Author: 1266 Nick Williams

FAB: Incoming on runway 99!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Have there really been 99 issues of FAB magazine? Yep, we’ve popped FAB 99 in the post today!

In this issue:

  • Inspecting Morse – Ian Fryer’s examination of Barry Morse’s seven decade career
  • Love it? Hate it? Chris Drake is affected by the lambda variant as he takes a look at Space:1999 The Lambda Factor
  • Alistair McGown goes back in time to Blackpool in 1977 to recover Gerry Anderson’s Space City exhibition from his personal memory bank
  • John Wilkinson takes a trip round the UK to see when Anderson shows were first seen in colour in the various ITV regions
  • Jonathan Baxter loves Lady Penelope so much that he surrounds himself with her various Tracy Lounge portraits
  • club members give their views on Joe 90 Project 90 in our regular Timelash column, with an exclusive cutaway painting of the Darota Clinic by artist Graham Bleathman
  • Alistair McGown looks at the life and career of Joe 90 Project 90‘s director – Peter Anderson
  • the fifth part of our exclusive Thunderbirds Are Go photo-strip by Jonathan Baxter
  • obituaries to Shaun Whittacker-Cook and George Gibbs
  • take a look through Lady Penelope’s wardrobe in our competition
  • plus FAB news, FAB Mail and more

With this FAB we’ve mailed a third 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 – photo corners/Gloy gum not included)!

FAB 99 also sees the second wave of deliveries of our 2021 membership gift – the oft-requested 7″ Barry Gray EPs from 1986 and 1988, together 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 99, make sure you renew by the date given on it so that you don’t miss out!

This mailing also includes your 40th anniversary badge, which we stupidly missed out of the FAB 98 mailing!

If you were late renewing your membership, and so haven’t been included in the FAB 99 mailing, we haven’t forgotten you. Your membership will re-start with FAB 100.

Mail is still being affected by the pandemic, so please be patient whilst your FAB 99 wings its way to you. Amazingly, we know from experience that members living in the same town can receive their packages days apart! Nonetheless, if you’re worried your package might have gone missing in the post (having allowed a reasonable amount of time), please check our Shipping And Returns page before contacting us.

Anyone who missed FAB 98 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 usually publish three times a year, and do our very best to make each issue a joy to read for every fan – regardless of your favourite Anderson series!

 

UPDATED: Puppets for auction on 17th November

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Two puppets created by Century 21 sculptor Terry Curtis will be up for auction at Bonhams’ Film, Rock and Pop sale on 17th November.

From the collection of Terry Curtis, both have original heads, with Travers having an original Jeff Tracy body, whilst Blue has a replica body.

You can see the full auction catalogue, which includes items from the estate of Dame Diana Rigg, at Bonhams website.

Update

  • Captain Blue sold for £6,375 inc premium
  • Paul Travers sold for £12,750 inc premium

Sixteen12 KitBrix Eagle Transporter cancelled

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

UPDATE: Sixteen12 have confirmed that due to poor pre-orders as of 25th November 2021, this line has been cancelled and will not go into production.

Premium die-cast model makers Sixteen12 have announced the first in their new line of KitBrix construction sets.

This highly detailed brick construction system enables you to create vehicles and playsets from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Space:1999: Eagle Transporter:

  • completed model over 25″ (60cm) long
  • over 3000 pieces!
  • full colour step-by-step instruction booklet, guiding you through building one section at a time
  • Alan Carter and Commander Koenig figures – exclusive to this set
  • removable passenger pod with full play interior
  • cockpit interior detail and seating for figures
  • self-adhesive vinyl decals for enhanced decoration
  • moonbuggy included
  • skill level 16 +

Recommended retail price is £199.99, but order within the eight weeks early bird pre-ordering and get 10% off! Shipping is expected March 2022.

KitBrix is compatible with all leading brand construction systems so you can expand and build even bigger creations, add accessories, and recreate scenes from Space:1999. Whether it’s launching an Eagle Transporter to intercept an approaching Mark IX Hawk (coming soon) or controlling operations from the heart of Moonbase Alpha’s Main Mission, (coming soon) you control the action!

NEW: ITC Entertained The World magazine

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Jaz Wiseman (former consultant on Carlton’s ITC releases and now host of the excellent ITC Entertained The World podcast) is launching ITC Entertained The World – the magazine.

Issue 1 features articles on Gideon’s Way, Danger Man, The Saint, ITC in high definition, ITC’s move from black and white to colour productions and an archive interview with Danger Man producer Sidney Cole. Writers include Andrew Pixley, Rodney Marshall, Mike Richardson, Rick Davy, Jonathan Wood and Al Samujh. Designed and edited by Jaz Wiseman and illustrated with images from his extensive ITC archive.

Priced at just £10.99 (UK) – see Quoit Media website for other territories and to order.

Captain Scarlet LP now available to pre-order

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Hot on the heels of their limited edition Captain Scarlet 7″ single, Silva Screen’s next Anderson soundtrack album is Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons. As with their other recent Anderson releases, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons has been produced for Silva Screen by the Fanderson team of Mike Jones on design with Tim Mallett on mastering, editing and compilation.

The album will be available on both translucent scarlet double LP and Compact Disc, with shipping expected from 3rd December and 19th November respectively (vinyl albums are currently taking longer to produce as supplies of PVC are affected by the worldwide demand for Covid-19 testing kits and vaccination syringes).

Once again, we’ve negotiated a great price on this album for club members, and remember that the price you see is the price you pay – no hidden shipping charges will be added as you checkout!

Of course, Fanderson’s own Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons 3-CD soundtrack boxset is still available too, as well as a raft of top quality Captain Scarlet goodies by fans, for fans!

The album will also be available as a digital download from the Silva Screen website from 19th November.

UK: Oakley Court Film & Memorabilia Fair on Hallowe’en

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Over 40 specialist dealers and special guests will be gathering this Hallowe’en at the “home of Hammer” – the magnificent Oakley Court Hotel, Windsor for the Oakley Court Film & Memorabilia Fair.

The dealers will be selling all sorts of memorabilia – stills, posters, books, props, magazines, campaign books and artwork.

The guests have many years’ experience in the horror film industry and classic television appearances, including many in ITC productions. They’ll all be available for autograph signing, selfies or just a chat:

Graham’s limited edition poster for the event will also be available @ £15.

The Oakley Court Film & Memorabilia Fair takes place on 31st October 2021, 09:00-16:00 at the Windsor Suite, Oakley Court Hotel, Windsor Road, Water Oakley, Windsor SL4 5UR.

Entry is just £7. Buy your tickets here, or pay on the door.

Captain Scarlet 7″ single from Silva Screen

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Whilst we await news of Silva Screen’s next soundtrack album release, we can enjoy this special 7″ single of music from Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons! 

This new 7″ single includes “Captain Scarlet” and “The Mysterons Theme” from the 1967 Pye release, along with a bonus track of “White As Snow”, all in glorious 1960s mono! Remastered from Barry Gray’s master tapes, this new single is in lovely translucent red vinyl.

Limited to just 1,000 copies (across all outlets), we have a very limited supply at the best price for Fanderson members.

Click here now to pre-order your copy (shipping expected end-October)!

UK: Colossal toy auction on 13th October

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

On 16th October 2021 Vectis, the UK’s leading specialist toy auctioneer, will be holding an auction of over 660 lots, including many Anderson items. The entire collection includes many die-cast toys which will evoke strong memories for many Fanderson members.

It’s the first 63 lots that are sure to be of particular interest as they include:

J Rosenthal Thunderbird 2

Cecil Coleman The Hood puppet

Fairylite Lady Penelope

Berwick Thunderbirds uniform

Dekker Lady Penelope play suit

Marx Thunderbirds bagatelle

JR21 SPV

Century 21 Toys Joe 90 car

There are also some more goodies sprinkled later in the catalogue, such as lots 1255, 1399, 1480 and 1481. There’s oodles of nostalgia in the entire auction catalogue, which you can see here.

Vectis are based in Thornaby, Teesside. We’d be very interested to hear from any club member who’s thinking of attending the auction. If that’s you, please email us at fanderson.org.uk@outlook.com as soon as possible.

 

 

 

UK: Thirty years ago today… Thunderbirds were back!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

It’s hard to believe now, but the BBC’s purchase of the then 26-year-old Thunderbirds for broadcast in 1991 was so, so significant.

It was, of course, the first ever UK network broadcast of the Supermarionation series (until that point, all screenings had been on the regional ITV stations).

Many of us were particularly keen to watch Trapped In The Sky, Sun Probe, Operation Crash Dive, Terror In New York City, Atlantic Inferno and Ricochet uncut as (unless you were lucky enough to have home video recordings of earlier broadcasts) they were only widely available in edited form as part of the Super Space Theater releases on Channel 5/Polygram VHS cassette.

The BBC clearly weren’t overly confident of their acquisition, as Lady Penelope was tucked into the corner of that week’s Radio Times cover, playing second fiddle to Liza Minnelli. Compare that to when the the series returned again in 2000: Scott, Virgil, Penelope and Brains had a cover each to themselves!

Indeed, although ITC were in the process of lining up an array of licensees to produce merchandise, many were surprised by the series’ success and would be unable to satisfy the unexpected demand that Christmas.

Being the official fan club, Fanderson experienced a surge of interest, with an astonishing 29% jump in members, we had just re-launched the club magazine with FAB issue 1, and a few weeks later hundreds of members would gather in Leeds for our Fanderson 91 convention in October.

Ratings-wise, Thunderbirds secured the #1 spot for BBC2 for its first two weeks (Trapped In The Sky 6.83m and Pit Of Peril 5.83m) and it usually maintained a single-digit position on the chart for the rest of the run. By comparison, the top-rated programme in the UK right now is BBC One’s Vigil, with just 3.607m watching live (although, admittedly, adding catch-up services brings this up to 8.93m). But Thunderbirds still beats today’s #2 programme, Silent Witness, which had 6.749m viewers all told (Thinkbox).

Thunderbirds was so popular that it was obvious that the BBC would quickly snap up Stingray, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons and Joe 90 for broadcast too, and the UK would enter a purple patch for Anderson fans.

Perhaps hardest of all to believe is that although there were 26 years between Thunderbirds‘ production and those BBC broadcasts, another 30 years has now passed!