Fanderson’s 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) is today.
You can hear the facts and figures right now in a special podcast, in which host Ros Connors is joined by Fanderson chairman Nick Williams and designer/FAB co-editor Mike Jones to also get answers to members’ questions.
The club committee will also be available live on the Fanderson Forum today 12:00-13:00 UK time to answer any further questions.
We’re delighted to announce that the Fanderson Forum is back! You can get to it using the link above, or under to “Social” button on the menu bar.
For a decade, the Fanderson Forum was an online place where club members could share their news, views and ideas. Unfortunately, due to insurmountable technical issues, the Forum closed in 2019.
The club’s Facebook group has continued to be a great place for Anderson fans to share their thoughts and ideas. But members have repeatedly asked when the Forum is coming back, as it offered the ability to put and follow threads in discrete spaces (modelling, fan fiction for example) rather than the stream of consciousness that is Facebook.
It looks a bit different now, and you’ll need to log in to your Fanderson account to post anything (as you do to buy merchandise or renew your membership). Your old Forum log in will not work and, sadly, we haven’t been able to recover any of the old Forum conversations.
As it’s part of your online membership account, you can be sure that you’re talking with other club members on the Forum. Although this also means that when your membership expires you’ll lose access to the Forum.
It’s a new, blank canvas. Come in and join the conversation.
THIS EPISODE: By popular demand, a Space:1999 special!
Christopher Penfold (Space:1999 Story Consultant and Scriptwriter) joins Ros, along with writer/journalist/editor David Hirsch and author Robert E Wood in a Space:1999 special. Plus more from the archive with Barry Morse recounting his time on the series.
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.
Britbox (the digital video subscription service created by the BBC and ITV) is replacing the widescreen versions of Thunderbirds with the original, full-screen, versions!
Fanderson members based in the UK were delighted when ITV added Thunderbirds, along with other Anderson productions and cult TV, to the streaming platform in August. They were less than happy, though, when they learned that they were the same 16:9 widescreen versions already on Blu-ray Disc. Although there is occasionally a little more picture to the left and right, about a third of the picture has been ‘cropped’ off the top and bottom. You can see the difference in the images below. The UK version also has the incongruous sound effects added for Carlton’s DVD releases in 1999, and on every UK release since.
Fans in Germany, Japan and the USA also have Thunderbirds on Blu-ray, but their versions are all in the ‘square’ 4:3 format that the series was created and first broadcast in, and with the original sound.
Now, at last, fans in the UK can enjoy the fantastic world of Thunderbirds in high-definition and in the sound/picture format as it was produced. All episodes should be available on Britbox in the new format from 1st March.
16:9
4:3
In Thunderbirds, it’s assumed FAB 1 met a fiery end during the crash of Skyship One. Sadly, real life is proving to be just as shocking!
Fanderson members will remember the full-size replica FAB 1 built by Melvin Jarvis, which was a star attraction at the club’s Countdown To Disaster convention in 2005 (pictured above) and was also at Gerry Anderson’s funeral in 2013. Recently, Melvin has been dealing with serious personal issues including a suspected arson attack, culminating in FAB 1 being pretty much completely burned out.
The good news is that Melvin’s already been able to get FAB 1 sandblasted (below) so she’s in a fit state to be rebuilt, after which he’s determined she’ll be “better and more film accurate than before”. He’s planning to share the story online soon, complete with monthly progress videos, which we’ll of course share just as soon as that happens.
We’re delighted to announce that Silva Screen’s wonderful (and growing) collection of vinyl albums is now available for Fanderson members to buy in the Shop!
Until now, you’ll have only found products in the Fanderson shop that we’ve produced exclusively for our members. Products that we’ve had complete control over in terms of design, production and quality.
However, as Fanderson members have been so closely involved in the production of Silva Screen’s latest Anderson soundtrack releases, we’re proud to offer them to club members too!
Of course, for those who prefer CDs, we still have our own extensive range available in the Shop as well. Pop over to Soundtracks now to add the vinyl albums to your basket.
NOTES:
Television presenter Martin Roberts will be one of the contestants on the BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind quiz this coming Saturday.
Martin is the proud owner of the policeman puppet Slim from the Thunderbirds episode Martian Invasion. He was a surprise guest at Fanderson’s The Future Is Fantastic! convention in 2015, where he mingled with hundreds of other Anderson fans and was thrilled to meet Sylvia Anderson.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Martin’s specialist subject on the quiz will be Thunderbirds!
Celebrity Mastermind will be on BBC One on Saturday 6th Feb at 7pm, and available afterwards on BBC iPlayer.
[picture: Thunderbirds fan Martin Roberts at Fanderson’s The Future Is Fantastic! convention in 2015 with Martin Roberts fan, Lynn Simpson]
To celebrate 60 years of Supermarionation (the broadcast of Supercar‘s first episode on 28th January 1961) Network have published this feature by Chris Dale on their website.
We can only hope that line towards the end is a hint at Network’s next Blu-ray Disc release!
Let’s start a happy new year…
THIS EPISODE: David Stoner (Director of Label and Licensing at Silva Screen) and Tim Mallett (producer and editor) discuss soundtrack albums, and actor, presenter and former Chief Scout Peter Duncan remembers his guest spot on Space:1999 The Exiles.
There’s a link to all the podcasts in the menu bar above, or click here.
Britbox (the digital video subscription service created by the BBC and ITV) has recently added Stingray and The Secret Service to the streaming platform in the UK.
The first series to go before the cameras in 1963 at AP Films’ new studios in Stirling Road, Slough, Stingray was also the first British television series to be filmed wholly in colour.
The Secret Service was the final Supermarionation series to be produced by Century 21 Productions (as AP Films had by then become) and was Gerry Anderson’s personal favourite of his productions.
With Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons on the platform since last summer, Joe 90 is now the sole colour Supermarionation series to be left out of the ‘box’ (The Most Special Agent notwithstanding!). Hopefully, Britbox will remedy this before too long.
