The SHADO personnel in this episode are clearly those from
the second half of the season, with first half character
Freeman absent as well, which would tend to place this
episode in the later years of the continuity, e.g. 1984, and was
one of the later-aired episodes of the series. However, the
flashback scenes of "10 years ago" are identified as taking
place in 1970 no less than three times. Thus, the "present
day" scenes must be in 1980. But then again, Colonel
Foster appears prominently, and he would have been still in
SHADO training in 1980 (from September 1980 through March
1981, as suggested by events in
"Exposed" and "Conflict").
Due to the presence of Colonel Foster and the second-half
characters, I have chosen to ignore the 1970 dates (imagine
they say 1974 instead) and place "The Long Sleep" in the
chronology in 1984 for the "present day" scenes. (The types of glasses seen on the bar
in Straker's office are the ones seen in the second-half of
the season, as well.)
The Harville Hospital appearing in the episode appears to be
fictional.
At 3:59 on the DVD, a sign on the hospital wall points to
the surgical ward and offices of Drs. E. Brooks, L.G. Laski,
O. Nicholson, N. Farkov, and S.E. Solomon.
After she awakens from her 10-year coma, Straker introduces
himself to Catherine Fraser and states he works for an
organization whose function is to investigate all reports of
unidentified flying objects. But that is his secret job;
officially he is just the head of Harlington-Straker film
studios. So is he planning on using the amnesia drug on her
once he gets the information he wants? Seems kind of cold!
And, what if she tells someone else in the hospital about
him before then? Of course, the point is ultimately moot
since she dies at the end of the episode.
Catherine tells Straker she met Tim at Piccadilly Circus.
Piccadilly
Circus is the circular junction of several major roads in
the West End of London (circus is Latin for "circle"). The
shot at 7:09 on the DVD is of Piccadilly Circus; Tim is seen
sitting on the steps of Shaftesbury memorial fountain.
At 8:04 on the DVD, several advertising signs are seen at
Piccadilly
Circus. The most prominent is a slogan on a double-decker
bus, "Everybody gets your message in flowers." Presumably
this is the slogan of a florist, but I've been unable to
identify it. On buildings around the circus, we see ads for
Gordon's Gin,
Wrigley's Spearmint Gum,
Grant's Scotch Whisky,
Lillywhites sports retailer,
Max Factor, and
Mon Chéri chocolates.
A truck with a Sunhouse trailer attached drives by at 9:47 on
the DVD. "Sunhouse" appears to be a brand name, but I've not
been able to nail down what company or product it would be
at the time UFO was made (1969-70).
When Catherine and Tim are seen walking along a river past
an aviary, they must be at a zoo, because a boat with the
sign Zoo Water Bus sails past in the background at 11:46 on
the DVD. (According to the original script of the episode,
it was
Whipsnade Zoo in Dunstable, near London.)
At 12:10 on the DVD, Catherine and Tim walk past Covent
Garden Station, a tube station on the Piccadilly Line.
The pick-up truck that picks up Catherine and Tim and drives
them to the country has a sign on the door that says TOM
STRINGER WHOLESALE <something> MERCHANTS.
At 17:22 on the DVD, the words "Kilroy was here" are seen written on the barn wall in the background. This was a
popular phrase written on the walls of public places visited
by U.S. servicemen in WWII and then became well-known and
repeated by people all over the world. On an adjoining wall
to the left in the same scene the cartoon drawing of a bald
man peeking over a wall which became known to accompany the
slogan is also seen; the cartoon seems to have originated in
England prior to the Kilroy slogan and was later joined to
it (the cartoon figure was called Chad or Mr. Chad before
becoming associated with the Kilroy slogan).
At 18:18 on the DVD, the UFO seen near the farm is a scene
borrowed from "The
Psychobombs".
Catherine tells Straker she must have been unconscious for a
long time after being struck by one of the aliens at the old
farm. But when she checks for Tim's body outside, she sees
the aliens dragging him away. So, if the aliens wanted to
take Tim, why would they wait "a long time" to take him? It
seems like they would immediately go outside and take him,
suggesting that Catherine was not unconscious for as long as
she thought (the drugs she took with Tim that night may have
affected her sense of the passage of time).
The truck that picks up Catherine at 28:24 on the DVD is a
Ford
Transit.
At 29:00 on the DVD, the vehicle registration sticker on the
truck that picks up Catherine shows the date of JUL 70,
implying that the flashback scenes took place in 1970,
placing the time when Catherine awoke from her coma 10
years later in 1980. Similarly, Straker's Ford Mustang in
the flashback has a registration sticker of OCT 70 at 29:52.
However, as stated in the Notes from the UFO
Chronology section above, it seems the "present day"
portions of this episode take place in about 1984.
At 31:03 on the DVD, during the search for the old farm
where the alien bomb is hidden, it appears that Colonel Lake
has been drawing right on the monitor screen with colored
pencil to mark the areas on the map display that have been
searched! (Later, at 35:06 on the DVD, we see Lake's hand
coloring in a section of the "map" that was already colored
in in the previously mentioned scene!)
Straker suspects that an "earthquake" in Turkey in 1970 that
killed 80,000 people and destroyed an entire city was
actually an alien bomb.
At 34:01 on the DVD, Straker inexplicably refers to
Catherine Fraser as "Miss Ross". This is a leftover from the
original script, in which Catherine Fraser was Catherine
Ross.
The bridge from which Catherine throws the alien device is
Canal Bridge 189, Benbow Waye, Cowley, Greater London.
During her recollection of fleeing from the farm house,
Catherine states that she saw a public house (pub) called
the King's Arms. The King's Arms mentioned here is unlikely
to be the famous one located in Oxford (established 1607),
over 40 miles away from
Canal Bridge 189 in Cowley.
Straker tells Foster to call Colonel Branston to get a space
dumper (below) to haul the alien bomb into space for detonation.
At 45:29 on the DVD, two nurses are standing in the hospital
parking lot talking as Foster jumps out of the car, but they
weren't there just a second before when the vehicle drove
up!
At 46:26 on the DVD, Straker appears to go in the opposite
set of doors from the ones that have previously been shown
to lead to the hospital wing where Catherine has her room.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Why did the aliens blow up a city in Turkey in 1970? And why
did they want to blow up Greater London shortly after? And
if they were so keen on blowing up Earth cities, why didn't
they continue to do so over the years?
Did the alien-controlled Tim work at the Harville Hospital
for all those 10 years, waiting for Catherine to wake from
her coma?
Tim dies after completing his mission to activate the bomb
at the farm. But why would his clothing transform from his
hospital worker's uniform to his old wanderer's clothes? And
why did his top hat suddenly appear in his hand? It makes no
real sense logically; these aspects were added simply to
give the television viewer a further nudge that he was the
same boy Catherine was with 10 years ago.
What happened to the two aliens who planted the bomb in
1970? Why "program" Tim to watch Catherine all this time to
find out what she did with the detonator? Couldn't they have
just brought another detonator? One possible explanation
might be that after the UFO took off, it was detected and
destroyed by SHADO defenses, leaving the location of the
bomb a mystery to the alien command.
MEMORABLE DIALOG
10
years ago.wav
Straker, Ed Straker.wav
an entire city destroyed.wav
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