SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT TIME IS VERY CLOSE

It’s Fanderson’s ‘Special Assignment’ convention this coming weekend and I’m beginning to get myself in the mood for another Gerry Anderson fest and hopefully seeing some old friends.

The last Fanderson convention was in 2015, and did have some fantastic high points (The lovely Sylvia Anderson, sadly no longer with us, and fascinating reminiscences from merchandise master,  Keith Shackleton) and I’m sorry to say, its low points (The Saturday night quiz with it’s completely baffling questions, making most fans seek the less taxing sanctuary of the hotel bar in the next room)

Dee Anderson, Sylvia’s daughter (seen here behind her mum) is making a special guest appearance  to talk about her time growing up in the Anderson household during those early APF days.

So what has this year’s convention got to offer? Well, on the surface more of the same. 

It’s celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons which aired on 29^th September 1967 in the Midlands TV region.

While I know some fans are quite keen on the later TV series’ that Gerry did following Space: 1999, I do admit I'm primarily, though not exclusivly only really interested in those guests who worked on or were involved in those early days of APF, Century 21 ,Group 3 and just after. So, with that in mind here’s a few of the guests I’m personally looking forward to seeing.

Former AP Films SFX Assistant, Peter Hitchcock has flown over from Toronto to appear.  He did try to make it to the 2015 convention but couldn’t due to other commitments.  In a video interview he did for that last convention he tells of his first job as a projectionist, then a lip-sync operator. He worked with Derek Meddings, and his hand is seen in the Thunderbirds episode, The Perils of Penelope where the Pernod is shot out of Lady Penelope’s hand.   He’s a back room boy who I’m certainly looking forward to seeing.

The puppeteer Mary Turner is the lady who sculptured Lady Penelope. After several rejected attempts using the likenesses of several glamorous actresses of the time, it's generally well known that Mary used the likeness of Sylvia Anderson for Lady Penelope.

Nicholas Parsons, the voice of Four Feather Falls’ Tex Tucker, here having a laugh with David Graham at Andercon. That’s a series I can barely remember watching as a youngster, but I’ll enjoy Nicholas reminding me of it in just a minute...

The popular, Shane Rimmer. The voice of Scott Tracy, and subsequently a writer of several Captain Scarlet episodes.  Outside of Gerry Anderson, he made several appearances as different characters in the Bond films, in particular as Submarine Comdr. Carter in The Spy Who Loved Me.

David Graham, seen previously with Nicholas Parsons, is a prolific voice artist and best known as the voice of Parker.

And, just announced the shy and retiring Matt Zimmerman, the voice of Alan Tracy. Here he is giving me a warm welcome at Andercon 2015 a couple of years back.

Liz Morgan, the voice of Destiny and Rhapsody Angels in Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons.

Alan Perry, who joined AP Films as a camera operator before becoming a director, working on Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Secret Service and UFO.

Georgina Moon and Penny Spencer are two actresses who appeared in UFO as SHADO Operatives.  I have seen Georgina a couple of times at various conventions, (Above: Here's Georgina at Andercon) but I’ve not seen Penny Spencer before.

A friend of mine is a big ‘Please Sir’ fan, so he’ll be happy to hear if Penny, who played Sharon Eversleigh  in the late 60's and early 70's comedy series has any memories about that.

Brian Johnson, famous for Space: 1999 and 2001: A Space odyssey  and designer Mike Trim, who came up with a lot of the vehicle designs for Captain Scarlet  are both making a welcome return.

Space 1999 model maker Martin Bower, who was actually at the 2015 convention as an attendee, but this time makes it as a guest.

Richard Culley, who joined Century 21 in 1967, and succeeded Keith Shackleton as the head of merchandising. He was apparently involved in the proposed Century 21 Prisoner spin offs, which included a comic strip in TV21 or possibly TV Tornado, (which I’ve mentioned before on the blog) and an action man- like No.6.  All were totally rejected by star, Patrick McGoohan who didn’t want the character to become a comic strip or a dolly.

Last, but certainly not least veteran TV21 artist, Mike Noble. Mike was very much part of those early days for me, as TV21 was just as important as the series for youngsters like me growing up in the sixties.

There are also several other fine guests who worked on Gerry Anderson’s later series:

From Terrahawks Judy Preece; John Lee and Steve Begg.

From The New Captain Scarlet Phil Ford; Mark Woollard; Dominic Lavery

From Dick Spanner:  Terry Adlam,  (and technically Shane Rimmer)

Plus there will be model and puppet displays, exclusive merchandise to purchase, and the usual signings. 

I know there's a lot of volunteers who have worked hard to make this happen and right now, it all looks like it could turn out to be quite a party.