Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons

Captain Scarlet to run London Marathon!

Posted on by Parker

Captain Scarlet, AKA Lloyd Scott, from Theydon Bois, Essex, will run the London Marathon on 23rd April.

Lloyd, who famously took six days to complete the London Marathon in a deep sea diving suit, said he chose the ‘indestructible’ hero from his childhood after twice beating cancer – in 1989 and 2022. “To me, cancer is a menacing unseen threat, like the Mysterons,” he says.

The prolific fundraiser, who has raised more than £5m in five decades of charity runs, challenges and feats, said the race will be his last. His other costumes have included The Iron Giant, Indiana Jones, Brian the snail from The Magic Roundabout. Lloyd was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in April 2021 and underwent radiotherapy that summer. The cancer returned in June 2022 and he endured an operation lasting more than 13 hours – and emergency follow-up surgery in August, which he described as a “close-run thing”. He’s also survived leukaemia after a diagnosis in 1987, and a bone marrow transplant in 1989.

“The costume has a personal connection because I used to watch Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons when I was a kid, who would always take part in various missions,” Lloyd says. “I feel kind of like him because I’ve sort of done different missions through the marathons, despite things that I have gone through as well – so he definitely struck a chord with me.”

UPDATED: Limited stock… back in stock!

Posted on by Parker

Fanderson is surprised, but delighted, to report that limited stock of some of our most requested titles will be available again very soon.

Our triple-CD Space:1999 Year One soundtrack and Century 21 mini album sets 1, 2 and 3 will all be available soon once again via our Shop. The stock was found during the relocation of Fanderson Sales a few weeks ago, and preparation for our advent calendar. Some had been inadvertently packed into boxes with other titles, whilst other boxes had been incorrectly labelled.

Once Christmas preparations are out of the way (including our fantastic advent calendar), we need to carefully check and count what we’ve got for stock control purposes, but we hope to have them available again in time for a happy new year!

One or two other items are already available once again – just click on the Low Stock Remaining category when you go to the Shop.

Keep an eye on the website for further news, and save those Christmas pennies!

 

UK: Anderson series now available free on ITV X

Posted on by Parker

Many of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s classic productions are now available, free of charge, on ITV’s new streaming service ITV X. Anderson programmes owned by ITV are usually free of commercials on the platform.

All episodes are available of Supercar, Thunderbirds (including the crowdsourced ‘anniversary episodes’, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, The Secret Service, UFO, The Protectors, Space:1999, Terrahawks and New Captain Scarlet.

For some reason, only selected episodes are available of Stingray and Joe 90, whilst Fireball XL5 isn’t there at all! Curiously, only selected episodes of ITV’s own 2015 reboot Thunderbirds Are Go are available.

ITV X is free to view, with most of the above content available ad-free too. There’s a free seven-day trial of the subscription Premium service (normally £5.99 a month) which offers even more content, all ad-free, with access to additional content over on BritBox.

 

The Anderson Collection – action figures from Big Chief Studios

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Big Chief Studios have announced their first range of retro collector action figures, enabling fans to create their own miniature adventures.

Designed with collectors in mind, each 3.75 inch figure in The Anderson Collection sports five points of jointed articulation, authentic character likenesses and detailed costumes. Priced at a pocket-friendly £14.99 each, the figures are made for fans to build a collection, and with a far simpler product specification manufacturing lead times are drastically improved from their previous studio scale puppet replicas.

Collection 1 is due in December and includes Troy Tempest, Scott Tracy, Captain Scarlet, Joe McClaine, Ed Straker and John Koenig. Collection 2 will follow in 2023 and is due to include Lt George “Phones” Sheridan, Virgil Tracy, John Tracy, Captain Black, Lt Green and Alan Carter.

UK: Anderson series now free-to-view on ITV Hub

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Having long been available to view in the UK on Britbox, many of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s classic productions are now available on the ITV Hub.

Fans can now watch Supercar, Fireball XL5 (selected episodes), Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90 (selected episodes), The Secret Service, UFO, The Protectors and Space:1999. ITV’s own Thunderbirds Are Go reimagining is available too, along with the crowdsourced Thunderbirds anniversary episodes.

All are available free to view and ad-free, once the programme itself starts. Watching fully ad-free costs £3.99/month or £39.99/year, but there’s a free 7-day trial available (surely long enough for any die-hard fan to binge-watch the whole lot!).

Click on the link to go to the ITV Hub.

Win a Zavvi exclusive vinyl singles boxset!

Posted on by Parker

Silva Screen Records and Zavvi have announced a newly remastered limited edition Anderson 7” singles box set,  featuring music from the extensive Barry Gray soundtrack catalogue. Gray’s partnership with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson was one of the most successful of its kind in TV history, forever linking the iconic Supermarionation imagery with the composer’s distinctive orchestral themes.

Due for release on 31st August, this exclusive box set contains the soundtracks to some of the Andersons’ most popular Supermarionation shows, including Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, and also includes the soundtrack to live action series Space:1999. This limited edition 7” singles box set is the perfect addition to your vinyl collection.

One lucky club member will win one of the new boxsets – see the first issue of FAB-lite (working title) soon!

Previously a staggered release by Silva Screen from 2012 in time for 2013’s Record Store Day, the new boxset includes The Cass Carnaby disc on shocking pink vinyl (the 2013 was a clear flexidisc), five exclusive art cards and is limited to just 500 units worldwide.

Track Listing:

Thunderbirds 7” on blue vinyl

Side 1

    • Thunderbirds – Main Theme (1:36)
    • Dangerous Game (1:40) (Vocals: Jack Clegg)

Side 2

    • Thunderbirds Are Go! (4:28)

Captain Scarlet 7” on red vinyl

Side 1

    • Captain Scarlet – Main Theme (1:33)
    • The S.H.E.F. March (2:35)

Side 2

    • White As Snow (3:12)
    • Captain Scarlet – End Titles (1:28) – Performed by The Spectrum

Joe 90 7” on yellow vinyl

Side 1

    • Century 21 Sting (0:08)
    • Joe 90 – Main Theme (1:58)
    • The Most Special Agent (3:19)

Side 2

    • Splashdown (4:44)
    • Joe 90 – End Titles (1:20)

Space:1999 7” on white vinyl

Side 1

    • Space: 1999 Year One – Main Titles (1:10)
    • Breakaway Suite (4:39)

Side 2

    • Black Sun Suite And End Titles (5:52)

The Cass Carnaby Five 7” on pink vinyl

Side 1

    • This Is The Twist (1:40)
    • Formula 5 (1:23)
    • Let’s Play Ad Lib (2:56)

Side 2

    • Spoke City Jazz (1:39)
    • Until Midnight (2:22)
    • Double Agent Entertainment (2:02)

35% off Network Blu-ray Discs

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Network are offering 35% off a selection of their high definition titles on Blu-ray Disc in their HD35 promotion.

The selection includes loads of classic British TV and film, and for Anderson fans the titles of most interest are likely to be Fireball XL5 A Day In The Life Of A Space General, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90, Space:1999 Year One, Terrahawks, New Captain Scarlet and (yes, we know it’s not an Anderson producion!) Space Patrol.

The promotion ends at 16:00 on Monday 6th June, so go shopping now by clicking this link to see all titles in Network’s HD35 promotion.

Sold! Captain Scarlet end titles paintings up for auction (updated)

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Two of Ron Embleton’s original end title paintings for Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons are included in Bonhams’ Rock, Pop & Film Online auction on 4th May 2022.

Both lots are around 54x38cm, painted in gouache and watercolour on paper, then mounted on board:

  • Lot 78 – Artwork board No.1 shows Scarlet struggling in swamp, reaching for a creeper with his left hand. This item includes with acetate overlay sheet marked to show the close-up crop marks for the credits sequence. Sold for £16,575 inc. premium (sold for £3,055 in 2002)
  • Lot 79 – Artwork Board No.7 depicts Captain Scarlet in a chamber bracing himself against advancing spiked walls. Sold for £21,675 inc. premium (sold for £3,995 in 2002)

Comic-strip artist Ron Embleton (1930-1988) is celebrated as a definitive portrayer of Captain Scarlet. In 1965 Embleton joined TV Century 21, where he illustrated 67 Stingray comic strips before producing work on Captain Scarlet. These paintings are part of a series of ten executed by Embleton, seen in the end title sequence at the end of each episode of Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons. Each scene shows Captain Scarlet seemingly in grave peril, with others depicting a giant cobra, sharks, and a tank. By 1968 Embleton had left the comic but continued to produce illustrations for Anderson merchandise.

Both items were previously sold in the TV Generation auction at Christie’s, London in 2002.

AUS: Fireball XL5 on DVD

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Closely following their DVD releases of Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Australia’s cult and classic film and television label Via Vision is releasing the 1962 black and white series Fireball XL5.

For AU$59.95 (but currently on an introductory offer at AU$49.95) this Complete Series set includes all 39 episodes across five discs.

This is also the third of Via Vision’s releases to proudly acknowledge the series co-creator on the front cover, as “Gerry And Sylvia Anderson’s Fireball XL5″.

Will Network follow Via Vision’s lead and do the right thing when Stingray is released on Blu-ray Disc next month?