Thunderbirds was perhaps the greatest obsession of my life. At the time I was living in Japan and I purchased nearly every single plastic model of the Thunderbirds crafts. Over 50 years later, I'm still a big fan.
My formative years were influenced in a massive way by these films and the people that made them.....thank you for fantastic memorable moments that will remain forever ❤
I was primarily a Dr Who fan but loved all the Anderson progs too. I had tons of Anderson toys back in the 70's but oh my god to this day all us Who fans are sooo jealous of all the Anderson stuff that Dinky and Airfix et al churned out! I think I was about 6 when just after Christmas we had a "show and tell" session at my infants school when me and a few other boys were all proudly showing off our Dinky Shado Mobiles and there were those little red-tipped missiles flying about all over the place. 😀
Always loved Gerry Andersons creations and Century 21 ideas , grew up watching Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 the vehicles were exceptional 👏 👌 👍
Likewise with the comic "Countdown" (later 'TV Action') which ran a lot of the original TV21 strips, along with newly commissioned stories - many in colour, some fantastic artwork, and on good quality paper! It was a classy comic back in 1970! 🙂 I have a few copies, and they too are pretty expensive to buy on Ebay now...!
@@stevesstuff1450 I have a complete collection of Countdown - I think I bought it because of the Dr Who stories. I had them bound into two large volumes as it seemed easier than keeping them as individual comics!
@@martinbennett8752 : Wow! 😯 I HAD the full collection up until around 1991, when I moved house from Oxfordshire to Suffolk, and decided - VERY stupidly - to dump them, as I didn't want to be carrying a bunch of old stuff with me! 😢 I used Ebay a few years back to grab the copies that I now own again, before the prices started going crazy! 😉 I thought about trying to get TV21 comics too, but they were already at silly money for each issue..... 😞
The most fascinating interview, many thanks indeed. Watched all supermarionation from 1962 and collected TV Century 21 from 1965. My very best wishes to Jamie Anderson and all. Please Please Please continue to work on such wonderful imagininspiring products and programmes. A forever fan now also passed on to our children and grand children (pod vehicles included!)
I remember the plastic Thunderbirds and the figures that came free in our Cornflakes c1965. I had the Dinky SPV, SHADO Interceptor and Mobile. Many years later my son and I collected pretty much all the Matchbox/Vivid stuff, which is still lurking in the house.
love the way that stingray's plexiglass rotor did not survive the outline snip @ 15:10. As regards puppets versus live, Anderson obviously made the best puppet adventure series (up until Secret Service at least) whilst the only live action series that held up to those was UFO (in no small part due to Mr Bishop's truly amazing portrayal of Straker).
Me too love TV 21 and I was very artistic at the time and inspired by a lot of the models especially supercar to start with. I thought a lot of the artwork in TV 21 magazine was very high class Good quality. And inspired me to do all sorts of artworks.
I managed to score ten copies of Countdown comic (1971), the successor to TV21 comic, which had comic strips of most Gerry Anderson's series in it, as well as the likes of Dr Who. I also bought the comic when it first came out in 1971, but never thought to hang onto those. Glad I got to own some again!
*I miss my Fireball XL-5 Spaceship, and my complete set of Thunderbirds models. Keep these great Lore of your Legendary parents coming, Jamie. 👍👍& 10⭐ Rated on every one of them.*
Congratulations! Good show! To me the supreme irony of GA is that he thought bringing live actors in would make it better; it didn't. But that's just me, comparing how I feel about Thunderbirds, Stingray, compared to UFO, Space 1999. Yeah, I was younger, so there's some doubt. But my hunch is the earlier stuff was better. For what he was trying to say, it didn't matter whether it was puppets or actors; maybe taking away the distractions of live actors made those stories shine more for kids. cheers
For me, I think the primary appeal of Anderson's early work is that those puppet shows were unique, and looked light-years ahead of any other puppet show. When Anderson transitioned into using actors and full size sets, suddenly he was competing with other sci-fi shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who, so his shows no longer felt as special, and did not stand out as much.
This is a very interesting video in many ways. Yes, it kind of maps the first Merch revolution and Keith Shackleton was a person who claims to have been wearing many hats within the Anderson organisation. Here, it's more about licencing products to other manufacturers. But I think, once a salesman, always a salesman. To say that if he had stayed onboard they wouldn't have failed does seem to be more than a little self elevating, I think there is more to the story as to why Keith Shackleton and Century 21 parted company in the late 60's. I would like to have been a fly on the wall of their final board meeting, just to know the real reason why he turned his back on those he called his friends.
0:16 - that's one psychotic-looking Virgil! If he pulled me out of the ruins of a collapsed building, I wouldn't be sure whether he'd come to rescue me or finish me off!
Terrahawks needs another run as it approaches 40 years. Shame it was never shown on BBC2 in 1990s as with other shoes Thunderbirds JO 90 etc. I hope they can reissue the Terrahawks vehicles again to celebrate anniversary like did with Thunderbirds in 2016 under Corgi
I had all the models at the time and my most vivid memory was how dire they were. It wasn't the right color, it wasn't the right shape, it was either too big or too small for the other models. Or they tried to make it into something else with stupid wheels that made it look like a toy. And then the batteries leaked and it couldn't be repaired. I'd like to know how the money was divided up. In the case of The Beatles I read that Brian Epstein gave away the rights for next to nothing so I wonder whether the same thing happened at Slough and that caused the authenticity of the merchandise to suffer.
A tad delusional for them to believe it was designed by committee considering that it was all originally designed by Gerry Anderson. The auteur had already established the bass upon which The writer's expanded.
I thought it was very interesting. Nice to hear from someone who was a main part of the Century 21 team. I could have listened to Keith Shackleton for longer as I'm sure he must have further reminisces. We need to appreciate these people more.
Thunderbirds was perhaps the greatest obsession of my life. At the time I was living in Japan and I purchased nearly every single plastic model of the Thunderbirds crafts. Over 50 years later, I'm still a big fan.
My formative years were influenced in a massive way by these films and the people that made them.....thank you for fantastic memorable moments that will remain forever ❤
I was primarily a Dr Who fan but loved all the Anderson progs too. I had tons of Anderson toys back in the 70's but oh my god to this day all us Who fans are sooo jealous of all the Anderson stuff that Dinky and Airfix et al churned out! I think I was about 6 when just after Christmas we had a "show and tell" session at my infants school when me and a few other boys were all proudly showing off our Dinky Shado Mobiles and there were those little red-tipped missiles flying about all over the place. 😀
Always loved Gerry Andersons creations and Century 21 ideas , grew up watching Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 the vehicles were exceptional 👏 👌 👍
Ah TV21 I remember it well. I just wish I had held on to all the copies I bought as a boy. They would be worth a mint now.
Agreed 🎉
Likewise with the comic "Countdown" (later 'TV Action') which ran a lot of the original TV21 strips, along with newly commissioned stories - many in colour, some fantastic artwork, and on good quality paper! It was a classy comic back in 1970! 🙂
I have a few copies, and they too are pretty expensive to buy on Ebay now...!
@@stevesstuff1450 I have a complete collection of Countdown - I think I bought it because of the Dr Who stories. I had them bound into two large volumes as it seemed easier than keeping them as individual comics!
@@martinbennett8752 : Wow! 😯
I HAD the full collection up until around 1991, when I moved house from Oxfordshire to Suffolk, and decided - VERY stupidly - to dump them, as I didn't want to be carrying a bunch of old stuff with me! 😢
I used Ebay a few years back to grab the copies that I now own again, before the prices started going crazy! 😉
I thought about trying to get TV21 comics too, but they were already at silly money for each issue..... 😞
@@stevesstuff1450 You can buy all the copies in DVD.
What a great time to live and experience the developing of such a iconic moment in TV....absolutely marvellous ❤
Fascinating piece. Always had a love for those Dinky models. Wish I still had my original Thunderbird 2!
The most fascinating interview, many thanks indeed. Watched all supermarionation from 1962 and collected TV Century 21 from 1965. My very best wishes to Jamie Anderson and all. Please Please Please continue to work on such wonderful imagininspiring products and programmes. A forever fan now also passed on to our children and grand children (pod vehicles included!)
Great Compilation! The Century 21 Merchandising Company Were 100 Years Ahead Of Their Time!
I remember the plastic Thunderbirds and the figures that came free in our Cornflakes c1965. I had the Dinky SPV, SHADO Interceptor and Mobile. Many years later my son and I collected pretty much all the Matchbox/Vivid stuff, which is still lurking in the house.
love the way that stingray's plexiglass rotor did not survive the outline snip @ 15:10. As regards puppets versus live, Anderson obviously made the best puppet adventure series (up until Secret Service at least) whilst the only live action series that held up to those was UFO (in no small part due to Mr Bishop's truly amazing portrayal of Straker).
Me too love TV 21 and I was very artistic at the time and inspired by a lot of the models especially supercar to start with. I thought a lot of the artwork in TV 21 magazine was very high class Good quality. And inspired me to do all sorts of artworks.
I managed to score ten copies of Countdown comic (1971), the successor to TV21 comic, which had comic strips of most Gerry Anderson's series in it, as well as the likes of Dr Who. I also bought the comic when it first came out in 1971, but never thought to hang onto those. Glad I got to own some again!
I just love this series 👍
Great input on Alan Fennel Scriptwriter (Thunderbirds and other shows) insightful content.
*I miss my Fireball XL-5 Spaceship, and my complete set of Thunderbirds models. Keep these great Lore of your Legendary parents coming, Jamie. 👍👍& 10⭐ Rated on every one of them.*
Very good to see the details of this, thank you Gerry Anderson Team! I'd like to be able to have a Terrahawks set of new figures collectibles too.
Congratulations! Good show!
To me the supreme irony of GA is that he thought bringing live actors in would make it better; it didn't. But that's just me, comparing how I feel about Thunderbirds, Stingray, compared to UFO, Space 1999. Yeah, I was younger, so there's some doubt. But my hunch is the earlier stuff was better. For what he was trying to say, it didn't matter whether it was puppets or actors; maybe taking away the distractions of live actors made those stories shine more for kids. cheers
For me, I think the primary appeal of Anderson's early work is that those puppet shows were unique, and looked light-years ahead of any other puppet show. When Anderson transitioned into using actors and full size sets, suddenly he was competing with other sci-fi shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who, so his shows no longer felt as special, and did not stand out as much.
Thank you
I loved the MATTEL 1970's VERSION OF THE EAGLE IT WAS HUGE.
This is a very interesting video in many ways.
Yes, it kind of maps the first Merch revolution and Keith Shackleton was a person who claims to have been
wearing many hats within the Anderson organisation. Here, it's more about licencing products to other manufacturers. But I think, once a salesman, always a salesman. To say that if he had stayed onboard they
wouldn't have failed does seem to be more than a little self elevating, I think there is more to the story as to
why Keith Shackleton and Century 21 parted company in the late 60's. I would like to have been a fly on the
wall of their final board meeting, just to know the real reason why he turned his back on those he called his friends.
Great episode, I think this could do with a soft reboot/continuation with the new tech in animatronic style prosthetics and SFX it would look awesome.
0:16 - that's one psychotic-looking Virgil! If he pulled me out of the ruins of a collapsed building, I wouldn't be sure whether he'd come to rescue me or finish me off!
We had only a few in France... But ready to kill for one!😜
Great ❤
Terrahawks needs another run as it approaches 40 years. Shame it was never shown on BBC2 in 1990s as with other shoes Thunderbirds JO 90 etc. I hope they can reissue the Terrahawks vehicles again to celebrate anniversary like did with Thunderbirds in 2016 under Corgi
I had all the models at the time and my most vivid memory was how dire they were. It wasn't the right color, it wasn't the right shape, it was either too big or too small for the other models. Or they tried to make it into something else with stupid wheels that made it look like a toy. And then the batteries leaked and it couldn't be repaired.
I'd like to know how the money was divided up. In the case of The Beatles I read that Brian Epstein gave away the rights for next to nothing so I wonder whether the same thing happened at Slough and that caused the authenticity of the merchandise to suffer.
I had the horrible plastic sash and hat from Thunderbirds late 60's. I remember the plastic had a strange smell.
I think Capt Scarlet could be could live action. Quite adult themes. 1999 went silly after 1st series, end of the line.
@@flybobbie1449 Space: 1999 series 2 was fawful.
Yes I had the same Hat, it had an overpowering smell of Vinyl. Didn't have the sash though.
@@Gary-Seven-and-Isis-in-1968 I think i wore it once, even as a 7 year old thought it naff, didn't wear again.
fly bobbie - Talking about that smell takes me back. I remember it well. I also had a Batman suit that had the same smell.
A tad delusional for them to believe it was designed by committee considering that it was all originally designed by Gerry Anderson. The auteur had already established the bass upon which The writer's expanded.
Wanted to see merchandise i.e Toys not listen to Waffle for half an hour
Plenty of that elsewhere!
I thought it was very interesting. Nice to hear from someone who was a main part of the Century 21 team. I could have listened to Keith Shackleton for longer as I'm sure he must have further reminisces. We need to appreciate these people more.