TV Century 21

I have been a fan of Gerry Anderson shows for as long as I remember. Prior to this event I had never been to a Gerry Anderson fan event of any kind with the exception of the opening of Forbidden Planet 2 in London in 1981 where I got my tv21 1967 annual signed by the man himself. Since then, I moved from London to NJ, USA where I live to this day. Much to my surprise. Gerry Anderson does not have much of a presence in the US. Ironic considering the characters are usually American. Every so often I would come over to the UK and view the videos with envy, unable to play them. I was however, able to get the toys and back in 95 actually set up a web site dedicated to the shows when I realised that few were in existence. This was TV21. After meeting another fan, I joined Fanderson around 1998 but never been able to actually attend events due to the cost involved.

Finally I was asked to teach in Amsterdam (via London) the week prior to the event. Perfect. Until it was cancelled. Luckily, Frequent Flyer miles came to rescue, so I was able to justify trip and what the hell. It seemed so alluring: several anniversaries, lots of guests and lots of original iems. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted it. In addition to the above, I would finally get to meet quite a few people i have been communicating with via the net and a fan publication, including Marc Martin from the UFO web site.

I could see that this was setting up to be a really good event. Original items, many people from the shows themselves, dealers and a chance to put faces to names. Hold me back if you can. Once the tickets were booked reality set in. I was actually going to see some original puppets. Prior to this I had never seen any original items from any production, or even seen anyone from the Gerry Anderson world other than Gerry himself in 81 I have been waiting a long time for this. Try 20 years. talk about 0 to 60, this was more like 0 to light speed. Just as long as I don't end up on a mirror planet reading everything backwards...