FAB Facts: UFO's Ed Bishop and his Inspiration for how he played Ed Straker
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2022
- In order to inform the cold and calculating nature seen in SHADO's Commander Straker, Ed Bishop watched a documentary about an American missile silo...
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Ed was wonderful. I met him at a convention and he was so modest and so willing to spend time with fans.
Even as a Kid, I knew Ed Straker was a very dark man, yet also a very *good* man too. Ed Bishop was amazing!
I honestly believe no one could have made Straker come alive like Ed did, he played him to perfection. RIP Legend!
Yes, it was a superb performance. It's why we to this day still remember him.
One time Straker's son was in hospital, severely injured or ill. Ed talked on the phone with his wife, but could not go because he was literally busy saving the world - but couldn't tell that his family. That episode left the viewer quite devastated.
Indeed. Ed's son subsequently dies and Ed's ex-wife Mary blames him for the boy's passing.
The episode was "A question of priorities".
Realmente este episódio é um dos mais interessantes lindos e emocionante da série UFO.
Ultimately, it was Alex who redirected the flight that was bringing the medicine to save young John. A delay that cost Straker dearly.
Ed assumed the full responsibility for his personal decision to use SHADO resources to try to save his son’s life. He held himself personally to blame.
I agree. A very good episode, with excellent acting and dialogue all round. Has stayed with me.
Straker could have spun off into his own show. One of the best tv characters I’ve ever seen. If they’d made an episode where Straker lost his favourite pen and spent the hour looking for it, I’d have watched it. It’s an absolute shame Ed Bishop never got to play another lead role in an ongoing series like UFO again.
Yes, there are so many 'if onlys'. The main one probably being if only CBS hadn't backed out at the last minute from carrying UFO for another season.
Straker is a great leader. Flawed and dedicated. Someone who inspired respect and loyalty.
Straker is the best character in all the sci fi show's i have ever watched including films, the actor was just perfect for the role aswell, RIP Ed Bishop.
Unforgettable Commander Straker.
Unforgettable Ed Bishop.
Only he could interpret it
Straker is a spectacular character, and if it had been any other actor the character would be a massive misstep. Straker treads the line between hero and antihero perfectly, and does what needs to be done at any given moment. A perfectly flawed main character, decades before we were treated to the early-2000's and 2010 TV antiheroes of Tony Soprano and Walter White.
I think Ed Bishop's role as Commander Straker in UFO is definitely one of the main highlights of the series! #FabFacts
We have all been so fortunate to have him, Gay, Billington, George, Wanda, Dolores, Gerry, Sylvia, Martin Landau and all the amazing actors & crew in our lives at a young age!!! The only thing I wish is to be sent back in time and to the UK to actually meet them all!
One of my favorite character actors of all time! He always gave his characters that "... hmm what's THAT ABOUT!?" Kind of charismatic inflections that propels the scene with emotion and well delivered dialog. RIP 🙏
UFO being my personal favourite of the Anderson universe I'd read that Ed Bishop was a really nice guy ing real life. It's nice to find out that the narrative was true. I'd have loved to have met him and after working in theatre and the music industry there aren't too many people I can say that about.
From all I've ever seen/read, he was a wonderful guy. Really loved the fans.
Straker is one of the very few science fiction commanders who comes across as someone who would be entrusted with a multi-billion-dollar project. On a similar note, Gary Lockwood met Neil Armstrong at a party and stated the portrayal of the two astronauts in 2001 drew from his impressions.
My brother got me into both shows UFO and Star Trek when I was about 12 or 13 years old, my two favorite characters were Commander Straker and Mr. Spock. The episode that stands out for me is when Straker lost his son in a car accident. A very powerful and very sad episode for me.
Another interesting point is that other characters did play against type at times. They would act cool and in control but in other episodes, they would act in an opposite way.
Ed Bishop played Straker the same way every show, ebbed when he was in the company of operatives, he maintained just enough of a professional distance. Outstanding.
I remember that chilling documentary exactly as you described. I believe it was called "Minuteman" or something close to that. Watching it as a child it left a lasting impression that won't go away.
The Commander Straker wig significantly changed Ed Bishop's appearance. It transformed his look from character actor to lead male actor.
For Trek Fans, every day for Straker was the _Kobayashi Maru_ scenario.
This was shown particularly well in the episode where his son is injured. IMO.
Very relaxed, natural actor
Ed Bishop was a top notch actor. A shame there was only 1 season/series of UFO.
FYI -They really didnt press red buttons.. By the 60s US Air Force officers had the guns to compel the other office to turn their launch key if they hesitated. They routinely conducted drills and would never have known if launch code they received was REAL or a drill code. Fortunately to date NO launch codes have been REAL.
A depiction of this is scene in the opening of the 1983 film WAR GAMES - When one officer pointed his gun at the other who hesitated - followed by an exterior scene with a loud truck horn. A rather jarring scene when I was 16 at the time.
and Ed got to work with Gabrielle Drake, lucky guy, he even got a close up of her skin ... all proper stuff. ;-)
I remember encountering him in a Sci Fi Convention in Bristol! Over thirty years ago.
Wish i could have met Ed.
It is wonderful to hear that he was a lovely chap. I wish he had been in more films and TV. As a boy in the 1970's the 3 characters that I found myself playing were Marine Boy, Captain Kirk and you know who. That hair though - would love to have hair like that. It was so different to his hairstyle before and after the series. How did they get rid of his wavy hair?
He was an FBI agent in one episode of The Professionals; the only man who managed to totally gobsmack Bodie.
STRAKER was way cool - the best character in ANDERESON WORLD but really all of ANDERSON'S shows are brilliant.
"Technicians", I suspect more likely USAF officers of Captain rank.
Or Missileers?
Yeah,I agree!Ed Straker was a very complicated man!But,he took care of the Earth,and stopped the 🛸 Ufo”s,and the alien”s!
"He should have been like a Bond, really." Like James Bond? Don't forget that he did get rather close, having a bit part in You Only Live Twice and then later a slightly larger role as Klaus Hergersheimer in Diamonds Are Forever. I think he would have made a great Felix Leiter as he projected that aura of authority around him.
interesting fab fact.
Also if he’d said anything other than “no qualms” he’d been immediately sacked or at least given the job of cleaner.
yeah, if you are not going to use your deterrent it is useless, so the people put there would have no qualms
as it would prevent more millions of our people from dying, just like in most cases when ranked military have a pistol
it is not only to shoot enemies ...
👍
Did Mister Bishop ever see War Games? I'd love to hear what his reaction was.
A lot of people in government are that cold, like Striker.
Who's Striker?
This one wonders what Straker would be like on Space:1999 instead of Koenig.
A very interesting fact, especially in hindsight given that Ed's final TV role was in a docudrama called "Hiroshima" (recently repeated on BBC4, I believe)
The technician's attitude reminded me of Col. Tibbits who piloted the Enola Gay. For the rest of his life he expressed no qualms about being the first person to drop an atomic bomb on people. Whenever he talked about it he didn't give the impression he enjoyed it but his demeanor was always cool and professional.
Shame Straker never met Koenig on screen.
That would've been cool. but if Gerry Andersons original plan came to bear Straker would've been Koenic most likely.
Not sure if this is common knowledge to you, but Straker was a major inspiration for the character of Gendo Ikari from Evangelion, a show that also has a lot of nods to Gerry Anderson's work.
I can not think of another actor who could have played Straker with the same cold logic and the same guilt-ridden angst that Ed Bishop employed.
Regardless of what anyone else thought or the ideas they put forward to save someone at the risk of losing others, Straker made the final decision and lived with it, good or bad.
I believe he loved his wife and son very much and had the weight of his burden not been as great, he could easily have been a great dad.
Sadly, he sacrificed everything to protect Earth from the extraterrestrial threat, while still trying to understand their reasons for the many incursions.
There were a few cringeworthy moments of political correctness and that was likely the scriptwriters nodding to the male-centric audience.
However, Straker did treat the male and female personnel similarly in that he expected them to do their best, just like he was doing.
It was when they got things wrong that he tore strips off them equally.
_‘Uneasy is the head that wears a crown'_ Henry IV Part 2
Ed was a career military officer and had every right to reprimand subordinates (such as Lt. Ford in the premiere episode) when it was necessary.
I have heard of that documentary whilst working for a UK misslile company but we were told that there are three .. Two armed techs and one armed officer.. That way if one pulls a gun and shoots one dead the other in the room drops him.
Absolutely as someone I meet in real life.
💛interesting
The missile silo story reminds me very much of an episode of 'Alistair Cooke's America' from the 70's which looked at various aspects of I've in the USA, though I'm not sure if the timelines work out.
Probably the fact that UFO production started either late 1968 or early 1969 unless this doc was made by an American TV station probably black and white.
Why did the guys in the silos seemed so cold, bluster, they didn't know if they were launching a missile or not. Saying one of them carried a gun to shoot the other guy is nonsense. They were constantly being drilled, so when the moment came. They didn't think twice about pushing the button. To add to this when they test fired the Titan 3 rockets, the crews said, they didn't have any idea the missile took off. The control center is that isolated. You can tour a Titan 3 silo in Arizona, it's quite impressive.
0:47 I think there’s a typo in the subtitles…
“in forming” should be two words. He was “in the process of forming” the character. He wasn’t reporting on the character.
An idea that goes into the formation of a character can be said to "inform" the character. OTOH, your interpretation works as well. Depends on the context of the sentence. 🤔
I read that the flat snazzy cars he drove was mainly made of aluminium foil and was very hot to drive.
I have long wondered why Ed Bishop was made to portray Ed Straker with platinum blonde hair when his natural hair tone was brown. Could it be that they took inspiration from a character he voiced in a previous series, Captain Blue from Captain Scarlet?
He had blond hair in that episode of The Professionals where he was an FBI agent who was asked why he was following 2 CI5 agents, he replied by asking why they were harassing his protected witness!
I think so. There's a close resemblance.
It sounds like an Alan whicker program.
Does anybody know the name of the nuclear winter documentary that Ed Bishop narrated please ?
Are you thinking of Threads?
No actually, the launch is initiated by two launch keys.
That missile tech, demonstrates a functional psychopath, absolutely cold & calculated, but when he's not at the job, won't show those type of traits, love's his wife kids, friends.
button? - 2 keys, 2 guns
I suspect Ed may have been wrong about the silo operative because being responsible for enough explosive force to change maps tends to make you appreciate life.
Silos were very intense work areas. There was always the chance that someone who had previously passed a psych evaluation could lose control in a heartbeat and do something to damage a silo’s capability to launch or, God forbid, that they would convince themselves to subvert the interlocks to launch a missile.
The last thing needed is an operative who suddenly grows a conscience when he is supposed to be turning a key ahead of the launch. Someone who believe that it isn’t right to launch a missile.
Such a person is a threat to the free world.
Sorry for the cold hard facts. Missiles are only used as a last resort. Every other option will have been exhausted when the order comes to authenticate an order and then carry out that order.
Silos we’re generally staffed by two operators and a non-com. Two people cannot be struggling to overpower one person when a missile needs to be launched.
The two keys have to be turned at the appropriate moment.
Shifts in a silo were long and exhausting.
@@kjamison5951 I'd say you are correct about the need for extreme care when selecting personnel for such a mission. I just do not concur with Ed Bishop's assumption that these men would be antisocial. His remark suggests that he thought of himself as a 'people person,' and that he wouldn't apply for silo duty, he conflated them as mutually exclusive.
As much as I loved Space 1999
I now prefer UFO
Ed Straker could be cold and ruthless at times but also flawed and human unlike Koenig who seemed a bit unstable with a lot of pacing up & down and shouting orders at acting!🤔
This show needs a re-boot
+9000 on this idea. So long as they kept the same tone as the original actors.
Evangelion?
p͓̽r͓̽o͓̽m͓̽o͓̽s͓̽m͓̽ 😍
Captain Scarlett: I'm indestructible ha ha. Me: yeah and that's Superman. Captain Scarlett: oh crap😂😂😂
Ed Bishop's acting resembles a huge plank of wood....his wooden acting makes Sam Worthington's acting look like a freaking Oscar winner. Ironically Ed Bishop would go on to voice Captain Blue who is a better actor even though he's a puppet on strings
Captain Blue was a character in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons which preceded UFO by several shows and several years.