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Le/On13 Nov 96 @ 9:02, vous ecrivites/you wrote: > The 1970's space story series `UFO' is being re-run now on BBC > TV 2 (UK TV), Mondays 6pm or 6.25pm. It is about a secret > organization called SHADO which defends Earth against UFO attacks. > What is relevant or at least semi-relevant here, is:- > (0) Is that series known of in USA? When was/is it being shown > there? It was definitely shown in the US, I remember seeing part of one episode on an US TV station, back in the early 70's. However, for myself, as I wasn't sufficiently good in english, I watched the french-dubbed version which was broadcasted around 1972 (the title was "Alerte dans l'espace"). I never had seen it rebroadcasted since. My opinion was that is was a far better show than Star Trek, perhaps because you never knew who the "aliens" (quotes put because I'm still not sure if they really were aliens) were. The best episode was when they sent an automatic probe to follow a flying saucer to take a picture of the alien planet, but the pictures came back without range information so they were useless. To demonstrate this to the general, they showed him a picture of what appeared to be a planet horizon's, but in reality was a close-up of a secretary's leg... > (1) It shows two sorts of spacesuits (human and alien). The The human spacesuits were the same that were used in the movie "Doppelgaenger or Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" (which was produced by the same producer, and which also had a good story). In my opinion, they looked shabby and obviously phony, even though they were refined enough to show a water-cooled undergarment (but I suspect the actors never wore it under the "spacesuit", though). > spacesuits, particularly the alien spacesuits, look too well made ... > spacesuits appeared close-up for extended shots, not just from far > or beiefly. I suspect that the liquid-breathing-filling-up-the-helmet was effected by using a double glass, as I distinctly remember that the liquid level did not rise faster when the bulk of the head was submerged (how I remember that? Simple, it was in my kiddy wannadive days, and I devoured all I could find about diving, and I was especially impressed by the possibility of liquid breathing. Obviously, the UFO storywriters were impressed by it, too). What impressed me also is when the (human) doctors were about to remove the helmet of the kidnapped guy (was it Paul Foster?), they said that he'll feel the same as if he were to drown when his lungs were drained of the liquid... > The alien spacesuits are: The flexible parts are red (unless > that is a film prop workshop repaint). No sign of a cuff-to-glove ... > likely would tend to protect against G-effects on the chest etc. > Earth-humans can wear them safely. I also remember that one glove was removed from the alien spacesuit, so (Paul Foster?) inside could be injected with some drug. However, when the glove was undone, the arm was perfectly dry and no liquid of any sort did gush out of the spacesuit (which was not a skintight suit, like those in Larry Niven stories). This reminds me that at least the Mercury program spacesuits were filled with nitrogen (to lessen fire hazard - a good thing when Alan Sheppard had to pee in his suit) but were fitted with a rubber neck seal to insulate the helmet from the rest of the suit. > The human spacesuits are a different colour and have different > shaped helmets, but also look realistic. Does anyone out there > know of, in the 1970's or before: (a) a pressure suit (for fighter > pilots or balloon pilots or experimental rocket plane pilots) with > full arms and legs, and a space-type helmet instead of an oxygen > mask and a crash-helmet, or (b) a lightweight closely-fitting > spacesuit-like diving suit, or For the pilots, I would not know (although I saw plenty of picture of jet pilots fitted with either an astronaut-like suit - U2 pilots - or one which had a triangular full-face faceplate. However, in Europe, Piel and/or Comex did manufacture in the 1970's some diving suits that had an astronaut-like helmet. However, none of those remotely look like those used in UFO/Doppelgaenger. Comex did experiment with a fishbowl helmet (but unlike the picture on page 21 of the Winter 1996 issue of Immersed, it had a nasal-oral breathing mask). > (c) a spacesuit-like protective suit for some other purpose, that > the film studio may have got hold of and dressed up to look like a > spacesuit? Or could they indeed have been made in a film prop > workshop and yet look so realistic? A small number of them could have been made realistic. All you need is rearange your shooting according to what is available. Say, if you show 4 aliens together from afar, you can go by with a less than perfect suit. For close-ups, you only need one "perfect" suit. Likewise for the other suits, where you rotate them amongst the actors to make it seem like you have 8 guys in suit, when you only shoot 2 at a time. ------------------ Pour la Republique Francaise du Quebec -------------------- Thanks to American influence, instead of thinking on how solve social problems or feed everybody properly,the elites of the world only think on how to expand their wealth, personal power and influence at the expense of other people. Our children will be happy to live on a planet left in shambles by those "people". ~~ Last dives: still the Aloha, the Effie Mae & the Wolfe Islander, 25 mfw ~~ This is a long signature; Toto, I don't think we're on FIDONET anymore... Marc Dufour - [\] ACUC6 31874 - TDI CD-0197 - http://www.accent.net/emdx
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