RIP Gerry Anderson and his supermarionation heroes
GERRY Anderson RIP. Photos of the life of the man who created Supercar (1961-62), Fireball XL5 (1962-63), Stingray (1964-65) and Thunderbirds (1965-66) can be seen here.
Photo above: The Television Society Silver medal awarded to “Thunderbirds”, the television puppet series, for work of outstanding artistic merit in front of the camera, is shown by Gerry Anderson and his wife Sylvia at the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London. 13/05/1966
Born into the immigrant Jewish Bieloglovski family, Gerry Abrahams became Gerry Anderson.
Much of his early TV work was unmemorable. But his supermarionation was a revelation. Not only had he invented a word that sounded futuristic and utterly fantastic, but the lip-synched marionettes on 3D made stories come alive.
We trembled like Parker on his wires as we heard:
“THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS. WE KNOW THAT YOU CAN HEAR US EARTHMEN. OUR RETALIATION WILL BE SLOW, BUT NONETHELESS EFFECTIVE. IT WILL MEAN THE ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION OF LIFE ON EARTH.”
Who could save Earth from The Mysterons? Send for Captain Scarlett!
But this intro was better. It was, after all, the Thunderbirds, that thrustingly modern Famous Five, who saved the day and achieved what now seems impossible: they made the name Tracy popular:
Posted: 27th, December 2012 | In: Celebrities Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
