Gerry Anderson was a producer, director and writer best remembered today for his pioneering television series of the 1960s which broke new ground in puppetry and special effects and remain highly influential to this day. Supermarionation, as it was coined by Anderson, was the technique responsible for creating some of the most memorable television series of the era and from small beginnings Gerry and his then wife Sylvia Anderson created a legacy which remains virtually unrivalled. Starting in 1957 the partnership produced a number of iconic series which would become part of British popular culture, the most famous being Thunderbirds which is widely considered to be Anderson's crowing glory.
Anderson's first venture in to television production came in 1957 with The Adventures of Twizzle, this was followed by Torchy the Battery Boy and later Four Feather Falls, while these were a moderate success it was in 1960 with Supercar that things took a step forward with the advent of Supermarionation for which Anderson would become famous and the advancement in model miniature effects at the hands of noted special effects artist Derek Meddings. Fireball XL5 and Stingray would develop these techniques over the coming years with the latter being the first British children's television series to be filmed in colour.
In 1964 filming began on Thunderbirds which would become widely considered to be Anderson's most popular and commercially successful series which spawned two feature films, the advancements in Supermarionation and miniature effects shone through and it remains today a firm favourite of several generations and one of the most iconic television series of all time. The incredible success of Thunderbirds was followed by Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons which introduced more realistic and human like marionettes, this would continue with Joe 90 in 1968. In 1969 Anderson made his long awaited shift to live action productions with the feature film Doppelganger which was a modest success and an attempt to mix live action with Supermarionation resulted in the aborted series The Secret Service. Several other projects would follow, notably the 1970s television series UFO and Space: 1999 which remain highly regarded by fans of Anderson's work and later Terrahawks which would see Anderson return to puppetry.
The Prop Gallery are pleased to present a selection of original artefacts from various Gerry Anderson productions, these will be made available on The Prop Gallery website as part of Gerry Anderson week where new listings will be added to the website for three consecutive days on Tuesday September 08, Wednesday September 09 and Thursday September 10. This represents an excellent opportunity to acquire a number of incredibly rare and desirable artefacts from some of Gerry Anderson's most highly regarded productions which together form a body of work which will never be forgotten.
