TV Century 21

25th October 1996

Video re-issues/price reduction (UK ONLY)

Polygram has re-released 42 Anderson videos for budget prices of £4.99.

All episodes that are part of the compilation stories will be released in original format in 1997. Space:1999 Yr 1 and Yr 2 are now available completely. Also compilation episodes now available as individual episodes with proper titles.

23rd October 1996

Gerry Anderson biography published

The official title is Gerry Anderson, The Authorised Biography by Simon Archer and Stan Nicholls, published by Legend Books (an imprint of Random House) ISBN 0099781417. The UK address is:
20 Vauxhall Bridge Rd,
London SW1V 2SA.
Price is £15.99.

Signature sessions

He will also be heard on radio: BBC Radio 2 Fri Oct 25 6pm in John Dunn's program. Also on BBC Radio 4 Sat Nov 2nd in "Loose Ends" (time not specified) Special interviews planned in the magazines SFX and "Infinity" in November

23rd October 1996

BROADCAST UPDATE

USA
Captain Scarlet is being aired again by the Sci-fi channel weekday mornings at 7am. This will continue until the first week of November when the series will have run its course. The slot with then be filled by Stingray.

UK
UFO is being aired on BBC2. The shortened episodes of UFO to make rooom for the Party Conferences will be shown in full length in the second rerun in late 1997 / early 1998 As much as possible new 35 mm prints are used, but some 16mm prints are also used in the first rerun currently under way.

Unscheduled yet, but British satellite station Bravo also plans to show a complete run of Supercar and Fireball XL5 early 1997 as well as all episodes of Secret Service.

25th September 1996

Major Derek Meddings article to be published!

This email was sent in by Marc Frattasio:

Ok everybody, remember how I told you all some weeks ago that Science Fiction & Fantasy Models magazine had an important interview lined up that I was sworn to secrecy about? Well, the story can now be told. Read this message I just got from my friends over at SF&FM:

We have just returned from Shepperton Studios where we met up with Elliot Meddings - Derek's son - who kindly allowed us to interview him and has also allowed us to borrow some fabulous pieces of artwork and sketches done by his father. These will be featured in a major three part article beginning in issue 18 (out at the end of January) and continuing in issues 19 and 20. The article will include pre-production sketches from Thunderbirds, Derek's alternative costume design for Stingray, plus many, many more never-before-seen sketches, paintings and renderings from Gerry Anderson series plus the T'bird films and Doppelganger.This is a not-to-be-missed piece for every Anderson fan and we are extremely grateful to Elliot for making it possible...

Ok, you have your advance warning. Do whatever you have to do to ensure your copies of Science Fiction & Fantasy Models issue 18, 19, and 20! Please feel free to route this message to the UFO, 1999, boards and to anyone else who might be interested.

You can get SF&FM from:

Charles Many (in the USA and Canada)
Dark Empire
PO Box 15553
New Orleans, La 70175-5553
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mike Reccia (elsewhere in the world) SF&FM
57 Lynwood Avenue
Clayton-Le-Moors
Near Accrington
Lancashire
England, BB5 5RR
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

26th June 1996

New series from Gerry Anderson!

A brand new Gerry Anderson series is set to begin shooting this autumn at the Cosgrove Hall Studios in Manchester. LAVENDER CASTLE is a science-fantasy series which will be filmed using 'state of the art' stop-motion animation with space sequences generated using computer animation. The script for the first episode has been written by Gerry Anderson based on a story by award-winning children's author Pauline Fisk. Music for the series will be specially composed by internationally reknowned rock musician Rick Wakeman, best-known for his conceptual albums such as "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "Seven Wonders of the World". Conceptual designs have been crafted by cult fantasy artist Rodney Matthews, famed for his series of album covers for the 70's band Yes, guaranteeing that LAVENDER CASTLE will be, in the words of Gerry Anderson, "Like nothing you've ever seen on television before".

Originally announced as a project for the BBC back in 1991, it has taken Anderson over five years to bring LAVENDER CASTLE to fruition. Although the series is aimed primarily at 4 to 10 year olds, it is anticipated that LAVENDER CASTLE will appeal to teenagers and adults in much the same way as Cosgrove Hall's highly successful 1983 stop-motion series THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. Pre-production work on the series will take six months with filming of the 13 ten-minute episodes anticipated to take a further 12 months. Broadcast of the series is not expected until late 1997 or early 1998. Further details will appear in FAB 26.

Contrary to reports that have appeared elsewhere, a second series of SPACE PRECINCT is not currently in pre-production and does not start filming in the autumn.

17th June 1996

This just in from Theo de Klerk

  I just got a phonecall from Mary Turner, one of the puppeteers of
  the Anderson series. She told me that some puppetheads were back
  on auction because the original buyer did not cough up the money.

  From John Read and Mary Turner the following items are on sale
  at Phillips auctioneers in Bayswater, London tomorrow, Tuesday
  18th June 1996:

    prof. Ian McClaine head
    Joe 90  - frowner head

  From someone else (very likely Phil Rae) the following items are
  on sale:

    The Investigator car and boat
    Parker (from Thunderbird Six)
    FAB 1 license plate from studio model
    Moonbuggy from Space:1999 perspecs
    Hawkeye cockpit  from Terrahawks

  Prices on all items unknown. People interested should call Phillips
  auctioneers in London, 10 Salem Road, Bayswater, London W2 4DL
  tel. +44 171 2299090   fax + 44 171 7929201

19th April 1996

Polygram asked Fanderson to do a proposal for a Space:1999 music album based on Barry's tape that they still look after. It turned out there is insufficient music (of different sorts rather than slight variations on the same) to fill a CD.

Therefore Fanderson (in person by Ralph Titterton, liason oficer of Fanderson) proposed to include some UFO tracks too as these have never been released before.

In parallel Fanderson also put together a proposed music selection for a Thunderbirds music album based on incidental music. Whether anything happens remains to be seen. It's Polygram that must act now.

6th March 1996

Rumours persist that Space Precinct is not dead yet. Despite poor results in the US and in Europe, additional episodes are to be filmed to make up enough for the series to enter syndication in the US. Hopefully this will open the door to another season...

Unfortunately, it appears that some of the original American cast will not be returning for the additional episodes.

1st March 1996

This autumn will finally see the release of the Gerry Anderson biography by Legend books. This was started by Simon Archer, who wrote the "FAB FACTS" book and was killed in a car crash at about the time the book was published. The book was almost complete at the time of his death but it has taken a long time to find someone to complete it.

1st March 1996

Apparently, some of the items auctioned off at the second Phillips auction were not fully paid for. It seems that the cheques for the Parker puppet and the FAB 1 car bounced resulting in a significant cash drain for the would-be seller who was trying to raise money to pay for his recent Captain Scarlet puppet acquisition. To make matters worse, it seems that the FAB 1 car was inadvertantly damaged during storage.