Century 21 Productions was a British film and television production company of the 1960s and 1970s, best known for the hit TV series Thunderbirds. Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... Thunderbirds is a mid-1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called Supermarionation. // Cast, crew, and production notes Thunderbirds was the fourth childrens action-adventure series made by AP Films (APF) (at the time of production renamed Century 21 Productions) for the British...

The company was originally founded in 1957 as AP Films, a partnership between four independent British film-makers, Gerry Anderson, Arthur Provis, John Read and Reg Hill. Provis later left the company and was replaced by Anderson's wife Sylvia. As AP Films, the company produced a string of successful British children's TV series including Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. AP Films (APF) was a British independent film production company of the 1950s and 1960s. ... Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson are most famous as the production team for several futuristic childrens television shows involving specially modified marionettes, a process called supermarionation. Their most famous production is Thunderbirds, which was produced by their production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21... John Meredith Read (July 21, 1797–November 29, 1874) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Supercar was a childrens TV show produced by Gerry Andersons AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. ... Fireball XL5 was a science fiction marionette TV show produced in Britain in 1962 by Gerry Anderson. ... Genera Dasyatis Himantura Pastinachus Pteroplatytrygon Taeniura Urogymnus Stingrays are rays in the family Dasyatidae. ...

APF was purchased in 1962 by Lew Grade, the owner of ATV, and in 1964 the company name was changed to Century 21 Productions. Under this banner it produced the children's Supermarionation series Thunderbirds (1964-66), Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons (1967) and Joe 90 (1968), as well as two Thunderbirds feature films, Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1967). Lew Grade, Baron Grade (birth name Louis Winogradsky) (December 25, 1906 - December 13, 1998) was an influential showbusiness impresario and television company executive in the United Kingdom. ... The acronym ATV can refer to: all-terrain vehicle - the land equivalent of a personal watercraft or jet ski amateur television - a broadcast-quality television service for amateur radio operators analog television América Televisión - a Peruvian television network Atlantic Television - a CTV-affiliated regional television service for the... Supermarionation (standing for super marionette animation) is a puppetry technique devised by the British production company AP Films and used extensively in its numerous childrens action-adventure series, the most famous of which is undoubtedly Thunderbirds. ... Thunderbirds is a mid-1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called Supermarionation. // Cast, crew, and production notes Thunderbirds was the fourth childrens action-adventure series made by AP Films (APF) (at the time of production renamed Century 21 Productions) for the British... Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to in shorthand as simply Captain Scarlet, is a science fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Television company of Sylvia and Gerry Anderson and first shown in Britain between September 1967 and April 1968. ... Joe 90 is a 1968 Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine. ... Thunderbirds Are GO was the first feature film to be made from the highly successful Supermarionation series Thunderbirds. ... Thunderbirds Logo Thunderbirds is a mid-1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called Supermarionation. Cast, crew, and production notes Brains Thunderbirds was the fourth childrens action-adventure series made by AP Films (APF) for the British television company ATV, and it remains...

Its first live action feature was the science fiction thriller Doppelgänger (1970), which was nominated for an Academy Award for special effects. This was followed by its first live action TV series, UFO (1970), which proved to be its last production. Doppelgänger was a 1969 Science Fiction film directed by Robert Parrish. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to create effects that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as depicting travel to other star systems. ... UFO was a British television science fiction series created by Gerry Anderson and produced by Andersons and Lew Grades Century 21 Productions for Grades ITC Entertainment company. ...

All of the company's productions featured an opening title sequence of a red dart piercing a series of concentric white circles against a blue background. This was accompanied by a typical Barry Gray string glissando and the caption "Gerry Anderson Presents - A Century 21 Television Production". Barry Gray (July 18, 1908 in Lancashire, England - April 26, 1984 in Guernsey, Channel Islands) was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson. ... Glissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). ...

Although other companies made children's TV series using puppets or marionettes, the APF / Century 21 Supermarionation productions were by far the most successful and best-known programs of their kind They are notable for their imaginative plots, futuristic settings, high production values and their impressive miniature special effects. Supermarionation (standing for super marionette animation) is a puppetry technique devised by the British production company AP Films and used extensively in its numerous childrens action-adventure series, the most famous of which is undoubtedly Thunderbirds. ...

Aside from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson -- who became world-famous -- other important collaborators in the company's productions were cinematographer and Director of Photography John Read and producer Reg Hill, whose many important contributions to the company's productions are often overlooked. Prominent production team members included puppet master Christine Glanville, special effects director Derek Meddings and his 2nd Unit director Brian Johnson and composer-arranger Barry Gray, who composed and produced the themes and incidental music for all Anderson's productions up to and including the first series of Space:1999 in 1975. John Meredith Read (July 21, 1797–November 29, 1874) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Christine Glanville (October 1924 - February 1999) was a professional puppeteer and spent most of her working life involved to some degree with Gerry Anderson. ... Derek Meddings (15 January 1931–10 September 1995) was a British television and cinema special effects expert, initially noted for his work on the Supermarionation television puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson. ... Barry Gray (July 18, 1908 in Lancashire, England - April 26, 1984 in Guernsey, Channel Islands) was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson. ...

The company also assembled a regular team of voice actors who worked on many series, including Shane Rimmer, Ray Barrett. Shane Rimmer (born 1936) is a Canadian actor and voice actor. ... Ray Barrett (born 2 May 1927in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian actor. ...