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British Gerry Anderson Sci-Fi Shows

Discussion in 'Television' started by Lock_S_Foils, Feb 23, 2018.

  1. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    I was going through a box of some of my childhood toys, and my youngest son came across the below. This is a Dinky toys die-cast dated 1974, from the British Sci-Fi show "SPACE: 1999". Loved this show growing up. Created by Gerry Anderson a genius way ahead of his time, very imaginative, he created some amazing spacecraft, aircraft, and worlds.

    IMG_0020.jpg
    Here is the opening theme of this show


    Another of my favorite old British Sci-Fi shows was "UFO" - about Earth under attack by aliens, Earth defended by "SHADO" - Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation......multilayered defence systems with "Sky One" shot out of a submarine and a moonbase with really cool ships that shot missiles out the nose. Hey, set all the way in 1980!!! Wow the future!!!!!



    Any fans out there? How about the Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet???
     
    #1 Lock_S_Foils, Feb 23, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2018
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  2. Viper78

    Viper78 Rebel Official

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    That space ship is significant to Star Wars, it completely changed the design of the Millennium Falcon.
     
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  3. Maximus

    Maximus Reel 2 Dialogue 2

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    I’m ashamed to admit that I watched an awful show called Blake 7 back in the day.

    something else I watched every week, but not British.. Buck Rogers. omg I loved it lol

    Edit: not Gerry Anderson shows obviously, but nostalgia overcame me and I had to mention them lol
     
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  4. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    @Viper78 Thanks so much, I had never heard of the link between Anderson and Lucas. Here is a great article I just found online http://episodenothing.blogspot.com/2016/04/what-did-gerry-anderson-think-of-star.html

    Some excerpts:

    In one week’s column, from early 1978 (I’m afraid my cutting doesn’t have the date), he responded to requests to tell his readers what he thought of Star Wars.


    Anderson starts his piece on Star Wars by acknowledging that while SF films have been “steadily progressing”, he thinks “Star Wars has taken a bigger jump than any of its predecessors and taken sci-fi movies into its next, and most exciting, phase”, adding: “I can honestly say that I wish I had been the one who made it!”

    He goes on: “The first 20 minutes of the film, I felt, were quite dull but then it flowered marvellously, shot for shot, into the most excitingly visual film of its kind I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t that the shots they used were of a higher standard than average, but the speed at which they were used mad them that much more stunning: for example, when an Eagle is travelling through space in Space 1999 it is a slow moving shot, whereas for the same kind of scene in Star Wars a spaceship would zoom across the screen providing a more exciting, breathtaking effect.”

    Star Wars is a “new kind of science fiction I call ‘fantasy fairytale’,” Anderson says.

    “Although a vast majority of adults will enjoy Star Wars it is basically aimed at children who, like myself, do not particularly need a strong story-line, but enjoy plenty of action and spectacle and I for one would be very surprised if there were a single boy or girl in the whole country who wouldn’t like to see this truly entertaining film!”

    Space: 1999 had already come to an end by the time Star Wars reached Britain. Anderson had made two series, but plans for a third never came to fruition. However, the show had caused something of a crisis for Lucas and the Star Wars team.

    Returning to the US in late 1975 from a trip to London, where the first series of Space: 1999 premiered that September, George Lucas announced to his visual effects crew that they had a problem. The pirate ship they had created for Han Solo looked too much like the Eagle spacecraft from Anderson’s show. Which was unfortunate, because the model makers had just finished making it the previous weekend.

    [​IMG]
    Concept artist Joe Johnston's vision of the original Millennium Falcon


    The film’s chief model maker, Grant McCune, estimated that the ship had cost around $25,000 to make – around a third of the total budget for models. It was seven feet long and had 400 cycles of electronics inside.

    JW Rinzler’s book The Making of Star Wars (2007) quotes Lucas as saying: "They had spent an enormous amount of money and time building that other ship, and I threw it out. It's one of those decisions that was very costly, but I felt that we really needed the individuality and personality of a better ship."

    [​IMG]
    Abandoned: The original Millennium Falcon model, which was modified to become the Rebel blockade runner. Picture: originalprop.com


    Lucas had come up with the idea of a “hamburger-shaped” Millennium Falcon instead, and work started on creating something to that design. In the meantime, the original Falcon model did not go entirely to waste. Its cockpit was removed and put on the new ship. A new “hammerhead” front was put on the original model and it was reborn as Princess Leia’s Rebel blockade runner (or the Tantive IV, as it would become known some years later). The visual effects team would have the task of making the blockade runner look smaller on screen than an Imperial Star Destroyer for the film’s all-important opening shot – even though the Rebel ship was, in fact, the bigger model.



    Gerry Anderson after Star Wars

    [​IMG]
    Gerry Anderson might have taught George Lucas something about
    merchandising: a Space: 1999 Eagle model. Picture: fanboy.com

    Gerry Anderson speaks in his column of Star Wars “opening the door to a new kind of science fiction” which has “endless scope for scripts, direction and special effects and will undoubtedly lead to a glut of these films over the next few years”.

    He might have expected to have been one of the people making those films. In fact, he never again produced anything to rival his 1960s productions in popularity. However, his previous work remains popular to this day – especially Thunderbirds, which seems to undergo a serious revival every few years. And while children of the 1970s became Star Wars-obsessed, there was always a place in our hearts for the spectacle and excitement of Gerry Anderson at his best.
     
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  5. Viper78

    Viper78 Rebel Official

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    As a child of the 80's I watched Terrahawks, it was great!



    I did also watch the re-runs of Thunderbirds
     
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  6. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    Hey @Maximus here you go, the Blake 7 theme - this is so strangely entrancing. I have never heard this before. Hey @Jayson what do you think of this theme?

     
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  7. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    totally had a space ship from 1999 as kids. it wasn't that one that he's holding there, but i very distinctly recall the little plastic people that came with it.

    i tried to find a picture of it, but i couldn't, so i might be misremembering (or it was a cheap knock-off), but i absolutely recall these toys at the local Winns.

    [​IMG]
    oh man that is just awesome. XD
     
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  8. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    So @FN-3263827 Did you watch the "UFO" opening sequence? Any thoughts on the wicked 70s organ riffs, purple haired women, guys in fishnet uniform shirts? Yeah baby 70s British TV ROCKED!!
     
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  9. Lazarus Dei

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    @Lock_S_Foils ...you've never what?!!? This is some seminal British sci-fi!

    It's whole premise of a band of rebels against an oppressive Federation rips from both of the 'Star...' prefaced franchises and it had sound effects and music courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (i.e. the folks who performed the Doctor Who theme).

    The ship for the first 3 seasons, ahead of it's untimely demise was the iconic Liberator

    [​IMG]

    ...which was sadly replaced by the significantly more soporific Scorpio

    [​IMG]

    The 4th series ended with an almighty shoot-out which closes with the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers too...

    ...the entire rebel cast are shot down, with only their leader (the titular Blake's second in command Avon) left standing. The screen fades to black and a hail of plasma fire is heard, but it's never revealed whether that's Avon shooting and escaping or joining his colleagues in the hereafter
     
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  10. FN-3263827

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    i love it!

    tried to find that other set/series. maybe it was Galaxy Command? arghhh.

    anyway, we definitely had these cheap toys: [​IMG]
     
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  11. Jayson

    Jayson Resident Lucasian

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    If I was making a film set in the late 1960's about a charismatic entrepreneur launching a company, this would be the song I would pick for the feel-good montage! :p

    Cheers,
    Jayson
     
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  12. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    @Lazarus Dei You sound pretty passionate about this show, and I see why! Love the Liberator and the Scorpio looks very Star Wars Venator-Class!!!!

    Gotta admit British Sci-Fi in the 60s-80s was awesome! I grew up on a lot of these shows.
     
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  13. Boushhdisguise

    Boushhdisguise Jedi General

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    I loved Thunderbirds and watched Space 1999 as a kid, though I don't remember it much. Thunderbirds we have some of the dvds and I had my kids watching them. Blake 7 was a favorite of my husband. Bold how it went out. People never forget that who have seen it. Probably why there is a mixed bag about it.
     
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  14. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    Holy cow you've gotta listen to this thing with a good pair of stereo headphones.....there is a part where the theme circles around inside your head. Just really weird and wonderful.....
     
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  15. Lazarus Dei

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    I just have very vivid memories of watching it with my parents and being scared witless by space-goth Servalan and her black clad Federation troops. As a youngster you don’t see the flaws in the cheap sets and overacting :D

    Like @Boushhdisguise says as well, it’s for that ending, which was just a crazy way to end a show with the fan base it had.

    Yeah, the closing notes are quite eerie and very much in the Doctor Who style... they don’t sound quite as prominent in the YouTube link you posted, but other clips have better audio balance.
     
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  16. FN-3263827

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    [​IMG]

    his puppets did improve after a while.
    i remember wanting to love these shows so much, but they were so dang creepy. hahahaha
     
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  17. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    The original Captain Scarlet was awesome. Pretty mature and scary for kids, it scared the crap out of me! Gerry Anderson's creations were just incredible, loved the Angels and their awesome jet fighters and cloud base.

    Here is the remade Scarlet opening from 2005 - they went CGI, lost a lot of the uniqueness with the "supermarionation" i.e. puppets of the old show. But still some of the CGI was pretty cool.

     
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  18. FN-3263827

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    yeah, the cgi update just doesn't do it. maybe for the ships and explosions and stuff, but the people shoulda stayed puppets ~ hahaha
     
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  19. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    OK let's talk THUNDERBIRDS.....holy crap can remember watching this as a kid. Love the intro....did you notice the year on this? 1964 - some very famous people were born that year......anyway......my favorite was Thunderbird #2.

    Here is a great HD restored version of the intro.....

     
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  20. FN-3263827

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    darghhhhh! this totally used to give me nightmares ~ hahahaha
    and yet, as i said before: i really wanted to like it.
    it was a confusing time. XD
     
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