On page 1, a new hovertrain link opens in London's King's
Cross station. King's Cross is an actual railway station in
London.
The new hovertrain is said to achieve a speed of 300 mph.
This was believed to be an
eventual
attainable speed by a
hovertrain at the time the story was written. However, the
top speed later achieved in the real world is around 250
mph.
Page 1 identifies the dignitary present for the opening of
the hovertrain link as the world president. This seems to
follow with references to a centralized world government in
"The Alien Ally" and a
world navy in "Ghost Ship".
It seems rather too easy to ambush the president of the
world, both by the aliens and, later, by Straker's men at
SHADO.
On page 2, Straker remarks to Freeman that there have been
no UFO sightings for two months.
On page 2, the world president is sitting in an office in
Whitehall as a guest of the British Prime Minister.
Whitehall is a district of London, where the governmental
offices and many minsters' residences are located. The Prime
Minister at the time this story takes place (mid-1980s) was
Margaret Thatcher, though it may well have been someone
entirely different in the UFO universe. The
President makes the decision to shut down SHADO, further
implying he is the actual world leader.
Page 4, panel 6 implies that the world president lives or
has his main office in Washington (presumably D.C.). Is the
world president an American?
On page 4, Straker manipulates the President into paying him
a visit at SHADO headquarters. It is revealed here that
SHADO has the ability to erect a force field over the
building.
At the end of the story, the President is grateful to
Straker for saving his life and his reputation from the
aliens' mental manipulation. Straker tells him, "As the one
man who has the power to shut down SHADO, from now on, I
reckon you can count on us keeping more than just an eye on
you!" This actually sounds a bit ominous; a shadowy defense
organization watching the world president's every move in
order to prevent him from threatening the organization
again! Recall that General Henderson has accused Straker of
letting his power go to his head in the past. It would make
an interesting story arc to have Straker actually step too
far such that he was essentially acting as puppet master of
the leader of the world and has to be made to realize he's
gone too far.
Back to UFO
Episode Studies