Thunderbirds

Martin Roberts on Celebrity Mastermind this Saturday

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

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]

Podcast 7 available now!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

Let’s start a happy new year…

Click here for Podcast 7.

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.

Stingray and The Secret Service added to Britbox

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

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.

FAB 96 has been posted

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

We’re delighted to report that FAB 96 was mailed to all members around the world on 25th November. It started to land in UK members’ homes on the 30th, and we hope will be with all members in time for Christmas. Please check our post update before contacting us.

Included in this issue:

  • Andrew Pixley’s in-depth look at The Secret Service, and why the series was doomed even without Lew Grade’s critical reaction
  • members give their views on Thunderbirds 30 Minutes After Noon in our regular Timelash column, with exclusive Glen Carrick Castle cutaway by Graham Bleathman
  • Ian Wheeler’s critical assessment of whether Gerry Anderson should be considered a puppet master or master dramatist
  • the third part of Jeff Smart’s recollections of recording the A&E DVD commentaries, including The Secret Service, The Protectors and Terrahawks, and how these then led on to featurettes for Shout! Factory’s releases in 2015
  • the third part of our look at UFO in Countdown and TV Action comics, by Ian Fryer
  • the second part of our exclusive Thunderbirds Are Go photo-strip by Jonathan Baxter
  • FAB news, FAB noticeboard, FAB Review, FAB Mail and more

Also, being mailed so close to what will, for many of us, be a quite unusual Christmas, we’ve included a couple of little seasonal goodies that we hope will make you smile.

Hundreds more members (those who have renewed their membership since FAB 95) will also receive the fantastic Century 21 Complete Puppet Catalogue – our current membership gift. Don’t worry if your membership expires with FAB 96 – as long as we receive your renewal by 1st February 2021 we’ll mail your copy with FAB 97 in the spring.

OOPS! The eagle-eyed among you will notice a small mistake in the ‘rest of the world’ price for The Secret Service soundtrack CD. Rest assured, our shop has the correct price.

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!

Once again, we’re mailing FAB magazine in a 100% compostable bag, made from potato and maize starch. 

Don’t throw it in your bin, but check with your local recycling and either:

  • put it in your home composter
  • put it in with your garden waste, or
  • use it to line your food waste caddy

Support Lego Ideas Thunderbird 2!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

In 2019, thousands of club members and fans supported Andrew Clark’s Lego Ideas project. Sadly, though it reached the 10,000 supporters to be included in the official review by Lego, it wasn’t selected to become a set that we could all buy.

Now, Andrew has re-worked his project to ditch the interchangeable Thunderbirds/Thunderbirds Are Go elements to be solely the classic Thunderbird 2 from the Thunderbirds TV series. Read more and pledge your support now by clicking here.

Lego Ideas was set up so that budding Lego set designers could see their design made into sets that we could all buy. Fans can click to support the designs they like and, if a project gets over 10,000 supporters, it goes on to be assessed by the Lego team as a potential set.

Since Lego Ideas was set up in 2010 (as Lego Cuusoo), 35 sets have been produced on a wide range of topics. Andrew Clark has been luckier than most budding designers, as his Doctor Who and The Flintstones sets were both chosen to become reality.

You can see more Anderson designs on the Lego Ideas site.

Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO and Space:1999 on Britbox from 20th August

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

After dipping their toe in the water with a selection of episodes this spring, Britbox (the digital video subscription service created by the BBC and ITV) will launch a raft of cult favourites on 20th August 2020 (coincidentally, Fanderson’s 39th anniversary).

The Out Of This World Collection will be available exclusively on BritBox (in the UK), and includes:

Thunderbirds (1965)

The initial ten episode collection is being expanded and will now feature all 32 episodes of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s cult Supermarionation series.

Also included are the three mini-episodes, based on 1960s mini albums and crowd-funded by fans for Thunderbirds’ 50th anniversary in 2015.

Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons (1967)

All 32 episodes of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s cult Supermarionation series chronicling Captain Scarlet’s battle to save Earth from a Mysteron invasion.

UFO (1970)

All 26 episodes of the British sci-fi series set in 1980 as Earth is being invaded by aliens fleeing their dying planet and seeking human organs to extend their lifespan. Specialist task force SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation), headed by Commander Ed Straker (Ed Bishop), must defend Earth against these mysterious hostile creatures while containing knowledge of them to avoid widespread panic.

Space:1999 (1975)

Every episode of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s popular science fiction series. Commander Koenig (Martin Landau) and the crew of Moonbase Alpha face various alien threats as they drift, powerless, throughout space.

The Prisoner (1967)

All 17 episodes of the television drama created by and starring Patrick McGoohan. A former British secret agent is abducted and held captive in a strange coastal village while those who captured him try to discover the truth of why he suddenly resigned from his position.

Sapphire And Steel (1979)

The complete collection featuring all six seasons and 34 episodes from the 1980s sci-fi series starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum as Sapphire and Steel, the mysterious agents charged with protecting the universe from the malevolent forces of time with their uncanny powers. Created by P.J. Hammond.

Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969)

The complete episodes of Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt as Jeff Randall, Kenneth Cope as his ghostly partner Marty Hopkirk and Annette Andre as Marty’s widow Jean.

That’s not Captain Scarlet. That’s Thunderbirds!

Posted on by 1266 Nick Williams

We honestly thought we’d sold our last copy of the 4CD Thunderbirds soundtrack boxset at our Supercelebration convention last year.

So, you can imagine Fanderson Sales’ supremo Stephen Brown’s surprise when, during a bit of lockdown housekeeping at our secure storage unit, he found that a box marked Captain Scarlet CDs actually had Thunderbirds inside! This find means that just 40 lucky club members who were unable to get the album before will now get another chance!

To give anyone who’s interested the chance to hear this great news and count their shekels beforehand, we’ll set them live in the Fanderson Shop on Saturday. Prices will be £39.75 UK, £43.50 Europe, £45.75 rest of the world.

Orders will be restricted to just one copy per member. 

We can’t give an exact time, but it will around lunchtime in the UK. And this time, when they’re gone, they’re gone. Honest!