|
Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson were the British husband and wife production team behind several futuristic children's 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 Productions in collaboration with partners Reg Hill and John Read. 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...
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...
Childrens television shows are television programs designed for and marketed to children, normally aired during the morning and afternoon hours, mainly before and after school. ...
Phillip Huber (L) and David Alexander of the Huber Marionettes perform with marionettes hand-made by Huber for scenes for the feature film Tillamook Treasure 2005 Marionette in Prague A marionette is a type of puppet moved by strings, as in a puppet show. ...
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. ...
Brains 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 and by far the most successful of the childrens series made by AP Films (APF) for the British television company...
AP Films (APF) was a British independent film production company of the 1950s and 1960s. ...
Century 21 Productions was a British film and television production company of the 1960s and 1970s, best known for the hit TV series Thunderbirds. ...
John Meredith Read (July 21, 1797–November 29, 1874) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...
Sylvia Anderson (neé Thamm) created the characters for most of the series, and voiced many of the female characters, most notably Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds. The couple married in 1960 and were divorced in 1980. Their creative, and marital partnership concluded during the production of Space: 1999 in the mid-1970s. 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...
Left to right: Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell and Martin Landau from Space:1999s second season. ...
Start of Collaboration
In the mid-1950s Gerry Anderson joined independent television production company Polytechnic Studios, as a director, where he met cameraman Arthur Provis. After Polytechnic collapsed, Anderson, Provis, Reg Hill and John Read formed Pentagon Films in 1957; secretary Sylvia Thamm later became Anderson's second wife. Pentagon was wound up soon after and Anderson and Provis formed a new company, AP Films, with Hill and Read as partners. Anderson continued his freelance directing work to keep money coming in. 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. ...
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...
AP Films (APF) was a British independent film production company of the 1950s and 1960s. ...
AP Films' first television venture was produced for Granada Television. Created by Roberta Leigh, The Adventures of Twizzle (1957-1958) was a series for young children about a doll with the ability to 'twizzle' his arms and legs to greater lengths. It was Anderson's first work with puppets, and the start of his long and successful collaborations with puppeteer Christine Glanville, special effects technician Derek Meddings and composer/arranger Barry Gray. Current ITV Granada logo A Granada TV logo from the black and white era. ...
Roberta Leigh was a British writer of romance fiction and childrens stories. ...
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. ...
During production of Twizzle, Anderson began an affair with Thamm, and eventually left his wife and children. Following his divorce, Anderson and Thamm married, in November 1960. The Adventures of Twizzle was followed by another another low budget puppet series with Leigh, Torchy the Battery Boy (1958-59). Although the APF puppet productions made the Andersons world famous, Gerry Anderson was always unhappy about working with puppets, and made them primarily as a means of getting a foot in the door with TV networks, hoped to use them as a stepping stone to his desired goal -- making live action film and TV drama.
AP Films' third series was the children's western fantasy-adventure series Four Feather Falls (1959-1960). During production Provis left the partnership (partly due to personal differences with Anderson) but the company retained the name 'AP Films' for several more years. Despite APF's success with Four Feather Falls, Granada did not commission another series from them, so Anderson took up the offer to direct a film for Anglo Amalgamated Studios. Crossroads to Crime was a low-budget B-grade crime thriller and although Anderson hoped that its success might enable him to move into mainstream film-making, it failed at the box office. Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson, from an idea by Barry Gray. ...
By this time, APF was in financial trouble and the company was struggling to find a buyer for their new puppet series. They were rescued by a fortuitous meeting with ATV boss Lew Grade who offered to buy the show. This began a long friendship and a very successful professional association between the two men, during which Anderson and his collaborators created some of their best work. The ATV colour logo, used from the start of the colour standard in 1969 until the companys demise in 1981. ...
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 new series, Supercar, (1960-1961) was created by Anderson and Reg Hill and it marked several important advances for APF. Sylvia Anderson took on a larger role and became a partner in APF. The series was also the debut of 'Supermarionation', the electronic system that made the marionettes more lifelike and convincing on screen. The system used the audio signal from the pre-recorded tapes of the actors' voices to trigger solenoids installed in the puppets' heads, enabling the puppets' lips to move in exact synchronisation with the voices of the actors. Supercar was a childrens TV show produced by Gerry Andersons AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. ...
One of Anderson's most successful ventures was inaugurated during the production of Supercar —the establishment of AP Films (Merchandising) Ltd, a separate company set up to handle the licensing of merchandising rights for APF properties; it was headed by Keith Shackleton, an old friend of Anderson's from their National Service days.
APF's innovative mechandising made them a world leader in the field and they licensed a huge range of toys, books, magazines and related items. The worldwide popularity of their TV shows was coupled with astute marketing, and the combination made APF one of the most successful merchandising ventures of the decade. The die-cast metal toys from series such as Thunderbirds were hugely popular at the time and they now number among the most collectible toys of their kind. Models from almost all their series have been produced ever since by companies throughout the world, notably in Japan, where the Anderson series have a dedicated following.
APF's next series was the futuristic space adventure Fireball XL5 (1962) and it was the company's biggest success yet, becoming the first series sold to a US TV network (NBC)—a rarity for British TV programs at that time. After the completion of the series, Lew Grade offered to buy AP Films. Although Anderson was initially reluctant, the deal eventually went ahead, with Grade becoming managing director, and the Andersons, Hill and Read becoming directors of the company. Fireball XL5 was a science fiction-themed childrens television show produced in Britain in 1962 by the husband and wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson through their company APF in association with ATV for ITC Entertainment. ...
NBC, (Formerly an acronym for the National Broadcasting Company until 2004), is an American television and radio network based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...
Shortly after the buy-out, APF began production on a new puppet series, Stingray (1964), the first British children's series to be filmed in colour. For the new production APF moved to new studios in Slough. The new and bigger facilities allowed them to make major improvements in special effects, notably in the underwater sequences, as well as advances in puppetry, with the use of a variety of interchangeable heads for each character to convey different expressions. The series also consolidated Anderson's regular team of voice actors, including Australian actor Ray Barrett, who worked with Anderson until the early Seventies. The versatile, radio-trained actor voiced scores of featured and incidental characters, including Commander Shore and King Titan in Stingray and John Tracy and The Hood in Thunderbirds. Cover from Stingray DVD box set (2001). ...
Slough (pronounced ) is a town and unitary authority (Borough of Slough) in the county of Berkshire in the south of England. ...
Ray Barrett (born 2 May 1927in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian actor. ...
The remarkably effective underwater sequences, devised by Derek Meddings and his team, were shot on 'dry'; underwater sets and the underwater 'look' was created by filming through a thin fish tank, which was specially fitted with air pumps to create different-sized streams of bubbles and stocked with different-sized aquarium fish to enhance the illusion of depth. Additional realism was created with the use of smoke and specially-designed lighting, which simulated the effect of sunight filtering through water.
The special effects on Stingray were a major advance on previous efforts. Meddings and his team became skilled at shooting many kinds of miniature effects with the film running at high speed, giving a more realistic result when slowed down to normal speed. The spectacular shot in the title sequence, in which Stingray bursts out of the water, pursued by a mechanical 'terror fish', was captured on the first take. They also became very adept at creating spectacular and extremely convincing explosive and pyrotechnic effects (an APF 'trademark') as well as creating highly detailed, realistic miniature sets, landscapes and futuristic land, water and air craft of all kinds. They also pioneered a number of miniature now-standard model-making techniques, including the 'cannibalising' of commercial model kits for parts to add realistic detail to vehicles, and the 'weathering' of model finishes to enhance the illusion that they were real vehicles in regular use. Stingray was the company's biggest success to date and remains extremely popular to this day.
Thunderbirds APF's next project for ATV was based on a mining disaster that occurred in West Germany in October 1963. This real-life drama inspired Anderson to create a new program format about a rescue organisation, which eventually became his most famous and popular series, Thunderbirds (1964-1966). The dramatic title was inspired by the letter Anderson's older brother Lionel had written to his family during WWII. On November 7, 1963, 11 German miners were rescued from a collapsed mine after surviving for 14 days, an event that became subsequently known as the Wunder von Lengede (miracle of Lengede) and attracted worldwide media attention. ...
Thunderbirds was a 1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called Supermarionation which followed the adventures of International Rescue, an organisation designed to help those in grave danger using technically advanced machinery. ...
It followed the exploits of International Rescue, a secret rescue organisation based on a remote tropical island, set up by ex-astronaut and construction tycoon Jeff Tracy. He is assisted by his five sons Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John (named after five of the real-life Mercury astronauts), brilliant scientist 'Brains', who designed their rescue craft. Their efforts are frequently aided by one or more of their oriental servant Kyrano and his daughter Tin Tin, their London agent Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and her trusty butler-chauffeur (and ex-convict) Aloisius Parker. International Rescue jet around the world and even into space on exotic rescue missions in their advanced Thunderbird craft, designated only by their numbers 1 to 5. On their missions they often come up against, and invariably foil, the efforts of an evil mastermind—known commonly as the Hood, though never identified on screen as anyone other than Kyrano's half brother—who is intent on stealing the secrets of the Thunderbirds for his own profit, often exploiting or creating emergencies to lure them into action. Project Mercury was the United States first successful manned spaceflight program. ...
Grade was very enthusiastic about the concept and agreed to back a series of 25-minute episodes (the same length as Stingray), so the Andersons scripted a pilot episode, "Trapped in the Sky", and began production. Gerry initially wanted actress Fenella Fielding to perform the voice of Lady Penelope, but Sylvia convinced her husband to let her play the role. Thunderbirds also marked the start of a long professional association with actor Shane Rimmer, who voiced Scott Tracy. Fenella Fielding (b. ...
Shane Rimmer (born 1936) is a Canadian actor and voice actor. ...
Production on Thunderbirds had been underway for several months when Grade saw the completed 25-minute version of "Trapped in the Sky". He so excited by the result that he insisted that the episodes be extended to fifty minutes. With a substantial increase in budget, the production was restructured to expand episodes already filmed or in pre-production, and create new 50-minute scripts for the remainder. Grade and others were so convinced that Thunderbirds would be a success that a feature-film version of the series was proposed even before the pilot episode went to air.
APF—now renamed Century 21 Productions—enjoyed its greatest success with Thunderbirds and the series made the Andersons world-famous. The 39-episode series was not initially successful in the United States because it was only given a limited release, although it later became hugely successful in syndication). But it was a major hit with young audiences in the UK, Australia and other countries and retains a huge and dedicated international following that spans several generations. In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ...
Thunderbirds also set new standards in special effects, and the work of Meddings and his team remains impressive even today. Among those at the time who were impressed with the SFX work on the series was director Stanley Kubrick, who was at the time in pre-production for his next feature 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick in fact approached Anderson to provide the miniature effects for the movie but Anderson declined, although Kubrick eventually managed to attract a number of key Thunderbirds production staff, including Medding's assistant, Brian Johnson. Joining Meddings' team was 19 year old Micheal Trim, who became Medding's assistant to help design the fantastic craft and buildings of Thunderbirds. Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director and producer. ...
Brian Johnson For the American football player, see Bryan Johnson. ...
One of the notable innovations in Thunderbirds was Meddings' famous "rolling road" and 'rolling sky" system which used scenery elements (road or sky) built as a continuous motor-driven belt, which created a realistic illusion of cars moving along a road, or of aircraft taking off, flying or landing. Meddings' system also greatly improved the lighting and shooting these miniature effects, since it was only the background that moved -- the static model craft were suspended by invisible wires -- and it eliminated the obvious wobbling movements that plagued earlier miniature work of this kind. The first use of the system was in "Trapped In The Sky"; during filming of the climactic landing sequence, one of the radio-controlled models being used accidentally veered out of control and crashed, but Meddings was so impressed with the scene that it was retained and edited in as part of the final cut of the sequence.
Barry Gray's superb theme and incidental music were another inextricable part of the series' appeal, and the stirring Thunderbirds march has become an enduring staple with brass and military bands throughout the world.
During the production of Thunderbirds the Andersons' marriage began to come under increasing strain, and the company also had a setback when the Thunderbirds Are GO feature film flopped. According to interviews published since, Anderson has said that he considered divorce, but this was halted when Sylvia announced that she was pregnant. Their son, Gerry Anderson Jr was born in July 1967. Thunderbirds Are GO (DVD cover) Thunderbirds Are GO! was the first feature film to be made from the highly successful Supermarionation series Thunderbirds. ...
By that time, production had started on a new series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967), which saw the advent of more realistic puppet characters which, thanks to improvements in electronics which allowed miniaturisation of the lip-sync mechanisms, could now be built closer to normal human proportions. Puppets in prior series had to have recognisably oversized heads to accompodate the bulky components. Reflecting Anderson's long-standing desire to tackle adult-oriented projects, Captain Scarlet had a much darker feel and a gritty realism not found in his earlier shows, and it featured considerably higher levels of violence than either Stingray or Thunderbirds. The plot concerned attempts by an Martian race called The Mysterons, who have the power to take over the bodies of humans after they kill them, but they are opposed by the defence organisation SPECTRUM whose principal agent in the battle of nerves is Captain Scarlet, who comes back to life and becomes indestrucible after being first killed then reproduced and used by The Mysterons in the very first episode. Although it was reasonably successful in first run and was very popular in later syndication, Captain Scarlet was unable to reproduce the global popularity of Thunderbirds, although it remains a cult favourite with fans. Several decades later, Anderson produced a computer-animated version of the series, called Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. 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. ...
Gerry Andersons New Captain Scarlet (or more commonly New Captain Scarlet) is a United Kingdom-produced computer-generated imagery action-adventure TV series which debuted in February 2005 as part of the Ministry of Mayhem on ITV 1. ...
Century 21's second feature film, Thunderbird 6, was an even bigger failure than the first, and the problems were compounded by their next (and next-to-last) Supermarionation series, Joe 90 (1968). This series returned to more 'kid-friendly' territory, depicting the adventures of a young boy who is also a secret agent and whose scientist father uses a supercomputer called 'BIG RAT' which can 'program' Joe with special knowledge and abilities for his missions. Its relatively poor reception made it the last of the classic Anderson marionette shows. Thunderbird 6 (DVD cover) Thunderbird 6 was a spinoff film from the popular Thunderbirds supermarionation television series. ...
Joe 90 is a 1968 Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine. ...
Move to Live Action Anderson's next project took the special effects expertise built up over previous TV projects and combined it with live action. Century 21's third feature film, Doppelgänger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun) was a dark, Twilight Zone style sci-fi project about an astronaut who travels to a newly discovered planet on the opposite side of the sun, which proves to be an exact mirror-image of Earth. It starred American actor Roy Thinnes, famed at the time for his role as the protagonist in the American television series The Invaders. Although it was not a major commercial success, Doppelganger was nominated for an Academy Award for its superb special effects. Doppelgänger was a 1969 Science Fiction film directed by Robert Parrish. ...
Note, this page is about the television series and its two revivals. ...
[Roy Thinnes][1] (born April 6. ...
Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent film awards in the United States and most watched awards ceremony in the world. ...
Century 21's return to television was the abortive series The Secret Service, which this time mixed live action with Supermarionation. The series was inspired by Anderson's love of British comedian Stanley Unwin, who was known for his nonsense language, 'Unwinese', which he created and used on radio, in film and most famously on the 1968 Small Faces LP Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. Despite Anderson's track record and Unwin's popularity, the series was cancelled before its first screening; Lew Grade considered that it would be incomprehensible to American audiences, and thus unsellable. Only 13 episodes were produced, and the series was only shown in a handful of broadcast areas in the UK. Most Anderson fans only got to see it when it was finally released on VHS in the mid-90s. North American DVD release of the series shows the marionette version of Stanley Unwin. ...
Cover from Rock-a-bye Babel by Stanley Unwin and Roy Dewar. ...
The Small Faces were a British rock and roll band of the 1960s, led by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane with Kenny Jones and original organist Jimmy Winston. ...
Ogdens Nut Gone Flake is a concept album by the British rock band The Small Faces. ...
In 1969 the Andersons began production of a new TV series, UFO, Century 21's first full live-action television series. This sci-fi action-adventure series starred American-born actor Ed Bishop as Commander Straker, head of a secret defence organisation set up to counter an alien invasion. Bishop had previously done worked with Anderson on Captain Scarlet (providing the voice of Captain Blue) and a supporting role in "Doppelgänger" and who also played an American astronaut in The Mouse on the Moon. 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. ...
Ed Bishop (1932-2005), as he appeared in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (where he played the Captain of the Aries 1B space-station-to-moon shuttle, in a role which first featured dialogue: the dialogue was later cut from his scenes). ...
The plot of UFO is broadly similar to Captain Scarlet, depicting the invasion of Earth by a mysterious and hostile alien race from beyond the solar system, and the attempt to thwart the alien takeover by a top-secret military force, Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation (SHADO). With typical ingenuity, Century 21 was able to save a considerable amount of money on set construction by having SHADO's subterranean HQ concealed beneath a working film studio, enabling many exteriors to be shot in and around the very studios where the series was being made. The series was originally filmed at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood but when that studio closed in early 1970, production was moved to Pinewood Studios. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) established a British operation, initially, at Denham Film Studios in 1936. ...
Borehamwood is a town in southern Hertfordshire, just outside London, and part of the London commuter belt. ...
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated approximately 20 miles west of London among the pine trees on what was the estate of Heatherden Hall, near the village of Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. ...
UFO was decidedly more adult in tone than any of the previous puppet series, and it mixed the classic Century 21 futuristic action-adventure and special effects with some very serious dramatic elements: in one episode, Straker is forced to decide between using SHADO's resources to save his critically-injured son, and heading off an alien attack. Another sinister plot element, introduced in the premiere, was that the aliens used humans as a source of organ transplants because their own biology was failing. UFO was moderately successful on first release, but built up a strong cult following over the years, although it too fell short of the global success of Thunderbirds and was the last series made under the Century 21 Productions banner
Split with Sylvia Anderson and Space: 1999 By this time the relationship between the Andersons had deteriorated, and Gerry Anderson decided not to work with his wife on his next project, the ITC action series The Protectors. It was one of Anderson's few non-original projects. Lew Grade himself was heavily involved in the programme, and cast both the lead actors, Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter. The production was difficult for Anderson -- he clashed with the famously difficult Vaughn -- and there were many logistical problems arising from the Europe-wide filming of the show, but it was very successful in both the UK and America. It was produced under the aegis of a new company, Group Three Productions (the three being the Andersons and Reg Hill). // The series The Protectors was a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson - his second TV series using live actors as opposed to animated puppets, and the first of these that was not science fiction. ...
Robert Vaughn as Albert Stroller in Hustle Robert Francis Vaughn (born November 22, 1932) is an American actor noted for stage, screen and TV work. ...
Born Ngaire Dawn Porter, Nyree Dawn Porter (January 22, 1936 - April 10, 2001) was an actress. ...
After The Protectors, Anderson worked on several new projects, none of which he was able to realise. A proposed second series of UFO was shelved, and a return to puppetry, a pilot for a series called The Investigator, failed to find a buyer. Elements of the abandoned second series of UFO were eventually turned into what became the most expensive television series ever made up to that time, Space: 1999. Left to right: Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell and Martin Landau from Space:1999s second season. ...
Another futuristic sci-fi adventure, it was based on the implausible premise that a huge thermonuclear explosion on the Moon's surface (caused by dumping of nuclear waste) launches it out of orbit and into interstellar space. It starred American husband-and-wife actors Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, who had gained international TV fame in Mission: Impossible. They were cast at the insistence of Grade, and against Sylvia Anderson's strenuous objections. The series boasted Anderson's customary high production values and eye-catching special effects, and featured a solid supporting cast including Australian actor Nick Tate and British-Canadian actor Barry Morse (best known for his role as Lt. Gerard, the detective who relentlessly pursued Dr. David Kimball (David Janssen) in the famous TV series The Fugitive). Martin Landau in North by Northwest. ...
Barbara Bain as Dr. Helena Russell, MD in Space: 1999 Barbara Bain (born 13 September 1931 in Chicago, Illinois as Millicent Fogel) is an American actress. ...
Mission: Impossible is the name of an American television series which aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to September 1973. ...
Nick Tate (born June 18, 1942) is a popular Australian actor best known for his role as the likable but tough Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television show Space: 1999. ...
Barry Morse, 1975 Barry Morse is a British-born Canadian actor. ...
David Janssen David Harold Meyer (March 27, 1931 - February 13, 1980), better known as David Janssen, was an American film and television actor who is best-known for his role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive (ABC,1963-1967). ...
The Fugitive is an American network television dramatic series (ABC, 1963-1967) starring David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent man falsely convicted for his wifes murder and sentenced to death. ...
Because of the enormous expense involved in its production, Space: 1999 needed to be sold to a major American network if it was to make its money back. NBC came very close to buying it, but pulled out at the last moment, reputedly because Lew Grade, overestimating the show's potential appeal, kept inflating the price. After NBC passed on it, neither ABC nor CBS showed any interest, and hence Grade was forced to sell it into syndication - precisely the scenario he had hoped to avoid. Because of this, Space:1999 never enjoyed a full network transmission in the States. However, it still proved popular in both the UK and America (where it premiered in September 1975) and Group Three was asked to produce a second season. NBC, (Formerly an acronym for the National Broadcasting Company until 2004), is an American television and radio network based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is a television and radio network in the United States. ...
CBS (formerly an acronym for Columbia Broadcasting System, the former legal name of the network) is one of the largest television networks, and formerly one of the largest radio networks, in the United States. ...
The Andersons' marriage broke down irrevocably after the first season of Space: 1999 in 1975; according to Sylvia's autobiography "Yes M'Lady", Gerry announced his intention to separate on the evening of the wrap party. Sylvia severed her ties with Group Three, and to alleviate his financial plight, Gerry Anderson signed away both his share of the profits from the APF/Century 21 shows and their holiday home in Portugal to Lew Grade in return for a one-off payment. It was a decision he later bitterly regretted, because he could not have then foreseen the huge value the shows would have when eventually released on home video. 19th century Cottages in the small hamlet of Crafton, Buckinghamshire A cottage is a small house of any period. ...
Between making the two series of Space: 1999, Anderson produced a one-off television special, The Day After Tomorrow, an unsuccessful pilot for a series about two spacefaring families en route to Alpha Centauri. While making this project Anderson met Mary Robins, a secretary working at the studios; they began a relationship and were married in April 1981. A second season of Space: 1999 went into production in 1976 with American producer Fred Freiberger brought in to replace Sylvia Anderson. The Day After Tomrrow (alternately titled Into Infinity) was a 1975 science fiction television pilot produced by Gerry Anderson. ...
Fred Freiberger, 1976 Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915–March 2, 2003) was an American television producer. ...
According to The Space:1999 Documentary, produced by Kindred Productions for Fanderson, the second series was successful enough that a third almost happened; however, the documentary features Martin Landau stating that the idea was killed because Lew Grade needed money to help finance and promote his pet feature film project Raise The Titanic. Consequently, the budget that would have paid for the third series was redirected into the movie project (which subsequently flopped at the box office). This marked the end of Anderson's association with ATV. Fanderson is a UK based Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society. ...
1990s - a new audience The cult appeal of Thunderbirds and the other Supermarionation series grew steadily over the years and was celebrated by comedy and stage productions such as the hit two-man stage revue Thunderbirds FAB. In the early nineties, ITC began releasing home video versions of the Supermarionation shows, and the profile of the shows was further enhanced by productions such as the Dire Straits music video for their single "Calling Elvis", which was made as an affectionate Thunderbirds pastiche (with Anderson co-producing), and by Lady Penelope and Parker appearing in a successful series of UK advertisements for an insurance company. Dire Straits was a British rock band, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals), his brother David Knopfler (guitar), John Illsley (bass) and Pick Withers (drums), and managed by Ed Bicknell. ...
A song by Dire Straits (written by Mark Knopfler). ...
In 1991, BBC-2 in the UK began a repeat season of Thunderbirds, which rivalled the success of its original run. It became so popular in Britain that toy manufacturers were unable to keep up with the demand for the Tracy Island playset, leading children's show Blue Peter to broadcast a segment showing children how to construct their own. The fan base for the Anderson shows was now worldwide and growing steadily, and Anderson found himself in demand for personal and media appearances. BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and...
For the Canadian 1980s New Wave band of the same name, see Blue Peter (band). ...
By now, the original merchandising had become prized collector's items. The original props and puppets from the Supermarionation series grew enormously in value and now rank among the most valuable of all TV memorabilia. A 2002 auction of various items from Anderson shows fetched remarkable prices, with an original Parker marionette selling for UK £38,000 to a Japanese business man. In July 2004, the original studio model of Lady Penelope's pink Rolls-Royce 'FAB-1' (made for the film Thunderbirds Are GO) sold on eBay for £80,000 (about US$143,000). Rolls-Royce car may refer to vehicles produced by: Rolls-Royce Limited (1906-1973) Rolls-Royce Motors (1973-2003) Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (2003-present) // Rolls-Royce cars Rolls-Royce Limited vehicles 1904-1906 10 hp 1905-1905 15 hp 1905-1908 20 hp 1905-1906 30 hp 1905-1906...
Thunderbirds Are GO (DVD cover) Thunderbirds Are GO! was the first feature film to be made from the highly successful Supermarionation series Thunderbirds. ...
eBay Inc. ...
Other recent auctions include Ron Embleton's stunning end credit paintings which featured in every episode of Captain Scarlet which sold for between £2500-£3500 each and have since been reproduced and marketed by Iconagraph as limited edition collectible artworks.
In 1992, Anderson performed a successful one-man show, An Evening with Gerry Anderson, in which he talked about his career. He also made numerous media and personal appearances to tie in with revivals and DVD releases of Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90.
The renewed interest enabled Anderson to return to television production, but several projects including GFI (an animated update of Thunderbirds) did not make it into production. Finally, in 1994, Anderson was able to get the long-shelved Space Police project into production as Space Precinct. It was followed by Lavender Castle, a children's sci-fi fantasy series combining stop-motion animation and computer-generated imagery. Space Precinct was a British television series that aired during the 1994-1995 seasons on Sky One in Britain and in syndication in North America. ...
Promotional poster for Lavender Castle. ...
Stop motion is an animation technique which makes things that are static appear to be moving. ...
The pseudopod in The Abyss marked CGIs acceptance in the visual effects industry. ...
The same year, Thunderbirds was rescreened on the American Fox network, but this caused considerable controversy because the series was re-titled, and the episodes were re-edited, re-dubbed and shortened to 25 minutes. In a letter widely circulated on the Internet, ITV claimed that the cuts were made because of pressure from Fox's Standards and Practices office, which wanted to remove 'unsavory' or 'inappropriate' elements (drinking, smoking, subservient minorities, excessive violence). It was also claimed that the short attention span of American children made the hour-long format undesirable, and that the mid-1980s sale of the ITV music library to Michael Jackson meant that the music and vocal tracks had to be edited out and redubbed with new voices and music. Fox dropped the series after a handful of the re-edited episodes were aired. The Fox Broadcasting Company, usually referred to as just Fox (the company itself prefers the capitalized version FOX), is a television network in the United States. ...
For other people with the same name, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation) Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana) is an American musician and entertainer whose successful music career and controversial personal life have been at the forefront of pop culture for the last quarter-century. ...
He was originally approached to be involved in the 2004 feature film adaptation of Thunderbirds, directed by Jonathan Frakes, but he soon distanced himself from the project; Sylvia Anderson, however, did become involved and received a "special thanks" credit in the film, which received mixed critical reviews and was a box-office failure in America. Movie Poster for Thunderbirds Spoiler warning: Thunderbirds is a Universal Pictures release based upon the Thunderbirds television series of the 1960s, directed by Jonathan Frakes. ...
Jonathan Frakes as William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation Jonathan Frakes (born August 19, 1952 in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania) is an American actor and director best known for his portrayal of Commander William Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. ...
Gerry's failure to have a major hit TV show since the 1970s is a subject for much discussion amongst Anderson fans. One theory is that since the split with his wife Sylvia, he has been unable to create the emotional resonance and character visualisation that Sylvia contributed to the early shows, particularly Thunderbirds. Others have suggested that once he lost the remarkable talent brought together for the shows from Derek Meddings special effects to all the voice and behind the scene talents that created the many wonderful shows, it was virtually impossible to recreate that magical formula.
Unlike her ex-husband, Sylvia Anderson tends to avoid the limelight, although she has written an autobiography titled 'Yes M'Lady' which covers the Thunderbirds era. The book is a rather mild account of her life with Gerry and unlike his biography, avoids 'dishing the dirt' on the breakdown of their marriage. Until recently, Sylvia worked as the UK representative for HBO. Her new book, 'My Fab Years' is published in the autumn, 2006
Gerry & Silvia Anderson productions
TV series (and broadcast dates) Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson, from an idea by Barry Gray. ...
Supercar was a childrens TV show produced by Gerry Andersons AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. ...
Fireball XL5 was a science fiction-themed childrens television show produced in Britain in 1962 by the husband and wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson through their company APF in association with ATV for ITC Entertainment. ...
Cover from Stingray DVD box set (2001). ...
Brains 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 and by far the most successful of the childrens series made by AP Films (APF) for the British television company...
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 Lew Grade and first shown in Britain (originally on ATV Midlands, but later the whole of the...
Joe 90 is a 1968 Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine. ...
North American DVD release of the series shows the marionette version of Stanley Unwin. ...
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. ...
// The series The Protectors was a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson - his second TV series using live actors as opposed to animated puppets, and the first of these that was not science fiction. ...
Left to right: Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell and Martin Landau from Space:1999s second season. ...
Feature films (Gerry Anderson had no involvement in the 2004 live action film version of Thunderbirds, although Sylvia Anderson served as a consultant on that project.) Thunderbirds Are GO (DVD cover) Thunderbirds Are GO! was the first feature film to be made from the highly successful Supermarionation series Thunderbirds. ...
Thunderbird 6 was the second film based on the popular supermarionation television series Thunderbirds, which followed International Rescue on a round-the-world trip. ...
Doppelgänger was a 1969 Science Fiction film directed by Robert Parrish. ...
Movie Poster for Thunderbirds Spoiler warning: Thunderbirds is a Universal Pictures release based upon the Thunderbirds television series of the 1960s, directed by Jonathan Frakes. ...
In addition, two UK comics featured strips that were closely based around Anderson's creations. These were TV21 during the 1960s and Countdown during the 1970s. There were also a number of tie-in annuals that were produced each year around Anderson's creations. A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ...
The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...
Countdown was a British comic book that ran for 58 issues from (issues dates) 20 February 1971 to 25 March 1972, when it became TV Action. ...
The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...
External links - FANDERSON The official Gerry Anderson appreciation society site.
- Gerry Anderson biography
- FABGear A North American Gerry Anderson fansite.
- S.I.G. 'Supermarionation Is Go' fan site
- TV Century 21 A large site dedicated to the productions of Gerry Anderson, mainly Supermarionation.
- Gerry Anderson Links Index and links for all productions
- [1] Captain Scarlet artwork
|
Feeds |
Contact