Comments on: RIP Gerry Anderson

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:44:23 +0000

Never saw that many episodes of UFO. Can only assume it was scheduled against something on BBC1 (Much like Space 1999 used to clash with Dr Who).

By: Michael Orton

Michael Orton — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:06:48 +0000

I don’t know why I was unable to see many episodes of Captain Scarlet. Apparently they had a continuing story line which I never noticed.

But in terms of “darkness” UFO was the greater offender: every episode ends on a low note of some sort. Despite having an interesting concept, and tech I found attractive, I like my entertainment to end on a high note.

Space 1999 was too off the wall to interest me at all.

Joe 90: well of course I liked that at the time.
Thunderbirds: an all time classic.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 12:11:50 +0000

Thunderbirds was the high point, and not just because it first showed when I was at the most impressionable age. The production values were a significant step up from Stingray (They were big-budget stuff for TV in those days), and hour-long format allowed greater depth in storylines, and the whole thing just had an exuberant sense of excitement.

You’re dead right about Captain Scarlet being much, much darker.

By: ***Dave

***Dave — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:51:38 +0000

I have fond, fuzzy memories of both Stingray and Fireball XL-5 as a kid, and much clearer memories of my beloved Thunderbirds. I drew endless pictures of all the craft — and the detail applied not just to the core vehicles but all the “guest appearance” craft, land or water or air-based, was always just wildly cool.

Yes, in that great desert of TV SF post-”Star Trek” I, too, glommed onto UFO and Space: 1999 (better rendition of the main title for S.1 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLAsBzOOhLQ ). I drew endless pictures of Eagles and UFOs, too.

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:37:52 +0000

The earliest memory I have of watching a specific TV show: Fireball XL-5, playing on a B&W set in my parent's home in Bethpage, LI, around 1964. Can't say I recall any of the plots, but I remember that swell chunky-finned spaceship with the detachable front, and the robot. Stingray . . . that was a big deal for me a few years later, but I don't remember much about it other than the fact that it involved a mermaid. I bought the model kit ("As seen on TV!") . . . perhaps one of the first I bought and built. (Odd little memory . . . the kit came with a tube of glue! A little aluminum squeeze tube full of odd yellowish ichor.) But boy-oh-boy, the one Anderson show that really punched my ticket was Thunderbirds. I totally flipped over that one. It played on weekend afternoons, sometimes as a full hour show, sometimes split into half-hour episodes. But the time slot made it vulnerable to preemption by ball games. Life as a wee geek was tough back then. I had my mom sew my an International Rescue sash and cap from this blue burlap material . . . an extra set for a friend down the street. The "Dinky Toy" versions of the models weren't available in the States, but a high-end toy shop in the next town carried snap-together plastic toys (not really models) with electric motor drives. I begged my parents into getting my Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 3 . . . I really wanted Thunderbird 2 but never managed to snag it. Captain Scarlett played in the States as well. It was pretty grim and scary, what with people getting killed and replaced. Sigh. Anderson's live-action stuff. Back in the 70s, between Star Trek getting cancelled and the advent of Star Wars, new SF was hard to find on TV, at least compared to today. So I eagerly glommed every episode of "UFO" and "Space: 1999." But I was also reading grownup SF, and as slick as they were visually it was becoming apparent to me that Anderson's shows were kind of shabby when it came to scientific plausability.