the Gerry Anderson Home Page

The Thunderbirds BluRay set is available in the UK and even though it is marked as REGION B (PAL I think), I had been told by multiple sources that the set is region free. I took a chance and ordered the now much cheaper set. I paid £58.88 from Amazon UK. I use a normal Sony Playstation 3 with no hacks. The Thunderbirds BluRay set plays just fine on my USA Playstation 3. The shows look amazing on my *ahem* 58" plasma screen and I have to say the show looks incredible presented in this way.

I know the top and bottom have been cut off, but to be honest, 98% of the time, you won't even notice. They did grab some extra side area that was never shown before, so generally its a major win in terms of picture quality. Colour is excellent and it looks like a major restoration was done for the most part. The sound is available in 5.1 surround (???) and stereo. Stereo is the default and for good reason. Still some additional "effects" but thats OK in moderation. (read on)

Fan-produced fanzine Andersonic has just released issue 8. The magazine is great treat for Anderson fans and contains much original content.

Full summar

From the publisher:

Issue 8 is now available, comprising 40 pages and featuring a new interview with Mike Noble who discusses his work on Anderson-related comic strips in TV21 and Look-In. Other features include:-

• Stingray - is there more to Stingray's longevity than all that colour? Line out to Deepsville with Commander Daddio to find out about the Andersons' foray into inner space.
• Joe 90 - City of Dolls: a look at how the series captured the zeitgeist of the late 60s.
• Joe 90/ Business Holiday - Classic episode reviewed.
• The Metamorph Retrospective - Changes were deemed necessary to get the series back on the air, but did they do the trick? Our writers take a closer look at the colourful opening episode of Space:1999's reboot.
• Beyond Century 21 - a look at the fate of costumes, instrumentation and miniatures from the Anderson series after the closure of the studios... but where exactly do Sid James and mashed potato fit into the equation?
• Space:1999/ Missing Link - a look at Edward di Lorenzo's thoughtful offering from the first series. Is it more important to feel than to think? Koenig's not sure...
• Interview - artist Mike Noble discusses his comic strip career, his techniques, influences and drawing everything from cowboys to bedsteads!
• UFO/ The Square Triangle - UFO does melodrama. Classic episode reviewed.
• Review Section - Fanderson's Stingray CD and two volumes of TV21 reprints.
• Alpha Mail - Readers letters and comments.
• Things You Do - ...when you're a fan. Back by popular demand!

The new issue is available via the website www.andersonic.co.uk - price £2.25 including UK postage and also from eBay for a limited period. If you'd prefer to pay by cheque or PO, please get in touch for our postal address.

Australian actor Ray Barrett, who voiced many memorable characters from the Supermarionation era has passed away. He was 82 and passed away on Tuesday 8th September in a hospital in Queensland. Ray Barrett did many voices, including that of Commander Shore from Stingray as well as John Tracy and the Hood from Thunderbirds.

A more detailed account of his passing can be found here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/08/2680208.htm

Later this year, a CD of music by Crispin Merrill is going to be released. Crispin Merrill is the composer of the music from "New Captain Scarlet", "Lavender Castle" and other Gerry Anderson shows. The CD is going to be produced by Ralph Titterton, the man behind many of the recent Anderson/Gray CD releases. The distribution and manufacture will be undertaken by FabgearUSA.com which is a sponsor on this site. Full press release follows after the jump...

Well, despite the earlier post, it appears that there is not in fact currently a US release of Thunderbirds on Blu-Ray. It is for sale in the UK, and a region 4 version is on sale in Australia (and eBay) for those with multi-standard players.

I already played that (region free) game with DVDs, and I already have one Blu-Ray player so I'm reluctant to spend yet more money on an iffy media.

After finding the Thunderbirds Blu-Ray on Amazon.com, the price skyrocketed to an amazing $290.Its for sale by a third party. I looked around for other US-based carriers and nobody else has it. Best Buy/Borders/Barnes and Noble/DeepdiscountDVD/Frys/ebay - none of them show a US Blu-Ray release.My guess is that this is the UK release.

As a result, I have to assume I jumped the gun and that a US release is not (yet) available.

During my search, I came across something interesting, namely a Blu-Ray release of the 1949 movie "The Third Man". This was shot in 1.33:1 ratio, like Thunderbirds. Guess what? its not cropped, that's right they retained the correct aspect ratio and it shows black bars left and right. Exactly how Thunderbirds should be done. Hint hint.

If you see an info about any Anderson show/movie coming out on Blu-Ray, please drop me a line via the link to the left.

Oh, and one more thing: I have seen bits from a high-def version of Thunderbirds are Go. Now that makes sense for a Blu-Ray release, right?...

Thunderbirds was released in a 6 disc Blu-Ray set on March 17th 2009. Looks to be the same as the UK release, eg cropped to lose top and bottom of the picture. Price is $99.99 so I'm guessing that this set will be hard to find in the shops and not sell too many copies.

Sadly, its stupidity like this which could well kill future releases of older shows as the publishers will point to poor sales of "Flagship" shows like Thunderbirds when requests come in for Joe 90, UFO etc. It will be interesting to see how "classic" US TV shows like Star Trek are treated in this medium.

Anyway, if interested, its a 6 disc set, but no details yet on any extras, but its probably identical to the UK release.

As Twitter increases in popularity, it only makes sense to include it in the information sharing aspects of TVCentury21. As such, I have created a twitter account for this site. The twitter account of TVCentury21 will include notes when articles are added, plus news events and tidbits as we get them.