We are saddened to hear of the death of Martin Landau at the age of 89.
Martin died suddenly on Saturday in Los Angeles of “unexpected complications” following a hospital visit. His death was announced by his publicist Dick Guttman, saying: “We are overcome with sadness.”
Perhaps most famous for his role as Rollin Hand, magician, actor and master of disguise in Mission:Impossible, he will always be remembered by Anderson fans for playing the much-loved Moonbase Commander Koenig in Space: 1999.
Fanderson will start piloting deliveries of FAB magazine and sales items later this year.
Initially the pilot will be restricted to south east England, where the club has the highest density of members in the country. The decision comes after Amazon Prime successfully trialed drone deliveries in America last year, cutting delivery times by up to 60%.
Best of all – look at the drone we’ve been able to acquire from a specialist manufacturer! If the pilot is successful, we hope to expand our delivery fleet to include an Angel Interceptor, Fireball XL5 and – of course – a Space:1999 Transporter Eagle!
I won, M’lady!
Lord Parker can now finally go on his ‘oliday, this evening saw the premiere of a brand new Thunderbirds advert on ITV. The advert is part of a campaign run by Halifax in which Parker finally experiences a change in fortunes by winning the top prize of £500,000 in the Halifax Savers Prize Draw Superdraw.
The advert made its TV premiere on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, and follows a series of Halifax campaigns in which the bank is visited by the Flintstones, Top Cat and Scooby Doo and the gang.
We are saddened to hear of the death of Robert Vaughn today, aged 83.
Vaughn starred as Harry Rule in both seasons of The Protectors, the Andersons’ live-action crime thriller that was produced between 1971 to 1973.
Although he was prolific screen actor, he is perhaps best known for the role of Napoleon Solo in the 1960s spy parody The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Other notable roles include the villainous Ross Webster in Superman III and, more recently, aging con artist Albert Stroller in Hustle.
He will be missed by all fans of cult TV and film.
The second series of Thunderbirds Are Go blasted on to television screens on 22nd October, with a double bill of episodes on ITV1.
In its new Saturday afternoon slot, the series launched with Earthbreaker (how did they resist going for the title ‘Groundbreaker’?), an episode that introduces the Mechanic, a ruthless techno-villain with mysterious links to the now-imprisoned Hood, and features a Thunderbird 2 crash landing that pays tribute to the original Thunderbirds episode, Terror in New York City. Jenna Coleman guest starred in the episode as Baines, the leader of a hapless survey team that ends up being rescued by Scott.
Following a pattern established in the first series, the second story was a space-bound affair. In Ghost Ship, International Rescue explore a spooky abandoned space ship called EDEN, and introduces the X-O Pod, a suit that enables John to undertake his own rescue missions out in space. Sounds like a new toy from Vivid could be in the offing…
Want to talk about series 2?
What did you think of the new episodes? Who is the Mechanic and what is his relationship with the Hood? Will we finally find out what happened to Jeff?!
The Fanderson Forum’s Series 2 episode review section is a great place to tell us your thoughts.
Thirty-five years ago, on this very day, eight fans of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s work gathered at Pinewood Studios with Gerry himself and Keith Shackleton to discuss the formation of the provisionally-entitled ‘Anderclan’. At ITC Entertainment’s request, these representatives of the various Anderson appreciation clubs and societies were asked to form a single group that both ITC and Gerry would support.
Minutes of that meeting show other club names considered before a final choice of ‘Fanderson’ was made, and that the proposed £5 membership fee would include a pen, badge, membership card, a photo of Gerry Anderson, a photo montage and four issues of SiG magazine. Although the Fanderson 81 convention had been and gone, there was no talk of a further event, nor any detail of merchandise possibilities. Instead, at a time before the internet was widespread, there was much talk of answering letters and stamped-addressed envelopes!
Fast forward 35 years and we’ve since published 83 issues of our own magazine, independent of SiG, with an 84th on its way very soon. We’ve staged an amazing 38 conventions, bringing fans closer to the technicians and artists who worked on our favourite shows. We’ve raised thousands of Pounds for charities including Guide Dogs, Baby Lifeline, Macmillan Cancer Care, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Terrence Higgins Trust, Alzheimer’s Society, Diabetes UK, Children In Need and International Rescue Corps. We continue to work with the owners and licensees of products based on Gerry and Sylvia’s programmes. And our own merchandise puts much commercial product in the shade – especially our much-lauded series of soundtrack CDs.
But in 35 years what hasn’t changed is that this is still a club run by fans, for fans. So, raise a glass to Fanderson – you’re part of something very special.
A fundraising initiative to raise money for a plaque commemorating Gerry Anderson is calling on support from fans.
Gerry’s parents Joseph and Deborah Abrahams lived at 50 West End Lane in Kilburn from 1929 to 1935. This was a large detached house on the corner of Woodchurch Road and is now occupied by Sidney Boyd Court. Gerry also attended Kingsgate Primary School in Kingsgate Road, Kilburn, walking each day down Messina or Cotleigh Road.
The Historic Kilburn Plaque Scheme has proposed that a plaque should go on both Kingsgate School and Sidney Boyd Court in memory of Gerry.
Make a donation
If you would like to make a donation, please send a cheque payable to the “Historic Kilburn Plaque Scheme” to:
Ed Fordham, Scheme administrator, 7 Douglas Court, Quex Road, London, NW6 4PT
If you want to find out how else you can help with unveiling the plaque, or supporting other projects in Kilburn, you can email Ed at ed.fordham@gmail.com or phone him on 07974 950 512
Kingsgate School
Sidney Boyd Court
We are saddened to hear that the co-founder of A.P. Films, Arthur Provis, has died.
Born in 1925 in Reading, Berkshire, Arthur made a career as a photographer in the Navy before founding A.P. Films with Gerry Anderson in 1957. Together they went on to produce Twizzle and Torchy the Battery Boy before pioneering the Supermarionation process with Four Feather Falls. Arthur left the company in 1959 to team up with Roberta Leigh, with whom he made Sarah and Hoppity in 1961 and Space Patrol in 1962.
Arthur’s role in the history of Supermarionation received fresh recognition when he appeared in Filmed in Supermarionation, a documentary directed by Stephen La Rivière and released in 2014.
CITV has commissioned a third series of 26 Thunderbirds Are Go episodes from ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures. With series 2 currently under production, this means a commitment to a total of 78 episodes, and reflects the growing commercial success of the Thunderbirds Are Go brand.
2016 has already seen the series marching into new markets. A new trailer was unveiled at Wondercon in Los Angeles in March to mark the show’s roll out into the on-demand media space. Thunderbirds are Go is scheduled to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on April 22nd, with the first 13 episodes available for streaming. Ahead of the launch, Prime members will get a sneak preview with the one-hour special Ring of Fire: Parts 1 and 2.
Building on a consolidated audience of 3 million people in the UK, the series has since been sold to over 40 countries, and had notable successes in New Zealand, where it was the most-watched children’s show across all channels in 2015.
Meanwhile, Vivid Imaginations continues to expand their impressive range of Thunderbirds Are Go toys. The latest additions include an articulated Kayo action figure, a Brains and M.A.X action figure twin pack, and FAB 1, with retractable wings and sound effects.
Sylvia Anderson, writer, television and film producer – but probably best known the world over as the voice of Thunderbirds’ Lady Penelope – has died at the age of 88, following a short illness.
On hearing the news, Fanderson chairman Nick Williams paid tribute to her:
“Sylvia’s talents and contribution to the AP Films/Century 21 productions have always been acknowledged by Fanderson members, and I was delighted that she could experience this by a long-overdue standing ovation from hundreds of fans at our convention The Future Is Fantastic! in 2015.
“For many years the club had been unable to make contact with Sylvia, and I was so pleased to make amends for this a couple of years ago when we finally met. She was a gracious hostess, full of fun stories and lots of laughter.”
Together with her former husband Gerry Anderson, Sylvia co-created and produced some of the best known family entertainment, including Stingray, UFO and Space:1999. Whilst Gerry was more interested in the technical side of film-making, Sylvia brought humanity and an avant-garde fashion sense to their ventures. But Sylvia will always be best remembered for her puppet creation in Thunderbirds – the aristocratic London agent of International Rescue, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward.
Following the breakdown of her marriage to Gerry, Sylvia Anderson forged a new career for herself by scouting out new talent as Head of Programming in the UK for the Home Box Office cable network. She had recently co-created and was developing a new television series, The Last Station, with her daughter Dee. And just last year she was re-introduced to the world of International Rescue when she recorded the voice of Lady Penelope’s Great Aunt Sylvia for ITV’s new series Thunderbirds Are Go.
Sylvia leaves a daughter, Dee Anderson, and a son, Gerry Anderson Jr.
Fanderson will pay a full tribute to Sylvia Anderson in FAB 83, due in April 2016
