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Fireball XL5
''Fireball XL5'' is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of ''Fireball XL5'', a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, ''XL5'' defends Earth from interstellar threats while encountering a wide variety of alien civilisations. Inspired by the Space Race, ''Fireball XL5'' was created by the husband-and-wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. It was APF's final black-and-white series and the third to be made in what the Andersons dubbed " Supermarionation": a style of production in which the characters were played by electronic marionettes whose mouth movements were synchronised with the voice actors' pre-recorded dialogue. Zodiac was voiced by Paul Maxwell while two of his companions – ''XL5'' co-pilot Robert the Robot and "space doctor" Venus – were voiced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Children's Television Series
Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evening, allowing younger children to watch them after school. The purpose of these shows is mainly to entertain or educate. The children's series are in four categories: those aimed at infants and toddlers, those aimed at those aged 6 to 11 years old, those for adolescents and those aimed at all children. History Children's television is nearly as old as television itself. The BBC's ''Children's Hour'', broadcast in the UK in 1946, is generally credited with being the first TV programme specifically for children. Television for children tended to originate from similar programs on radio; the BBC's '' Children's Hour'' was launched in 1922, and BBC School Radio began broadcasting in 1924. In the US in the early 1930s, adventure serials such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. However, there are exceptions to this rule, including black-and-white fine art photography, as well as many film motion pictures and art film(s). Photography Contemporary use Since the late 1960s, few mainstream films have been shot in black-and-white. The reasons are frequently commercial, as it is difficult to sell a film for television broadcasting if the film is not in color. 1961 was the last year in which the majority of Hollywood films were released in black and white. Computing In computing terminology, ''black-and-white'' is sometimes used to refer to a binary image consisting solely of pure black pixels and pure white ones; what would normally be called a black-and-white image, that is, an image containing shades of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TV Century 21
''TV Century 21'', later renamed ''TV21'', ''TV21 and Tornado'', ''TV21 and Joe 90'', and ''TV21'' again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Century 21 Productions, it promoted the company's many science-fiction television series. The comic was published in the style of a newspaper of the future, with the front page usually dedicated to fictional news stories set in the worlds of ''Fireball XL5'', ''Stingray'', '' Thunderbirds'', ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and other stories. The front covers were also in colour, with photographs from one or more of the Anderson series or occasionally of the stars of the back-page feature. The brainchild of writer-editor Alan Fennell (who also wrote episodes of the various Anderson TV shows) and presenter Keith Shackleton, ''TV Century 21'' was produced by the staff at the Andersons' Century 21 Publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TV Comic
''TV Comic'' was a British comic book magazine published weekly from 9 November 1951 until 29 June 1984. Featuring stories based on television series running at the time of publication, it was the first British comic to be based around TV programmes;"British Comics Reference , British TV-related Comic Strips," DownTheTubes.net. Retrieved 25 Feb. 2021. it spawned a host of imitators. Publication history Originally started by '''', ''TV Comics'' was later sold to , and ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audio Play
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story: "It is auditory in the physical dimension but equally powerful as a visual force in the psychological dimension." Radio drama includes plays specifically written for radio, docudrama, dramatized works of fiction, as well as Play (theatre), plays originally written for the theatre, including musical theatre, and opera. Radio drama achieved widespread popularity within a decade of its initial development in the 1920s. By the 1940s, it was a leading international popular entertainment. With the advent of television in the 1950s radio drama began losing its audience. However, it remains popular in much of the world. Recordings of OTR (old-time radio) survive today in the audio archives of collectors, libraries and mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITV Network
ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time, BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4. ITV was for four decades a network of separate companies which provided regional television services and also shared programmes between each other to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc, which runs the ITV1 channel, and STV Group, which runs the STV channel. The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004. ITV plc holds the Channel 3 b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ATV London
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and to the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982. It was one of the " Big Four" until 1968, and the "Big Five" after 1968, that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes. In 1982, ATV was restructured and rebranded as Central Independent Television, under which name it continued to provide the service for the Midlands. ATV was awarded its first franchise by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide the Independent Television service at weekends for the London region. This service started on Saturday, 24 September 1955, the second ITA franchise to go on air, and was extended until Sunday, 28 July 1968. ATV was also awarded the franchise to provide the weekdays Independent Television service for the Midlands region. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the " Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s and 1980s ''James Bond'' and '' Superman'' film series. Biography Early years Derek Meddings was born in St Pancras, London, England. Both Meddings' parents had worked in the British film industry: his father as a carpenter at Denham Studios and his mother as producer Alex Korda's secretary and actress Merle Oberon's stand-in. Meddings went to art school and, in the late 1940s, also found work at Denham Studios, lettering credit titles. It was there that he met effects designer Les Bowie and joined his matte painting department. During the 1950s, Meddings' work with Bowie included the creation of Transylvanian landscapes for Hammer Films and a "string and cardboard" invention that proved useful when Meddings was hired for Gerry An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scale Model
A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes such as anatomical structures or subatomic particles. Models built to the same scale as the prototype are called mockups. Scale models are used as tools in engineering design and testing, promotion and sales, filmmaking special effects, military strategy, and hobbies such as rail transport modeling, wargaming and racing; and as toys. Model building is also pursued as a hobby for the sake of artisanship. Scale models are constructed of plastic, wood, or metal. They are usually painted with enamel, lacquer, or acrylics, and decals may be applied for lettering and fine details. They may be built from scratch, or from commercially made kits, either out of the box or modified (known as kitbashing). Model prototypes include all types of veh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supermarionation
Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and " animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet TV series and feature films of the 1960s. These productions were created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed at APF's studios on the Slough Trading Estate. The characters were played by electronic marionettes with a moveable lower lip, which opened and closed in time with pre-recorded dialogue by means of a solenoid in the puppet's head or chest. The productions were mostly science fiction with the puppetry supervised by Christine Glanville, art direction by either Bob Bell or Keith Wilson, and music composed by Barry Gray. They also made extensive use of scale model special effects, directed by Derek Meddings. The term "Supermarionation" was first used during the production of ''Supercar'', whose final 13 episodes were the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Race
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II. The technological advantage demonstrated by spaceflight achievement was seen as necessary for national security, and became part of the symbolism and ideology of the time. The Space Race brought pioneering launches of artificial satellites, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately to the Moon. Public interest in space travel originated in the 1951 publication of a Soviet youth magazine and was promptly picked up by US magazines. The competition began on July 30, 1955 when the United States announced its intent to launch artificial satellites for the International Geophysical Year. Four days later, the Soviet Union responded by declaring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stingray (1964 TV Series)
''Stingray'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. Filmed in 1963 using a combination of electronic marionette puppetry and scale model special effects, it was APF's sixth puppet series and the third to be produced under the banner of " Supermarionation". It premiered in October 1964 and ran for 39 half-hour episodes. Set in the 2060s, the series follows the exploits of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP), an organisation responsible for policing the Earth's oceans. The WASP's flagship is ''Stingray'', a combat submarine crewed by Captain Troy Tempest, navigator Lieutenant "Phones" and Marina, a mute young woman from under the sea. ''Stingray''s adventures bring it into contact with various underwater civilisations, some friendly and others hostile, as well as strange natural phenomena. In preparation for the series, APF acquired new, larger studios that it wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
