UK: Thunderbirds voted #19 TV theme!

Classic FM are asking listeners to vote for their favourite TV theme so that they can present the UK’s Top 50 favourite TV themes of all time!

Forget the sweeping strings of the Downton Abbey Suite, the cinematic splendour of the Blue Planet soundtrack, or even the foreboding opening music for The Crown. For Fanderson members there is only one contender – Barry Gray’s stirring theme to Thunderbirds!

VOTE NOW! By voting, you will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win £500, an iPad or a Sony soundbar.

Voting closes at midnight on 23rd August, and Classic FM will reveal the Top 50 themes written for the small screen in Classic FM’s TV Music Countdown on Monday 30th August.

UPDATE 30th August: Thunderbirds came in at a respectable #19. See the full countdown here.

NEW! FAB Book of Gerry Anderson… Jigsaw Puzzles

Now available in the shop to pre-order…

Our brand new, 60-page, full colour FAB Book Of Gerry Anderson… Jigsaw Puzzles covers UK products based on The Adventures Of Twizzle, Torchy The Battery Boy, Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5, StingrayThunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90UFO, Space:1999, Terrahawks and Space Precinct, plus a brief tour of puzzles for other territories and the 90s and 00s revivals.

Fanderson Podcast 10: It’s the end of the road!

Click here for Podcast 10.

THIS EPISODE: In a format twist, for our 40th anniversary podcast we’re trying an episode discussion panel. For this first panel, regular host Ros Connors discusses all things Thunderbirds End Of The Road with fans Kirsty Brown and Ian Fryer.

If you’d like to take part in a future Podcast panel, email fanderson.org.uk@outlook.com, noting the Anderson series that you’re most interested in.

There’s a link to all the podcasts in the menu bar above, or click here.

You can also subscribe to Fanderson podcasts at the iTunes and Google podcast stores, and now on Amazon podcasts and Audible too!

Thunderbirds End Of The Road clips ©1964 ITC, licensed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment

All other content ©2021 Fanderson

40 FAB Years: Since 20th August 1981. By fans, for fans.

Fanderson is 40 years old today!

On 20th August 1981, Gerry Anderson invited representatives from the Fanderson 81 convention, plus clubs Anderpup and the Century 21 Appreciation Society, to meet with him at his office at Pinewood Studios, along with his merchandising right-hand-man Keith Shackleton.

Together, they pooled their ideas and talents to form the world’s only official appreciation society for the work of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. You can read the minutes of that inaugural meeting here.

On behalf of all Fanderson members:

  • The biggest THANK YOU to Gerry Anderson, for having the foresight to unite fans around the world
  • Another big THANK YOU to Pam Barnes, Mark Jones, Barbara Kitson, Chris Leach, David Nightingale, Phil Rae, Keith Shackleton, Brendan Sheehan and John Williams for getting together with Gerry that day to give our club such a great start.
  • THANK YOU also to Sylvia Anderson, who was so kind, understanding and gracious (if, at times, a little naughty!)
  • A very special THANK YOU to all the committee members who have given up countless hours of their free time to run the club over the years, as well as those who have made a significant contribution (recognised as a Friend Of Fanderson or Life Member).

Finally, THANK YOU to all Fanderson members, past and present. Thanks to your support, after 40 years the club’s stronger than ever.

Join us in celebrating today with something bubbly, whilst you read more about Fanderson’s beginnings here. Or, if you haven’t done so already, take a few minutes to have your say about the future of your club, by completing our 2021 Membership Survey – you could win a FAB prize!

FAB 98: Winging its way to you!

We’re delighted to report that FAB 98 is now winging its way to hundreds of Fanderson members around the world. Hopefully, for many it should arrive just in time for the club’s 40th anniversary – 20th August 2021.

In this issue:

  • Ian Fryer looks at the birth of ITV, and how Noddy led to The Adventures Of Twizzle (via The Woodentops)
  • club members give their views on UFO Kill Straker! in our regular Timelash column
  • Chris Drake looks back at Stingray The Cool Caveman
  • we return for a fourth visit to the UFO comic strips in Countdown and TV Action
  • Alistair McGown explains how FOMO (fear of missing out) isn’t a new phenomenon – he experienced it with Space:1999
  • Andrew Clements’ account of adapting the 60s Thunderbirds novel for a new audience
  • we celebrate 60 years of the first Supermarionation series – Supercar – including an exclusive cutaway of Black Rock Base by Graham Bleathman
  • the fourth part of our exclusive Thunderbirds Are Go photo-strip by Jonathan Baxter
  • enter our competition to win a UFO Visual Archives book
  • plus FAB news, FAB Mail and more

With this FAB we’ve mailed a second set of our 40 FAB Years picture cards. Stick with us and by the end of the year you should have a full set (and an album to put them all in)!

FAB 98 also sees the first deliveries of our 2021 membership gift. For this special year we wanted to revisit two of our most popular and oft-requested gifts – the 7″ Barry Gray EPs given to members in 1986 and 1988. We’ve given them a bit of a brush-up and they’re both on our exclusive new CD! We can only give this CD away as part of our membership package, so if you get a renewal notice with FAB 98 or 99, make sure you renew so that you don’t miss out!

If you missed out on last year’s membership gift (or just want a second copy), the fantastic Century 21 Complete Puppet Catalogue is now available in the Shop.

Note that we made a mistake with the competition closing date and ‘renew by’ date – they should both read 30th September 2021. Sorry!

Annoyingly, as we completed the mailing we also noticed the box of this year’s anniversary enamel club badges – one of each should have gone in the packages! We’ll keep them safe and mail them with FAB 99.

If you were late renewing your membership, and so haven’t been included in the FAB 98 mailing, we haven’t forgotten you! Your membership will re-start with FAB 99.

UPDATE 26th August 2021

Although FAB 98 was mailed last week, it seems that quite a few members still haven’t received their packages. There is a distribution problem in the UK caused by a shortage of HGV drivers, coupled with people in the logistics industry isolating due to covid. In some areas post only being delivered every third day. 

Overseas packages seem to be relatively unaffected. 

Thank you for your patience, and we hope all UK packages will be delivered by the end of the week.

If you’re ever worried something we’ve sent might have gone missing in the post, please check our Shipping And Returns page before contacting us.

Anyone who missed FAB 97 can now buy it as a back issue, and last year’s membership item – Century 21 Complete Puppet Catalogue – is also now available to buy in the Shop.

How to get FAB magazine? Join Fanderson!

FAB magazine is available exclusively to Fanderson club members – we publish 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!

UK: Moonbase Alpha model at NFSM

Fans will soon be able to see this incredible model of Moonbase Alpha from Space:1999, which has been kept safe in private hands for over 40 years. It’s been restored to its full glory on a model of the Moon’s surface and will be one of the star exhibits at the UK’s brand new National Film And Sci-fi Museum.

The National Film And Sci-Fi Museum is dedicated to the preservation, restoration and exhibition of the art, skills and dedication that goes into delivering some of the world’s most successful films and TV shows. It has a series of dedicated displays of genuine and replica props and memorabilia from across all genres of film and science fiction. The museum was set up by a trust to become the place to share the knowledge and passion for film and science fiction and preserve the history of some of the nation’s best loved set pieces. The people who make up the trust have years of experience as collectors, convention organisers and professionals within the film and TV industry.

Opening in time for this bank holiday weekend, Friday 27th August 2021, the National Film and Sci-fi Museum is at 34 Secklow Gate West, Milton Keynes, MK9 3AT. Read more and book your tickets here.

 

UK: Fireball XL5 in high definition!

Hot on the heels of their Supercar Blu-ray Disc announcement (and before that’s even arrived) Network have confirmed that Fireball XL5 will be their next Anderson production on the high definition disc format.

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s 1962 Supermarionation series Fireball XL5 has been remastered in high definition from original 35mm film elements for this Blu-ray edition.

The year is 2062, and World Space Patrol ship Fireball XL5 is assigned to Sector 25, where intrepid pilot Steve Zodiac, ably assisted by Doctor Venus and Professor Matthew Matic, faces such dangers as planetomic missiles, explosive gas clouds, space spies, and alien races both warlike and benign!

As well as all 39 episodes, this exclusive limited-edition set includes a brand-new Fireball XL5 comic by Martin Cater, brand-new Fireball XL5 scrapbook, Fireball XL5 WSP astronaut license and badge, Robots In Distress: brand-new Robert the robot animation, Cloud Of A Billion Lights: brand-new Fireball XL5 CD audio adventure, Walton 8mm home movie show, A Wonderland Of Stardust documentary, Drawn In Supermarionation documentary, colourised episode A Day In The Life Of A Space General, Zoom Ice Lolly Adverts and image gallery… all in deluxe packaging!

The set is due for release on 18th October 2021, amd you can pre-order your copy now for just £60!

 

Thunderbirds Are Go free draw winners

Congratulations to everyone who entered our free draw to win a money-can’t-buy Thunderbirds Are Go promotional goodie.

In the next few days we’ll pop a prize in the post to every club member who entered (even the person who got an answer wrong), as there were enough to go round.

So, well done to Steve Bushell (UK), Stephen Carson (UK), Andrew Clements (UK), Florian Franken (Netherlands), Pat Gardner (UK), Ian Haworth (Australia), Stephen McAvoy (UK), James McFetridge (UK), James Potter (UK) and Eleftherios Sarris (Greece).

The questions (with answers):

5: How many episodes of Thunderbirds Are Go were made?

78

4: Who provided Jeff Tracy’s voice in Thunderbirds Are Go?

Lee Majors (plus Peter Dyneley in the opening titles)

3: Which episode of Thunderbirds Are Go was omitted from the series’ premiere UK broadcast (but was screened at Fanderson’s Supercelebration convention in 2019)?

Inferno

2: Thunderbirds Are Go was an international effort, with people in many countries involved. Name two of those countries.

China, New Zealand, Taiwan or the United Kingdom.

1: Many episodes of Thunderbirds Are Go include elements from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s productions, but name one that has the same episode title.

Ghost Ship, The (Stingray)

Path Of Destruction (Thunderbirds)

Inferno (Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons)

Runaway (Terrahawks).

As we had a few prizes unclaimed we would have even accepted Ring Of Fire (60s Thunderbirds novel) or SOS (Kate Kestrel single)!

40 FAB Years: Tell us what you think of your club – you could win a prize!

Fanderson is 40 years old this year, and we’re rightly celebrating our many achievements over those four decades.

But as well as looking back over the great things we’ve done, we’re looking forward to the future for the club, and we’d like your input. It’s seven years since we last surveyed the entire membership so it’s certainly the right time to do it again.

Click here to complete the survey and give us your views. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete, and club members’ collective views will really help us ensure we’re making the right decisions for the future.

If you’d rather not complete the survey online, click here for a copy that you can print, complete and then mail to us at Fanderson, 99 Caton Crescent, Milton, Stoke On Trent, Staffordshire, ST6 8XH (United Kingdom).

The 2021 membership survey closes at midnight on 31st August 2021. All valid entries* received by that time will go into a draw to win one of these fantastic prizes:

  • Japanese Thunderbirds Visual Archives book – hard to get outside of Japan
  • UFO Screenplays book – a long out-of-print Fanderson book from 2001
  • Earthfall – our 2002 reprint of EC Tubb’s 1977 Space:1999 novel
  • Century 21 Diary – our membership gift from 2008

 

 

*valid entries are from current club members, and whose personal details provided in the survey match those in our membership database

40 FAB Years: Extra free gift for new members!

As a celebratory free gift to new members in August – our 40th anniversary month – we’ll include a copy of either Journey To The Moon or Great Themes From Thunderbirds mini album on CD (as stocks last) in their membership package.

Join Fanderson now to get this great free offer! And don’t forget we’ve got some great anniversary merchandise offers right now too!

On 20th August 1981, Fanderson was formed at Pinewood Studios under the provisional name of ‘Anderclan’. Gerry Anderson and ITC had called a meeting with representatives from the various clubs, publications and the Fanderson 81 convention in the hope that they could all come together as a unified club. Our status as Sylvia Anderson’s official fan club was bestowed posthumously by her family in 2016. You can read more here.

Terms and conditions (in addition to our standard Ts&Cs):

  • Either of the mini albums will be inserted to new membership packages throughout August 2021, at random, and as stocks last.
  • This offer is only applicable to new Fanderson members (including former members that are no longer on our database, due to our GDPR privacy notice, who are rejoining the club). The discs were previously given as part of the 2008 and 2013 Fanderson membership packages respectively.
  • As an extra free gift these do not form a contractual part of the membership package, and Fanderson is under no obligation to provide an alternative gift once stock of these mini albums is exhausted.
  • Please don’t ask if you can buy either of these mini album replicas from us. Due to our licensing agreement, we cannot sell them. We can only give them away.