Video - Opening Credits for TV's "UFO"

You may or may not remember the TV show "UFO," but I do. In fact, I still wonder what happened to my UFO Lunch Box. I was only 6 or 7 years old when this show was on, but unbelievably what you'll see here brings me back nearly four decades!

Doesn't matter if you remember this 1970 show now; after you watch this short video, which are the opening credits for the program, you'll be either enamored or embarrassed by the style and the music, which will most certainly plot against your brain as you attempt to rid yourself of its catchy riffs and trebbly tamborine. In the end, you will need a steady dose of Bread to wipe the bouncy Swingin' London theme music from your mind (sure worked for me). But then you'll have to wipe Bread from your head, and that's a whole other battle...

Plot:
It's 1980; IBM Selectric Teletypes, AMC Matadors, and Reel-to-Reel tapes still rule the world. Men have big disturbing sideburns the size of dinner entrees, and women wear uniforms that are tight, short, or both. The show's hipsters don't have sideburns, but are treated to shaggy asexual haircuts that sometimes match the color of their stretchy Rayon uniforms. Aliens have started visiting Earth to harvest organs (Not the Hammond kind....Human ones). SHADO is a super-secret organization that defends Earth against the liquid breathing humanoid organ-loving invaders. SHADO also has a moon base, staffed by purple-haired "Moon Girls" that I remember vaguely as being totally hot from a First Grader's perspective. The aliens fly standard-issue Off-Earth spinning space ships with lots of lights. They also have phaser-like weapons they shoot at humans, but then SHADO blows them up with common weaponry. I guess if you're an alien you don't necessarily have to be as advanced as any South American Gun Runner. SHADO has all forms of transportation at their disposal: Space Fighters, submarines with detachable aircraft, vehicles with tank tracks, and cars that look like futuristic AMC Matadors. If you hated AMC Matadors back in the day, you'll hate these even more. Many of the effects, features, and sets were used later in a show that may be more familiar to you - Space: 1999.

In a way it's sad that 1980 didn't end up cool or anything like this; they have tons of cool stuff to fight off organ-eating aliens, and in real-life we had the dying trend of disco, the rising trend of New Wave, cars that rusted within minutes of delivery from the dealer, Terrorists in our Tehran Embassy, BJ & The Bear, and double-digit inflation. Heck...I think that even Pillsbury Space Food Sticks were gone by 1980.

Thanks to "Lady That's My Skull" for bringing this classic Sci Fi to light!