Any Gerry Anderson fans here?

[Dr Leg O Brick]

Hi, just curious, is there any Gerry Anderson fans here? I grew up on Thunderbirds, and then moved on to Captain Scarlet, Space 1999, UFO, and Joe 90. Strangely though, I was never really into Stingray and I never actually seen any Fireball XL5 till it came out on DVD. Thunderbirds was half the reason I've strove to become a Engineer, Space 1999 taught me the dangers of Nuclear waste, and Captain Scarlet scared the c*** out of me when I was five. Its a fantastic show, but seriously, have you seen the violence in the show? Till this day, I'm nervous around car lifts, high voltage cables, high rise car parks, and cliffs. Anything after Space 1999 I found kind of meh, never liked terrahawks or the CGI Captain Scarlet, it was good, but it never lived up to what the original was to me. So, in conclusion, who here likes his, the great Gerry Anderson's, work?

[Gryphon Ink]

Space: 1999 was one of my favorite shows as a kid, and I still think the Eagle is one of the greatest spaceship designs ever. Thunderbirds is a classic, too. I never caught any of his other shows.

[BEAVeR]

Thunderbirds rules!

Recently, I bought the full collection on DVD, and I'm enjoying it soooo much. The extra technical drawings of the Thunderbirds are nice too.

Besides, I've made a micro MOC about the Thunderbirds, featuring an 7-bricks Mole. Once I've made some more, I'll certainly post it!

[lightningtiger]

Ah, Thunderbirds.....Brains, Tin-Tin, Alan who loved racing cars......memories are flooding back......oh, yeah and so too Space 1999......those Eagles were so cool. You know if it wasn't for Gerry Anderson.....in a way we might not have Star Wars ?

Anyway, I have one thing to add......F.A.B. !

Edited November 15, 2013 by lightningtiger

[kaitain]

Yep I'm a fan, and have even created a couple of MOCs (see Flickr sets below).

Here's my take on "Marineville" from "Stingray".

and a Captain Scarlet 6x figure.

I'm looking forward to the new Thunderbirds series when its released in 2015, but still need to catch up with the CGI Captain Scarlet in the meantime.

TTFN

Kaitain

[robuko]

Is anybody not a Gerry Anderson fan?

[Captain Settle]

Ha, I used to have a Thunderbirds costume that I wore all the time. Ah the nostalgia...

[dr_spock]

Used to watch Thunderbirds and UFO after school. Space 1999 was on in the evening. I had a Space 1999 Eagle plastic model kit.

[Faefrost]

Huge Gerry Anderson fan. Especially any of his shows centered around Derek Meddings wonderful ship designs.

[Dr Leg O Brick]

Wow, I never, ever, thought anyone here watched Anderson's shows. I thought his shows where long forgotten by everyone, its great to know so many from so far have seen and loved his work, thanks for proving me wrong everyone.

BEAVeR-I'm not sure weather you know, but some, if not all of the cross sections on the DVD are available in a rare book, Thunderbirds FAB cross-sections. Its fantastic for those who love to see how things work. At the same time, they did a similar book, supermarionation cross-sections, with stuff from Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, and some of the Thunderbirds cross-sections from the other book (I see an enlarged Marineville page in kaitain's photos). I greatly look forward to your Mini MOC, I've always loved the pod vehicles, particularly the Mole and the Firefly. And enjoy the DVD's, I bought the set just after Gerry Anderson passed away, I'm sure you’ll have even more enjoyment out of them.

kaitain-Them MOCs are stunning. You captured the feel of Marineville perfectly with the Architecture of the buildings, the exit tunnel from the pens, and somehow spot on got the look of the vehicles as well, which I find extremely hard to accomplish at that size. I love the amount of detail the original model makers put in to those background vehicles seen in Stingray, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet, I always loved the ambulances/crash tenders. The entrance at the side with the foliage is mind boggling detailed, the use of minifig back pegs for railings are great. And where do I start with Captain Scarlet? Your attention to detail on him rivals Marineville. The flip down communicator, his gun, the spot-on greebles on his jet-pack, I can see him flying away from an SPV at a hijacked helicopter above Expo 2068 right now. The Captain Scarlet CGI is very good, just very different to the original, less violent as you might expect.

Captain Settle-I had a Virgil costume, I don't know why as Scot was always my favourite, and to be honest I don't remember it much either. I do, however, remember my Nan making me a very good Captain Scarlet costume. First thing I did was leap of my Grandad's shed roof to see if I was indestructible while playing with my friends. I wasn’t.

And I love the Eagle! One of my favourite designs, I still have a battered old green and red Dinky one on my desk. Its just such a good looking design, beautiful yet robust and tough.

[CF Mitch]

Whoah, coolness!

Yes, I am a Fanderson

Mainly Thunderbirds. There's still so much of that show, that affects me today. Or if anything reminds me of the type of machinery used by International Rescue.

I always have a slight nerdgasm when I see that type of equipment

I have all the episodes on dvd, the two movies, Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6 plus the live-action movie (please don't kill me )

Captain Scarlet I used to love as well. A lot less now, though. It's mainly nostalgia at the moment.

Stingray is the only other show I actually know and watch(ed) besides the previous two. It has a certain charm as well, but the fish people scare the crap out of me, nine out of ten times

Also, all the people who had or have Thunderbirds costumes: Being very jealous here. For many years as a kid, everytime my aunt went to England or somewhere in the U.S. or Canada on vacation I'd ask her to look for a costume but she always came back empty handed

Regards,

Mitch

Edited November 17, 2013 by CF WeaZZel

[Plastic Nurak]

I love Thunderbirds!

I also like the campish live-action sci-fi of UFO and Space 1999.

A little curiosty from a 1976 Italian TV mag:

[ShaydDeGrai]

I literally cut my teeth on the original Star Trek, but it was really the UFO episode Timelash that really stuck with me as to what TV could do for SciFi story telling. I loved that series as a kid, Space 1999 was a close second. Capt Scarlet and Thunderbirds were great too but the part of me that wanted to grow up to be a special effects artist had trouble seeing past the super marination and model building to sit back and enjoy the story lines for those guys - i wanted to be the puppeteer, not sit in the audience. That's not to say they weren't great shows as well, I watched them regularly, but I was the kid watching the magic show trying to discover the trick rather than being content to be amazed.

The Andersons made a wonderful contribution to Sci Fi on the small screen and I think they sparked more than a few young imaginations to greatness. it's a shame their work isn't more widely known by the younger generations these days.

[Dr Leg O Brick]

Sorry to bump the topic, but for those who haven't seen these I thought I'd post the link to drdavewatford's blog, about half way down are pictures from the 2012 Great Western Lego Show, as well as kaitain's Marineville, there are pictures of TB3, TB2, FAB1, an Angel Interceptor, UFO control room and the Elevator Cars.

http://gimmelego.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/blown-away.html

I finally bought Captain Scarlet on DVD, I had honestly forgot how enjoyable it is. I've found most commentary on TV episodes can be tiresome and perhaps boring, however, Gerry Anderson's commentary on "The Mysterons" was fantastic, truly stunning and creative how they got past some of the problems and limitations during filming (i.e. filming the Spectrum Helicopter scenes in the pilot upside down and then flipping them, as the blades would damage the wires I believe.). I'd highly recommend two books I've had for some years, the complete book of Thunderbirds and the complete of Captain Scarlet. I won't go into detail now, however, both provide complete guides to all episodes, pages on all types of merchandise, character info, and various bits of info and extracts of interviews from the voice actors. Although it's "Expanded Universe" stuff, some connections in the character bios are interesting, Lt Green and Gordon Tracey both attended WASP, Captain Black was in the WSP, World Space Patrol, etc, some interesting information.

[CF Mitch]

Oh, my God... Those LEGO Thunderbirds MOCs

Thanks for that link, Dr. Leg O Brick !!

And those Complete Books sound really interesting as well. Do they also provide info and schematics on vehicles and gear and such?

'Cause I'd really like to properly know all that from Thunderbirds, by now (though you'll probably end up suggesting I watch the episodes more carefully )

Regards,

Mitch

[Dr Leg O Brick]

I thought they where impressive too, stunning how big that TB3 is!

As I have more time, I'll go into more detail about the books. To start, CF WeaZZel, they don't have schematics as such, but they do go into detail about each of the Thunderbird craft, between two to three paragraphs each on one page with colour photos (i.e. for TB2 it talks about the lift off, how it's concealed etc, and then it's reactor, speed, location of engines, how it lowers a pod, and the various rooms inside TB2 (living quarters and armaments) ).

Both books follow a similar layout, both printed in 2001, written by Chris Bentley, 126 ish pages, and published by Carlton Books (I have no idea how available these books are nowadays), during that huge Captain Scarlet/Thunderbirds merchandise push.

The Thunderbirds book, going from the contents, has a forward by Gerry Anderson, and an Introduction. The first chapter consists of the making of Thunderbirds, what came before, pre production, the voice artists (with some great stories from various interviews over the years, and info about the what other programs they've been in.), and production info on Series 1, 2, the first film, the second film.

Chapter 2 then continues with the world of Thunderbirds, information about 2065, International Rescue, the vehicles, the characters (the Tracy Family, Lady Penelope, Parker, Brains, Kyrano, Tin-Tin, and the Hood), and all full of various pictures and information on them. Interesting that Parker was born on the 30^th May, 2013, and Jeff was born on the 2^nd January, 2009.

Anyway, moving on, the next chapter has a page devoted to each episode of Thunderbirds, with plot info, various bits of info on production, original UK broadcast dates, episode number, regular cast list, guest cast list, major equipment and photos from that episode, and a quote (“There's more to come. I've got a case of nutomic charges on board “ for example) for all 32 episodes. Then a similar arrangement for the two films.

Chapter 4 has information on the spin of adventures, the mini albums, the comics, and the novels, TV21 for example.

The last chapter talks about it's legacy in some ways, about parodies or continuations (Thunderbirds 2086 and Thunderbirds FAB The Next Generation stage show for example) and the merciless recuts such as Turbo Charged Thunderbirds. And then ends on it's legacy, and about the 1992 toys for example.

Obviously, I won't go into as much detail about the Captain Scarlet book, as it has an almost identical layout, same sort of chapter arrangement for example with obvious differences. There's more info on the toys in the Captain Scarlet book for example, and again, some fantastic stories from the voice actors. Both are great books, if there's any questions you'd like me to answer I'm happy to do so. Also, although I can't promise anything, I've made some custom figures and a MOD to an existing set based upon Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Space 1999, so look out for those soon, I hope.

EDIT: Here is a link to my current customs, I should be adding more soon:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=93092

All are links to my Flickr page, as I'm not 100% sure why the pictures aren't loading.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Dr Leg O Brick

[CF Mitch]

Thanks very much for that detailed description, Dr Leg O Brick

I'll definitely be on the lookout for the Complete Book of Thunderbirds now, it sounds amazing.

Also, out of curiosity... how do you guys pronounce 'Gerry'... as 'Jerry' or 'Gary'?

'cause from my point of view (if you will), the dutch language, it can be either way, and I'd like to know for sure

Regards,

Mitch

[Mr Man]

Also, out of curiosity... how do you guys pronounce 'Gerry'... as 'Jerry' or 'Gary'?

Jerry. Though I have heard otherwise, most likely through a misreading of the name.

[CF Mitch]

Thanks, Mr Man

Here's another question...

I own the cd album 'Best of Thunderbirds', which has CD 1 with 29 soundtracks on it, all from the series and CD 2 with bonus soundtracks, including a story told by Lady Penelope or something. I never bothered to listen to CD 2, so...

But I noticed that it definitely doesn't have all musical pieces from the series on the CD(s)...

Does anyone know where I might find a list of all the musical pieces that appeared in the series (so that I can check which ones I'm missing, by name)?

Or maybe someone can tell me beforehand that just not all of them made it to a CD or whatever?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Mitch

[Dr Leg O Brick]

Terrible news today, Francis Matthews, the man who voiced Captain Scarlet, passed away aged 86.

A link to the BBC news article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27859814

Rik Mayall, Sam Kelly, and now Francis Matthews, so many people recently have passed away I've held in high regard, you will all be missed, rest in peace.

[Dr Leg O Brick]

Sorry to double post, but another bit of Supermarionation news. Pic of the new Thunderbird 1 from the upcoming "reboot" series:

http://i2.cdnds.net/...underbird-1.jpg

I can't believe how alike it is to the original. It, personally, is what I envisioned as Thunderbird 1 say, 7 years after the first mission, modified and improved. I just can't believe how, brilliant, this looks. Bring on Thunderbird 2!

Apparently it will be a mix of CGI and models, I have high hopes for this.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Dr Leg O Brick

[CF Mitch]

Whoaw holy shit

That looks fabulous

('nuff said, right?)

Thanks man!!

Regards,

Mitch