Tag: Alan Shubrook

Andersonic 20 Is Out Now!

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The good news is that Issue 20 of my favourite Gerry Anderson fanzine, Andersonic, has just been released, so it\’s time for my usual plug. So, what\’s on the menu this issue?

The current issue features:

  • Brian Johnson interview – a new interview with Space 1999\’s FX director. Brian also talks about his work on Stingray, Thunderbirds, 2001 and Alien/Aliens amongst other things.
  • Mark Harrison interview – CG director on New Captain Scarlet and leader of the Scarlet Team, Mark discusses his work on Gerry\’s last series.
  • Thunderbirds 1965 – We take a trip to Slough and visit the set during the filming of \’The Abominable Snowman\’, the first of the three episodes being made there.
  • Anderson Dream Episodes – Are they clever lateral thinking or a feeble cop-out?
  • Space: 1999/ Another Time, Another Place – Mark Braxton reviews one of the first series\’ weirder episodes.
  • Reviews – We review Alan Shubrook\’s new book, the CD21 interview CDs and \’The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson\’ DVD.
  • Strip Story – the Andersonic time machine goes back to 1965 to dissect the first issue of TV Century 21.
  • Thunderbirds Are Go – our \’episode guide\’ for the first 13 instalments of this new series.
  • … plus a few other things we\’ve managed to shoehorn in. The issue also has new art by Richard Smith.

Issue 20 of Andersonic is 44 pages, black & white interiors, and colour front and back covers, both inside and out. There\’s lots of lovely photos and artwork to go with the great articles and reviews, and all of this costs a measly £2.75, including p&p within the UK. Check out the website at www.andersonic.co.uk for details on how to purchase the current issue and back issues, most of which are still in print.

Andersonic is, by far, my favourite Gerry Anderson fanzine. It\’s a genuine, classic, traditional, \”real\” paper/print high quality A5 zine, which is a huge plus in my book. There are very few traditional print zines around these days (almost everyone has gone digital) compared to their classic heyday back in the 1970s-1990s. They\’re a bit of an endangered species, in fact. So a good one like Andersonic is something truly special. Add to that the sheer quality of this zine, consistently, issue after issue, and I can only applaud Richard Farrell and his talented team for producing this great zine .

The zine has been going for ten years now, which is roughly a six-monthly publishing schedule, although that has slowed down in recent years to an almost annual schedule, alternating roughly every six months with its equally high-quality sister Doctor Who publication, Plaything of Sutekh. We still get a zine every six months or so, but it\’s two different zines rather than just the one. It takes a lot of time and effort to put quality zines like this together. I\’d rather have a lengthy wait between issues and get a zine of higher quality, than a more frequent release at a lower quality, or, worse still, Richard giving up altogether because of a far too punishing zine release schedule.

I cannot recommend this fanzine highly enough. It deserves as much support as it can get. Buy it. Now.

Andersonic Issue 17 Is Out Now

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[S]everal posts back, I mentioned that Issue 3 of the excellent Doctor Who fanzine Plaything of Sutekh had hit the stands. And now, what seems like barely five minutes later, Richard Farrell and His Merry Crew have also unleashed Andersonic #17 upon the unsuspecting world. I haven\’t even had time to finish reading Plaything of Sutekh #3 yet!

In case you don\’t know, Andersonic is our favourite fanzine dealing with all the various Gerry Anderson shows, both live and puppets (and let\’s not forget the excellent CGI animated New Captain Scarlet series). And it\’s also a real A5 printed zine, not an electronic publication, which is a huge plus in my book.

So what\’s in the new issue? Well, I\’ll just repeat here what it says on the website:

Sylvia Anderson interview – a new interview with Sylvia in which she discusses her work on the APF/Century 21 series and her creation & casting of such well-loved characters as Lady Penelope, Parker, the Angels and Ed Straker.

Alan Shubrook interview – Alan talks of his time working at Century 21 on series from Thunderbirds up to UFO. He discusses his methods, materials used and his favourite miniatures created for the series, as well as sharing behind the scenes anecdotes. The interview is illustrated with Alan\’s own photographs taken at the studio.

Space 1999/ Siren Planet – a look at the original script written by Art Wallace which was later rewritten to become the series\’ second episode \’Matter of Life and Death\’.

Thunderbirds/ Desperate Intruder – two writers take opposing views on a mid-season outing where Brains finds himself up to his neck in it.

UFO/ The Long Sleep – we curl up with a tube of Smarties and take a look at one of UFO\’s weirder episodes. Take a trip with us back to that ruined farmhouse…

Home Taping: 1999 – Mark Rosney recalls the days before VHS

Strip Story – we look at an individual comic strip to see what makes it tick. This issue – Countdown\’s UFO story \’The Final Climb\’ drawn by Jon Davis

…plus DVD reviews and other stuff. Internal art by Steve Kyte, cover image by Martin Bower.

I\’ve just ordered my copy, so lots and lots of good stuff to look forward to. I love it all, particularly anything to do with UFO, Space:1999 and Countdown comic. 🙂

At only £2.65 (that\’s British Pounds Sterling), inclusive of postage (within the UK, that is, check the website for postage elsewhere), it\’s not even the price of a pint of beer. So why don\’t you all scoot over to the Andersonic website and order a copy.