This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page will answer many of the questions that we’re regularly asked about Fanderson and the way in which the club operates. With one notable exception this page isn’t designed to answer questions about Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s productions, as you’ll find answers to many of those on our Productions, Locations and Biographies pages.
So, firstly, our most received question:
Nothing! Despite appearances, as used by International Rescue in Thunderbirds “FAB” is not an acronym – it’s simply a call sign like ‘Roger’ or ‘Ten-Four’ to acknowledge received instructions. In the 1960s, when Thunderbirds was in production, the term ‘fab’ was in common parlance as a shortened form of ‘fabulous’ which, of course, everything was. The phrase has enjoyed resurgence in recent years and ‘FAB’ itself entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2002: “‘FAB [interjection British informal] an expression of agreement to, or acknowledgement of, a command [from British television series, Thunderbirds].”
Fanderson is a club for fans worldwide of all of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s television and film productions. It was formed in 1981 at the request of Gerry Anderson and ITC Entertainment as they wanted to assist and support one single fan body for all of the Anderson productions to which ITC owned the copyright.
Since then the club has been recognised as the world’s only official appreciation society for the work of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and their talented colleagues by their families and every one of their production companies/backers.
One of the longest-running TV and film fan clubs in the world, Fanderson is based in the UK and organised by a small unpaid committee of longtime fans.
Rather than limiting our scope to specific productions, we’re interested in ‘the worlds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’.
Whilst that primarily includes their productions together, it also covers their own individual projects, plus the work of other talented people that worked with them.
So, that can include the other ITC shows, programmes like Cloppa Castle, the James Bond films, and new productions such as Thunderbirds Are Go – albeit all to a lesser degree.
The club’s status, combined with the following factors, enables us to invest in items of merchandise that would be financially unviable to commercial merchandisers, based on the relatively small quantities that they could expect to sell.
Always remember, as a not-for-profit club, our prices are set so that we simply recoup what it costs to make our merchandise.
We’re flattered when non-members suggest ways around the above, so that they might be able to buy our merchandise.
Of course, we’re not in a position to pick and choose which laws we want to abide by!
The club committee is formed of club members who offer their services. Committee positions are unpaid and duties are performed in members’ free time, so you should allow a few days to a reply to any enquiry, and allow up to 28 days to receive your merchandise.
Committee service continues until an individual decides to retire, is dismissed for acting against the best interests of the club, or is replaced by member vote at our Annual General Meeting.
Vacant committee posts are usually advertised in FAB magazine, and in the past positions have come about from members suggesting roles to improve the running of the club.
Gerry Anderson was instrumental in forming the club and was our honorary President until his death in 2012.
He took an active interest in everything we did, regularly contributed to the club magazine by providing information about his latest projects and answering members’ questions, and always made time to offer assistance as required.
However, he entrusted all decision-making about the organisation of the club, its merchandise and events, to the members of the committee.
For many years the club did not involve Sylvia Anderson in its activities at Gerry’s request (given the breakdown of the Andersons’ marriage in the 1970s and their subsequent divorce in 1981).
However, having first obtained the approval of Gerry’s widow Mary, in 2014 club chairman Nick Williams made contact with Sylvia Anderson in response to calls to do so from club members.
On 3rd October 2015, Sylvia Anderson was welcomed to the club’s convention The Future Is Fantastic! with a standing ovation from over 250 delegates. Her daughter Dee subsequently sanctioned Fanderson as the official appreciation society of her mother, alongside Gerry.
The licensing and development rights to the properties in the ITC Entertainment library of films and television programmes are now owned by ITV Studios, which recognises Fanderson as the only official appreciation society for Gerry and Sylvia’s work.
This special relationship gives us access to their library of photographs and other materials, and free license to produce merchandise based on the Anderson television series produced for ITC between 1960 and 1976. All of this is on the sole condition that we only ever sell our merchandise to our club members.
In return Fanderson offers ITV an information resource, consultancy and research service and assistance to their commercial merchandise licensees, should they require it.
Fanderson’s status as the official Gerry and Sylvia Anderson appreciation society was bestowed in perpetuity by Gerry Anderson himself and by Sylvia Anderson’s family.
ITC Entertainment authorises Fanderson’s status as the only officially-recognised appreciation society for the television series on which they retain the copyright: Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90, The Secret Service, UFO, The Protectors and Space:1999. The owners of all other Anderson productions also recognise the club’s official status.
Despite the club’s relationships with ITV, ITC and other copyright holders, Fanderson is independent of any company or individual.
Ever since its inception in 1981, Fanderson had enjoyed a mutually supportive relationship with Gerry Anderson (he had, after all, been instrumental in creating the club).
Following Gerry’s death, in 2014 Anderson Entertainment made various unsubstantiated claims against Fanderson via solicitors and threatened the club with legal action. The club committee responded fully but Anderson Entertainment hasn’t progressed their claims through the courts, nor have they withdrawn them.
Fanderson would love for the Anderson fan-base to be united once again (as per Gerry’s intention when forming the club), and to be able to work with Anderson Entertainment. Sadly, some six years later, they have made no attempt to explain their earlier actions or heal the rift that they have caused.
Therefore, whilst these claims and threats continue to hang over the club and its members, it is inappropriate for any of Fanderson’s output, channels or services to be used to promote Anderson Entertainment, its products and services, or its officers.
As part of our licensing agreements, we are only ever permitted to manufacture 1,000 copies of our soundtracks. We are also only permitted to make physical copies available, not via digital download.
When we started releasing soundtrack music we were under the impression that members wouldn’t pay more than £10 for an album, so our first disc was the combined Supercar and Fireball XL5. Then, in 1998 we realised that double albums would sell, so released Space:1999 Year One.
Since 2014 we’ve changed tack and now aim to release the most complete soundtracks possible, whether that be on 1, 2, 3 or 4 discs, whatever the cost. We’ve so far been able to give Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90, UFO and Space:1999 this full boxset treatment.
However, these releases are incredibly expensive and time-consuming to produce. Thunderbirds was released in 2015 and sold out in 2020 – that’s five years to recover our production costs.
We’ll always consider re-releasing soundtracks as long as there’s new material to be included, and as the club’s finances allow. What we won’t do, however, is even mention any new product until it’s actually in production.
Please see the earlier answer and, if it helps, think of the membership fee as that premium – which also happens to give you access to the full range of club services and products. Just let us know if you don’t want to be sent your membership pack and FAB magazines and we’ll invest your membership fee in services and merchandise for other members instead.
Even without the cost of a merchandising license, our limited production quantities mean that our unit costs are sometimes higher than they would be on comparable commercially-produced items.
Taking Fanderson’s soundtrack CDs as an example, there are many factors that contribute to the production cost such as engineering, editing and digital remastering, the hire of recording studio facilities, manufacturing, duplication and on-body print, packaging reprographics and print, composer royalties, musicians’ royalties, and so on. We have to recoup that investment on the sale of just 1,000 units, whereas a commercial licensee would spread it across many times that amount.
Thankfully, the vast majority of club members respect and adhere to the law and appreciate the amount of time given freely by club members to produce FAB magazine, our events and our exclusive merchandise.
However, there’s a small minority who buy our output and then sell (often inferior quality) counterfeits on Ebay.
We believe that making a key element of our membership package available in an electronic form that could be so freely distributed would be detrimental to the viability of the club.
Yes, of course!
About a quarter of our members live outside the UK. You’ll find full details of membership rates and how to pay on the Join Us page of the website. Just add to the membership fee the postage for the part of the world in which you live.
Yes, of course!
Just add your membership to your cart whilst shopping online and you’ll be charged for your complete transaction. Note, however, that Memberships and Sales operate separately and are located in different parts of the UK, so they will be delivered separately. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery of your membership pack and/or merchandise order.
You can pay online with most major credit and debit cards and PayPal. If you pay by card we will charge you in Pounds Sterling (GBP), and your card company/bank will do the conversion and charge you in your local currency. So that you can check the amount that you’ve been charged your card statement will usually show both currencies.
If you’re in the UK, you can also pay by post with a cheque (with a UK bank sort code) or UK postal order.
Most banks throughout the world can exchange your local currency into Pounds Sterling (GBP), although there is often a charge to you for doing this. It is usually easier and more economical to pay by credit or debit card.
Fanderson will only use your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you have requested from us:
• providing your FAB magazines
• providing your merchandise
• providing information about, and access to, our events
• providing you access to the Fanderson Forum
• reminding you that your membership has expired
• sending you news and offers (including those on behalf of third parties) that we believe will be of interest to you
• general correspondence
We will never pass your personal information to a third party for any other reason. We will retain your personal information for six FAB mailings after your membership expires (nominally two years), and then permanently delete it. You can ask us to delete your personal information at any time by e-mailing fanderson.org.uk@outlook.com, including your name, address and membership number, at which point your membership will terminate immediately, without refund.
Fanderson is run by volunteers spread around the UK, so memberships are mailed from one location and merchandise from another. Please also note that merchandise orders may be split over more than one package.
Although they might be delivered to you at different times, you should always have received everything within 28 days (in the UK at least). If you’re worried about any order you’ve placed, please get in touch with us.
FAB is nominally published three times a year (in spring, summer and winter). Each issue details when the next FAB is expected and we’ll confirm this on our website when we know the latest issue has started landing in members’ homes.
Your welcome letter tells you when your membership expires initially, and the mailing label with FAB magazine mailings always carry this information too.
You will also be sent a renewal form with the last FAB issue of your current membership.
Our most recent convention, Supercelebration, was held at the Holiday Inn, Maidenhead on the weekend of 20th to 22nd September 2019. It was the club’s last full weekend event, celebrating 50 years of UFO, Doppelgänger, The Secret Service and the productions of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
We’re keen to help and support fans wishing to stage their own events, whether that be with organisational assistance, seed funding, advertising etc. Do get in touch at fanderson.org.uk@outlook.com if you’re organising an Anderson-based event and would like our help.
The Fanderson committee members live at different locations across the UK, so sending your mail to the right address (as detailed on our forms and in FAB magazine) means you’ll get a much quicker response. Our PO Box is really for ‘first contact’ queries or for submitting letters and articles to FAB magazine. Of course, mail sent to any of our addresses will get forwarded to the right people, it might just take a little time.
If Fanderson is provided with broadcast/release details in advance we will post this on the When’s It On? page of our website.
The full range of Fanderson merchandise is in the shop of our website. We cannot supply any items that are not listed.
However, when we’re getting stock ready for one of our conventions or events we may come across long-since-deleted items, so we’ll always bring those along to the events to members have a chance to buy them.
Sorry, but we don’t offer an autograph service by mail. However, our convention guests are usually more than happy to provide sign autographs for delegates.
Members’ suggestions, including the information about their preferred productions, help us to target our efforts towards the most popular shows, although we aim to cover all of them to some degree.
Many of our items have either been suggested by our members, or in some cases actually produced by our talented members.
Yes, we want everyone to enjoy our programmes.
In fact, Fanderson’s first DVD release, The Day After Tomorrow/Space Police, was the world’s first internationally compatible disc, with PAL on one side and NTSC on the other.
We held physical AGMs in 2015 and 2016: no members attended in 2015 and just one attended in 2016. As a result, the committee agreed not to waste funds on further physical AGMs.
Instead, members have since been invited to contribute and vote online on issues raised at a virtual AGM each spring. Details are published on our News pages.
Members can always put questions to the committee by writing to/e-mailing us.
Conventions and events also provide an excellent opportunity to talk informally with committee members.
The club’s financial status is reviewed at every committee meeting and an annual summary is freely available to members on request.
