OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND–Gerry Anderson, creator of the Supermarionation process behind such hit TV series as “Fireball XL5,” “Thunderbirds” and “Stingray,” died in his sleep at a nursing home here Wednesday, Dec. 26. He was 83 and had suffered from dementia for several years.MSTies will recall that the first two full-length MST3k episodes in the KTMA era were “Invaders from the Deep,” a movie edited together from episodes from “Stingray,” and “Revenge of the Mysterions,” a movie version of episodes from another Anderson series, “Captain Scarlet.” (No fan copies of those episodes exist.)
Anderson was also the producer of the TV series “Space: 1999,” two episodes of which were incorporated into K10- COSMIC PRINCESS. And, of course, Best Brains named the two “mole people” who worked for the Mads Gerry and Sylvia, in honor of Anderson and his wife.
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And of course Mike at the Cheese Coop really liked Space: 1999.
Totally cool.
RIP Gerry. You brought some cheer to Midwesterners, almost as
much as the Packers winning the Superbowl!!!
RIP. He will always be UFO to me.
I wonder why they dropped the Mole People
dsman–the interns who were playing Gerry and Sylvia, in suffocating masks under the hot studio lights, rebelled and refused to continue.
RIP Gerry.
Note to the site folks… you should also make note of the recent passing of actor Charles Durning a couple of days ago at age 89. Pretty sure his name was mentioned (“may also star one of the following”)in the faux credits with half-screen posterization fx that Joel and the Bots riffed on in a host segment of “Cave Dwellers”.
R.I.P. And, while we’re at it, F.A.B., S.I.G., and P.W.O.R.
Love his strings.
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RIP
“He was 83 and had suffered from dementia for several years.”
I believe those years were the 1960s, when he made his TV shows.
I grew up on Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, UFO and Space 1999. Years later I revisited some of those shows and more Gerry Anderson shows I had missed as a child through home video. My wife and son became instant fans on seeing Gerry Anderson’s wonderful TV shows. He will be missed. Thankfully, his many terrific TV shows live on. “Anything can happen in the next half hour!” “Thunderbirds are go!”
R.I.P. Gerry. Captain Scarlett, Thunderbirds and Stingray will forever be with you.
A great talent that will be missed. I grew up watching “Supercar”. Loved that show and “Space:1999”.
So long Gerry.
“THUNDERBIRDS are GO!”
As Spork said above, the great Charles Durning also recently passed. He wasn’t in any MSTed movies (as far as I know) but he was in The Muppet Movie, which is almost as good. He didn’t like to make much of it, but he was also a certified bad-ass war hero, carrying bits of shrapnel from D-Day the rest of life and earning multiple medals. And according to my aunt, Charlie was a wonderful dancer. (I spent a good deal of time with her and my uncle in Durning’s home town of Highland Falls NY, where they recently named the street where he grew up after him.)
And let’s not forget Jack Klugman. Someone up there is cramming in as many deaths this year as they can.
I think it would be a really nice tribute to Gerry Anderson if Best Brains released their versions of Revenge of the Mysterons and Invaders From the Deep. Just sayin’.
F.A.B. Mr. Anderson
F.A.B.
Thank you for the years of enjoyment, from Fireball XL-5, through Stingray and UFO.
The world is just a little dimmer without you.
Stringed puppetry may be a lost art but when Gerry Anderson did it he did it superbly. Finest puppetry I have ever seen bar none. RIP
#8 Not cool.
I’ve always enjoyed the sheer, unabashed goofy insanity of Gerry Anderson’s work. I even sort of dug Space Precinct!
I know there are no fan copies available of the first two KTMA episodes, but does anyone know if even the Brain’s have a copy in their archives? Or are these shows truly lost?
MegaWeapon! (#18)
It is my understanding that Jim Mallon has the original copies of all of the KTMA shows. Maybe clips from those shows can be used in a future DVD release.
And, when you get right down to it, Gerry Anderson’s shows featured some of the coolest air and space craft in TV history.
He shaped my childhood. Stingray was my fav show. I will never for get waiting to catchit on a sat afternoon.
true pioneer