A FEW MORE ANDERCON GUEST PHOTOS

A few more guest photos from last years Andercon showing some, but not all of the returning guests.

Cheeky voice artist Matt Zimmerman helping out Puppeteer  Mary Turner, whose microphone. wasn't working.

David Graham and Nicholas Parsons discuss Four Feather Falls 

Shane Rimmer and Matt Zimmerman remember a time when they were Scott and Alan.

Space 1999 extra Pam Rose

'Angel' Liz Morgan

Special effects wizards, Brian Johnson and Steve Begg

And the bloke who puts it all together, Jamie Anderson.

STOP PRESS: Another late guest announcement is effects technician and model maker David Palmer, who worked at Century 21, and apparently helped build the Skydiver and Shado Mobile models, as well as a few 'guest' craft

ANDERCON 2015 BUILD UP

With just three weeks to go before I embark to Leicester and Andercon 2015, I'm naturally spending time reminding myself of last year's sell out event.

Plenty of fab names turned up to entertain the fans.

The  man who inspired it all.

Some folk  like this chap below travelled a long distance to be there. (pssst! wrong show mate!)

Some folk arrived in costume.

There were impressive mock - ups.

Quite a few impressive mock - ups, in fact. This aquatic scene was scuppered when a huge glass water tank in front of it spring a leak just prior to the grand opening!

There were original props.

And replica props.

And a few bits of original merchandise for the odd toy hunter who turned up.

Now, is anyone else going to Andercon 2015 by any chance?

RADIO CONTROLLED MOBILE ON FILM

While I didn't do any video filming at Andercon in favour of photos, I did shoot a couple of minutes of a smashing looking studio scale remote control Mobile as it whizzed across the carpet in the model section.

Sadly, I failed to get the name of the guy who was operating it, although I have to say he was pretty competent at steering the thing.

Anyway, I thought I'd cobble together a little film using up a few photos of the 'real ' Mobiles along with what little footage I had of the R/C one rather than just consigning it to the miscellaneous file.

I do hope you like it.

ANDERCON 2014: A LAST LOOK

As I come to the end of my look back at Andercon I find I've several photos  that fall into my miscellaneous, but interesting file.

There were several dioramas dotted around the con built by Andy Rolfe, this one obviously showing Thunderbird 1's cockpit.

This was a 40" Thunderbird 2  built by Ben's Model World.

Brian Johnson and Steve Begg at a Sunday afternoon talk about special effects.

A very authentic looking Com Lock. Real or replica? - The name on it gives it away. I'm sure it's the same person who built the concept tanks!

Original Derek Meddings concept art for the Doppleganger film.

A popular shape. This is the original model of S.I.D. 2 from UFO episode, 'The Man Who Came Back.'.

A  candid shot of David Graham with a replica Brains puppet.

More models from David Sisson.

The original Gabriel.

Lego Thunderbird 2 built by Gary Davis. It took nearly a year to make, and contains 10,000 parts.

A very big Jet Air Car, around 21/2 feet long.

The rolling road, although I never saw this rolling all weekend!

Perfect for displaying models though.

A radio controlled Mobile that was whizzing across the carpet.

Jamie Anderson says, "Hands up all  those who want an Andercon 2015?"

Count me in, Jamie. Until then I'll look forward to my next Anderson excursion at RAF Cosford taking place in a couple of weeks.

Thanks again to everyone involved in Andercon , and thanks to Woodsy for letting me hi-jack the blog. 

TRACY FAMILY AFFAIRS : ANDERCON GUESTS 6

The final guest talk I attended was the Tracy Family Affairs.  Mary Turner, Judith Shutt and David Elliot returned for this, but the big pull for me on this occasion was David Graham, Shane Rimmer and Matt Zimmerman.

I remember enjoying David, Shane and Matt being interviewed at the Cosford event in 2012, and what an entertaining team they make.

Voice of Parker, David Graham appears to remember everything he’s done over the years when he recounts stories of working with Gerry Anderson.

Voice of Scott Tracy, Shane Rimmer , on the other hand can’t recall a thing, much to the delight of voice of Alan Tracy,  Matt Zimmerman who constantly takes the mickey out of both of them.

During this interview Mary Turner’s microphone failed giving cheeky Matt Zimmerman another opportunity to entertain.

A definite high spot of the day.

THE EARLY YEARS OF A P FILMS: ANDERCON GUESTS 5

The next talk I attended on the Sunday morning was ‘The Early Years of A.P. Films’. The guest panel consisted of director, David Elliot and puppeteers, Mary Turner and Judith Shutt.  Director Des Saunders was scheduled to attend, however ill health  meant he was unable to appear.

The talk, with two of AP Films original puppeteers, not surprisingly had a strong bias towards puppetry, with replicas of Lady Penelope and Colonel White sharing the stage.

David appeared with White, who ironically he’d presumably have never met, having left   A P films  (or Century 21 as it would have been by then) before Captain Scarlet started.

Mary Turner started with A P Films way back during the filming of Four Feather Falls, working with the late Christine Glanville, who was the person in charge of A P Films puppet section. 

Everybody on the panel had the greatest respect for Christine, not only for her skills as a puppeteer but also for her infinite patience and pleasant nature.   This publicity photo shows Mary with Christine on the left.

Mary was the original sculptress for Lady Penelope, who, as many of you will know based the puppet on Sylvia Anderson. 

Judith Shutt whose family were all professional puppeteers in the fifties joined A P films during the filming of Fireball XL5. She left the company following Thunderbird 6.  Her brother, Ernest, known as Plugg also joined the team during the filming of Thunderbirds and went on to work in film special effects.

While my interest in  Gerry Anderson’s productions are primarily models and special effects it’s right and proper to be reminded of the skills and dedication of the A P Film puppeteers.