Court Martial

When Commander Straker discovers a bug planted in his car, he is livid and naturally assumes his constant thorn in the side, Henderson, is responsible. Well, his instinct turns out to be quite correct--but not for the reason he assumed. While he assumed Henderson was just being a big-time jerk-face (as usual), it turns out that Henderson has discovered a leak from SHADO to the press and the bug was used to gather information. However, at this point, the evidence seems to point to Colonel Foster as the leak--and a court martial hearing is ordered! Now considering Foster is one of the 'big three' (the three main leaders and actors on the show), whether or not he's really a leak is not even in question to most viewers if they've seen previous episodes. He simply cannot be the leak...period. This takes away some of the suspense but this doesn't necessarily mean the show is bad or seriously flawed. So, when Foster is found guilty and sentenced to death, you KNOW that by the end of the show he'll somehow miraculously be exonerated.

So, after all is said and done, is this an episode worth watching--even with this major shortcoming? Well, it does have a nice obligatory machismo scene but also a reasonable explanation for the security leak. It has Foster getting shot but not spilling a single drop of blood--but the explanation for how this occurred is pretty cool. All in all, there is a bit of good and a bit of bad but the good easily outweighs the bad. Worth seeing.

By the way, the weasel-like doctor/prosecutor, Jackson, is a recurring character played by Vladek Sheybal. You may recognize him from the film "From Russia With Love"--playing one of Blofeld's BFFs (who was ultimately killed by the scary as Satan, Klebb). Or, you may have seen this Polish-born actor in the god-awful film "The Apple".

Even by the standards of this usually sombre series, 'Court Martial' is a serious affair. Concerning itself almost entirely with office politics, Straker faces yet another crisis of conscience as he is forced between what limited capacity he has for friendship and his duties as head of SHADO.

The tone is throughout subdued and largely devoid of the usual visual effects; while the most grim moment is probably (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) the close up of Vladek Sheybal smiling.

We're actually told that if Foster is found guilty he faces execution, which raises the question: how often were members of SHADO executed?

Told in flashback, this dramatic story begins with Billington sentenced to death after conviction at a military court martial -accused of spying. Ed and Sewell do their own sleuthing to try and clear their prized employee.

This segment does a good job of reminding the viewer that SHADO is at war with the aliens, and even though that's kept a secret, it is ruled by military law.

Vladek Sheybal has a different role here, serving as the tribunal's prosecutor in this sci-fi adaptation of the traditional Courtroom Drama, plus some fine plot twists and action. Also, the vignette shows some fun interaction between SHADO and the movie studio front located upstairs (in real-life, the MGM studio in England where "2001: A Space Odyssey" was shot three years before UFO).

One defect is a very poor process shot to create a landscape backdrop for a conversation, shot in the studio, between Ed and Billington.

UFO came to my collection on bootleg DVD-R format, a couple of years come out the official box of the entire series to my pleasure at last, this British feature has a trademark from their creators Gary & Sylvia Anderson, the concept is awesome, futuristic, secret protecting of alien invaders, using a wardrobe that epitomizes mainly the female casting.

This turn a leak of classified information reach in the newspaper that spread for everywhere, thus Straker (Ed Bishop) is summoned to his opposer Gen. Henderson (Grant Taylor) and also his bleak sidekick Jackson (Vladek Sheybal) to a summit, there the Col. Foster (Billington) is appointed as the informer of those classified info where just three members have consent to known of the subject matter, the proves are hard-hitting by the way, Col. Foster had received 10.000 pounds in your account bank from numbered account from Swiss, impossible find out the sender, worst all messages that leak were streamed by himself.

A Court Martial takes place even Straker still has a feeling that Col. Foster is not guilty about nothing, he and Col. Freeman (George Sewell) have a hard work to prove otherwise or Col. Foster will be declared guilty and sentenced to die in one month exactly, both make scans at Foster's apartment aiming for to find some wiretap or something, meanwhile Col. Foster escape from Shado's complex worsening his plight that already is almost irretrievable.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2014 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5.