Century 21 Merchandising and Century 21 Toys were merchandising companies associated with
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 produ ...
's
Century 21 Productions
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
. There was also a publishing line, Century 21 Publications which (in partnership with
City Magazines
City Magazines was a British publisher of weekly comics and men's magazines that operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The company's most notable publications were comics magazines based on licensed television properties, including ''TV Ce ...
) created the comic book titles ''
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 ...
'' and ''
Lady Penelope
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film seque ...
'' (among others); and a music department, Century 21 Music which marketed audiobooks and soundtracks from the series.
Most of the companies' activities were marketing products produced by Century 21 Productions — in particular ''
Thunderbirds'', ''
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor I ...
'' and ''
Joe 90
''Joe 90'' is a 1968–1969 British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, Century 21, for ITC Entertainment. It follows the exploits of nine-year-old schoolboy Joe McC ...
'', although some of the various spin-off media were based on characters and machines from other media franchises, often connected to
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...
's
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes.
History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...
.
History
The various "Century 21" brands predate Century 21 Productions — immediately following completion and the first TV screening of ''
Thunderbirds'' in 1964,
AP Films
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
was renamed Century 21 Productions to align it with its growing merchandising sister companies Century 21 Merchandising, Century 21 Toys, Century 21 Music,
[Archer, Simon; Nicholls, Stan (1996), ''Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Biography'', , p. 111.] and Century 21 Publications.
By the beginning of 1969, Century 21 Productions had become financially over-stretched. Within a few months, they had disbanded their three warehouse-sized studios on the
Slough Trading Estate
The Slough Trading Estate founded in Slough in Buckinghamshire in 1920, was an early business park in the United Kingdom. According to the estate's owners and operators, Segro, Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough ...
.
Century 21 Publishing
From 1965 to 1969, Century 21 Publishing partnered with the published
City Magazines
City Magazines was a British publisher of weekly comics and men's magazines that operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The company's most notable publications were comics magazines based on licensed television properties, including ''TV Ce ...
to produce weekly comics titles based on Anderson's
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 T ...
properties. Century 21 packaged the comics, hiring the editors, writers and artists, which were then printed and distributed by City Magazines. The imprint's most prominent and long-running titles were ''
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 ...
'' (later known as ''TV21'') and ''
Lady Penelope
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film seque ...
''; three other related titles — ''Solo'', ''TV Tornado'', and ''Joe 90 Top Secret'' — eventually merged into ''TV21''.
Century 21 Merchandising acquired a line of plastic science fiction toys manufactured in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, which they marketed under the name ''Project SWORD''. Although not based on Anderson's creations, Project Sword did feature in two series of comic strips and text stories published by City Magazines/Century 21 Publications. The only Anderson craft made by the line was a model of
Zero-X
''Zero-X'' (spelling variants include "''Zero X''" or "''ZeroX''") is a fictional Earth spacecraft that first appeared in two of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation productions, the 1966 film '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' and the 1967 te ...
, the spacecraft which first appeared in the film ''
Thunderbirds are GO''.
[Project Sword: The Forgotten Plastic Anderson Rockets of the Sixties]
/ref> A comic strip series based on the toys appeared in the short-lived comic ''Solo''. After ''Solo'' was merged into '' TV21'', a second series of stories — text, illustrated by comics artists such as Ron Embleton
Ronald Sydney Embleton (6 October 1930 – 13 February 1988) was a British illustrator who gained fame as a comics artist. In the 1950s and 1960s, Embleton also pursued a career as an oil painter, and he exhibited his works widely in Britain, Ger ...
and Don Lawrence
Donald Southam Lawrence (17 November 1928 – 29 December 2003) was a British comic book artist and author.
Lawrence is best known for his comic strips '' The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire'' in the British weeklies ''Ranger'' and ''Look ...
— appeared. The publisher also released a ''Project SWORD'' annual, featuring text and comic strips.[
In June 1969 the entire staff of Century 21 Publications were given a month's notice. A small nucleus of staff from the disbanded division were taken on by ]Leonard Matthews
Leonard James Matthews (10 October 1914 – 9 November 1997) was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine ''Look and Learn''.
Early life
Born in ...
[George Beal]
Obituary: Leonard Matthews
''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 5 December 1997 and Alf Wallace — the ex-managing editors of Fleetway Juvenile Comics; and ''Eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
'' and Odhams
Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and the ...
' Power Comics
Power Comics was an imprint (trade name), imprint of the British comics publisher Odhams Press (itself a division of IPC Magazines) that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics. Appearing chiefly du ...
line, respectively — who were now operating an independent studio off Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...
under the name of Martspress
Leonard James Matthews (10 October 1914 – 9 November 1997) was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine ''Look and Learn''.
Early life
Born in ...
. Martspress packaged the relaunched version of ''TV21'' which soon phased out the Anderson-related content.
Century 21 Music
Mini-Albums
A range of 37 "mini-albums" (7" EPs) were released under the Century 21 label. These were a combination of original material, with abridgments of TV episodes with linking narration, and soundtracks.
References
{{Gerry Anderson
AP Films
1960s toys
Merchandising