Conflict (''UFO'')

"Conflict" is the fourth episode aired of the first series of UFO - a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. Ruric Powell wrote the screenplay and it was directed by Ken Turner. The episode, initially titled "Ambush", was filmed between 2 July to 14 July, 1969 and aired on the ATV Midlands network on 7 October, 1970. Though shown as the fourth episode, it was actually the sixth to have been filmed.^[1][2]

The series was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.^[3]

Plot

Lunar module 32, commanded by Steve Maddox, departing from the Moon, intercepts in its radar an unidentified object shortly before re-entry. The audience sees that this is a small alien limpet-like UFO, hiding in the wreck of the Apollo 8 space wreck, which interrupts communications with the SHADO Moonbase and modifies the spaceplane's course, disintegrating the module.

Meanwhile, Straker is trying to convince General Henderson, head of the International Astrophysical Commission, to increase debris-eliminating space missions, as he thinks that "his pilots risk more in a month than Henderson's ones in a year". Henderson mockingly accepts, but asks to activate the "Washington Square" protocol: the cancelation of all lunar spaceflights.

After Maddox's burial-at-space funeral at the Moonbase, Foster, convinced that it was not a human error that killed his friend, steals a lunar module and flies on the same course to prove Maddox's innocence, despite Henderson's orders. The limpet UFO tries to disintegrate Foster's module, proving his theory. Straker orders to destroy all the space wrecks where the UFO can be, and invites Henderson to SHADO Control, having deduced that the limpet craft was some sort of lure.

A standard UFO then attacks the Harlington-Straker Studios; it is soon destroyed by Sky One.^[4]

Trivia

• "Steve Maddox" was the name of John Koenig in the first Space: 1999 script, "Zero-G".

Errors

One of the photos which may have (erroneally) influenced the appearance of the Apollo 8 wreck in the episode.

• The space junk maps seen in the episode feature very few objects.
• The Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter, which was probably seen only in photographs by the model maker, was misunderstood as some sort of hatch, as it is attached, semi-opened, at the S-IVB rocket stage of the Apollo 8 wreck.

Cast

Production notes

Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire and Neptune House, BBC Elstree Studios, Borehamwood.

References

External links