ESP'. The ending of Invasion: UFO is represented by a 5 minute clip from 'The Man Who Came Back' as the alien invasion begins, which leaves the story unresolved. Although this is strange it works quite well with the rest of the material. The last few moments of the movie are played over narration by Ed Bishop as Ed Straker in the first episode 'Identified', his 'when will the universe end' speech. All in all, Invasion:UFO is good, but a bit confusing. I would recommend it as a selectable item for those who wish to collect the series, as it was the first sight UFO fans saw, here in the U.K, of UFO during the big success of videos in the early 80's, but it is not a good representation of the series, and the scattered editing leaves a lot to be desired. If you want to see the series at it's best, buy the DVD set of all 26 episodes.
Review of Invasion: UFO
