When I was young our Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) had access to most of the shows coming out of Great Britain. We got to enjoy 'The Two Ronnies', 'The Prisoner', 'Space 1999', 'Monty Python' and of course all those great scifi shows created by Gerry Anderson.
He created 'Thunderbirds', 'Captain Scartlet' and one of my favorites, 'UFO'.
Many of his earlier work involved puppets and was filmed in what Anderson called 'supermarionation'. As time went along he worked with real actors and not puppets. Regardles if the show contained real people or puppets, each show utilized the great vehicles and model work familiar to anyone who was a fan of Gerry's earlier creations. They were so well filmed that you could easily be fooled that they were the real thing.
He was also very smart to release comic books based on his TV shows. Very few shows did that at the time and the comics had alot to do with maintaining a youth fan base.
I had many of the vehicles they put out based on his shows and especially liked those ones that were two vehicles in one like the 'Skydiver' from 'UFO'. It was a submarine that could detach and launch its first half into the air like a jet fighter.
I also like the view of history that Jerry, like Gene Rodenberry before him, imagined. People worked together to fight a threat to the entire planet. Women and people of color were featured in prominant roles. The clothing was just a bit more modern and the science enough this side of real so that a kid could imagine such things being around in 1980 or 1999. Hey, that was in MY lifetime, I thought and that made me hopeful for the future. During the nuclear scary times of the 'Cold War' that was a nice alternate version of the future for me to have.
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7 comments:
I loved the Gerry Anderson shows, especially SPACE:1999, which seems really funny today in 2010.
I loved the Eagles and had the tonka toy version with the detachable payload. I also had a couple of the Thunderbird vehicles. I loved those toys.
Haven't seen Fireball XL5. Wasn't broadcasted here in México.
1984...UFO
The vehicle designs are very real world if futuristic.
I loved Space 1999 which I used to watch on channel 9 out of Windsor when I lived in Detroit.
The only one of those I remember being on CBC was Monty Python, horribly butchered to fit in commercials. I thought Global had Space: 1999 (I hated it anyway), and The Two Ronnies was strictly on PBS from Watertown, NY (which also aired Python uncut). I don't recall any of the Anderson shows airing at all - the only awareness I had of them was from some of the Dinky toys that were available.
Cool!
Happy Birthday, Cal!
I've loved Gerry Anderson's shows ever since I was a kid. It's always nice to see him get the appreciation he deserved.
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