When I was much younger than I am now, I would be glued to the television at a friend’s house watching re-runs of UFO on a Saturday morning. The young ladies in tight-fitting silver catsuits and purple wigs might have been the main draw for a prepubescent lad, but these were equally supported by the brilliant writer and his vision of the future. In the early 1970’s it was similar to most television sci-fi of the time, more optimistic than the distopian sci-fi that arrived in the 1980’s.
Even though Earth was under attack by sinister alien race, the no-nonsense pragmatic approach of the head of SHADO (Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organization) Commander Ed Straker (played by Ed Bishop) results in a robust defence of our home planet using the resources available to him, including a Moonbase which supported the UFO Interceptors (expertly guided to attack by Lt. Gay Ellis (played by Gabrielle Drake, one of the aforementioned catsuit-clad purple wig-wearers), a fleet of Skydivers (submarine motherships, each with an atmospheric interceptor), gas-turbine cars (even if these appeared to have wobbly suspension) and the seemingly endless resources of a world government keen to repel our foes.
It might of been futuristic and equipped with the bright plastic cleanliness that only the 1970’s could produce, but it did also bring real relationships and problems into the picture as well. In many episodes, it’s about the relationships of the main characters, their family, lovers, and the striving for power within the organization.
That same slot in the TV schedule was used later to support Space:1999, again about a Moonbase (Alpha), but one that is blasted with the rest of the Moon from orbit around our planet by a nuclear-waste explosion, to go roaming through the most interesting parts of the galaxy (conveniently omitting the fact that such a journey would take quite a long time), where the Commander John Koenig (Martin Landau, a familiar face from his Mission:Impossible days) would take an Eagle spacecraft to the nearest planet in Star Trek style to meet the locals. Interesting adventures would then ensue. Again the relationships, particularly between the Commander, and Dr. Helena Russell (Barbara Bain, again familiar from Mission:Impossible) were key. Similarly the joking and friendly rivalry between Tony Verdeschi (Tony Anholt) and Alan Carter (Nick Tate) who nearly always managed to get into trouble together, and the portrayal of Tony’s character became much deeper when the shape-changing Maya (Catherine Schell) joined.
The writer and producer behind both of these series was none other than Gerry Anderson, a visionary who would use television to promote his ideas of the future, and one styled almost exclusively by his second wife Sylvia Anderson. His production company 21st Century Television, first became famous for the Captain Scarlet series produced using “Supermarionation“, a combination of marionette puppets (worked by wire), live action, realistic scale models (particularly of landscapes, water and explosions), and some electronically controlled motion built into the puppets to primarily support mouth-movement, and occasionally eye-movement (or in the case of The Hood in Thunderbirds, glowing eyes).
His works include Four Feather Falls, one of his first experiments with Supermarionation, in 1960. The story for this covered the exploits a sheriff of a Kansas town, given four feathers by an Indian chief for saving his grandson. These feathers provided specific powers to the sheriff, his horse and dog, which enabled him to successfully conclude each of the story lines.
But he is most remembered for the series Thunderbirds, for Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons and spin-off creations such as Joe 90, and many others which have since been repeated many times on TV around the world, and many being re-edited to be released on VHS and DVD. As his story-telling gathered many supporters, it became easier for him to gain funding for his stories in live action format, hence the move to human actors for the main series of my youth, UFO and Space:1999.
Later Terrahawks would see puppets return, but using techniques such as control from below (as with The Muppets) which he called Supermacronation. In the series, the heroes protected Earth from aliens, this time Martians, using the support of the robotic Zeroids, with their leader Sergeant Major Zero, voiced by Windsor Davies.
Later live action would also return, initially in the pilot Space Police, and then re-worked eight years later into Space Precinct series, where Gerry Anderson would use his vision of a police station in the far future. However, live action, as was nearly always the case for his vision, would be expensive.. at nearly ?1m an episode it was one of the most expensive series produced in the UK upto that point. (It was produced on 16:9 format Super 16 film, at a time when most television was 4:3). Given the typical mix from Anderson of an child friendly show, but presented in an adult format, it failed to find suitable slots in American TV schedules, and so could not gather sufficient audience figures to allow a second series to be produced.
In 2001, he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, for his services to Animation.
Gerry, your unique vision of the future will be sadly missed, and you proved that marionettes, although they appeared wooden, would always have a heart.
