1994: SIG THE OFFICIAL SUPERMATIONATION MAGAZINE ISSUE 1

From February 1994:  This is an oddity that completely passed me by at the time and I only discovered by chance in a shop's back issue boxes relatively recently... SIG: THE OFFICIAL SUPERMARIONATION MAGAZINE issue 1.

Yup, it's an officially sanctioned by ITC glossy magazine devoted to the puppet shows of Gerry Anderson which - of course - were enjoying a resurgence at the time thanks to reruns on the BBC.

This was far from the first magazine devoted to Anderson's work but it might well have been the first officially licensed (rather than a fanzine endorsed by ITC or Anderson himself) one intended for a mainstream audience.

Unfortunately, it was published by Phoenix, the fly-by-night outfit that also published the ALIENS, TERMINATOR, INDIANA JONES, STAR TREK and FREDDY'S NIGHTMARES comics and magazines during this period.  Quality control (and indeed permission of the copyright holder) weren't always their top priority.  This is - much like their unofficial FINAL FRONTIER magazine (once they los - or stopped paying for - reprints of Starlog articles) - a thin selection of features (don't expect anything along the lines of what S.I.G had been publishing) alongside lots of glossy photos of puppets and hardware.

The weird cover layout isn't a major fail (although it is pretty high on the STARLOGGED 'That'll do' scale... and what's with the crappy, almost non-existant, masthead?), I scanned it with the free Stingray postcard obscuring part of the cover.

There's no new or reprinted comic strips.

I have no idea if this ever made it to a second issue.  Based on the strength of this one, and the very few copies that seem to be out there, I would assume not.

1976: STARLOG ISSUE 1 LOOKS AHEAD TO SPACE:1999 YEAR TWO

From 1976: the very first issue of STARLOG MAGAZINE looks at the changes afoot on the set, and behind-the-scenes, on the second year of BRITISH-based SPACE:1999.  

Well, that went well...

1981: GERRY ANDERSON'S SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! ISSUE 2

From the summer of 1981: the second edition of GERRY ANDERSON fan magazine SUPERMARIONATION IS GO!

This issue includes the announcement of the formation of Fanderson, an amalgermation of Anderson fan efforts (including the magazine itself) into one organisation recognised by both the man himself and copyright holders ITC.

1986: GERRY ANDERSON FANZINE S.I.G ISSUE 16

From Autumn 1986: Gerry Anderson fanzine S.I.G reports on SPACE POLICE, the pilot project (now available on DVD from Network) which - after an extended hiatus and much retooling - eventually emerged the following decade as the uneven (to say the least) SPACE PRECINCT.

The name change was down to Lego having already copyrighted the original name for toys, something that would have scuppered the critical merchandising plans.

ITC'S SUPER SPACE THEATRE US GERRY ANDERSON TV MOVIES

More long-lost (mostly) TV movie versions of familiar TV shows: ITC's SUPER SPACE THEATRE teleflick compilation package.

ITC, the programme sales spin-off from ITV franchise operator ATV, were past masters at creating content with an eye to the American market.  They realised that was where the cash was as well as giving the UK broadcasts of their shows and sheen that most other ITV companies couldn't hope to match.

As the article points out, the US market had gone cold to Gerry Anderson's work by the late 1970s so the New York office reworked them into a package of teleflicks which they could offer to local stations and the brave new world of cable television.

I don't think any of these reworked versions made it onto British TV (ITV bought the reruns rights to a large chunk of the Anderson back catalogue in the 1980s) but i think they did appear on tape during the early years of the VHS boom.  Indeed some (or similar compilations made in the UK) were still knocking around a decade later, preventing ITC themselves from releasing complete series of uncut episodes on tape.

This article appeared in STARLOG MAGAZINE.

1992: STINGRAY ISSUE 1 (FLEETWAY)

From October 1992: the first issue of the Fleetway STINGRAY comic, timed to coincide with reruns of the 1960s Gerry Anderson extravaganza on the BBC.

Most of the material was recycled from TV CENTURY 21, published in the late Sixties.

This, along with companion titles dedicated to CAPTAIN SCARLET and JOE 90, didn't fare as well as the runaway success of the THUNDERBIRDS title and they all eventually found themselves merged into one almighty Gerry Anderson megamix.

1993: CAPTAIN SCARLET ISSUE 1 (FLEETWAY)

From October 1993: the first issue of Fleetway's CAPTAIN SCARLET revival, timed to coincide with the arrival of reruns on BBC TWO.

The series had last been seen in the UK roughly a decade esrlier when ITV had bought a package of Gerry Anderson shows (including Thunderbirds, Stingray, Scarlet, Joe 90 and even Fireball XL5) to play in daytime and at weekends.

The BBC were able to make a similiar deal in the early 1990s because ITC were no longer affiliated to ITV and were free to seel their back catalogue of ATV/ ITC series and movies to any UK broadcaster (a large package wss also sold to cable/ satellite outfit Bravo). Latterly they returned to the fold when Carlton acquired the business.

The Fleetway fortnightly comic, which used strips originally created in the 1960s, ran for only 14 issues before folding into the pages of THE NEW THUNDERBIRDS COMIC from issue 67 (May 1994).

Scarlet returned to comics in 2005 to tie-in with the CGI revival. Poor scheduling of the TV show also helped the seal the early fate of the new title.

1988: GERRY ANDERSON FANZINE ACTION 21 ISSUE 1

From July 1988 (and maintaining a TV CENTURY 21 tradition): the first issue of ACTION 21 magazine/ fanzine.

Published by the folks behind S.I.G, this was a nostalgic trawl through the back catalogue of Gerry Anderson comic strips, licensed from the original publishers and ITC.

The newspaper stylee covers were, of course, a homage to the 1960s Anderson comic at its imperial prime.

It was a nice idea and the print and presentation was excellent but too niche to break out into a healthy seller. It ran for ten mostly monthly issues before folding the following year.

This was only a couple of years before the full-on Anderson resurgence fuelled by the BBC's acquisition of Thundrbirds and other shows from the ITC archives. Fleetway plundered the same stash of strips to launch their massively successful THUNDRRBIRDS THE COMIC and supplemented it, to coincide with the TV scheduling, with STINGRAY, CAPTAIN SCARLET and JOE 90.

1988: GERRY ANDERSON HOME VIDEO ADVERT (CHANNEL FIVE VIDEO)

From July 1988: A CHANNEL 5 (no relation to the TV channel of the same name) advert for their range of Gerry Andrson home video tapes.

Channel Five (whose name was a play in the fact that the UK only had four TV channels at the time) were pioneers in the home video sell through business: issuing tapes priced to buy and own rather than rental-only releases which were (deliberately) pried to deter casual purchases.  

SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! (SIG) ISSUE 1 (FANDERSON)

From 1981: the first issue of British Gerry Anderson fan magazine SUPERMARIONATION IS GO!

I think I have posted this launch issue before but I recently acquired another copy (duplicates are an occupational hazard) and was pleased to see that this copy still included the original welcome letter from Gerry himself tucked inside. So well worth a repost. 

I don't think this was originally conceived as Fanderson's main publication but it was soon adopted as such when the various branches of Andrson fandom were encouraged to cooperate more closely by Gerry himself and copyright holders ITC. 

In a move that was probably beneficial to the magazine but counter-productive to the club, copies were also carried in specialist stores courtesy of Titan Distributors. Thereby eliminating any particular need for casual readers to enroll. The modern version of Fanderson doesn't repeat that mistake, restricting both the newsletter and merchandise to members only. 

The title switched to the less unwieldy S.I.G IS GO! from the fourth issue (Spring 1982). Colour covers were introduced a year later (Spring '83) and the increasingly professional publication eventually ran to twenty issues (Autumn 1988). 

It was published alongside the equally excellent TIMESCREEN which was dedicated to a wider range of  British Telefantasy shows. 

1981: SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! Issue 2

From Summer 1981 (and the random-scan file): the second issue of Gerry Anderson fanzine SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! (latterly shortened to the less unwieldy S.I.G.  

It adopted the revised title from the fourth issue and switched to colour covers (but still b&w interiors) from the seventh (Spring 1983). 

The finale appears to have been the twentieth issue, published in the Autumn of 1988.  

1995: GERRY ANDERSON'S SPACE PRECINT: THE LAST WARRIOR (Manga)

From 1995: The one-and-only (I think) SPACE PRECINCT Graphic Novel from British publisher Manga (an offshoot from the VHS people, notable for scoring a hit in the UK with reprints of the American X-FILES strips).

I was never won over my Gerry Anderson's uncomfortable combination of live-action, models and men in masks at the time.  The tone seemed inconsistent and the production values were all over the place.  It looked (and was) out-of-time compared with the likes of BABYLON FIVE and THE X-FILES.  

That said, I've acquired the DVD set in more recent times (and watched the excellent documentary SPACE PRECINCT LEGACY) and my appreciation has grown (although never particularly soared).  

The whole enterprise wasn't helped by some random scheduling on both sides of the Atlantic.  US syndication was patchy in a market already saturated with similar fare (and evolving so that the number of off-network slots on local stations was diminishing, thanks to the rise of the next generation of networks).  In the UK, the show was sold twice: once to Sky and then to BBC TWO (who insisted on their own edits of some episodes for Compliance reasons)which should have given the show massive exposure... but somehow didn't.

Merchandising was plentiful (I have an action figure of the robot, still on the card, at home somewhere) and included a all-new-material fortnightly from upstart Manga.  The business sense was impeccable: this was a brand spanking new Anderson series at a time when the BBC repeats of his older fare was translating into massive sales for Fleetway's tie-in titles (although, true to form, JOE 90 proved hard to shift).  But, the high cost of the license and commissioning cover-to-cover new material (long-gone were the STAR WARS WEEKLY days when anything with a sniff of science fiction could be used to bulk out the page count), led to (sudden) closure after only six fortnightly issues.  

Preempting the business plan of modern comic books, Manga also planned to package-up the strip content into a succession of collections... but managed only this one. 

1984: TERRAHAWKS TOY ADVERT

This advert had a regular booking in the MARVEL UK titles circa 1984: A mail-away offer for action figures (and an electronic game!) based on Gerry Anderson's TERRAHAWKS TV show.

To be honest, although I found the show to be enjoyable (and I loved the first annual, which hit stores ahead of the show's premiere) it wasn't really a patch on the recent Japanese import STAR FLEET.  All these years later, and having seen both shows again on DVD, my opinion hasn't really changed.  

1991: THUNDERBIRDS THE COMIC issue 1 (Fleetway)

The late Gerry Anderson's THUNDERBIRDS is finally returning to TV next year in a new series which - predictably - its creator wasn't asked to contribute to before his death.  With luck, it will be better received (and perform better) than the big-screen incarnation (which - for me - wasn't great but wasn't the unmitigated disaster - if taken on its own terms - that the rest of the world would have you believe.  The Jonathan Frakes commentary track on the DVD is refreshingly honest about reshoots and product placement too) of a few years back.

TV does, however, have a track record for screwing-up the franchise.  ITC themselves, in a mis-guided attempt to get the original show back on American TV, concocted something called TURBO-CHARGED THUNDERBIRDS (shades of Power Rangers) which excessively buggered about with the original footage in an attempt to make it more 'relevant' to today's kids.

Lets hope that ITV, now (appropriately) owners of the ITC back catalogue, do a better job.

That's a long-winded way of introducing this first issue of the 1991-launched THUNDERBIRDS comic, a runaway hit for Fleetway at the time.  The early nineties boom in the Anderson back catalogue, courtesy of the BBC, is now the stuff of legend but conclusively proved that the best of the Anderson shows were generation-proof.

The comic - which must have been seen as something of a risk despite being part of a massive merchandising push - was a runaway hit and spawned several (albeit less successful) companions (CAPTAIN SCARLET, STINGRAY and even JOE 90) and spin-offs which all plundered Anderson comics of previous decades for material.

FANDERSON, The official Gerry Anderson Fan Club, have recently run a multi-part article on the history of these Fleetway titles in the pages of their club magazine.  It's only available to members (along with a host of classy exclusive merchandise) but, once you sign-up, back issues are available.  Go on... indulge.

1981: SPACE CITY ARTICLE FROM SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! ISSUE 1

The late seventies/ early eighties saw Blackpool play host to two geek magnets: exhibitions devoted to DOCTOR WHO (shamelessly plugged by BBC continuity announcers... when they were still allowed to do that sort of thing) and the works of GERRY ANDERSON.

Both are long since defunct and neither seem to be particularly well chronicled despite their longevity.

That's why I've decided to run this fascinating three-page article (by editor David Nightingale) from the Anderson fanzine SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! issue 1 (Spring 1981).

I've published the cover in a previous post (here) but subsequently acquired a copy and found this article of particular historical note.

I think SPACE CITY shuttered sometime in the early eighties.  I never went myself (but did make the pilgrimage to Longleat, home of the 'other' Doctor Who exhibition, for the legendary 20th anniversary event) but I kinda wish I had.

1990: CENTURY 21 ISSUE 1

This 1990 launch, devoted to the world's of Gerry Anderson, was - in the great British publishing tradition - the result of the merger of two other magazines.  S.I.G (formally Supermarionation Is Go) had been a professionally produced text-based fanzine whilst its companion ACTION 21 had licensed the sixties and seventies Anderson strips from TV (CENTURY) 21, COUNTDOWN and TV ACTION.

When the later could no-longer stand alone, the two were merged into this articles-and-strips hybrid.

It was the same Anderson back catalogue that fuelled the Fleetway comics (Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray and Joe 90) in the early nineties.

The cover still is from the excellent late-entry U.F.O episode Timelash, featuring extensive location filming on the Pinewood Studios (UFO's second home after - with undue haste - vacating the MGM studios) backlot.  

1981: SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! issue 1

Gerry Anderson, creator of a myriad of great British television series (and even the "bad" ones, I've discovered thanks to DVD, are actually not that bad either) was buried last Friday.

To mark his passing, this is the first issue of the long-running (it survives today - several incarnations later - as the newsletter of Fanderson, the official Gerry Anderson fan club) fanzine S.I.G, published in the spring of 1981.

The first few issues appeared as SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! before the title was simplified to S.I.G (a name which also better reflected the range of Anderson's output including live-action film and television).

Production standards on the A4 professional-fanzine improved considerable from these humble beginnings: colour covers were latterly introduced along with a bolstered page count.   

I never owned this particular issue, the first two I ever bought (three and four, I think) came from London's Forbidden Planet 2 and I bought them because they contained a two-part feature on the comic TV21, an exciting-sounding comic from (to me) pre-history.

I didn't join Fanderson for another few decades (their newsletter is now a lovely A5 glossy affair) but I did pick up a number of later issues of S.I.G because it remained available to casual readers via specialist shops as well as club members (the modern version has a strictly-for-members distribution list).