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Terrahawks
''Gerry Anderson & Christopher Burr's Terrahawks'', usually referred to simply as ''Terrahawks'', is a 1980s British science fiction television series produced by Anderson Burr Pictures for London Weekend Television and created by the production team of Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr. The show was Anderson's first in over a decade to use puppets for its characters, and also his last. Anderson's previous puppet-centric TV series included '' Thunderbirds'' and ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''. Set in the year 2020, the series follows the adventures of the Terrahawks, a taskforce responsible for protecting Earth from invasion by a group of extraterrestrial androids and Extraterrestrial life, aliens led by Zelda. Like Anderson's previous puppet series, futuristic vehicles and technology featured prominently in each episode. Premise The series is set in the year 2020, after an alien force has destroyed NASA's Mars base and Earth is under threat. A small organisation, Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s productions filmed with " Supermarionation" (marionette puppets containing electric moving parts). Anderson's first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series ''The Adventures of Twizzle'' (1957–58). ''Torchy the Battery Boy'' (1960), ''Four Feather Falls'' (1960), ''Supercar'' (1961–62) and ''Fireball XL5'' (1962–63) followed later, both series breaking into the U.S. television market in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s Anderson produced his most successful series, '' Thunderbirds''. Other television productions of the 1960s include '' Stingray'', ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and ''Joe 90''. Anderson also wrote and produced several feature films. Following a shift towards live-action productions in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Barwick
Anthony Clive "Tony" Barwick (10 July 1934 – 18 August 1993)https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10182/biographical-summaries-of-notable-people?itemId=447240&action=showRecord was a British television scriptwriter who worked extensively on series created and produced by Gerry Anderson. Career Television Barwick scripted episodes for Anderson's Supermarionation series '' Thunderbirds'' (two out of 32 episodes), ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (21 out of 32 episodes), ''Joe 90'' (16 out of 30 episodes) and ''The Secret Service'' (four out of 13 episodes), as well as his live-action series ''UFO'' (14 out of 26 episodes), ''The Protectors'' (ten out of 52 episodes) and '' Space: 1999'' (two out of 48 episodes). He also contributed scripts to Anderson and Christopher Burr's Supermacromation series ''Terrahawks,'' writing under various pseudonyms for all but one episode. All of these pseudonyms ended with the suffix "-stein" in imitation of the name of the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denise Bryer
Denise Bryer (5 January 1928 – 16 October 2021) was an English actress, known for her voice roles on television and radio. Career Best remembered in her UK homeland for her work on the Gerry Anderson series, ''Terrahawks'', where she voiced both the main villain Zelda and the heroic Capt. Mary Falconer, Bryer became well known in the United States when she voiced Billina in Disney's 1985 film ''Return to Oz'', as well as The Junk Lady in the 1986 movie ''Labyrinth'', and many other films. In addition to her work voice acting in film and television, she worked extensively on UK radio and children's recordings. Bryer first came to public attention when she voiced Twizzle in Gerry Anderson's ''The Adventures of Twizzle'' and would go on to voice in Anderson's later series ''Four Feather Falls'' as Ma Jones and Little Jake. She also voiced Kiki The Frog in ''Hector's House'' and Noddy on the eponymous television show between 1955 till 1969 alongside commercials for Kellogg's Ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windsor Davies
Windsor Davies (28 August 1930 – 17 January 2019) was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–1981) over its entire run. The show's popularity resulted in Davies and his co-star Don Estelle achieving a UK number one hit with a version of "Whispering Grass" in 1975. He later starred with Donald Sinden in ''Never the Twain'' (1981–1991), and his deep Welsh-accented voice was heard extensively in advertising voice-overs. Early life Davies was born on 28 August 1930 in Canning Town, East London, to Welsh parents. In 1940 they returned to their native village of Nant-y-moel, Bridgend. Davies studied at Ogmore Grammar School and worked as a coal miner. He performed his National Service in Libya and Egypt, with the East Surrey Regiment, between 1950 and 1952. Following teacher training at Bangor Teacher Training College, he taught English and Maths at Leek in Staffordshire, and at a school ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Harvey
Richard Allen Harvey (born 25 September 1953) is an English composer and musician. Originally of the mediaevalist progressive rock group Gryphon, he is best known now for his film and television soundtracks. He is also known for his guitar concerto ''Concerto Antico'', which was composed for the guitarist John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra. In April 2012, UK radio listeners voted Richard Harvey's Concerto Antico into the Classic FM Hall of Fame for the first time. Early life and career Born in Enfield, Middlesex, Harvey became involved in music, learning the recorder when he was four years old, switching first to percussion and later playing clarinet in the British Youth Symphony Orchestra. By the time he graduated from London's Royal College of Music in 1972, he was accomplished on the recorder, flute, krumhorn, and other mediaeval and Renaissance-era instruments, as well as the mandolin and various keyboards. He could have joined the London Philharmonic Orch ... [...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] |
Donald James
Donald James (born Donald James Wheal; 22 August 1931 – 28 April 2008) was a British television writer, novelist and non-fiction writer. Life and career Born in World's End, Chelsea, and educated at Sloane Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge (where he read history), James completed his national service in the Parachute Regiment before returning to London to work as a supply teacher. He was the author of the best-selling novels ''Vadim'', ''Monstrum'', ''The Fortune Teller'' and ''The Fall of the Russian Empire'', as well as non-fiction books such as ''The Penguin Dictionary of the Third Reich''. He wrote under a number of pseudonyms, notably Thomas Dresden and James Barwick (originally in collaboration with fellow writer Tony Barwick, another long-term contributor to the various television productions of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and their company, AP Films/ Century 21). James's career as a scriptwriter included work on TV series such as '' The Adventurer'', '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desmond Saunders
Desmond "Des"''Full Boost Vertical - The Supercar Story'' Saunders (24 June 1926 – 21 April 2018) was a British television director and film editor. He had a long association with producer Gerry Anderson, having served as a director for the series ''Supercar'' (1961–62), '' Stingray'' (1964–65), '' Thunderbirds'' (1965–66), ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (1967–68), ''Joe 90'' (1968–69) and ''Terrahawks'' (1983–86). Saunders was also production controller for ''Joe 90'' and co-wrote one of the episodes, " Lone-Handed 90". He briefly worked as a production supervisor for ''The Secret Service'' (1969). Elsewhere in television, Saunders had both production and post-production roles for ''The Protectors'' (1972–73). His film editing credits are: '' RX for Murder'' (1958), '' A Woman's Temptation'' (1959), ''Escort for Hire'' (1960), '' Compelled'' (1960), '' Tarnished Heroes'' and ''So Evil, So Young'' (both 1961) and ''Voyage of the Damned ''Voyage of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thunderbirds (TV Series)
''Thunderbirds'' is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) and distributed by ITC Entertainment. It was made between 1964 and 1966 using a form of electronic marionette puppetry (dubbed " Supermarionation") combined with scale model special effects sequences. Two series, totalling thirty-two 50-minute episodes, were filmed; production ended with the completion of the sixth episode of the second series after Lew Grade, the Andersons' financial backer, failed in his bid to sell the programme to American network television. Set in the 2060s, ''Thunderbirds'' is a follow-up to the earlier Supermarionation productions ''Four Feather Falls'', ''Supercar'', ''Fireball XL5'' and '' Stingray''. It follows the exploits of International Rescue, a life-saving organisation equipped with technologically-advanced land, sea, air and space rescue craft; these are headed by a fleet of five vehicles nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction On Television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality. Story creation and scientific accuracy Science fiction tries to blend fiction and reality seamlessly so that the viewer can be immersed in the imaginative world. This includes characters, settings, and tools. Viewers often critique the scientific plausibility and accuracy of technology and technological concepts. In the 2020 series ''Away (TV series), Away'' a notable plot point in the eight episode, ''Vital Signs'' has astronauts listen intently for a sound boom picked up by a real-life Mars rover called InSight. Similarity, in 2022 scientists used InSight to listen for the landing of a real spacecraft. Visual production process and methods The need to portray imaginary settings or char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. NASA has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968-1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. NASA supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, Commercial Crew spacecraft, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Android (robot)
An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids were completely within the domain of science fiction and frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot technology now allow the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots. Terminology The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' traces the earliest use (as "Androides") to Ephraim Chambers' 1728 '' Cyclopaedia,'' in reference to an automaton that St. Albertus Magnus allegedly created. By the late 1700s, "androides", elaborate mechanical devices resembling humans performing human activities, were displayed in exhibit halls. The term "android" appears in US patents as early as 1863 in reference to miniature human-like toy automatons. The term ''android'' was used in a more modern sense by the French author Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam in his work '' Tomorrow's Eve'' (1886). This story features an artificial humanlike robot named Hadaly. As said by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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