GA comment on BBC Radio 2 this evening

Stuart Maconie has been discussing the prospect of a remade
Thunderbirds movie this evening on his R2 show, and read out
a quote from Gerry Anderson about the Thunderbirds film
plan. Gerry said that he was disappointed that he hadn't been
asked to participate as it had always been his ambition to
make a blockbuster film for the Cinema.

James

>Gerry said that he was disappointed that he hadn't been
>asked to participate as it had always been his ambition to
>make a blockbuster film for the Cinema.

Of course, one must wonder if Gerry would have any
valuable input to the project? As it has been pointed
out several times in the past, Gerry's projects had
a definite drop in quality after Sylvia left. And
even on the new TIMELASH commentary, Wanda Ventham
points out that Sylvia was *always* on the set during
the filming of UFO, while she *never* saw Gerry.

Marc

Gee, Gerry, I'm crying for you -- you've only had 40 years to come up with the
cash........

Anthony
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Gibbon" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 1:47 PM
Subject: [SHADO] GA comment on BBC Radio 2 this evening

At 12:51 PM 1/10/03 -0800, you wrote:
> >Gerry said that he was disappointed that he hadn't been
> >asked to participate as it had always been his ambition to
> >make a blockbuster film for the Cinema.

Well, hasn't he already made 3 major motion pictures (Thunderbirds are Go,
Thunderbird 6 and Doppleganger/JTTFSOTS) and all three could have been
"Blockbuster" but just didn't cut it at the box office. All three are
respectable good films IMO, but not getting the blockbuster status!

>Of course, one must wonder if Gerry would have any
>valuable input to the project? As it has been pointed
>out several times in the past, Gerry's projects had
>a definite drop in quality after Sylvia left. And
>even on the new TIMELASH commentary, Wanda Ventham
>points out that Sylvia was *always* on the set during
>the filming of UFO, while she *never* saw Gerry.

Well, Gerry did have that video monitoring stuff going on didn't he? So he
could watch the production on his closed circuit TV system in his
office? (But Timelash had a lot of outdoor scenes as well).

Didn't Gerry and Sylvia get all upset about the production of Mindbender,
with the director going off the script a bit and then embrace the changes
made because it made the story so much more.......(Here it comes)
Mindbending???

: - )

Well, all that being said, it is a shame and insulting that GA hasn't been
consulted on this new Thunderbirds film at all. Just a matter of
respect. I mean, I don't expect Frakes and Co to actually LISTEN to
Gerry! This is Hollywood after all but at least have him at some photo op
standing in front of a production poster or something. It would be nice.

Then again, after reading the news about the script (The characters are all
10 or 12 years old?) maybe they want to keep Gerry as far away as possible!

>Well, Gerry did have that video monitoring stuff going on didn't he?  
>So he could watch the production on his closed circuit TV system in his

>office?  

Yes, but that really makes him a spectator in the production,
while one gets the impression that Sylvia was an active
participant, actually talking to the directors & actors
as they were working.

>Didn't Gerry and Sylvia get all upset about the production
>of Mindbender, with the director going off the script a bit
>and then embrace the changes

Yes, that's the story that Ken Turner told at the Century
21 convention. Pity they didn't have him do a Mindbender
commentary...

Marc

At 06:00 PM 1/10/03 -0800, you wrote:

>Yes, but that really makes him a spectator in the production,
>while one gets the impression that Sylvia was an active
>participant, actually talking to the directors & actors
>as they were working.

I always imagined Gerry seeing something he didn't like and then flying
down the stairs from his office! But he must have had a ton of other work
to do as well, begging Martin Landau and Barbara Bain to come to England,
All those annuals and model kits, placating Abe Mandell and of course
dealing with Robert Vaughn!

: - )

> >Didn't Gerry and Sylvia get all upset about the production
> >of Mindbender, with the director going off the script a bit
> >and then embrace the changes
>
>Yes, that's the story that Ken Turner told at the Century
>21 convention. Pity they didn't have him do a Mindbender
>commentary...

I think I read this in one of the issues of FAB...terrific story,
Mindbender is one of my favorites of the series. Of course it helps if your
already a fan of the show to really appreciate this story. A DVD
commentary would have been terrific.

By the way, I did get my Stingray DVD's the other day but have just had
time to look at the first episode and listen to the commentary on that
one. The extras are slowly improving on these releases, don't you think?

>By the way, I did get my Stingray DVD's the other day but have just had

>time to look at the first episode and listen to the commentary on that

>one. The extras are slowly improving on these releases, don't you think?

The extras are improving on the A&E DVD's because we introduced
Jeff Smart to A&E -- Jeff is the one who recorded the new
commentaries on the Space:1999 bonus disc, the new UFO commentaries,
the Stingray commentaries plus featurette, and the Fireball XL5
commentaries.  

Of course, all this new stuff delays Jeff's own documentary
THE FUTURE WAS FANTASTIC, but hopefully *someday* he'll complete
it!

Marc