Thursday 27 December 2012

Gerry Anderson, a Thunderbird gone

I never realised that, by watching 'Twizzle' on the television at the age of 6 or 7, I was getting into a life long appreciation of a marionette maestro, the late Gerry Anderson.

While 'The Adventures of Twizzle' was made in 1957, I didn't see it until early / mid  60’s on a Saturday morning programme called 'Tinker and Taylor', a show that also introduced me to, and created a life long love of, animation.

Commissioned in 1957 'The Adventures of Twizzle' or simply 'Twizzle', as it was known in some countries, was the first television show made by AP Films, Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's newly created production company. They had been approached by author Roberta Leigh, who had written the stories and also co-produced the series with Anderson, and her colleague Suzanne Warner - read more here.

Twizzle part 1 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=BgL8zZb22KM

While we may laugh at these programmes now - high pitched, perfect English accents, jerky puppets with strings - we have to compare these productions with other puppets on children’s television of the time i.e.  'Andy Pandy', 'The Woodentops', 'Bill and Ben' as well as 'Rag, Tag and Bobtail', who were hand puppets rather than marionettes. All these were programmes I watched in the early 60’s as part of 'Watch with Mother'.

Twizzle, and Torchy the Battery Boy, Anderson's next production, told stories, fantasy stories maybe, but with real sets. This may have had something to do with Anderson’s background in film, and the fact that he didn’t set up AP to make children’s series - 'Twizzle' just happened to come along as the company  was struggling financially. The rest as they say, is history. 'Torchy' was more of a series' and I can remember being very worried at the end of one episode as Torchy, running out of power' plummeted to earth in his rocket!  

Torchy The Battery Boy Parts 1 and 2 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wujTB-nDe-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P3VnwAOXDQ

The last series I saw on a Saturday morning was 'Four Feather Falls' - magic guns, talking animal,s and a song to boot. A western made in the UK!

Four Feather Falls: Episode 1 - How It Began - Part 1 & 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqLyY4zQOjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLbFOOP8eI8

I can remember 'Supercar' on children’s television in the afternoons, as well as' Fireball XL5' and 'Stingray'. While 'Stingray' and 'Thunderbirds' were made in colour, we didn’t have a colour TV, so I didn't see them in colour until the early 70’s.

Supercar - Episode 1 - Rescue (pts 1 &2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snh1b7h2sMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJkQD8gCP1E

Supercar quiz from Supercar Annual 



FireballXL5 was part of a World Space Fleet based at Space City, an island in the Pacific Ocean, patrolling sector 25 of the universe. Captained by Steve Zodiac the space ship had a detachable nose cone, Fireball Junior and one birthday, or possibly Christmas, I was given a construction kit of a Fireball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XMrLr44JDI


Stingray Launch 


Stingray and Thunderbirds were in colour, except, as I mentioned earlier, we didn't have a colour TV till the early 70's. They were also on ITV, a channel my mother thought was inferior to the BBC. 

We were allowed to watch 'Blue Peter' but not 'Magpie', the commercial equivalent. I was also one of 3, then, from 1965, 4 children, so would have to watch what others wanted – we only had one television (as most people did then) and no videos!

Thunderbird 2 iconic launch sequence 


'Thunderbirds' was broadcast on a Thursday evening, not during children's time. We would watch it as a family but, if there was something else on which my parents wanted to watch, that took priority. 

My only opportunity of experiencing these programmes in colour, and to follow the exploits of the stars on a regular basis, was in comics and ultimately, on the pages of TV21, a Century 21 publication. On a weekly basis, stories from the Gerry Anderson stable, plus other television programme-based stories, appeared here in print.

Edited by Alan Fennell, who also wrote some of the stories, Fennell had worked with Anderson on Thunderbirds and with a number of other artists:

A Thunderbirds story from
TV21 with one of my
 favourite drawings



Stingray Story 

Frank Bellamy, drawing the Thunderbirds Story, brothers Ron and Gerry Embleton, Michael Strand, on Stingray, Vicente Alcazar on Space 1999, Mike Noble on Fireball XL5 and later Star Trek and Zero X, and Keith Watson, who had illustrated Dan Dare in the Eagle and who worked on Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. 

With other stories and television characters appearing, the Daleks, but not Dr Who,  illustrated by Ron Turner and Richard E.Jennings. Turner also contributed to a number of other stories including 'Joe 90' and the 'Zero X'.




'Lady Penelope' had her own comic outlining her exploits as an undercover spy, separate from her relationship to the fictional secretive organisation 'International Rescue', and it is one of her stories that leads up to the launch of International Rescue, and its inclusion in the comic.   

These magnificent drawings of brought the TV series to life in another medium.

On television 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons', 'Joe 90', 'Doppelganger' etc...all followed and, while Anderson wanted to get into making real films and programmes, he would always be stuck with the Supermarionation label, a term he coined, and one that would continue to follow him until his death.

While I appreciate the work of Gerry Anderson, I do not consider myself a geek concerning his activity - that sort of intensive knowledge of programmes, plots, stars, voices and other ephemera never interested me. To me, Gerry Anderson was a great image maker who told stories, science fiction and latterly, fantasy stories, who may be the unrecognised saviour of a British Film Industry, and particularly Pinewood Studios.

The Seventies had been an uncertain period for Pinewood and for the film industry. Gerry Anderson had used the studio to film episodes of 'UFO' and 'Space 1999' and 'The Persuaders!', starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore was also filmed at the studio. But, in general, the studio was in decline. It is widely felt that the Superman franchise almost certainly saved the studio from financial crisis.

Derek Meddings filming a
Thunderbird 3 launch sequence 

Derek Meddings worked with Gerry Anderson as his special effects supervisor. He went on to work on a number of Bond films as well as the Superman movies filmed at Pinewood Studios in the late 70’s. 

Before computer graphics, special effects were models and filming techniques. While America had large studios, Britain had these special skills, due to some extent to Gerry Anderson’s insistence on quality productions and well told stories. 'Superman', 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones' all came to this country because we had those skills.

I’m not saying that it was just down to Gerry Anderson that these films came to England, but we should view the legacy of his supermarionation beyond people doing ‘wobbly walks’ as puppets, and speaking in staccato voices.

We should remember his attention to detail - the explosions, the exquisite models and yes, the alligators: live animals, puppets and water.  



Gerald Alexander Anderson, 

film and TV producer, director and writer, born 14 April 1929; died 26 December 2012

 Gerry Anderson MBE 

 Goodbye and thank you


     Gerry was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2010, his condition deteriorating in the last 6 months. This photograph (No. 8 of the series) was taken with his son, Jamie Anderson - the pair supported the work of The Alzheimers Society 




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