Flight Path (UFO)

"Flight Path" is the fifteenth episode aired of the first series of UFO - a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. The screenplay, originally entitled "The Sun Always Rises", was written by Ian Scott Stewart and the director was Ken Turner. The episode was filmed between 26 May to 5 June 1969 and aired on the ATV Midlands on 20 January 1971. Though shown as the fifteenth episode, it was actually the third to have been filmed.

The series was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.

Plot
Carol, the wife of Paul Roper, a Moonbase operative, is being threatened by Dawson, a SHADO medical operative under alien control. Roper is blackmailed into feeding false information into SID - the satellite that tracks incoming UFOs. The information being sent to SID will allow a UFO to attack Moonbase using heavy sunspot activity as cover. However, SID reports that some of Roper's data is incorrect - either accidentally or deliberately.

Carol is attacked by Dawson, and both are killed. Roper, to defend Moonbase travels out onto the lunar surface with a rocket launcher. He manages to destroy the incoming UFO but the resulting explosion punctures his space suit and he dies from oxygen starvation.

Regular cast

 * Ed Bishop — Commander Ed Straker
 * George Sewell — Colonel Alec Freeman
 * Gabrielle Drake — Lieutenant Gay Ellis
 * Peter Gordeno — Captain Peter Carlin
 * Dolores Mantez — Lieutenant Nina Barry
 * Antonia Ellis — Lieutenant Joan Harrington
 * Ayshea — Lieutenant Ayshea Johnson

Reception
Review website anorakzone.com ranks "Flight Path" the fifth-best episode of UFO, noting Cole's prominent guest role and its "downbeat", "chilling" conclusion. On the latter point, the review adds: "While there are better episodes of UFO, this is what it specialised in more than the camp and the action sequences: human tragedy and offbeat resolutions."

John Kenneth Muir calls it "adequate", praising the UFO effects but commenting that "despite the personal stakes involved, the episode never seems anything other than straightforward." He adds that it lacks the "emotional wallop of 'Confetti Check A-O.K.', 'A Question of Priorities' or 'The Square Triangle'", and fails to rival "great high-concept action masterpieces" like "Mindbender" or "Timelash".