Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2021

5 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2021 ASTRO PUBLISHING the acronym “UFO” for a TV series was itself a valid marketing strat- egy. More fitting to the contents was the title chosen by Italian- speaking Swiss television when, starting in 1970, it began broad- casting the series with the title “Threat From Space.” In fact, that’s what we are talking about, with a realism that abundantly compen- sates for some of the naivety typical of the science fiction screenplays of the ‘60s and ‘70s. By comparison, quite a few episodes of Star Trek filmed in the same period were characterized by decidedly improb- able, but not to say grotesque, ele- ments when re-examined in the light of current scientific and tech- nical knowledge. UFO, in contrast and with minimal corrections, would still be credible today, half a century after its last “first visions.” In this special issue of the maga- zine, we will rediscover that TV se- ries, highlighting the scientific as- pects and technological anticipa- tions that make it still current. The UFO series was created in Eng- land, starting in April 1969, by the spouses Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, together with Reg Hill, in the MGM-British Studios in Boreham- wood, Hertfordshire (about twenty kilometers northwest of London). The first 17 episodes were filmed