Christmas TV – not EastEnders again!

At a loss for some quality seasonal television from the broadcasters this Christmas? Why not dig out the TVTimes special that we mailed with FAB last year (and again recently for new members)?

Surround yourself with some treats and a little something to wash it all down, then feast out all day on the very best seasonal Gerry and Sylvia Anderson entertainment (and remember, Stingray A Christmas To Remember is just one of the many programmes now available in high definition).

PS – Obviously, but just in case anyone thought otherwise, in the supplement the 40th Anniversary Quiz closed on 31st January 2021, and Six-Five Special offers were valid until 14th February 2021!

Stingray coming to Blu-ray Disc in 2022

Network have finally confirmed what we’ve been hoping for (and they’ve been hinting at) for ages. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s groundbreaking underwater series Stingray is being remastered in high definition for a release on Blu-ray Disc in 2022!

The series will be offered in two limited edition boxsets. For £80, the Deluxe edition includes:

  • Exclusive, limited edition deluxe packaging
  • Brand-new Stingray comic
  • Brand-new Stingray book by archive television historian Andrew Pixley
  • Gerry Anderson commentaries on the pilot and Stand By For Action
  • The Reunion Party – HD remaster of the Japanese Stingray presentation footage
  • Give-a-Show projector image gallery
  • Sylvia Anderson interview part 2
  • Walton home movies
  • Image gallery (5 mins)
  • Stingray WASP pilot license and badge
  • Brand-new mini adventure CD
  • Stingray ephemera wallet
  • Lincoln toy advert
  • Lyons Maid advert
  • Des O’Connor Show sketch
  • Ad bumpers
  • French end credits
  • Century 21 Tech Talk: Stingray
  • Stingray TV21 audio adventures
  • Remastered and reconstructed Super Space Theater films The Incredible Voyage Of Stingray and Invaders From The Deep (to be shipped separately in summer 2022)

For an extra £30, the Super-Deluxe edition adds:

  • Super Deluxe edition box
  • Luxury hardcover memorabilia album
  • Replica Stingray pressbook
  • Two bespoke art prints
  • Stingray aqua blue 7″ vinyl EP

Both sets are expected to be released in April 2022, and can be pre-ordered now at Network.

In the meantime, to whet your appetite A Christmas To Remember is available to stream, free of charge, until 18:00 on Sunday 26th December.

Have A Christmas To Remember!

Following hot on the heels of their recent You’ve Never Seen These night, Network are offering fans a chance to watch another episode of Stingray in high definition!

From 19:00 on Wednesday 22nd December, Network will be streaming their remastered A Christmas To Remember episode, free! And, from the teaser preview, it looks in even better quality than Treasure Down Below, which they showed previously.

The episode will then be available to watch over and over again, free, until 18:00 on Sunday 26th December! Don’t miss out – register for your free Network On Air account now!

EXTENDED: four special offers for our 40th year

OFFERS EXTENDED: As members are still receiving FAB 98 (due to postal delays) we’ve extended this offer until the end of September.

As a special celebratory offer to club members for the whole of August* – our 40th anniversary month – we’re offering a whopping 40% off four popular items of our fantastic, exclusive, merchandise:

All these offers and lots more great exclusive merchandise, always just for Fanderson members, is now in the Shop.

*Obviously, as stocks last, as all our merchandise is limited edition.

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.

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!

40 FAB Years: FAB Book Of View-Master Sets available again

Originally our membership gift in 2011, due to overwhelming demand from club members, our exclusive FAB Book Of View-Master Sets is back!

This 60 page, full colour book includes high-quality images from the Supercar, StingrayThunderbirds, Joe 90UFO, Space:1999 and Terrahawks sets, booklet details, plus a brief look at View-Master advertising.

 

NEW! Cereal promotions book and more!

Now available in the Fanderson Shop are four new, exclusive club items:

Click on the links to see more and place your orders!

Plenty to enjoy on Gerry Anderson anniversary

As the anniversary of Gerry Anderson’s birthday (14th April) draws near, broadcasters and streaming services in the UK are planning to celebrate!

On the day itself, BritBox in the UK will offer Gerry Anderson’s Greatest Episodes. This will apparently include Gerry’s favourite ten episodes of his own productions, including linking material by the man himself. The episodes are:

  1. Stingray Pilot
  2. Thunderbirds Trapped In The Sky
  3. Thunderbirds Terror In New York City
  4. Thunderbirds Attack Of The Alligators
  5. Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons The Mysterons
  6. Joe 90 The Most Special Agent
  7. UFO A Question Of Priorities
  8. UFO Reflections In The Water
  9. Space:1999 Breakaway
  10. Space:1999 Black Sun

Surprisingly, the selection doesn’t include Gerry and Sylvia’s least known series – The Secret Service – which Gerry had told fans on many occasions was his personal favourite of all his series (and is also available on BritBox). Keen Fanderson members will know that all these episodes have been on BritBox since January, although the linking material will be new to the platform. Normally costing £5.99 per month, if you sign up to BritBox now you get a free 7-day trial.

Network Distributing are offering another of their popular Night In experiences from 14th April via their streaming platform. At just over 4½-hours, Gerry Anderson’s Night In includes Supercar False Alarm, Fireball XL5 A Day In The Life Of A Space General, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons The Inquisition, Joe 90 The Birthday, UFO A Question Of Priorities, Space: 1999 Black Sun, Terrahawks Close Call and New Captain Scarlet Dominion in high-definition (all already available on Blu-ray Disc). Each episode has a special introduction, and special features include “some Supermarionation commercials advertising everything from Sugar Smacks to… er, more Sugar Smacks….”. All for just £4.99 for 7-day access!

The UK’s Forces TV (Freeview/YouView 96, Freesat 165, Sky 181, and Virgin 274) is inviting UFO fans to choose their favourite episode from the pre-selected shortlist of Mindbender, Sub-Smash, A Question Of Priorities, Reflections In The Water and The Cat With Ten Lives. Voting closed on 10th April. The winning episode will be broadcast at 10pm on 14th April (repeated on 17th April at 9pm), accompanied by some “never before seen on TV” footage including Gerry giving a very special introduction to the winning episode. UFO fans immediately expressed their dismay at the seemingly arbitrary episode selection, which would appear to be geared to those for which it was possible to create an introduction by the man himself.

Shout! Factory are also holding a 24-hour marathon of Anderson productions on the day for viewers in territories with the Shout! Factory TV streaming service.