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Filmed in Supermarionation now available in Kindle form

Details: Category: Publications; Last Updated: Monday, 06 July 2015 21:50; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 1395

Stephen La Riviere's fantastic "Filmed in Supermarionation" book is now available in lightweight form. In addition to being able to buy the paperback or hardback, it is now available electronically as a Kindle book. All the text is there, as well as a reasonable number of images from the books, but in order to keep the size to something reasonable, the Kindle version is not as lavishly illustrated. If you want it just for the images, get the book. If, however, you want to read the book and have it in a fairly light form, this is the way to go. The price is very reasonable, at $8.00 from the Amazon Kindle store.

You can check out the book in Kindle form here:

Filmed in Supermarionation - Kindle

If you are still not sure, Amazon will send you a sample chapter to the reading device of your choice. Try it risk free, as they say. Then buy it, its that good.

Thunderbirds are Go & Thunderbird 6 now on BluRay

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:06; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 2549

The movies Thunderbirds are Go and Thunderbird 6 have just been released in high definition on a combo BluRay disc from Twilight Time Video. The release is limited to only 3000 copies and is expected to sell out fairly quickly. Luckily it is region free so should work anywhere with any player. What a concept.

The single disc release comes in a plastic case with colour artwork covers as well an 8 page colour booklet inside.

New Barry Gray CD coming this year!

Details: Category: Music; Last Updated: Friday, 16 August 2013 02:41; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 3658

standybyadverts A brand new CD of music by Barry Gray will be coming out later this year. Details are sketchy, but the title of the CD is "Stand By for Adverts". It is "Barry Gray as you have never heard him before". Presumably, this is a collection of music created for adverts on TV/radio.

Space Precinct complete series now available in the US

Details: Category: DVDs; Last Updated: Monday, 05 August 2013 17:17; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 3391

November 23rd saw the DVD release of the complete series of Space Precinct in the US. I believe this is the first time the series has been officially available in the US. To celebrate, we are going to have a contest announcement very soon as well as a full review.

The 1995 series starred Ted Shackleford as Lt Brogan in a futuristic Blade-Runner-esque TV show which features some major directing talent from the Bond movies.

Buy the video from Amazon: Space Precinct: The Complete Series

video clip from episode 1

Century 21 Annual 2010 cancelled

Details: Category: Publications; Last Updated: Monday, 05 August 2013 17:17; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 3334

Remember that "Gerry Anderson Century 21 2010 Annual" I mentioned a while back? Well, I got an email from Amazon UK telling me it is no longer going to be available.

It was scheduled to be published around now. I guess they decided sales were not going to pan out. Maybe its the times, maybe its the recycled artwork on the cover. Either way, its sad, but not entirely shocking.

I don't think there is a calendar either for 2011. I'll keep you posted if I hear any more.

“Filmed in Supermarionation” - a TV Century 21 book review

Details: Category: Publications; Last Updated: Monday, 05 August 2013 17:17; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 9044

Almost 2 years ago, author and documentary maker Stephen La Riviere announced that he was working on a book which thoroughly documents the Supermarionation era.

Prior to this, he made the superb “Supercar Full Boost Vertical” video which was a detailed documentary into the making of Supercar. It featured extensive interviews, video clips, photos and major research to thoroughly document the making of supercar.

When I first saw this I recall wishing this was the first in a series of documentaries, as it would wonderful if there was one for each of the Supermarionation shows.

What follows is a detailed review of the book.

Click the "Read More" link or title for the full article...

Thunderbirds Blu-Ray is region-free

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:07; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 5787

The Thunderbirds BluRay set is available in the UK and even though it is marked as REGION B (PAL I think), I had been told by multiple sources that the set is region free. I took a chance and ordered the now much cheaper set. I paid £58.88 from Amazon UK. I use a normal Sony Playstation 3 with no hacks. The Thunderbirds BluRay set plays just fine on my USA Playstation 3. The shows look amazing on my *ahem* 58" plasma screen and I have to say the show looks incredible presented in this way.

I know the top and bottom have been cut off, but to be honest, 98% of the time, you won't even notice. They did grab some extra side area that was never shown before, so generally its a major win in terms of picture quality. Colour is excellent and it looks like a major restoration was done for the most part. The sound is available in 5.1 surround (???) and stereo. Stereo is the default and for good reason. Still some additional "effects" but thats OK in moderation. (read on)

Thunderbirds Blu-Ray: UK/Aus yes - US no

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:08; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 7881

Well, despite the earlier post, it appears that there is not in fact currently a US release of Thunderbirds on Blu-Ray. It is for sale in the UK, and a region 4 version is on sale in Australia (and eBay) for those with multi-standard players.

I already played that (region free) game with DVDs, and I already have one Blu-Ray player so I'm reluctant to spend yet more money on an iffy media.

After finding the Thunderbirds Blu-Ray on Amazon.com, the price skyrocketed to an amazing $290.Its for sale by a third party. I looked around for other US-based carriers and nobody else has it. Best Buy/Borders/Barnes and Noble/DeepdiscountDVD/Frys/ebay - none of them show a US Blu-Ray release.My guess is that this is the UK release.

As a result, I have to assume I jumped the gun and that a US release is not (yet) available.

During my search, I came across something interesting, namely a Blu-Ray release of the 1949 movie "The Third Man". This was shot in 1.33:1 ratio, like Thunderbirds. Guess what? its not cropped, that's right they retained the correct aspect ratio and it shows black bars left and right. Exactly how Thunderbirds should be done. Hint hint.

If you see an info about any Anderson show/movie coming out on Blu-Ray, please drop me a line via the link to the left.

Oh, and one more thing: I have seen bits from a high-def version of Thunderbirds are Go. Now that makes sense for a Blu-Ray release, right?...

Collectibles

video clip from episode 1

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