Some Other Cult TV VHS Rental Tapes...

Switching back to the Super Space Theater post from day or so back, I failed to mention that the feature compilations of Gerry Anderson's show were also released for rental by Precision Video. Precision seemed to have complete access to the ITC back catalogue and their releases included many of the studio's motion pictures as well as television titles. The TV ones included ready-made 'movies' of 'The Persuaders!' and 'The Prisoner' produced by ITC back in the early 70s for foreign and syndication markets. The Super Space Theater productions were an ideal fit for them and I recall eagerly renting 'Invasion:UFO' from a local store to get my first taste of 'UFO' in nearly a decade. I also managed to acquire 'London Conspiracy' - a feature film of 'The Persuaders!' culled from the episodes 'Greensleeves' and 'A Home of One's Own'. I still have the tape - contained within its unique plastic cassette box which mirrored the design of a music cassette box but larger... obviously.

As well as their odd boxes, Precision also had a light house style to its cover designs - again similar to that used by music cassette producers. I've managed to replicate that design template and applied to a couple of unreleased titles for a bit of fun. One of them is 'Legend of the Champions' (based on 'The Champions' obviously!) - the only Super Space Theater title that wasn't part of the Gerry Anderson oeuvre.

I've also re-created the design style for another VHS rental company, Guild Home Video. I seem to recall they had a few TV titles in their library including an early release of the HTV children's drama, 'Children of the Stones'. I've applied that template to a made up 'Department S' feature. (Actually the artwork for that ended up looking like it should've been on the cover of a World Distributors annual or colouring book... Not that that is a bad thing. I might knock that up when I get some free time.)

Finally, I also mocked up the Channel 5 video design and for a bit of fun took the mickey out of Gerry Anderson's failed pilot 'The Investigator'. I'm a rotter...

(If you want to read the text, the images can be clicked on to enlarge.)

Textless artwork

If you appreciate the incredible effort and imagination I've put into this silly excursion into silliness, then you can show your appreciation by purchasing me a coffee via my Ko-fi account here. Thank you.

Super Space Theater 2

Back in the early eighties, ITC's New York office put together a series of movie-length compilations of Gerry Anderson's TV shows under the imaginative umbrella title of 'Super Space Theater'. It was an attempt to breathe new life into the properties which were not as big in the US as they were in other countries. There was also the fledgling cable television market which needed cheap product to fill its schedules outside of prime time. 

The titles were: 'The Incredible Voyage of Stingray', 'Invaders from the Deep', 'Thunderbirds to the Rescue', 'Countdown to Disaster', 'Thunderbirds in Outer Space', 'Captain Scarlet versus the Mysterons', Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars', 'The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90', 'Invasion:UFO', 'Alien Attack', 'Journey Through the Black Sun', 'Cosmic Princess' and 'Destination: Moonbase Alpha'. 

There was also an additional film culled from a non-Anderson series 'The Champions' which brought the total to fourteen.

The package was not a huge success in the States. In the UK, they fared better when Channel 5 Video released many of them on VHS into the then new sell-thru video market - The compilations sold very well and prompted them to continue to release tapes with unedited episodes on when the movies ran out. 

There's a good article about the 'Super Space Theater' features on the official Gerry Anderson website. 

Fast forward to 14 April 2021 and it's the very first international Gerry Anderson Day. To celebrate, in my own way, I came up with the idea of imagining a second run of 'Super Space Theater' features entitled 'Super Space Theater 2'. I managed eight - picking specific episodes and depicting them through the medium of faux movie posters. Here they are... 

MEGA TRUCK INFERNO

(Compiled from the 'Thunderbirds' episodes 'Pit of Peril' and 'Path of Destruction'.)

Two mighty vehicles are in danger. The incredible jungle cat SIDEWINDER is trapped in a pit of dangerously unstable explosives. The giant CRABLOGGER construction machine is locked on a collision course with a huge dam that threatens a South American village. International Rescue is their only hope.

THE DEADLY DANGEROUS ADVENTURES OF LADY PENELOPE

(Compiled from the Thunderbirds episodes 'The Cham Cham' and 'The Man from MI5'.)

Lady Penelope and her right hand man, Parker find themselves travelling from the French Riviera to the Swiss Alps as they track down foreign agents.

Features an animated Bond-style title sequence features Sylvia Anderson's rendition of 'Dangerous Game'. 

"The only Super Space Theater movie especially for girls!" 

JET ANGELS IN THE 21st CENTURY (Compiled from the Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes 'Seek and Destroy', 'Model Spy', 'Manhunt' and 'The Trap'.

In the 21^st century, mankind battles a cold war with the strange Mysterons – an alien race from the planet Mars. Frontline in the battle, are the Angels. skilled jet pilots from all points of the globe dedicated to protecting mankind from the skies.

ON HIS HOLINESS' SECRET SERVICE (Compiled from four episodes (TBA) of 'The Secret Service'.)

 

The Reverend Stanley Unwin is no ordinary English country clergyman. He's a secret agent working for the British government!

Features some new specially filmed live action framing footage of the real Stanley Unwin being interviewed by a reporter (Keith Alexander) at a nursing home with the elderly priest relating his adventures as a secret agent with a miniaturised gardener. The closing scenes see the reporter dismiss the stories as the ramblings of a madman.

STRAKER VS STRAKER 

(Compiled from the two UFO episodes 'Confetti Check A-OK' and 'A Question of Priorities'.)

Earth is at war with alien body snatchers. Humans are being kidnapped and reduced to spare parts for a dying race. But they aren't the only victims of this secret battle. USAF Colonel Ed Straker has recently married his fiance Mary. He is unable to tell her that the Earth is in danger and that his work must take precedence over a settled and normal home life. It is a secret that will tear their relationship apart and cost him the life of his only son...

DOMAIN OF THE DEVIL GIRLS

(Compiled from the Space:1999 episodes 'A Matter of Balance' and 'Devil's Planet'.)

Violent alien she-devils from an anti-matter universe take Commander Koenig prisoner. Their strange leader, Vindrus, temps teenage botanist Shermeen Williams into releasing the anti-matter aliens from their dimensional prison so they can take over the galaxy. Will shape-changing wonder woman Maya be able to prevent the catharsis of spurious morality? 

THE UNDERSEA NIGHTMARES OF TROY TEMPEST

(Compiled from the Stingray episodes Raptures of the Deep, Cosmic Cavemen, Tom Thumb Tempest and Pink Ice.)

The evil underwater emperor Titan uses his new nightmare ray on the Captain Troy Tempest. The deadly beam sends him into a dangerous coma – where in a nightmare dreamscape he confronts cosmic cavemen, giant aquaphibians and destruction in a palace of treasures as Titan threatens the world with pink ice.

THE QUESTIONABLE ADVENTURES OF JOE 90 

(Compiled from the episodes Operation McLaine, Double Agent, The Fortress, Project 90.)

There are many strange secrets within the espionage business but none stranger than the case of Joe 90 – a nine year old boy with incredible skills thanks to a brain implant that allows him to become expert at any skill or task. But is it right to use a child in such dangerous situations. This is the report. You are the judge...

Features additional live-action framing scenes with Patrick Allen as Government Investigator Connors investigating the moral aspects of the Joe 90 case.

If you appreciate the incredible effort and imagination I've put into this silly excursion into silliness, then you can show your appreciation by purchasing me a coffee via my Ko-fi account here. Thank you.

Thunderbirds - The Motion Pictures!

As you can tell from an earlier post, I spent a lot of the first few weeks of lockdown creating cinema posters for the Doctor Who episodes that had been picked out for the mass tweet-a-longs. Haven't check the exact number but I did quite a few - including some classic series ones.

During that time, I felt I needed a break from Doctor Who. Yes, the creative juices were still flowing but I just needed to do something a bit different.

I'd just acquired the blu-ray of the original Thunderbirds TV series and was cherry-picking my favourite episodes. One of the many comments levelled at the show was how much like mini-movies each of fifty minute productions were. Indeed, there are some that even have very similar plots to later movies. So I started doing period film posters for some of them. 

Here they are:

Trapped in the Sky

The poster is based on one for Airport 1975 - the second film in the Airport series. The Fireflash that replaces the jumbo jet of the original is actually some cut-out and flipped artwork from an old Japanese model kit box. I had to 'reverse' the lettering on the side of the fuselage. It wasn't until I'd posted it on Twitter that I realised that the Fireflash lettering wasn't actually on the original aircraft. 

Operation Crashdive

This one is based on the poster for Airport 1977 - the third film in the increasingly desperate Airport series. In that film, a jumbo jet crash-lands in the sea (in the Bermuda Triangle of all places) and sinks to the bottom. The crew and passengers survive as the plane remains airtight. It's almost the same scenario as the episode 'Operation Crashdive'. So the choice of film/poster was a no-brainer. The artwork on the original is iconic and I had fun recreating it in photoshop. In this case, finding an image of Fireflash that was the same angle as the original sunken aircraft was difficult. There are very few promo images of it from the original series and I couldn't screengrab an image of it from the blu-ray as I didn't own a blu-ray drive. Instead I found a photo of the original Japanese Fireflash model kit. A few tweaks here and there and it looked okay - especially darkened and tinted blue/green. I think this is probably my favourite of the four posters.


City of Fire

This one was another obvious choice. No prizes for spotting the iconic poster for The Towering Inferno. I needed an image of the burning Thompson Towers (no relation). Again there were no suitable production stills so I had to create it in Photoshop. Luckily, the building is a simple skyscraper and building it in PS was comparatively straightforward. I distorted it and surrounded it with plenty of fire and smoke. It surprised me that it looked pretty authentic looking if a little stylised. The head shots of the family are simple pics taken off the telly and filtered to look more like artwork. I had a bit of fun with the words on this one. I can't help doing that. Please forgive me! 




The Perils of Penelope

I couldn't get the idea of doing a very sixties one for this Lady Penelope-centric episode. Barbarella was a no-no so I went for the much-maligned 1966 movie Modesty Blaise - a European film based on a British newspaper comic strip about a freelance lady spy. The poster is very sixties and is an art-based collage of images of Blaise - so it was a straight-forward task to create a similar design using Lady P - made all the more easier thanks to the fact she wore so many colourful dresses and that there are a lot more production stills of her than there are of Fireflash. I like the look of this one. Very sixties. And it's set off by having an off-white background instead of just plain white. 




Here's some of the textless artwork from the above designs.

And here are the originals:

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Supermarionation Movie Blockbusters!

The wonderful Talking Pictures TV channel recently broadcast 'Captain Scarlett' here in the UK. I didn't watch it. It's not my cup of tea. 


"Why?" I hear you ask. "It's the popular Gerry and Sylvia Anderson supermarionation TV series from the sixties featuring an indestructible secret agent and his battles against intangible slow speaking aliens from Mars."

"Ah, but it isn't." I say (somewhat smugly). "Take a note of the extra 't' at the end of 'Scarlett'. This is in fact the 1953 movie 'Captain Scarlett' - a period adventure film that starred Richard Greene - TV's Robin Hood - as a Napoleonic swashbuckler who attempts to save a Princess from a dodgy marriage. So not really my cup of tea in any world even though it was shot in Technicolor in Mexico and was Brazillian actress Leonora Amar's final film." (You can tell I've looked it up on Wikipedia, can't you!) 

I thought it would be a tremendous wheeze to create a cinema poster for the indestructable Captain Scarlet based on the original one for 'Captain Scarlett'. So I did.

And as usual, I got carried away. I also did ones for 'Stingray' (Based on the poster for 'War Gods of the Deep' (1965) aka. 'City Under The Sea', 'Fireball XL5' (Based on the poster for 'Rocketship XM' (1950) and er... 'Timeslip' (Based on the poster for er... 'Time Slip' (1950) a movie that shares the same name as the eponymous children's TV serial from 1970.)  

If you've enjoyed these efforts, why not buy me a coffee via my Ko-fi account to show your appreciation. Even if you don't, the link will also take you to a Gallery featuring what I consider my finest pieces of work. Both of them. Thank you. 

Three More Gerry Anderson TV Shows Get Their TVTimes Covers

This is a bit of mopping up from a previous post. When I do a "selection" of TV shows, there's always someone who says, "But why haven't you done such-and-such a show?" So these are a few more TVTimes covers for Gerry Anderson shows not included in the last but two post. 

And for anyone who says that ITV didn't broadcast Space Precinct, don't forget that by the time that show made it to the screen, TVTimes was covering not just the BBC channels but also satellite as well.

TVTimes - My Favourite Biscuit

It started out as a little running gag on my Gerry Anderson TVTimes covers (see previous post). Noele Gordon (from TV's Crossroads) revealing her favourite biscuit to readers of the popular ITV listings magazine in a series of articles that on closer inspection seems to have run for nearly thirty years. 

Despite the odd nice comment about the artistic merit of the covers, folk seemed to be more interested in the late soap queen's biscuit preference. 

So, by popular request here it is... together with a selection of other noted celebrities from the late 60s/ early 70s. 

(Oh and Colonel White DOES NOT look like Mike Pence!) 


Click on the images to make them larger... and legible!

Six Gerry Anderson Shows Finally Get Their TVTimes Covers!

I've been doing a bit of design prep for SHADOcon - a convention dedicated to Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's UFO During the process of putting together stuff for the day, it occurred to me that none of their series actually made the cover of the TVTimes. A shocking omission by anyone's standards. 

It was left to their eternal rvival the Radio Times to give Thunderbirds cover status in the 90s during one of the BBC's re-runs of the show. 

Never mind, I said. Let's put things right with the aid of Photoshop...

Thunderbirds Toys for Girls and Boys!

To celebrate the reveal of the brand-new logo for Doctor Who, I've dug out some vintage adverts for Thunderbirds toys. 

Ripped from the pages of TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope comic... literally.

Three UFO Century 21 Mini-albums

The Century 21 range of mini-albums were a staple of every Gerry Anderson fans record collection in the 60s. Each release was a 33rpm EP and featured "21 minutes of adventure". Although the 21 minute tag was correct, the term 'adventure' was more loosely applied. Some were abbreviated audio adaptations of episodes of Thunderbirds whilst others saw the listener taken on tours of Marineville and NASA rocket launches courtesy of Troy Tempest and Steve Zodiac respectively. Sometimes they were even canon-blasting original adventures for Lady Penelope and Captain Scarlet. 

For some reason, Century 21 stopped producing their mini-albums following Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons. 

There are those of us who would've appreciated the range going on throughout the later Gerry Anderson productions...

"Terrahawks! Stay on this Channel. ZD21 is Go!!!"

Here's something I was asked to do by a strange elderly woman who turned up at my house one day last week. 

She had an infectious laugh as well as a rather eye-catching skin condition. She said she would pay me in "untold riches" if I took on the commission but I settled for a few coppers to pay for a Greggs sausage roll and coffee. 

Not heard back from her but she seemed pleased with the results... She tweetered them to help sell some of her Blu-ray discs. Bless. 

Always nice to help out the elderly. We owe them so much. 

Terrahawks vol.1 is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD from NetworkDVD.

With thanks to Jamie Anderson for asking.