MOONBASE CENTRAL

Sunday, 16 September 2018

SPACE GHOST DART PISTOL

Is this Space Ghost pistol a knockoff?

I saw it online.

Is the villain a proper Space Ghost baddie?

TENTH BIRTHDAY SPECIAL GUEST ARTICLE: CHARLIE STARKEY: ANDERSON ARTIST

Hello Woodsy!

Happy Birthday!

Here's a TV21 issue that I had my childhood drawings published in! April 27th 2068! I don't have the original art though, lost somewhere in the mists of time.

None of those photos are of me; my art and the article is just the 'Do-it-yourself Shade' bit on the right here.

I've included some of the art covers and spreads I did for Alan Fennell's 1990's Anderson re-boot comics.

The artwork wasn't served well by the lacklustre typography (I believe Alan hired a 'student' for that chore to cut down on costs) but it was a huge thrill just to be working for him and having my paintings published.

The Fireball XL5 spread is my personal favourite, as I always had a soft spot for that show.

By the '90s I'd moved to the USA and had to ship the art overseas to be printed, a laborious process which involved peeling the top paper layer from its backing board and rolling it up into a mailing tube, all the while crossing my fingers that it made the journey safely to England.

Alan Fennell: we communicated by phone and by 20th century pre-email mail. When I first heard Alan was reviving the Anderson strips (beginning with Thunderbirds) in the 1990s, I painted a few sample frames – featuring Thunderbird 2 and Virgil Tracy, I think – and mailed them to him on spec, hoping he'd like them and reply.

Fortunately, he did, and he gave me carte blanche to come up with whatever I liked for the covers. I'd include a few paragraphs of storyline describing the scenes and he'd usually print them on the inside contents page.

I worked on Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Stingray comics for him.

Steve Kyte: I was one of Steve's best friends at Kingston-upon-Thames Art School! He was the most talented illustrator there and we quickly bonded over our Gerry Anderson memories, sci-fi and horror films, and a shared love of 1960s pop culture.

Steve would always be doodling Stingray and I'd be sketching Fireball XL5. We got involved in the early days of Fanderson (the Anderson appreciation society) and Steve actually did some pre-production artwork for Gerry... his Terrahawks show, I think.

His illustrations were always spectacular. I always make a point of meeting up with him and his partner Helen McCarthy (a celebrated Manga author) every time I visit London.

My wife Maggie is rather tolerant of my Gerry Anderson – and Dalek – fascination, considering the toys, books, framed posters and model kits all over the house. She herself is a Tolkein, D&D, and Doctor Who nut, so it's a trade-off!

Thanks,

Charlie
USA

P.S. love your blog!

BIRTHDAY LUNCHBOX

Beautiful Seaview Flying Sub art on the Alladin VTTBOTS lunchbox.

Anyone got one?

What do you take your lunch to work in or what did you?

I have a large plastic but very boring pale brown box!

It fits a lot in though!

BREAKING NEWS!

THE BLOG'S 10!

LICCA CHAN MEIJI COCOA BOX: PROJECT SWORD ART CONNECTION

I think the Japanese Meiji Probe Force 3 sticker I blogged yesterday goes with this superb box I've blogged about before!

Looks like a very similar picture on the front.

Connection!

Pity I don't have the box! I shall be looking for one now!

Can anyone confirm that vintage Meiji cocoa boxes came with stickers?

Tenth Anniversary Dossier: Len Jones, The Voice of Joe 90

I've always been intrigued by the above still of Len Jones.

I first saw it in Dennis Nicholson's seminal Gerry Anderson Merchandise Guide book in the 90's.

The above version appears on the fabulous Big Rat website [hope they don't mind]. There's variations of this still on Getty Images and Shutterstock.

In Dennis's book he mentions that Len was the voice of Joe 90, Joe McClaine. I think they even look like each other in the shot, Len holding a prop Joe, both cheeky young lads enjoying themselves.

Dennis also mentioned that Len acted in a film called Spring and Port Wine, playing a young Bolton lad called Wilf Crompton. The film, a Northern kitchen sink drama if I've understood the script summary, has been lavishly researched elsewhere on the net and a great site is 4:3 TV the Retro Channel with a long article about film locations by Gene Hunt.

Searching further about Len I found this modern radio interview from 2006 on Mr. Jims channel on You Tube.