UFO (TV Series) The Square Triangle (1970) User Reviews

A comment on the first review

[dslbarney · 8/10 · 17 June 2011]

I recently borrowed the entire series on DVD, and I saw this episode a few nights ago. I was curious what other viewers thought, so I checked the ratings and reviews on IMDb. I find myself disagreeing with the first review. It wasn't from lack of cleverness that the writers and producers chose this particular ending. They intended the ending they wrote, and they didn't want another ending.

I don't want to give away details, but Straker is shown to be a man on a mission. It's common these days to portray such men as having a streak of ruthlessness and being somewhat morally ambiguous. However, this series was made in the era of bold Star Trek and early Dr. Who, when leaders and action heroes on TV were usually portrayed in a more noble, mythic light. Straker, on the other hand, is a man who has felt the burden of protecting the world, and that is his top priority. He does what is necessary, regardless of the cost. Looked at in that way, the ending while disturbing, is meant to be disturbing. Remember, it's supposed to bother you. IMHO, this is actually one of the better episodes of the series.

Adrienne Corri enlightens UFO's task-force to apprehend alien spacecraft!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 6/10 · 7 February 2023]

UFO reach to me firstly in a bootleg DVD, last year it comes out officially in Brazil, this series from the late sixties and early seventies was in vogue at its time, the proposal by the producer Gerry Anderson was the menace of the aliens trying conquer the Earth by any means, sadly it was a paranoic idea that such superior outer space civilization self-called invaders would mind to take place this hell's place.

This turn those old-fashionable gimbal Alien Spacecraft gets breaks moon-base barrier and headed to Earth most precisely in England's southwest, thus Cmdr. Striker demands to Col. Foster a task force aiming for to surround the Alien's spaceship at densely forested area to try apprehend the spacecraft, although the alien pilot already left it, randomly meeting a park ranger with his dog, killing him and putting his body inside the flying saucer and aftermaths putting firing in it, when Col Foster arrives at spot he figures out the alien's ploy, looking for him on the outskirts.

Meanwhile a sub-plot takes place in nearby house, the still gorgeous Liz Newton (Adrienne Corri) and his affair intents murder her older husband that is coming, the faltering wife actually didn't do it, but his wicked lover enforces her shot him as soon it arrives, nevertheless who comes firstly???

Elusive UFO episode, if we starting the new Straker's idea to catch the Alien Spacecraft to learn about it and its aboard technology, UFO also has a suggestive sex-appeals with several guest stars like the eye-candy Adrienne Corri and all Shado's crew female members!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume: First watch: 2013 / Source: DVD / How many: 2 / Rating: 6.5.

A simple job of murder

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 19 July 2012]

Adrienne Corri, a beautiful woman and a fine actress, graced many British films and television shows, including 'A Clockwork Orange', 'Vampire Circus' ( both 1971 ) and, of course, 'U.F.O.'. Alan Pattillo's 'The Square Triangle' is like 'A Question Of Priorities' in that it also combines two seemingly unrelated plot lines only to merge them at the end. S.H.A.D.O. is frantically combing the English countryside searching for an Alien ( Anthony Chinn ). Elsewhere, in a remote house, 'Liz Newton' ( Corri ) and her young lover 'Cass Fowler' ( Patrick Mower ) are plotting to murder her husband 'Jack'. She nervously shoots dead the man who walks in through the front door - but it isn't Jack. As S.H.A.D.O. arrives in force, and finds the Alien dead, they realise that a triangle has just become a square...

Interesting episode, with good performances from all concerned. At S.H.A.D.O. H.Q., Liz and Cass are given the Amnesia Drug. It erases their memories of the past few hours. Foster tells Straker there is nothing to stop the pair trying to murder the husband again. Such is S.H.A.D.O.'s secrecy policy that it cannot be seen to intervene. In a chillingly bleak ending, Liz is standing over a grave. The usual end credits depicting the Earth and moon have been replaced by a shot of Liz walking away from the grave to rejoin Cass. It is endings such as these which marked 'U.F.O.' out from other shows of that period, where upbeat fade-outs were nauseatingly commonplace.

Hmm...an interesting idea but not one of the better episodes.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 6 May 2010]

I recently purchased the "UFO" box set and have been watching the shows. While, of course, the special effects and costumes are pretty campy, the plots have been excellent--and I have so far enjoyed the show far more than I'd expected. However, episode 1.10 is clearly not one of the better shows--even if the idea is pretty good.

A man and an older woman are lovers and planning on murdering her husband. At the same time, a UFO lands and the alien is walking about the countryside. While the lady is waiting for her husband to return home so she can 'accidentally' shoot him, she ends up shooting the alien instead, as he tries to break in to the home and she thinks it's the hubby. SHADO soon finds out that this occurred and they take the woman and her lover into custody to debrief them and administer an amnesia drug--making them forget the last 12 hours. However, in the process of interviewing these two would-be criminals, they learn of their murder plot. How this interesting idea was solved was a HUGE disappointment--and surely there must have been some better way to handle this (as evidenced in the final scene). All in all, because of this awful ending, I felt very unsatisfied by the whole thing and can't believe they let this good idea go to waste.

A very poor effort.

[joegarbled-79482 · 3/10 · 13 November 2023]

"The Square Triangle" possibly ranks as one of my least favourite episodes of any Gerry Anderson live action series. From the inclusion of a sub-par Patrick Mower, Adrienne Corri (about as attractive as a bag of cement), over use of some of Barry Gray's worst incidental music to the weird/pointless dubbing of Keith Alexander's lines, I find this to be very hard watching.

Patrick Mower was brilliant in "Special Branch" working really well with George Sewell, but here and in his lousy episode of "Space 1999" I have to wonder if he was the same actor who excelled in "Special Branch" and the all too short lived "Target". Adrienne Corri was singularly uninspiring, as an actress, she made a better panelist on "Call My Bluff". As the guest characters have zero redeeeming features this episode fails to inspire the usual hopes that Straker & co will stop the evil aliens.

The story is sub-par too. Straker lets a UFO get through Moon Base defences....stock footage of the Interceptors returning to base, not having fired a shot, shows all three, minus their missiles....cheap and shoddy. Straker wants to capture a UFO, intact, and even millions of miles out, SHADO are able to track its landing point to southern England, right into SHADO's lap?? Straker talks as if this is the first opportunity to grab a UFO, close to home but in at least two other episodes, the aliens have targetted SHADO HQ and Straker's had kittens.

This episode basically tries to shoe horn a love triangle into a sci-fi show, a treacherous wife and her lover plan to kill her husband, but the aliens happen to land close to the married couple's house. In another glitch in "UFO" canon, alien Anthony Chinn is attacked by a dog and smashes his helmet, losing the washing up liquid the aliens need to breathe, yet unlike Dr Schroeder/Dr Jackson's alien patients perishing in agony, pretty quickly, even with the equipment in SHADO's medical centre, this alien seems far less bothered, wandering around the woods.

3/10.

Intriguing genre mashup

[lor_ · 16 August 2023]

Adrienne Corri guest stars as a wife planning with her lover (evil-looking Patrick Mower) to murder her husband (Allan Cuthbertson) in this suspenseful episode more down to earth (and earthly passions) than usual. Title recalls the classic "Four Sided Triangle", an early Terence Fisher for Hammer that likewise links two genres (sci-fi and romance) together.

While they're up to no good, Drake at Moonbase is busily fighting off invading alien ships, with Ed barking out orders.

On Earth, Ed is searching for a UFO alien who's on the loose, near where the adulterous couple is, with the stories merging in quite surprising fashion.

As a Gabrielle Drake fan, I appreciated the very brief (better than nothing!) glimpses of her at Moonbase showing off her fabulous figure in those tight silver outfits, clearly the sci-fi prototype for Trek's Seven of Nine 25 years after.