Thunderbirds Are Go

David Graham RIP

Posted on by Parker

In tribute to legendary Anderson voice artist David Graham, who died earlier today, Talking Pictures have re-released their mini-documentary about the actor.

Filmed by Fanderson member Jeff Smart, Talking Thunderbirds is a series of documentaries featuring interviews with people involved in making our favourite puppet TV show. In this episode, David Graham discusses his career, where the inspiration for Parker’s voice came from, being the voice of the Daleks, and other varieties of characters he’s voiced!

Encore is a free service – watch via the red button on internet-connected Freeview TVs,  or register to gain access to a wealth of classic television and films.

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.

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.

 

 

 

FAB 98: Winging its way to you!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

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!

Thunderbirds Are Go free draw winners

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

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)!

Thunderbirds Are Go free draw

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Are you a Thunderbirds Are Go superfan? We’ve got some money-can’t buy items that were produced by ITV to promote the series, which we’d like to share with club members who are the biggest fans of the series.

To be in with a chance of winning one of our free draw prizes, just email fanderson.org.uk@outlook.com with answers to the following questions:

  • 5: How many episodes of Thunderbirds Are Go were made?
  • 4: Who provided Jeff Tracy’s voice in Thunderbirds Are Go?
  • 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)?
  • 2: Thunderbirds Are Go was an international effort, with people in many countries involved. Name two of those countries.
  • 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.
  • Finally, include your full name, Fanderson membership number and address.

Terms and conditions:

  • We must receive your entry by Saturday 31st July 2021 to be entered into the draw.
  • In the case of multiple entries, the last received by us will be entered into the draw and all earlier entries will be discarded.
  • Entries that do not match details held on the Fanderson membership database will be discarded.
  • All valid correct entries will be drawn at random until all the prizes have been allocated.
  • This draw has no cash value and no alternative prizes will be offered.

Good luck!

Thunderbirds Are Go’s finale – The Long Reach part two – premieres this Saturday, 22nd February

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

The final Thunderbirds Are Go episode, The Long Reach part two premieres at 8:30am this Saturday, 22nd February, on ITV and CITV, repeated Sunday at 5:55pm on CITV or catch up afterwards on the ITV Hub.

International Rescue attempt their most difficult mission ever while defending Tracy Island from a dangerous assault.

Easter Eggs: A dialogue reference to needing to ‘wear the hat’ is a nod to the original uniform hats from Thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds Aren’t (Le)Go!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Sadly, it doesn’t look like Thunderbirds will be go in Lego form, at least not any time soon!

You may remember that last May Fanderson members rallied to get Andrew Clark’s Thunderbirds Are Go Lego Ideas project over the 10,000 supporter line. This qualified it to be part of Lego’s official project review, and the results were announced live on Facebook today.

Eleven projects were considered in this review:

  • Thunderbirds Are Go by AndrewClark2 (click on ‘Updates’ on the page to see the Thunderbirds version)

 

plus Medieval Blacksmith by Namirob and Winnie the Pooh by benlouisa which will go forward to become official Lego sets.

Check out the Lego Ideas site for more amazing Anderson-inspired designs.

Thunderbirds Are Go’s two-part finale starts this Saturday, 15th February – The Long Reach part one

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

The penultimate Thunderbirds Are Go episode, The Long Reach part one premieres at 8:30am this Saturday, 15th February, on ITV and CITV, repeated Sunday at 5:55pm on CITV or catch up afterwards on the ITV Hub.

International Rescue attempt their most difficult mission ever while defending Tracy Island from a dangerous assault.