TV Century 21

Wed, Nov 27, 2024

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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.