Lost WorldsUFO

UFO: Deleted scenes and shots from Identified

Many Anderson productions originally included scenes that, for various reasons, were trimmed, reshot, or removed altogether. Although the film material for these deleted scenes is generally believed to be lost, surviving scripts, production stills and even audio recordings can still provide interesting insights into these lost moments from our favourite Anderson productions.

The opening episode of UFO, Identified, went through several reshoots – most notably to revise scenes that had featured actor Franco Derosa as the original Moonbase Commander Franco Desica. However, three scenes that were scripted and filmed were dropped entirely during the editing process. Two consecutive scenes were almost certainly given the chop to reduce the length of the episode (the final cut of Identified is the longest episode of UFO), while the other would have been removed due to contradicting a key scene that was shot later in the production.

Scenes 48 and 49

Following scene 47, featuring Miss Ealand returning to her outer office after greeting Commander Straker, came a pair of deleted scenes featuring Alec Freeman’s arrival at the Harlington-Straker Studios reception building. The script specifies Alec Freeman as Australian, an aspect of the character concept that would not survive to screen.

48 EXT. HARLINGTON-STRAKER STUDIOS. DAY. (LOCATION)

A car – similar to the one we saw before – moves up to the entrance. The gull-wing doors flip. The guard steps forward, salutes the man who gets out and receives in return a friendly wave. On the man: As he strolls towards the main doors. He is ALEC FREEMAN, relaxed, easy going, late thirties. As he reaches the glass door we see the DOORMAN step forward to open it and…

49 INT. STUDIO RECEPTION. DAY. (LOCATION)

As FREEMAN passes through the doors.

DOORMAN: Good morning, Mr. Freeman.

FREEMAN: Hello there, George. The boss in?

DOORMAN: Mr. Straker?

FREEMAN: Who else?

The DOORMAN nods in agreement.

DOORMAN: About ten minutes ago. Will you sign in, sir?

FREEMAN nods. Heads for the RECEPTIONIST – she looks up, smiles at FREEMAN, hands him up a register with her left hand – FREEMAN looks down at the ringless third finger. Takes her hand and indicates the absence of a wedding band. 

FREEMAN: Nobody snapped you up yet, Janis?

JANIS: You mean since Tuesday – when you last asked me?

FREEMAN takes a pen.

FREEMAN: Did I? I’ll have to develop a fresh line of patter – no wonder I haven’t scored lately!

Now close on book…at the top of the page the printed date – June 23rd 1980 — FREEMAN signs in. Resume JANIS.

JANIS: Mr. Straker?

Another angle: FREEMAN nods. She reacts “Tough luck” and applies herself to the register.

JANIS: And the best of luck!

FREEMAN grins and as he turns away, we:

From here scene 50 began with Alec arriving in Miss Ealand’s office for more out-of-character flirting, as seen in the finished episode.

The characters of George the doorman and Janis the receptionist are briefly seen and heard in the completed episode when Straker arrives in the reception building, although the deletion of Scene 49 removed most of their dialogue. Actress Penny Spencer, playing Janis, reprised the character for a scene in the following episode Computer Affair which was also cut. However, she would later return to UFO as a SHADO Control operative in the episode A Question of Priorities.

Scene 73

Scene 73 appeared in the script after Straker gives orders to “put Skydiver in the picture”, with scene 74 then being the first appearance of S.I.D.. Interestingly, the script reveals that Peter Gordeno’s Skydiver Captain was originally to be named John Karlin, not Peter Carlin, although it’s likely that the name was changed between scripting and shooting.

INT SKY-DIVER CAPTAIN’S CABIN. (STUDIO)

We are close on CAPTAIN JOHN KARLIN – a good-looking Puerto Rican of about thirty – he lies on his bunk – smokes a cigarette and stares up through the smoke thoughtfully. Another angle: a pin-up photograph of model girl on the wall – it is in fact KARLIN’s sister. Camera pulls back to take in the whole of the cabin. It is cramped, with two bunks, we now see LIEUTENANT GORDON MAXWELL who is lying on the other bunk, watching KARLIN.

MAXWELL: Don’t let it bug you, John.

KARLIN lights another cigarette.

KARLIN: She is my sister.

MAXWELL: It’s been nearly two years now.

KARLIN: 19 months and four days.

A few moments silence.

MAXWELL: Looks like she was a nice girl.

KARLIN: She was a nice girl. You know, sometimes I…feel she’s still alive…I wish I knew…Maybe it’s the uncertainty that bugs me.

MAXWELL: You never did tell me what happened.

KARLIN: (SLOW) Well, I was still in the navy then. I was driving home on leave…when I got about a mile from the house. I saw this sort of glow and there was a noise…strange, intense…

MAXWELL: A U.F.O?

KARLIN shrugs.

KARLIN: The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital. They said I’d crashed. Straker led the investigation. It proved my sister was in the house but nothing else. She’d vanished without a trace.

MAXWELL: Is that what made you join SHADO?

KARLIN: It’s one of the reasons.

MASTERS (VO): Message from SHADO Control, sir – Yellow Alert 10. 45.

KARLIN swings round on his bunk – he leans forward eagerly to an intercom.

KARLIN: Thanks. (to MAXWELL) Let’s go.

Since the disappearance of Leila Carlin as described here subsequently conflicted with the filmed opening of the completed episode (which was a late addition to the script), this scene was dropped and replaced with a shorter one in which Carlin simply responds to Lieutenant Masters relaying SHADO Control’s order, removing Jeremy Wilkin’s Lieutenant Maxwell from the scene entirely. Since he only appears on a monitor and his dialogue is almost identical from script to screen, it is possible that the shot of Lieutenant Masters seen in the completed episode may not have needed to be re-filmed for the new scene, and could therefore be all that survives of the original version. It also seems that the photo of Leila Carlin above Peter’s bed was changed for the reshot scene, as the photo of her in the final episode is not the same one seen in stills of the original Karlin and Maxwell scene. To make up the extra time created by the removal of this scene, the scene in which Commander Straker berates Lieutenant Ford was written and filmed instead.

“Lord, receive to thy safe keeping the soul of Leila Carlin…”

Other material filmed for Identified but deleted from the final cut included John Cazabon’s appearance as a priest at Leila Carlin’s funeral (entirely removing his role from the broadcast episode, which as originally scripted was bookended by the funeral), as well as several short shots trimmed from the original edit of the completed episode’s opening scenes for being a bit too gory for a family audience.

These ‘gory bits’ can however be found as extras on most DVD and Blu-ray releases of the series – the only deleted shots from the episode currently known to survive!

Written by
Chris Dale

Writer, editor & voice actor on Big Finish's Doctor Who, Terrahawks, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet audio ranges. Host of the Randomiser on the Gerry Anderson Podcast.

Leave a comment

Prepare for life on Moonbase Alpha

UFO: The Complete Comic Collection

Related Articles

This week in Gerry Anderson News
Lavender CastleMerch NewsNewsSpace PrecinctSpace: 1999StingrayThunderbirdsUFO

This week in Gerry Anderson news!

This is Captain Black, relaying news from the Mysterons! This week’s edition...

ArticleFeatureNewsSpace: 1999UFO

Shadows of Armageddon: Investigating James Swallow’s UFO & Space: 1999 Novellas

Despite being two thematically separate TV series, UFO (1970-71) and Space: 1999...

This week in Gerry Anderson News
Merch NewsNew Captain ScarletNewsPodcastSpace PrecinctSpace: 1999ThunderbirdsUFO

This week in Gerry Anderson news!

The name’s roundup; the Gerry Anderson news roundup! For twenty months I’ve...

ArticleFeatureNewsUFO

Unidentified Flying Terror: The Unknowable Horror of the UFO

The first thing you notice is the unsettling sound that emerges from...