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Category: FAQs
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Last Updated: Monday, 05 August 2013 17:17
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Written by Simon Wickes
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Hits: 4452
Gerry Anderson is a British producer who was to British TV in the 60's
what Walt Disney was to U.S. TV in the 50's--THE purveyor of children's
television. As the children of the 60's grew up, so did Gerry's programming,
with more adult puppet shows and live-action dramas to appeal to his maturing
audience.
Though he may have appeared to go out of style in certain areas of the
world, pockets of Anderson fandom have always existed worldwide (THUNDERBIRDS
is one of Japanese television's most popular shows ever, for example).
With the recent showings of most of the Anderson library on the BBC and
U.S. showings of THUNDERBIRDS on FOX, runs of SPACE:1999, UFO, CAPTAIN
SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS, STINGRAY, and TERRAHAWKS on The Sci-Fi Channel,
a newly-recut and redubbed version of THUNDERBIRDS called TURBOCHARGED
THUNDERBIRDS running in syndication, and the syndicated live-action show
SPACE PRECINCT, Anderson is enjoying a revival of sorts.
Anderson's first partner was Arthur Provis, with whom he founded APFilms
Ltd. and produced all the work up to THUNDERBIRDS. Most of Anderson's
60's and 70's shows were co-produced with his now-ex-wife, Sylvia Anderson
(nee Thamm); in recent years, Anderson has teamed with Christopher Burr,
John Needham, and Roger Lefkon.
Other important names in Anderson productions:
- Mary Anderson, who started off as a secretary during the production
of SPACE:1999 and ended up becoming Gerry's second wife and a staff
member during the production of TERRAHAWKS
- Derek Meddings, who supervised miniature and special effects from
the earliest puppet days up until the end of UFO when he moved on to
do the effects for the James Bond films
- Brian Johnson, who started off as a model maker during the production
of THUNDERBIRDS and supervised miniature and special effects during
the production of SPACE:1999
- Steve Begg, a fan and reader of SIG magazine who supervised miniature
and special effects during the production of TERRAHAWKS, DICK SPANNER,
and SPACE PRECINCT
- Martin Bower, a fan and reader of TV21 magazine who built most of
the miniature models used in SPACE:1999
- Christine Glanville, puppetry supervisor during the production of
most or all of the Supermarionation programs
- Lord Lew Grade, ITC executive who bankrolled all of the Supermarionation
programs produced after SUPERCAR
- Tony Barwick, script writer extraordinaire who served as chief writer
for CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS, UFO, and TERRAHAWKS
- Shane Rimmer, voice artist in THUNDERBIRDS who became one of Anderson's
most frequent writers, guest stars, and voice artists in later productions
- Barry Gray, longtime Anderson music composer who did the bulk of the
Anderson music through Year One of SPACE:1999
- Details
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Category: FAQs
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Last Updated: Monday, 05 August 2013 17:17
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Written by Simon Wickes
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Hits: 5057
The Anderson library is vast and extensive. It includes
12 puppet shows, 4 live-action shows, 5 films, and numerous pilots, commercials,
and videos. The major body of work is as follows.
THE ADVENTURES OF TWIZZLE
Children's show based on British screenwriter Roberta Leigh's short
stories; 15-minute episodes; tied with THE PROTECTORS for longest-running
Anderson series; first production for APFilms
TORCHY THE BATTERY BOY
Bigger-budget effort, also based on Leigh's stories
FOUR FEATHER FALLS
Children's western about a lawman with four magical feathers in his
hat
CROSSROADS TO CRIME
A young policeman stumbles across a gang of hijackers operating out
of a local cafe and goes on an independent investigation to infiltrate
their ranks and foil their plans to hijack £20,000 of nickel alloy
ingots; only feature-film production of APFilms; first Anderson live-action
production
SUPERCAR
Mike Mercury tests Professor Popkiss' and Dr. Beaker's experimental vehicle;
start of the Supermarionation era; first production for ITC
FIREBALL XL5
Colonel Steve Zodiac and a French doctor named Venus lead the forces
of the World Space Patrol at Space City against invading aliens; first
Anderson series to appear on a U.S. network (NBC)
STINGRAY
Captain Troy Tempest helms the World Aquanaut Security Patrol's finest
vessel against the undersea tyrant Titan; first series shot in color for
ITC
THUNDERBIRDS
The five Tracy brothers, their cook's daughter Tin-Tin, a scientist named
Brains, a ex-safecracker-turned-chauffeur named Parker, and socialite
spy Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward make up International Rescue, an elite
mercy organization; first hour-long Anderson series; most popular Anderson
show worldwide; Century 21 Productions produced two feature films, THUNDERBIRDS
ARE GO and THUNDERBIRD 6; reworked into half-hour format for FOX in 1994
and reworked again with live-action footage as TURBOCHARGED THUNDERBIRDS,
part of the AMAZIN' ADVENTURES syndicated package on most U.S.-based United
Paramount Network affiliates
CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS
"One man fate has made indestructible" leads Spectrum, a world security
force, in their war of nerves against the Mysterons from Mars; first Anderson
show with proportionately-scaled ("perfectly proportioned") marionettes;
first television production by Century 21 Productions
DOPPELGANGER (a.k.a. JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN)
Feature-length film about two astronauts who discover a mirror-image
Earth; first live-action feature film from Century 21 Productions; many
actors and props reappeared in UFO
JOE 90
Nine-year-old Joe McClaine is the World Intelligence Network's top spy,
thanks to the Brain Impulse Galvanascope Record And Transfer machine that
transfers brain waves and knowledge patterns through a pair of glasses;
character-based series rather than technology-based
THE SECRET SERVICE
Father Stanley Unwin and his gardener Matthew are an unlikely spy team
for British Intelligence Service Headquarters--Operation Priest, thanks
to the Minimizer, a device that shrinks objects and people; only Anderson
puppet production set in the present day (1969); first to combine live
action and puppetry, substituting a full-body double (comedian Stanley
Unwin) for Father Unwin in motion sequences
UFO
Former Air Force Colonel-turned-studio executive Ed Straker leads the
super-secret Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation, headquartered
beneath England's Harlington- Straker Studios; first live-action show;
last production for Century 21 Productions
THE PROTECTORS
Harry Rule, Contessa diContini, and Paul Buchet are the movers and shakers
behind an elite private security and investigative agency; first production
by Group 3 Productions; second live-action show; along with TWIZZLE, has
the most episodes of any Anderson production
THE INVESTIGATOR
An alien investigator shrinks two humans to miniature size to prevent
the defiling of significant artifacts in this unsold pilot; combination
of live-action and puppetry; puppets resurfaced in a Jif commercial, the
last Supermarionation production
SPACE:1999
Commander John Koenig must keep 311 colonists together as their base
on the moon hurtles through the galaxy after an atomic waste explosion
on the dark side of the moon; third live-action show; last joint production
of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson; second season produced by STAR TREK's Fred
Freiberger
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (a.k.a. INTO INFINITY)
NBC SPECIAL TREAT episode about two spacefaring families who are en route
to Alpha Centauri; intended as a pilot but not picked up; shot between
seasons of SPACE:1999 and costarred three SPACE:1999 players; narrated
by Ed Bishop (UFO's Ed Straker)
TERRAHAWKS
Dr. Tiger Ninestein leads an elite planetary defense force headquarted
in a secret base in South America; first Anderson series without Sylvia
Anderson's involvement; only puppet show using the Supermacromation technique;
all but three episodes solely written by Anderson regular Tony Barwick
DICK SPANNER P.I.
Mild-mannered robot private detective Dick Spanner wisecracks his way
through impossible-to-follow sight-gag-filled plots; series of shorts
for Channel 4's NETWORK SEVEN series, later condensed into two hour-long
shows for Channel 4; characters animated by stop-action animation puppetry
rather than Supermarionation or Supermacromation
SPACE PRECINCT
New York Police Department Lt. Patrick Brogan is assigned to the "space
precinct" of Demeter City in the near future; fourth live-action series;
most recent Anderson production, recently withdrawn from U.S. syndication
and recently screened to U.K.
In addition, Anderson has done many more items than can be listed here:
Produced numerous television commercials for such concerns as Blue Cars
Travel Agency, Jif Dessert Topping, Airfix Model Kits, Lyons Maid, Royal
Bank Of Scotland, Tennent Lager, and Domestos Household Cleaner; developed
treatments for proposed feature film FIVE STAR FIVE and TV series RESCUE
4; co-produced the music video "Calling Elvis"; launched a marketing concept
for the Airfix model kit and Dinky toy line StarCruisers; and assisted
with stage productions THUNDERBIRDS
F.A.B. and RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET.
2003 Archive 
