I have some fond childhood memories of TV shows that lasted awhile. Obviously, no TV series survived longer than "Gunsmoke" which ran from 1955 to 1975 (20 years), but some didn't last long enough to make a lasting impression. UFO barely made a blip on the radar of my memories. Of course, I was only 9 and 10-years old when I watched it the first time.

Another science fiction series which lasted longer, but wasn't as good as this one, was "Space 1999". I remember it being very similar in appearance to this series. A little research told me that they used the same resources. I think it lasted longer because the main actors were already familiar to audiences (coming from "Mission: Impossible" of the 1960s and 1970s).

I was recently sent a DVD set of the entire UFO series. 24 episodes were made from 1970 to 1971 and two final episodes were made in 1973 for this British-based science fiction series. I don't know what the last two episodes were about because I found it hard to sit through the first one. The series had special effects that predated "Star Wars" and weren't as good as the special effects of "Star Trek" from the 1960s. Don't get me started on the background music!

Watching the first episode again led me to the conclusion that the creators and writers of this series had high expectations of the advancement in technology. They speculated that by 1980 we would have a moon-base, satellites controlled by super computers, and spacecraft more advanced than we have now. Perhaps they were optimistic due to the success of the moon missions of the 1960s. The cars they used for the series, even the ones that looked futuristic, further displayed their optimism. They were huge!

Anyway, I dug up a video of the opening sequence of the first episode (probably the same as the first 24 episodes) so that you can see what I'm talking about: