I just watched through this over the summer. It’s a fascinating specimen of a show. I am highly confident much of the Austin Powers aesthetic is borrowed from this, from the featureless suit coats to the everyone-is-mad-sexy to the swinging soundtrack.

It’s a Gerry Anderson production, so lots of great Thunderbirds-style miniatures too. And wild cars. All the action sequences have the delightful feel of an eight year old playing with toys. In fact a lot of it seems to have a fun child’s-idea aspect. “And it’s part submarine and part fighter jet! And they slide down chutes into the cockpit! And his office is a secret elevator! And all the grownups are doing computer things! And to get a whiskey you push a whiskey button! And the whole thing is under a movie studio!”

But god yes, Stryker’s family story is harsh. Way overbearing the trope that he’s such a powerful dedicated man keeping the world safe that his utterly neglected family has to suffer so badly. Particularly when much of the time, he’s standing around the office smoking and drinking and asking the nearest woman to go fetch him some coffee. You thought you were getting a show about high tech futuristic alien defense. Well, you have to watch a lot of office banter too, that’s the deal.

Still, super stylish. And its cousin “Space: 1999” might be more interesting/bonkers sci-fi, but UFO (pronounced YOOFO) is just relentless with the looks and swagger. Each episode is worth watching for the intro alone.