behind the scenes of thunderbirds and captain scarlet with superm

I love behind the scenes pictures of Gerry Anderson's TV shows.

I was amazed when I found this archive of such snaps on the vintage SuperM website.

See what you think. Anything new there for you?

http://lester.demon.nl/superm/technology/bts/

seeking the pinnacle

Bill was talking about the rover today.

I didn't know it was the name of the big balloon which roams around the village in the Prisoner. Of course I remembered the big balloon itself as its so iconic.

The Prisoner Rover was essentially a border guard and prevents exit from the cupcake Kafkaesque village. In some respects it reminds me of modern overheated xenophobia driving borders up once more. In fact The Prisoner itself could be a metaphor for the isolation felt by anyone caught in the tightening jaws of uncaring insular states riven by division and prejudice.

But eschewing politics, as is only proper on an international Moonbase, we shall rise like a weather balloon set free and ask bigger questions.

The big question on my mind tonight concerns altitude and apertures.

More precisely I am perplexed by the modern phenomenon of sending balloons into the sky with cameras attached.

Just how high can these go? Should they ever pierce the atmosphere and enter space itself would they still function? Wood the balloon stop dead and the camera fail? Would any film or indeed the SIM card in the camera be corrupted?

Whilst I ponder these conundrums of cosmic video I shall step outside with a beer, kick the regolith whilst searching for that kodak moment of Friday night.

l i f t o f f

another new doodle: a noodle!

The PrIsonEr at 50

I have to say the Prisoner (and Danger Man) passed me by over the years and I can't say i've ever seen a full episode! For shame! Maybe now would be a good time to begin investigating the enigma..

spider molab

Look what the Amazing Spider-Man did to his Molab! ha ha 

just wanted to say it again.....

JOHN DRAKE IS THE PRISONER

The iconic sixties TV series The Prisoner is celebrating its fiftieth year, and still continues to fascinate, bemuse or just downright annoy viewers.

It’s central theme of a person’s individuality struggling against the collective might of authority still has a lot of appeal.  

It was first broadcast in Canada on the 6^th September 1967, followed by the UK on 29^th September 1967. America had to wait until 1^ST June 1968.

The academically inclined still like to pour over the inner meanings of the symbolism and the allegorical aspects of the series, as indeed was the original intention of its star, Patrick McGoohan. Others simply accept and enjoy the show’s surreal look, innovative ideas and mystery.

The Prisoner's London home - No 1 Buckingham Place ....Is this a clue? Ask Mrs Butterworth.

When I watched it as a youngster during its first showing in 1967, I  saw hero Number 6 as secret agent John Drake, and to be honest fifty years later I still do. I know now that to have referred to him as Drake would have meant paying the creator of Dangerman, Ralph Smart royalties, but that wasn’t my concern.

Abington Street Car Park across the way from the Houses of Parliament, the country's seat of power. We see Number Six enter, resign and leave followed by the mysterious Undertakers. Wherever you look it's another piece of symbolism, isn't it?

I’ve always liked the slick look of those sixties ITC shows and when John Drake or as he would become known, Number Six woke in the mysterious Village I was intrigued.  Following that long fast paced title sequence  when we see Number Six drive his Lotus Seven across London, down into an underground car park, and angrily tender his resignation to his pen pushing, tea drinking superior (played, as everyone knows by the series co-creator and script editor George Markstein)  I was hooked, along with the question ‘Who is Number One?

A View from The Villa: The Prisoner's first view of the Village.

As the series continued, only 17 episodes remember, what my young mind did see was John Drake….er Number Six  involved less in spy and adventure stories like The Chimes of Big Ben and Many Happy Returns  and more in science fiction and fantasy,  The Schizoid Man or The General .  Each story had its allegorical interpretation but I had to think about it. The Western episode Living in Harmony and the mind transference story, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling were a little bewildering, but I have to admit, nothing could prepare me for the penultimate episode, Once upon A Time. Number Six was acting like someone who’d lost his mind, not the superspy hero that I remembered previously from Danger Man.  

The Green Dome, home of ever changing Number Two and his diminutive butler.

The last episode Fall Out was finally aired. Number Two, the face of authority was dead. Would we find out who Number One really was? Number Six wanted to know, as did most of the viewing public. It turned out that Number One was… quite disappointing actually.

Number Six's home in the Village...made very welcome.

When the series was re-shown several years later it had become the cult it is today. Many articles have been written theorising about all the various aspects of what the Village really was; who ran it, and who indeed was the real Number One.

George Markstein, the co-creator (some might argue the creator) of The Prisoner,  apparently had an alternative more conventional ending, however it was McGoohan’s alternative vision that gives the series it’s enduring cult appeal.

However I’m still reassured by George Markstein’s simple summing up of the hero:

“Who is Number Six? …no mystery,  he was a secret agent called John Drake who quit”

Be seeing you!

brian's plastic beasts and behemoths

continuing the T.Rex theme, here's Brian's from New Jersey:

Hi Woodsy, here's some Jurassic World toys and for a little contrast, I threw in some Chap Mei playsets.

I included a Pleeeeziosaur for Bill to enjoy. Its absolutely Beer- moth!

Brian, USA.