The Alien in the Room: The UFO sequence unanswered questions

[Michael Torrance]

So many unanswered questions:

1. Why is Fallon being hysterical on the phone with the operator? I know she was always written as a hysterical hausfrau on THE COLBYS, but they were family and had to put up with her. The operator should have said "I can't hear you between the British accent and the whining drivel" (which do NOT go together). Of course her words are ridiculous: "I am calling from my car--(exasperated)--I am in the middle of the desert" --as if she did not see the desert all the time she was driving through it and instead KITT took her there while asleep.

2. How come even in the middle of the desert they have signs so one knows they are in the junction of RT 61 and Diamond Back road? California seems more advanced to me than even whatever space-faring civilization we saw in the episode.

3. When the flying saucer/disco-centerpiece arrives, Fallon steps back afraid (2:25 in the clip). Then she sees it is a male figure calling her, so at 2:47 she looks relieved and happy and starts going toward him. Is just the radiation from the flying disco saucer enough to bring the old, slutty Fallon back and figuring here is my chance to cheat on Jeff again, she goes on board?

4. The flying disco saucer makes a vertical landing when arriving. But somehow once Fallon is on board, they take a turn in the air, first fly away from the camera, and then directly onto it. Was this because the cameraman did not think to just zoom out as it would have the same effect (flying into the credits) with the saucer or was it because the increased load from Fallon's boobs now forced the saucer to make airplane-like maneuvers?

 

[Willie Oleson]

Why is Fallon being hysterical on the phone with the operator?

She was about to be cancelled. This is literally the end of the world for these characters.

I am in the middle of the desert"

In the middle is very precise and makes it easier to locate her.

here is my chance to cheat on Jeff again, she goes on board?

Yes, this is the time when she really loses her amateur standing.

. But somehow once Fallon is on board, they take a turn in the air

You forgot to mention the hilarity that a round object would have to make a turn like that in the first place.
But the effect is very thrilling and surprisingly 3D-ish - and the score is awesome. Even when I watch this in low YT quality, it still gives me the goosebumps.



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[Michael Torrance]

You forgot to mention the hilarity that a round object would have to make a turn like that in the first place.

I am assuming the pilot was showing off for Fallon. He was a transgalactic DeVil Bus. Though my theory does collapse a bit when one considers the lack of phallic shape--unlike a plane.

I know for an infamous plot, the sequence is near-perfect. But maybe during the credits (as they do in many films now) we would see Miles looking up and exclaim:

"You will never be free of me Randall."

 

[Willie Oleson]

I know for an infamous plot, the sequence is near-perfect.

Of all the outrageous things that happened in 1980s SoapLand, this UFO scene is the ultimate paradox.
It's exciting for being so totally surreal but we all know that this could only be used for the end of the show.
As a continuation it would always be a no-win scenario because soaps and sci-fi don't mix very well (or, at all) and the hallucination would have been a very weak explanation.
It was OK for Dynasty because it wasn't their twist anyway, and come to think of it, I applaud them for not ignoring it altogether. They even made some fun of it, which had a positive effect on Fallon i.e. that she wouldn't have to take herself so very, very seriously anymore.

Nevertheless, the time frame of Fallon's transportation (UFO or not) remains an unsolved mystery. But then again, not more mysterious than her disappearance and reappearance after her equally bizarre season 4 cliffhanger scene.

 

[thomaswak]

Maybe this UFO plot was the writers way to make sure that PSM would never agree to return for the role. Or maybe they were trolling Emma, to see how much she could take without rioting. So it didn't have to make any sense. Actually, it had to make no sense at all lol

 

[Ray&Donna]

If you shift your perspective, the alien looks like Blake's long missing lawyer, Andrew laird in profile

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It was OK for Dynasty because it wasn't their twist anyway, and come to think of it, I applaud them for not ignoring it altogether.

Yes, correct. Amazingly, they handled the right way.

It still seems right to me for FALCON CREST instead -- Season 7, Melissa, who claims her baby was the result of alien abduction.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Of all the outrageous things that happened in 1980s SoapLand, this UFO scene is the ultimate paradox.
It's exciting for being so totally surreal but we all know that this could only be used for the end of the show.
As a continuation it would always be a no-win scenario because soaps and sci-fi don't mix very well (or, at all) and the hallucination would have been a very weak explanation.

Maybe it has been dulled by time, but it certainly is more chuckle-worthy than rage-worthy to me. It's not the gigantic "sc@ew you" to the fans that Pam's dream was, or the wimpy easy way out of the Moldavia massacre. I know it is referenced out there among all the jump the shark moments, but it is obviously so unconnected to the other plots (and yet peripherally connected--she was out there looking for Frankie) that I can enjoy it as its own bizarre occurrence.

They were actually lucky that it was the end of the show. Of course Richard Shapiro came up with it as a "I dare you to cancel it now" ploy to ABC, but it was unlikely it would work. It says more about how out of touch with the spin-off the Shapiros had become: the fate of Fallon would not have been something the audience would agonize over, for Fallon was never the star of that show, even in the first season when the show tried to make her fit the bill.

It was OK for Dynasty because it wasn't their twist anyway, and come to think of it, I applaud them for not ignoring it altogether. They even made some fun of it, which had a positive effect on Fallon i.e. that she wouldn't have to take herself so very, very seriously anymore.

I liked how they used it very much. It worked even better than how Richard Shapiro claimed he would have used it in season 3--as a story of psychological exploration.

 

[Willie Oleson]

But should something mysterious ruin Angela's harvest? Just to keep that "what if" element?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Didn't Lucas' ILM do Fallon's abduction?

But should something mysterious ruin Angela's harvest? Just to keep that "what if" element?

Naturally. It was the season of spontaneous human combustion, after all, the result of Jacqueline's planting of nuclear waste under the winery back in the '50s leading to the latest vintage of chardonnay becoming tainted and deadly.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I know it is referenced out there among all the jump the shark moments

Well, the shark died so it's not exactly the same situation.

It worked even better than how Richard Shapiro claimed he would have used it in season 3--as a story of psychological exploration

If the UFO had happened for real in season 3 then it couldn't be a straight soap opera anymore.
If it hadn't happen and was explained as a psychological thing (like...a hallucination triggered by...blabla more trauma??) then I'd think "why bother to do this stunt?"
It's just as lame as doing a dream sequence that has no effect on the real story.

 

[Michael Torrance]

It's just as lame as doing a dream sequence that has no effect on the real story.

Miss Ellie: "I don't know about this man, this Wes Parmalee."
Pam: "I do. I had seen him in that long dream I had, only his name was Ben Stivers. And he was claiming to be Jock just like now!"
Miss Ellie: "You had? What do you think it means?"
Pam: "We better go play the lottery now"

 

[Daniel Avery]

Perhaps, if the show had miraculously been renewed, they would have taken this story in the same direction that Soap, the sitcom/soap opera parody, took. Burt Campbell was beamed up to a spaceship and while he was held captive, the short, silver aliens sent down one of their own who had been turned into a duplicate/twin of Burt. The alien had not had sex in 2000 years, so when he got to the Campbell house, Burt's wife Mary was being kept very busy. Horny Fake!Burt also nearly lost his mind when he saw Mary's busty, sexy sister Jessica. No one was the wiser about this "sudden change in Burt", while Real!Burt cooled his heels up in the spaceship. When Burt eventually got back to Earth, Mary discovered she had a silver bun in the oven.

So Fallon returns in the third season premiere and wants to have sex with Jeff non-stop, making even Jason jealous. Sable is alternately horrified and curious, but glad Fallon is keeping Jeff out of the office. Fallon is also gawking at Miles in his swimsuit-clad glory by the pool, and moves on to Miles now that Jeff has become a worn-out husk of a man. Sable eventually notices that Fallon isn't behaving normally, like trying to answer the phone when the doorbell rings, or pouring shampoo over her salad. When confronted, Fake!Fallon announces that she's carrying what is likely Miles's baby, which would be Sable's silver little grandchild.

It's Krystle/Rita on steroids.

 

[thomaswak]

I remember, In France, papers, magazines said that Fallon would come back expecting an alien bastard... They surely remembered that Fallon slept with a whole football team and daddy's driver... So they surely thought that Fallon was that kind of slut (doing Aliens and stuff). And would come back "Alien pregnant".

Little they knew : that slut had birth control.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

What really happened to Fallon:

 

[DallasFanForever]

I’m sorry but over 30 years later and I still can’t watch Fallon get on that spaceship without cracking up!

 

[thomaswak]

The rumors want that Season 3 of the CW Dynasty would have ended with Nu Fallon entering in a spaceship But it was cancelled by covid...
It's way too early anyway. This should be the series finale, not a season finale. To pay hommage to the Colbys.

 

[colbyco]

I remember, In France, papers, magazines said that Fallon would come back expecting an alien bastard... They surely remembered that Fallon slept with a whole football team and daddy's driver... So they surely thought that Fallon was that kind of slut (doing Aliens and stuff). And would come back "Alien pregnant".

Little they knew : that slut had birth control.

- German press wrote the same in a youth magazine ...

 

[Monzo]

I was hoping that in season 3, when Fallon returned, she would say that the alien had told her that the IMOS Project should not be realized, so the kidnapping would make sense. Wasn't the IMOS Project top secret? Maybe it would have been a danger to the aliens and the aliens' home planet could have been located from the space station.

 

[Willie Oleson]

While no attempt had been made to connect IMOS with the UFO in a foreboding way (because at that point in the story it was more about "the problem with Philip", and also because the UFO appeared to be a last-minute decision), it simply cannot be ignored that there was a space project in The Colbys.
It would take some very ambitious writing to combine them in the third season but since most of the storylines had become sort of a dead, a revamp was definitely something to consider.
Not with real aliens or anything like that, but maybe like a test-landing of a UFO produced by IMOS. It could have been something like Empire Valley in KNOTS.
THE COLBYS was never a great "oil soap" anyway.