Reviews

Didn't really pay any attention to this series at all until John Wells decided a 'crossover' with 'ER' was needed. What a masterstroke. Now I'm hooked.

Started watching religiously after that. The great thing is that now the series is in syndication on A&E - every weeknight at 11:00 pm and 3:00 am! Now I can even catch up on all the reruns I missed the first time around.

It's so refreshing to see real people portrayed in prime time as opposed to walking cliches. Everyone on this show has moments of weakness and greatness in equal parts. They even talk like the rest of us, oftentimes quite hilariously.

About the only actor I recognized prior to seeing 'Third Watch' was Anthony Ruivar, who got munched by some giant bugs in 'Starship Troopers'. But I must say, everyone on the show has really grown on me, especially Molly Price. Most guys would go for Kim Raver or Lisa Vidal - babes all. Something about a woman in a police uniform just does it for me. Molly, you can arrest me anytime!

I'm always moved by this show, whether it's to sidesplitting laughter (not something that one would expect in a 'serious' drama like this) or to uncontrollable tears (I still can't watch the episode where J.K. Simmons - so vile as the neo-nazi on 'Oz' - is trapped under a slab of concrete and ends up videotaping a final message to his wife and daughter without blubbering like a baby).

Despite nitpicking about trivial little details about what forms uniformed officers are allowed to make out, this is easily the best and most 'real' thing on television right now, even better than 'ER'.

Sure the story of a one-hit wonder rock'n'roll band has been told before, but so what? This movie is fun, fun, fun!

One reviewer commented, upon first release of this movie, that "if you're going to feature a single song several times in a movie, it better be a damn good one" (or something along those lines...). 'That Thing You Do' certainly is a catchy song.

Kudos to Tom the director for making his actors learn their instruments and actually BECOME a real band for the movie. That way, the titular song doesn't become repetitive because we get to hear the 'evolution' of the song's arrangement over the course of the story. Starting of course with the simplified garage version all the way to the slick and assured rendition on the television showcase appearance.

Lest we forget, they had other songs in their repertoire as well. Many of them were co-written by Mr. Hanks. Is there no end to this man's talents?

This movie was obviously a labour of love for Tom Hanks, and it shows. I don't think he had any illusions about it becoming a blockbuster or having it significantly add to his income in any way. I think he just wanted to give us a glimpse into what could have been had he taken a slightly different career path in his life. And for that, I for one am grateful.

I remember seeing this series as a young tot. Back then I was all agog over the cool techno toys, like the Skydiver sub and Interceptor and the Moonbase Interceptors...and of course those way cool spinning top UFO's themselves.

After having purchased the first volume of the series on DVD (the first 13 episodes - haven't seen volume two with the remainder of the show's one and only season yet), I now realize that there was much more to this show than cool gadgets and eye-popping costumes (glittery silver skin-tight jumpsuits and purple go-go wigs....yowza!).

In the time between the original viewing and looking back on it now, I've also taken in 'Babylon 5', all the various 'Trek' incarnations and just about every sci-fi movie you care to name. It's interesting now to note just how much influence this series has had on, oh say, 'Babylon 5' (in-depth analysis of how politics play an important part in all our lives, even in the rarified world of S/F, for example...).

It's also interesting to note how this series has itself been influenced by other sources. For example, this series was created in 1970. '2001: A Space Odyssey' came out 2 years prior. Listen to the music during the closing credits of each episode of UFO and tell me Barry Gray wasn't influenced by Kubrick's use of the music of Gyorgi Ligeti in '2001'....

The overall tone of this series has also helped it to stand the test of time. Much of the sci-fi prior to UFO was, shall we say, shiny and happy, including much of Gerry Anderson's previous series. The only one I was familiar with prior to first seeing UFO was, of course, 'The Thunderbirds'.

UFO was obviously darker and more weighty in themes than The Thunderbirds. After all, Thunderbirds was primarily targeted at kids, whereas UFO was, I think, aimed at a more mature audience.

Regardless of the silly costumes (by today's standards of course...who knows, maybe a lot of this stuff will be back in style in a couple of seasons...?), the trippy psychedelic music-of-another-era and the obvious '70's production values (everything perfectly lit...even on the surface of the moon), this series still holds up today, in my humble opinion. The effects, although somewhat crude compared to today's sophisticated CGI standards, were quite impressive for the time and still look quite good. Just the mere fact that you can hardly make out the wires was a major feat back in those days!

UFO never had as large an audience as 'The Thunderbirds' or 'Space:1999' (the logical progression forward from the premise of UFO), but in some ways, it's far less silly and far more entertaining and engaging than many of the other series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.