| First: | "Identified" |
| Last: | "Reflections in the Water" |
| Affiliation: | SHADO Moonbase |
| Class: | Space fighter |
| Armaments: | Front-mounted nuclear missile |
| Propulsion: | Nuclear fusion rocket and hovering system rockets |
The SHADO Interceptor, or Moonbase Interceptor,[1] is a fictional space fighter that appears in the 1970s British science fiction television series UFO. Operated by SHADO (Supreme Headquarters of the Alien Defence Organisation) from its Moonbase lunar outpost, the Interceptor squadrons serve as Earth's first line of defence against incoming alien spacecraft.[2]
The Interceptors are white and red space fighters used over the Moon and in Earth's orbit, each equipped with a single self-destroying frontal nuclear missile. Hangared underground beneath lunar craters, they are carried to the surface on elevator platforms and take off vertically. They typically fly in squadrons of three, with all craft firing their missiles simultaneously.
For unknown reasons, the Interceptors cannot fly in Earth's atmosphere. However, their UFO opponents cannot stay in Earth's atmosphere for prolonged periods as they would probably explode. (Commander Straker, Colonel Freeman and Colonel Foster say this in "Survival", "Conflict", "The Square Triangle", "Sub-Smash" and "The Cat with Ten Lives".)
The Interceptors were designed by Mike Trim and effects director Derek Meddings from a one-line description in the script for the first episode.[3] The basic form was devised by Trim, who envisaged the Interceptors as flying counterparts to the SHADO Moonmobile. Meddings subsequently revised Trim's concept, shrinking and re-shaping the craft while enlarging the cockpit windows. According to Trim, Meddings made these changes as he thought that the original design looked "too conventional" or "old-fashioned".[4]
Four studio models were built: one roughly 26adj=midNaNadj=mid model for shooting close-ups, and three 13inches versions for long shots.[5] Although the models appear white on camera, they were actually painted a pale blue.[4]
Meddings questioned the Interceptor's effectiveness in defending Earth, noting that by firing its one missile, the craft rendered itself "practically useless".[6] A production memo stated that the simultaneous missile launches are precisely calculated to cause a "blanket atomic explosion" that engulfs enemy craft or forces them to change course, each missile having "[broken] up into ten smaller parts (similar to the way in which a 12-bore cartridge breaks up)".[7]
Michael Peck, a contributor to Foreign Policy magazine, likens the Interceptors to "space-flying Harrier jump jets". He also writes that as they only ever flew in threes, it was fortunate for SHADO that "while the aliens could design spacecraft that travelled seven times the speed of light, they never mastered the tactic of attacking with four UFOs".[8] [9]
The Dinky Interceptor was a toy model spacecraft made by Dinky Toys and based on the SHADO spacecraft.[10] [11] It was manufactured and sold for approximately eight years and, during this time, changed appearance several times.[12]
The earliest version was metallic green rather than white,[13] with orange skis and orange stickers, and featuring gold details. This had a clear canopy with a red seated figure with outreached arms. This was the same figure as used in the Joe 90 car.[14] Early versions can be easily detected, as they have a slight raised rim around the chrome gun panel in front of the canopy. Later models did not have this.
From around 1975, the canopy was blue and the figure became specific to the model, in that it was green and had lowered arms. For a period both blue and clear canopies were used. Red-legged versions also appeared around this time and are now considered rare.
As production continued, it appears that cost constraints and issues regarding toxicity of paints led to the issue of the models with bright casting parts, instead of gold painted ones as featured in the 1978 catalogue. In the 1978 catalogue the skis are turned up on the trailing edge. The final models had bright metal parts, a black nose and no chrome plating.