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The Best Episodes of UFO

Every episode of UFO ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of UFO!

Binge this in 21h 39m•Peaking at 8.1/10

A secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO defends Earth from alien invaders.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    UFO Season 1 Episode 18 - Timelash
    8.1/10(249 votes)

    S1:E18

    While picking up Lt. Lake at the airport, Straker and Lake find that time has been frozen except for them. Sawdust hangs in mid-air, Lt. Ellis is frozen mid-word on a viewscreen, and one man is taunting them, apparently working for the aliens.

    Director:Cyril Frankel
    Writer:Terence Feely

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  2. UFO Season 1 Episode 14 - Mindbender
    7.9/10(230 votes)

    S1:E14

    After a UFO inexplicably destroys itself less than two miles from Moonbase, a mysterious crystal rock is recovered, and it causes the person in its vicinity to hallucinate. The man on Moonbase who found it thinks Mexican bandits have taken over Moonbase. It gets transferred to Straker's office, and he hallucinates that SHADO is simply a set for a TV series, he is an actor named Mr. Burns, Moonbase can be reached by stepping through two doors from the main control room at SHADO HQ, and "Mr. Straker" is not available. Straker breaks the hallucination by jumping in on the scene while the "character" Gen. Henderson is doing a close-up of the line they were doing when the hallucination began.

    Director:Ken Turner
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  3. UFO Season 1 Episode 5 - A Question of Priorities
    7.8/10(277 votes)

    S1:E5

    "Important? What can be more important than your own son's life?" Straker faces the toughest decision of his career when his son is critically injured in an accident. The drug that can save his life can only be ferried from New York in time aboard a SHADO Transporter - the same Transporter that is in the prime position to track an Alien defector on the West Coast of Ireland.

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  4. UFO Season 1 Episode 2 - Exposed
    7.7/10(309 votes)

    S1:E2

    An XV-104 test plane wanders into a UFO target area and the pilot, Paul Foster, makes sightings of both the UFO and Sky One. Angry and frustrated that no one believes his story, Foster suspects a cover-up and decides to conduct his own investigation into the activities of ex-USAF Colonel Ed Straker.

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. UFO Season 1 Episode 8 - Sub-Smash
    7.6/10(239 votes)

    S1:E8

    Suspecting a UFO to be responsible for the sinking of a freighter, Straker, Foster and Nina Barry investigate in Skydiver. Attacked by an undersea UFO, the submarine is downed on a ledge on the sea bed and the crew are trapped. While Straker fights against his claustrophobia, Nina faces a living nightmare...

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:Alan Fennell

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  6. UFO Season 1 Episode 12 - The Psychobombs
    7.6/10(225 votes)

    S1:E12

    A UFO imbues three young people with incredible powers. One blows up a radar station, a second steals fingerprints and tries to get aboard a Skydiver sub, blowing it up. The third, a woman, tries to blow up SHADO HQ but the UFO that is feeding her power has now been destroyed.

    Director:Jeremy Summers
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of UFO

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  7. UFO Season 1 Episode 13 - Survival
    7.6/10(234 votes)

    S1:E13

    Foster, whose radio is knocked out and his oxygen line cut, is presumed lost (but they did a crummy job, not even trying to find his body) during a confrontation with a UFO on the moon's surface. Foster is found by an alien, and together, they cross the lunar landscape, developing a friendship when the alien must try to do make-shift repairs on Foster's suit to keep him alive. At the end, a Moonmobile crew finds Foster and misunderstands his intent when he points them to the alien nearby.

    Director:Alan Perry
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  8. UFO Season 1 Episode 24 - Reflections in the Water
    7.6/10(194 votes)

    S1:E24

    A mysterious dome is found under the sea, that at first looks like the Moon crashed into the ocean. Inside the dome, they find duplicates of SHADO HQ personnel, using non-alien technology - cassette tape recorders - to imitate SHADO instructions to Moonbase and Skydiver.

    Director:David Tomblin
    Writer:David Tomblin

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  9. UFO Season 1 Episode 1 - Identified
    7.5/10(412 votes)

    S1:E1

    SHADO engages in its first battle with the enemy. Sky One cripples an alien ship which crash-lands in a lake. Straker's team capture its pilot, a strange blue-skinned humanoid - and the grim secrets behind the alien motives are revealed.

    Director:Gerry Anderson
    Writers:Gerry Anderson, Tony Barwick, Sylvia Anderson

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  10. UFO Season 1 Episode 10 - The Square Triangle
    7.5/10(236 votes)

    S1:E10

    "Unfortunately for them, an Alien came through that door instead of her husband." In the woods between Clare Cross and Lingbury, an injured Alien stumbles into a lonely cottage and is shot down by Liz Newton and her lover Cass Fowler. Liz and Cass are taken to SHADO HQ for questioning, but when Liz's husband arrives at the cottage, Paul Foster realises that the Alien's death was no accident!

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:Alan Pattillo

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  11. UFO Season 1 Episode 20 - Court Martial
    7.5/10(202 votes)

    S1:E20

    Foster is suspected of being a security leak, but during the trial, Straker and his colleagues discover that Foster's apartment was bugged and shut down the disreputable business that is selling the spy gear.

    Director:Ron Appleton
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  12. UFO Season 1 Episode 25 - The Responsibility Seat
    7.5/10(204 votes)

    S1:E25

    Freeman takes over temporarily while Straker deals with a woman apparently determined to investigate what SHADO is all about.

    Director:Alan Perry
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  13. UFO Season 1 Episode 26 - The Long Sleep
    7.5/10(203 votes)

    S1:E26

    A woman awakens from a 10-year coma and begins telling the tale about her encounter with aliens, along with her boyfriend, while they were high on drugs. They toyed with the aliens, and the man apparently falls to his death from a bridge or building. The aliens drag him off. She has an accident and falls into the coma. She can't remember quite everything, but the old boyfriend is back, resuscitated by the aliens, and he drugs her so she tells him where the missing part of a device is. He activates what turns out to be a thermo-chemical bomb that will wipe England off the map when the four chemicals meet in a central chamber.

    Director:Jeremy Summers
    Writer:David Tomblin

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  14. UFO Season 1 Episode 4 - Conflict
    7.4/10(238 votes)

    S1:E4

    When an Alien Limpet UFO causes the destruction of Lunar Module 32, Straker demands a clean-up programme by the International Astrophysical Commission to remove hazardous space debris from Earth orbit. But Straker finds himself butting heads with I.A.C. chairman James Henderson, who wants a complete shut-down of SHADO operations...

    Director:Ken Turner
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. UFO Season 1 Episode 7 - Kill Straker!
    7.4/10(211 votes)

    S1:E7

    When a Lunar Module is attacked by a UFO, Straker makes a split-second decision that endangers the astronauts, but ultimately saves them. Later, he is surprised to find his authority being questioned by his most loyal officer, Colonel Paul Foster, who spearheads a campaign against him. Then an attempt is made on Straker's life...

    Director:Alan Perry
    Writer:Donald James

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  16. UFO Season 1 Episode 16 - The Man Who Came Back
    7.4/10(202 votes)

    S1:E16

    Reported missing, presumed dead, after a UFO incident which has left SID disabled, astronaut Craig Collins turns up alive and well. But as an operation to complete repair work on SID is planned, Colonel Lake and Colonel Grey discover that Collins is not the man he used to be...

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:Terence Feely

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  17. UFO Season 1 Episode 22 - Confetti Check A-O.K.
    7.4/10(205 votes)

    S1:E22

    A flashback episode in which Straker recalls his marriage, followed by stormy days as he must work covertly to get SHADO up and running and recruit personnel. All this leaves his wife angry at his absence, suspicious at the things he might be doing (her father photographs Straker meeting a woman in a parking garage, a woman who will be working at SHADO). In the end, she gives birth to their son.

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  18. UFO Season 1 Episode 3 - The Cat With Ten Lives
    7.3/10(256 votes)

    S1:E3

    The body of an Alien, recovered after a UFO attack on Moonbase, reveals some startling new evidence which overturns all SHADO's previous theories about the Aliens. For Interceptor pilot Jim Regan, the news has tragic consequences as he becomes possessed by the mind of an Alien held in the body of a Siamese cat!

    Director:David Tomblin
    Writer:David Tomblin

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  19. UFO Season 1 Episode 9 - Destruction
    7.3/10(211 votes)

    S1:E9

    A Naval vessel shoots down a UFO in the Atlantic, but the Admiralty rejects further investigation into the incident. Straker suspects a cover up and wants to know why, so Foster courts Admiral Sheringham's secretary, Sarah Bosanquet. What they discover could mean the end of all life on Earth...

    Director:Ken Turner
    Writer:Dennis Spooner

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  20. UFO Season 1 Episode 17 - The Dalotek Affair
    7.3/10(227 votes)

    S1:E17

    Two of the SHADO people, dining at a fancy restaurant, begin to recall this event after one of them sees a diner who was part of Dalotek. A private company installed a facility on the moon which discovered an alien device that disrupted Communications between Moonbase and SHADO on Earth.

    Director:Alan Perry
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. UFO Season 1 Episode 6 - E.S.P.
    7.2/10(220 votes)

    S1:E6

    John Croxley's talent for extra sensory perception is heightened after his wife is killed when a UFO crashes into their house. With his mind under the influence of the Aliens, Croxley learns the secrets of SHADO and lures Straker and Freeman to the remains of his house - to kill them!

    Director:Ken Turner
    Writer:Alan Fennell

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  22. UFO Season 1 Episode 15 - Flight Path
    7.2/10(213 votes)

    S1:E15

    A SHADO Technician, who is being blackmailed for information by an unknown party, is caught by Freeman, but not before the information is passed. The Technician, Paul Roper, divulges what information he gave to the blackmailers, to SHADO. After much work on the cryptic data, they discover it is part of a plan by the aliens to attack the Moonbase in a way that would be undetectable. Now it's up to Roper to redeem himself, as he is sent on the suicide mission to stop the attack. If he fails, the base will surely be destroyed.

    Director:Ken Turner
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. UFO Season 1 Episode 21 - Computer Affair
    7.2/10(221 votes)

    S1:E21

    A SHADO investigation reveals that romance may be complicating Moonbase operations.

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  24. UFO Season 1 Episode 11 - Close Up
    7.1/10(222 votes)

    S1:E11

    Straker gets approval from above to build a probe with a camera that will track a UFO back to its home planet. Inexplicably, the Earth technology is capable of following a UFO travelling 8 or 9 times the speed of light and follows it home. The episode ends with a SHADO guy trying to convince Straker that they were wasting their time, even though they picked up some great pictures of the planet.

    Director:Alan Perry
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  25. UFO Season 1 Episode 23 - The Sound of Silence
    7.1/10(205 votes)

    S1:E23

    A UFO hides in a lake on a country estate of a well-known equestrian, and the equestrian himself vanishes. When SHADO tracks down the UFO and manages to destroy it in an exchange of pot-shots, the UFO breaks up and leaves a thing floating in the water. Treated as if it is a bomb, it is brought back to SHADO and examined, with unexpected results.

    Director:David Lane
    Writer:David Lane

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Best Episodes Summary

"Timelash" is the best rated episode of "UFO". It scored 8.1/10 based on 249 votes. Directed by Cyril Frankel and written by Terence Feely, it aired on 2/17/1971. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Mindbender".