Month: August 2015

Marcus Hearn unlocks Thunderbirds: The Vault

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Thunderbirds: The Vault

Gerry Anderson’s official biographer Marcus Hearn has released a sumptuous new Thunderbirds book to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the series.

Thunderbirds: The Vault is a beautifully packaged hardback bursting with design sketches, production memos and specially commissioned photographs of original costumes, studio artefacts and vintage merchandise.

Compiled with the help of Fanderson’s own FAB Co-Editor Mike Jones, the book required unprecedented access to the ITV archive. It also draws upon numerous exclusive interviews with the people who made the show, including John Blundall, David Lane, Alan Perry, Shane Rimmer and Keith Shackleton!

Published by Ebury Publishing and released on 10th September, this book looks like it’s going to be a collector’s dream and is available to pre-order on Amazon now.

About the author

Marcus Hearn is the official biographer of Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson and author of the New York Times bestseller Doctor Who: The Vault. His other books include the award-winning The Art of Hammer, Saucy Postcards, The Avengers: A Celebration and Eight Days a Week, the story of The Beatles’ final world tour.

Marcus has written for The Times, The Guardian and The Independent, and has contributed booklet notes, audio commentaries and documentaries to nearly a hundred DVDs and Blu-rays.

He is an associate research fellow at Leicester De Montfort’s Cinema and Television History Research Centre and is the official historian of Hammer Film Productions.

A long-time supporter of Fanderson’s conventions, Marcus will be attending The Future in Fantastic! in October to sign copies of the book. Will you be there too?

 

 

FAB 81 is go!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

FAB 81

FAB 81 is on its way to all Fanderson club members! 

As always, we have all the latest news from the Andrson universe. We profile the opening 13 episodes of ITV’s smash hit new series Thunderbirds Are Go, and chat to the voice artists about their involvement. We also have news of Vivid Imagination’s return to Tracy Island and three vintage audio adventures of International Rescue that will be filmed with your help!

Following the sad news of Judith Shutt’s death earlier this year, we remember the puppeteer who brought the characters of Thunderbirds, Stingray and Fireball XL5 to life with her talents.

In this issue’s major article, Ian Fryer takes a close look at Century 21’s only live action series: UFO. We take you through all 26 episodes, exploring the world of SHADO and discussing the key themes of the series. We also catch up with special effects model maker Alan Shubrook and his memories of working on the series. Oh, and our amazing front cover is courtesy of Chris Thompson!

Did you grow up with any of the Anderson activity books? For many fans these books became their first collectables. Steve Kyte explores the early years of this fascinating type of merchandise in the first part of a new series of articles.

The Thunderbirds 2004 movies gets the Timelash treatment this time. Has history been kind to it? Read on to find out…

Finally, and incredible though it may seem, it’s been 10 years since New Captain Scarlet burst onto our screens. To mark the anniversary, Stephen Baxter analyses the series comic, and the small selection of associated books based upon New Captain Scarlet.

How to get FAB magazine? Join Fanderson!

FAB magazine is available exclusively to Fanderson club members – we deliver three times a year, and we do our very best to make each issue a joy to read for every fan – regardless of your favourite series!

Find out how to join Fanderson and receive FAB

New Thunderbirds books: Parker’s cars, Brains’s physics and Penelope’s cocktails

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Thunderbirds, Octopus Publishing has published three special gift books in which Parker, Brains and Lady Penelope speak about their favourite topics!

In Parker’s Cars, Parker gathers together a collection of facts and figures of the greatest motors from the past 50 years, with one car for every year since the creation of the greatest car of all time ­ – FAB1.

Parkers cars book

In Brains Explains ­ Quantum Physics, Brains guides us through a series of seemingly complicated scientific theories and shows how quantum physics plays a central part in all our lives.

Brains explains quantum physics book

And perhaps best of all, in Lady Penelope’s Cocktails, Lady Penelope shares her top 50 Thunderbirds-inspired cocktails, as well as personal anecdotes on other characters’ favourite tipples, and which drinks were used to celebrate successful missions.

Lady Penelope' s cocktail book

By the way, we plan to test some of these splendid cocktails at The Future is Fantastic! in October. Anyone for a Tracy Island Iced Tea…?

Tracy island iced tea

In the meantime…it’s Competition Time!

The lovely people at Octopus Books have given us copies of all the books to give away as prizes to Fanderson club members. To be in with a chance of winning a set of the three books, simply answer these three questions:

1) What is the formula Brains gets Braman to calculate to save the Sun Probe?
2) Which tyres are “best for speed” at Parola Sands?
3) When In Paris, what is Lady Penelope’s favourite tipple?

Send your answers to query@fanderson.org.uk and be prepared to quote your club membership number.

Good luck, and see you for that drink in October!

What would you like to watch at The Future is Fantastic!?

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

The Future is Fantastic!

As Fanderson’s first full-weekend convention in five years draws closer, we’d love to know what you would like to see screened during the event.

We have received a few requests for a confirmed programme of events, but we know from past experience that attendees like to be surprised!

Things may change right up to and during the weekend, as more people decide to join us, participate, and offer things to be displayed and give interviews.

Let us know 

So there’s still time for you to let us know what you would like to see in the programme (both Anderson and Anderson-related) that we might have in the club archive.
If there’s a particular TV interview, rare foreign edit of a episode or other such ephemera that you’d really like to revisit, let us know at fabmail@fanderson.org.uk and you may just see it on a big screen at The Future is Fantastic!