TV21 Con Report by Mike Burrows

Shane Rimmer

Alan Shubrook

Mike Trim

Alan Shubrook and Mike Trim

Gary Files

Matt Zimmerman

John Blundall

The Mole - fan made

Large Fan made Eagle

The Hawk - original

The Shadomobile - fan made

Gerry Anderson

The event had three programmes running concurrently - Guest talks, Screenings and Workshops. Apart from visits to the dealers room, the model and art displays and the bar, I chose to attend the guest talks.

After attended the opening ceremony the first guest on the programme was supposed to be designer, Keith Wilson, but he had been unable to attend at the last minute so a documentary featuring an interview with the man was shown. Filmed at his home, many of Keith’s drawing and sketches could be seen in the background. He was asked, hypothetically, if there was ever a remake of Space 1999, would he consider reprising his role as designer. He considered that the job should go to younger person with fresh ideas for the show, but added he would love to be asked.

The first attending guest was actor and voice artist, Gary Files. This amenable Aussie actor was warmly received. He gave a very entertaining talk about his early days in the theatre, moving to Canada in the late 1950’s , and appearing in many British shows in the 1960’s. To us, Anderson fans, he’s the voice of Captain Magenta in ’Captain Scarlet’ and Matthew Harding in the ’Secret Service’. He mentioned that when the voice artists read their lines, they couldn’t speak over one another as this would upset the lip-sync mechanism.!

The next presentation was UFO in HD. I don’t have a HD television and thought I’d check it out. The picture was pretty good and the sound had been jigged about to create a stereo effect, but the best bit was the end when the lights came up. I turned to my right and realised I’d been watching it in the same row as the great man himself, Mr Gerry Anderson - knock out!

The next guest to appear was the convention veteran, Shane Rimmer .I’ve seen Shane several times before, but I have to say he’s one of the most friendly and amenable guests you could meet. This particular weekend, Shane was releasing his book, ‘From Thunderbirds to Pterodactyls’. Check it out.

Prolific voice artist, David Graham was next up, but having seen this charming man on many occasions, and lunch time had come and gone I felt a little fresh air and sustenance was needed. - As I left the main hall I spotted a fellow attendee who looked vaguely familiar. The SWORD badge was a clue. You guessed it - It was Woodsy on tour! The Sword-meister himself. I was beginning to think this was going to be a good convention.

After lunch I returned to the main hall to catch the man himself, Gerry Anderson. What a guy. I have seen him several times but I can never get over the tremendous influence this man has had during mine and so many others childhoods. He was asked at one point what he thought about the recent Thunderbird film. The answer was obvious and he went on to say he had been offered a very large sum of money to endorse it and turn up at the premier. He turned them down flat - even at 81 years young the man wasn’t going to sell out - Good on you, sir.

Following a showing of an episode of the new ‘ Captain Scarlet’, the next guests up were writers, Phil Ford (who had written the aforementioned CS episode ) and Dominic Lavery.

They expanded on the failings of the ‘new’ Thunderbird film, saying that the American writers just couldn’t get their head round the concept that International Rescue were prepared not only to save an airliner full of passengers but also pour all it’s expensive resources into a rescue that might involve saving the life of just one person!

Next up was model maker, Alan Shubrook. I’ve seen Alan talk twice before but his reminiscences of his early days working at the Century 21 studios in Slough are not to be missed. His candid photos are a superb incite into the day to day workings of the model team. During his talk he was explaining, with his tongue firmly in his cheek, how various ‘secret’ techniques were used during filming. One example was tipping the ‘Crablogger’ model off a plank and filming it sliding down a model rock face, or spraying wires with grease and puffing dry powder paint on them . He explained that in most cases the simplest solutions to problems brought the best results.

Next guest was model designer, Mike Trim. Alan Shubrook had referred to Mike several times during his talk, and it was obvious than he had great respect for the man, and when Mike briefly joined Alan on stage you could see a blossoming double act forming. But they both agreed that the man who had influenced them most was the late special effects supremo, Derek Meddings. The pair had nothing but admiration for his relaxed style of working and his encouragement.

Mike talked about his time at the studios and how it was sometimes odd to see some of his model designs turn up in toyshops across the country. He couldn’t copyright them as everything he designed belonged to the company, but he mused it would have been nice to have got a ‘farthing’ for every one produced. He did try to cover this when he designed the Martian Walking Machines for Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds record sleeve, thinking they might produce toys from it. Sadly, for Mike no toys have been produced, but if they do……£££

Following Sunday lunch, the next guest for me was puppet sculptor, John Blundall. John took us right back to the early days of AP films. He recounted a story in which Lew Grade had told him some of his puppet heads in Supercar were quite grotesque and had frightened his children. John had simply retorted,” Yes ,but your children are weird!” John went on to design the popular Parker from Thunderbirds.

The final guest of the event was the very entertaining, Matt Zimmerman, voice of Alan Tracy.

When asked to sit on the interview couch he insisted that he couldn’t be seen and proceeded to sit on the back of the couch much to the delight of the audience. Constantly joking, he recalled his days during Thunderbirds when he was always being mothered by the women off set, especially, Sylvia Anderson -

“ Hey“, he said, “You don’t think I had anything to do with the break up of Gerry’s marriage , do you?” A big grin sneaked across his face. “Only joking,” he shouted, “He’s not in , is he?”

Thankfully, Gerry had left the building!

Mike Burrows.