This is some sad news for people of a certain age, and although it occurred on December 26th, 2012, it's only now (January 10th, 2013; fifteen days late) that I learned about it and as I have not seen it posted on this messageboard, I wanted to share it.
Legendary British TV producer Gerry Anderson has died at the age of 83.
After rising through the ranks of film and TV production in his native England, Anderson, with his then-wife Sylvia, built quite an empire of sci-fi TV programs (and some feature films) during the 1960's and 1970's.
Initially, the Anderson's efforts were in "supermarionation", an advanced form of puppetry which involved electric cables leading from an audio tape of pre-recorded dialogue to a solenoid device in the puppet which was in near-perfect synchronization with the recorded dialogue.
Through the 1960's, the Andersons produced a number of "Supermarionation" series that aired on Britain's ITV network (and were produced by the Andersons in association with ATV, which at the time held two ITV franchises: weekdays in the Midlands and weekends in London).
These shows, in order that they appeared, were "Supercar", "Fireball XL-5", "Stingray", "Thunderbirds" (the most famous supermarionation series), "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons", and "Joe 90". "Supercar" and "XL-5" were filmed in black-and-white; the other series were shot in color. "XL-5" was the only supermarionation series seen on network TV in the U.S. (NBC, on that network's Saturday-morning schedule between 1963 and 1965); the others were syndicated to individual TV stations.
In the late 1960's, the Andersons moved into live-action with the motion picture "Doppelganger" (released in North America as the more descriptive "Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun"), and then two live-action sci-fi TV series: "UFO" (produced 1969-70, seen in the UK in 1970 and in the U.S. in the 1972-73 season; it starred Ed Bishop) and "Space: 1999" (1975-77; it co-starred then husband-and-wife Martin Landau and Barbara Bain).
Anderson's marriage broke up around the time "1999" ended; on his own, he would produce several more series, including "Space Precinct" and "Terrahawks".
In the early 1970's, Anderson briefly moved away from science fiction to produce "The Protectors", an adventure series about three troubleshooters who ran their own crime-fighting organization, which starred Robert Vaughn.
BBC news story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-20845407 .
Legendary British TV producer Gerry Anderson has died at the age of 83.
After rising through the ranks of film and TV production in his native England, Anderson, with his then-wife Sylvia, built quite an empire of sci-fi TV programs (and some feature films) during the 1960's and 1970's.
Initially, the Anderson's efforts were in "supermarionation", an advanced form of puppetry which involved electric cables leading from an audio tape of pre-recorded dialogue to a solenoid device in the puppet which was in near-perfect synchronization with the recorded dialogue.
Through the 1960's, the Andersons produced a number of "Supermarionation" series that aired on Britain's ITV network (and were produced by the Andersons in association with ATV, which at the time held two ITV franchises: weekdays in the Midlands and weekends in London).
These shows, in order that they appeared, were "Supercar", "Fireball XL-5", "Stingray", "Thunderbirds" (the most famous supermarionation series), "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons", and "Joe 90". "Supercar" and "XL-5" were filmed in black-and-white; the other series were shot in color. "XL-5" was the only supermarionation series seen on network TV in the U.S. (NBC, on that network's Saturday-morning schedule between 1963 and 1965); the others were syndicated to individual TV stations.
In the late 1960's, the Andersons moved into live-action with the motion picture "Doppelganger" (released in North America as the more descriptive "Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun"), and then two live-action sci-fi TV series: "UFO" (produced 1969-70, seen in the UK in 1970 and in the U.S. in the 1972-73 season; it starred Ed Bishop) and "Space: 1999" (1975-77; it co-starred then husband-and-wife Martin Landau and Barbara Bain).
Anderson's marriage broke up around the time "1999" ended; on his own, he would produce several more series, including "Space Precinct" and "Terrahawks".
In the early 1970's, Anderson briefly moved away from science fiction to produce "The Protectors", an adventure series about three troubleshooters who ran their own crime-fighting organization, which starred Robert Vaughn.
BBC news story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-20845407 .