Win a De luxe Thunderbirds jigsaw puzzle!

Thunderbirds Jumbo jigsawFanderson has teamed up with Jumbo Games to offer fans the chance to win one  of five de luxe Thunderbirds jigsaw sets.

Released to mark the 50th anniversary of the original Thunderbirds series, this beautiful Collector’s Box Set contains three 500-piece jigsaws depicting craft, characters and famous scenes from the series. Measuring roughly 49cm x 35cm, each jigsaw puzzle comes packaged in its own individual presentation box, and is made from high-quality cardboard to ensure that every piece is hard-wearing.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is enter the competition that will appear in FAB 81, which will be on its way to  Fanderson members at the end of July.

 And if you just can’t wait until then, you can buy the box set from Amazon right now!

Not yet a Fanderson member?  You can join here.

Thunderbirds merchMAKER launches customisable classic Thunderbirds apparel

Thunderbirds merchmaker

Would you like a t-shirt that displays Parker’s words of wisdom? Or a hoodie with one of the Hood’s trademark curses? Well, now you can make your own!

Thunderbirds fans can now customise their very own licensed classic Thunderbirds apparel thanks to merchMAKER.

For the first time ever, Thunderbirds fans are now in complete control of their apparel. Creating your own customised Thunderbirds clothes couldn’t be easier:

  • Choose your favourite design from a specially categorised image library, followed by your favourite product (hoodies, zoodies, t-shirts, sweatshirts and varsity jackets).
  • Personalise your creation in one of 3 ways: with your name, a famous quote from the series, or with a personalised quote.
  • Add your creation to your basket and complete your transaction!

What will you choose? 

You can choose from 80 designs, 72 Thunderbirds quotes and a incredible 276,480 product combinations! How about…

  • ‘Thunderbirds are go (your name)!’
  • ‘On my way to Tracy Island with (your name)’
  • ‘(your name), no strings attached’
  • ‘(your name) Calling International Rescue’

Special Offer!

A special 25% discount is offered exclusive to Fanderson followers, just use the code TB01 when checking out. To ensure you receive the latest updates on the Thunderbirds merchMAKER visit thunderbirds.merch-maker.co.uk.

Classic Thunderbirds chess set and trivia games to be released

Thunderbirds chess set

Fanderson has been given a first glimpse of two exciting new products from Tactic Games that will be released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of classic Thunderbirds. Both games form part of ITV Studios Global Entertainment’s new range of Gerry Anderson licensed products announced in March.

The Thunderbirds Classic 50th Anniversary Chess Game features a 29.2 x 29.2 cm playing board with capped corners, a leather-style matt finish and an image of Thunderbird 3 in the centre. The playing pieces are beautifully finished in silver and gun metal plating, and are made from die cast chrome. The two sides comprise:

  • Jeff Tracy – King
  • Lady Penelope – Queen
  • Thunderbird 3 – Bishop X 2
  • Thunderbird 2 – Knight X 2
  • Thunderbird 1 – Castle
  • The Thunderbirds – Pawns

Thunderbirds Chess Set packaging

 

The Thunderbirds Classic 50th Anniversary Trivia Game comes with 1,000 questions based upon the episodes from the iconic TV show. There will be 400 question cards, including 100 picture cards. The set also includes multiple choice answers, a circular playing board and collecting bases (scoring discs), 36 x scoring pieces and 6 playing pawns.

Prices and release dates for both products have yet to be released.

2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Thunderbirds. Celebrations include events, commemorative and limited edition merchandise and a new series re-imagining this all time classic for a new generation: Thunderbirds Are Go. Thunderbirds Are Go airs on CITV and ITV every Saturday at 8am.

 

Thunderbirds trivia game

Thunderbirds Trivia Game

Sylvia Anderson to appear at The Future is Fantastic!

sylvia-anderson-crew

Fanderson is thrilled to announce that Sylvia Anderson has agreed to appear in her first-ever Fanderson convention this October. Sylvia has expressed the view that she thinks The Future is Fantastic! will be ‘very special’, and now leads a formidable list of guests who will be appearing at the event.

Producer, writer and voice actress, Sylvia Anderson worked with her husband Gerry in the 1960s and 1970s to co-create most of the series and films that Fanderson celebrates today. She is famous for developing the characterisation and costumes of these productions – particularly in Thunderbirds, where she both voiced and designed the look of Lady Penelope. Fittingly, she is set to return to the new Thunderbirds Are Go as Lady Penelope’s Great Aunt Sylvia this year. She has also recently been developing a new animated series called the The Last Station in collaboration with her daughter, Dee.

So far, the full list of guests announced for The Future is Fantastic! is:

sylvia-anderson-space-1999

The most up to date guest list can be found here

PLEASE NOTE:

Ticket prices for The Future is Fantastic will be increasing in April, so this is your last chance to buy your tickets at the full discounted price!

The Future is Fantastic! will take place over the weekend of 2nd to the 4th October 2015 at the Holiday Inn Maidenhead.

As well as a wonderful array of special guest panels and interviews, Fanderson’s first full-weekend convention in five years will also feature:

  • rare screenings
  • displays of models, puppets and artwork
  • exclusive merchandise
  • interactive workshops
  • games…

…plus a few other surprises!

In the meantime, you can…

sylvia-anderson-space-1999-cake sylvia-anderson-space-1999-2


What do you think of the exciting news about Sylvia’s involvement at the convention? Let us know below by posting your comment below!

New Thunderbirds board game gets amazing fan backing

Thunderbird boardgame

Stretch goalsA Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a new Thunderbirds board game designed by Matt Leacock has smashed all expectations only days into the campaign. With 25 days still to run, over 2,100 backers have pledged nearly £140,000 in an amazing show of support for The Thunderbirds Co-operative Boardgame.

From an initial £20,000 goal to raise funds for the moulds for the game’s plastic models and production, no less than TEN MORE goals have already been reached! The full list of stretch goals can be seen on the right (click to expand).

The success of the project has led to a number of new stretch goals being introduced, including a ‘Play The Hood Expansion’ which will allow a 5th player to join the game and play as the villainous Hood!

Playing the game

A collaboration between hit board game designer Matt Leacock (Pandemic, Forbidden Desert / Forbidden Island) and Modiphius Entertainment, Thunderbirds is a ‘co-operative boardgame’ where the players get the chance to test their skills as members of International Rescue. You and up to three other players take on the role of International Rescue while your arch nemesis, The Hood, is threatening to trigger terrible disasters around the world in an effort to learn your secrets. If you can foil his scheme while completing your missions, then you and your fellow players win the game!

While each player adopts a different character in the game – you could be Scott Tracy or Lady Penelope! – all the characters can operate any of the different vehicles used in the game. You might load up the Mole into Thunderbird 2, fly to Tracy Island, then hop into Thunderbird 3 with Alan and dock with Thunderbird 5 in geo-stationary orbit! The permutations of gameplay are practically limitless and reflect the fact that this is an exciting and intelligent strategy game for players of +10 years. You’ll use all of the vehicles at your disposal to complete different missions around the world and in outer space, and you’ll be continually weighing the threat of any of these individual missions against the overall danger of The Hood’s scheme. Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?!

Watch this video to get a run through of the game

What you comes with the game?

The basic game comes with six vehicle models, character pegs and a whole host of cards that define the disasters, events and bonuses that take place throughout the game. The first expansion (stretch goal achieved!) means that you can now choose to add 10 sculpted pod vehicles to your gameboard!

Sculpted pod vehicles

Here at Fanderson we were lucky enough to have an early play of the game in its near-finished form, and we can’t wait to see the final version. Keep your eyes peeled in FAB and this website for an exclusive interview with Matt Leacock and Chris Birch, founder of Modiphius Entertainment.

Make your pledge

In the meantime, there’s still plenty of time for you to make your pledge and grab your own copy of the game. A pledge of £40 gets you the basic game and all base game upgrades, while higher pledge levels will guarantee you the game plus the extremely cool expansions that have already secured in the campaign.

Pledge to the Kickstarter campaign!

Thunderbirds 50th anniversary coins revealed

Thunderbirds coinsNew Zealand Mint is releasing a limited edition coin series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Thunderbirds.

The coins are scheduled to coincide with the launch of ITV’s eagerly anticipated new series, Thunderbirds Are Go. The first coin is a 1 oz silver coin that features a gold-plated Thunderbirds 50th Anniversary logo. It comes packaged in a smart Thunderbirds-themed coin case. Surely the perfect gift for anyone looking to celebrate the big 5-0!

“Our design team has really enjoyed the challenge of working with these icons of 1960s entertainment and translating the classic Thunderbirds designs onto silver coins. We believe that Thunderbirds fans and collectors will be thrilled to see the coin series revealed over the next few months” said New Zealand Mint Chief Executive, Simon Harding.

The first coin release is now available at www.nzmint.com, and is priced at NZ$112.00. The coin has a limited mintage of only 5,000 coins worldwide.

The coins will be issued as legal tender of the South Pacific island nation of Niue, and feature the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the year-date and the monetary denomination on the obverse.

Many thanks to Robert Hill, who provided the these gorgeous pictures of the first coin!

Thunderbirds 50th anniversary coin - box and coin Thunderbirds 50th anniversary coin - from New Zealand Mint Thunderbirds 50th anniversary coin and base Thunderbirds 50th anniversary coin - booklet Thunderbirds 50th anniversary coin Thunderbirds 50th anniversary coin - box

 

Alan Shubrook’s 50th Anniversary Thunderbirds Special

Alan Shubrook - Thunderbird anniversary special

Alan Shubrook

Ian Fryer reviews a beautiful Thunderbirds publication from Alan Shubrook.

AP Films/Century 21 special effects technician Alan Shubrook has followed up his book Century 21 FX with a lavishly illustrated 16-page glossy brochure celebrating the 50th production on Thunderbirds. The brochure makes a real effort to take the reader back to the heady days of the mid 1960s.

Although this is largely a Thunderbirds-focused publication, other series get a look-in. Happily, this includes one of my own favourites, Joe 90. Alan reveals that this was a series much-loved by the crew, its production taking place in a more relaxed, creative atmosphere than the hectic Thunderbirds/Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons period.

With the announcement of the closing of Century 21 Studios in late 1969 there is the sense of an opportunity missed that the studio wasn’t converted into a effects studio for hire for other productions. Alas, although the studio did indeed do a small amount of such work, this was probably the right idea some five or six years too early. Had Lew Grade been willing to fund such a project is would undoubtedly have been crushed by the terrible recession that engulfed the British film industry in 1973.

The brochure is very well-written and contains a fabulous set of stills, mostly taken by Alan Shubrook, a keen photographer, himself. It is now available to be purchased via Ebay here

Alan will be doing THUNDERBIRDS 50TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATIONS LOOKING BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAKING OF THUNDERBIRDS, WITH OVER 350 PHOTOGRAPHS on Sunday 11th May RAF Museum Hendon then Saturday and Sunday 17th & 18th May RAF Museum Cosford.

Are you a Thunderbirds expert?

Victory Television, the makers of shows such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire, are looking for people who are experts on Thunderbirds for the pilot of a new competitive entertainment show.

If you think you’re up for the challenge, and regard yourself as a Thunderbirds expert, please e-mail Arfan_arif@victorytelevision.com to find out more!

Good luck, everyone!

Andrew Skilleter Thunderbirds artwork on sale

Andrew Skilleter Thunderbirds artwork on saleProfessional Gerry Anderson artist Andrew Skilleter is offering six new Anderson art prints of Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for sale. The famous craft are accompanied by their Tracy brother pilots, together with FAB1 and Lady Penelope. The print range has also recently been expanded to include Stingray and Captain Scarlet.

These prints are privately published and are only available direct from the artist. For images and full details on how to buy, plus his Gerry Anderson magazine artwork, check out Andrew’s Facebook page.

Shane and Sheila Rimmer Celebrate Golden Anniversary

Sheila and Shane Rimmer

www.times-series.co.uk  has published an article about how Shane Rimmer first met his wife, Sheila. The piece marks the couple’s  golden wedding anniversary and reveals that the voice of Thunderbird 1 pilot Scott Tracy met his wife of 50 years in 1962 when they were entertaining armed forces in Turkey.

According to Sheila the secret of a happy marriage is a mixture of meditation, philosophy and a sense of humour!

Read the article here

Many congratulations to the happy couple from Fanderson.