The Best of 2024 from Anderson Entertainment

2024 has proved to be an exceptionally busy year from Anderson Entertainment. From trans-media narratives to landmark anniversaries and evenings of supersonic musical action, 2024 has brought an abundance of adventure and excitement from the worlds of Gerry Anderson. The year has also seen plenty of celebratory action across our website, podcast and YouTube channel, as well as many new releases across comic anthologies, novellas, collectable models and more.

We're looking back at our favourite releases, articles, and moments from Anderson Entertainment throughout 2024!

Deadly Anniversaries

2024 has been defined by 60 years of Stingray, which we've celebrated in wondrously epic style with our trans-media narrative, Stingray: Deadly Uprising. Across several brand new novellas, comic strips, minisodes and accompanying audiobooks, Deadly Uprising plunges the Stingray crew into an electrifying new adventure when the mighty Titan assembles an armada of underwater civilisations to launch a at every turn, with the very existence of Stingray and Marineville threatened in unexpected ways that are guaranteed to keep you thrilled!

The four main instalments in Stingray: Deadly Uprising comprise of Chris Dale's Stingray: The Titanican Stratagem, several brand new comic strip adventures to be found in Stingray Comic Anthology, Vol. 1: Tales from the Depths, Bob Ayre's Stingray: Project Orca, and the electrifying finale in the pages of Stingray: Comic Anthology, Vol. 2: Battle Lines.

We've also marked Stingray's 60th anniversary with Stingray's Incredible Voyage, counting down out top 10 Stingray comic storylines from TV Century 21, and have been counting down the top 10 episodes with the Stingray Deep Dives, culminating in the number #1 favourite: 'The Big Gun'! Other Stingray releases throughout the year have included the Stingray Mini Albums Reissue and the forthcoming Stingray WASP Technical Operations Manual!

Thunderbirds Thursday

Throughout 2024, we've been using the fourth day of the week to celebrate one of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's best-loved TV series - Thunderbirds! Nearly each week, we've brought you an eclectic array of articles all about the classic series, from behind-the-scenes deep dives to character analyses and episode retrospectives.

Three of our favourite Thunderbirds Thursday articles from this year have proved particularly popular with Anderfans. Thunderbirds Thursday: The Lost 1980s Thunderbirds Remake lifts the lid on Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr's proposed remake of the classic series in the wake of Gerry's renewed success with 1983's Terrahawks. A Thunderbirds filmed in Supermarcomation?! It very nearly happened... Thunderbirds Thursday: Creating the Thunderbirds is just one of several articles that offers fans a detailed overview of the making of various aspects of the classic series, and what could be more classic than discovering the secrets of how Derek Meddings and his special effects crew created the fantastic International Rescue fleet?

Lastly, we celebrated this year's Thunderbirds Day, September 30th, with Thunderbirds Thursday: 5 Reasons Thunderbirds Remains Timeless, counting down several of the most pertinent reasons why Thunderbirds' popularity remained so everlasting. With the series' 60th anniversary blasting off next year...

Anderson Entertainment's 25th Anniversary

Stingray hasn't been the only one celebrating a significant milestone this year. 2024 has also marked 25 years of Anderson Entertainment. The company was originally set up by Gerry Anderson himself in the late 1990s, and following his passing in 2012, his son, Jamie, and widow, Mary, have taken over the company with a renewed mission to celebrate Gerry's life and career. We marked the 25th anniversary with a celebratory retrospective on the company's history, particularly over the last 10 years.

We've also prized open the Anderson Entertainment vaults to reveal 25 lost gems from the company's archive - scripts, concept art, correspondence and more from Gerry Anderson productions that never quite made it off the ground! What treasures stood out to you the most?

Collectables, Blu-rays & More

Beyond our focus on Stingray, 2024 has seen several fantastic releases from Anderson Entertainment, from collectable models to definitive Blu-ray releases.

We've been expanding our line of collectable Eagle models with the release of the VIP Eagle from Space: 1999, and have begun including UFO with the release of the UFO collectable, complete with its own spinning mechanism! We've also partnered with role-playing game specialists, Modiphius, to bring you the Space: 1999 Roleplaying Game!

Gerry Anderson's final live action TV series, Space Precinct, has also been given the definitive home release treatment with the Space Precinct 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition Blu-ray set! The set comes with the complete series restored, behind-the-scenes documentaries and books, and a wealth of additional material for you to journey to the crime-ridden streets of Demeter City like never before!

Darker Worlds

We've spent some of this year diving into the darker aspects of Gerry Anderson's worlds, including the marking of 55 years of Doppelganger and comparing the pilot episodes of UFO and Space: 1999. These three productions in particular constitute some of the most mature and darkly minded storytelling and ambitious production values from any Gerry Anderson series.

We've also dived into the enduring darkness of Captain Scarlet, and argued the case for Terrahawks boasting more than its fair share of terrifying thrills and spills! Speaking of Captain Scarlet, Talking Pictures TV brought the indestructible man back to UK television screens this year, and in celebration, we counted down our top 10 Captain Scarlet episodes!

Interviews & Podcasts

We've also been chatting about all things Gerry Anderson to plenty of people across both the Official Gerry Anderson website and the Gerry Anderson Podcast. On the podcast, we've been fortunate enough to have Corgi's David Mather giving us an exclusive reveal on Corgi's plans for Thunderbirds' 60th anniversary, Georgina Moon discussing her time on UFO, Kiran Shah MBE revealing all about his prolific life as a Hollywood stuntman, Kate Harbour chatting about her extensive voice acting career, and many more!

2024 has also seen the blast off of our brand new Gerry Anderson podcast - Anderson Audio Adventures! This new podcast offers free audiobooks and audio dramas from our extensive line-up of Anderson audio productions. Thrilling rescue adventures, mysterious underwater worlds, and deadly crime action await you with the Anderson Audio Adventures, which also provides a great jumping on point if you're new to the worlds of Gerry Anderson. Discover the Anderson Audio Adventures now!

On the Official Gerry Anderson website, property expert and TV personality Martin Roberts revealed why he sold his original Thunderbirds puppet, ZICA Toys' Craig Owen and Giant Leap Toys' Tim Ellis lifting the lid on bringing back the 1976 Mattel Eagle playset, and Mair Ure and Charlotte Couch discussing their award-winning models from this year's New Blades exhibition.

Novel Adventures

We've released several new novels and novellas based on new and classic Gerry Anderson worlds. James Swallow has written a pair of thrilling UFO and Space: 1999 adventures, Shadow Play and The Armageddon Engine, and Richard James has taken us back to the paranoid and dangerous world of Nero Jones in First Action Bureau: Damaged Goods.

We took a deep dive into Swallow's new UFO and Space: 1999 adventures, examining how they serve as brilliant extensions of their source material, and cast our spy-fi eye over how Nero Jones is the latest in a long line of celebrated Anderson characters who serve as dangerous intelligence operatives.

Musical Celebrations & Passings

2024 also saw Anderson Entertainment and Carrot Productions deliver a new Gerry Anderson concert - Stand By For Action! 2: Tunes of Danger. This one-off event held in Birmingham back in July saw a live orchestra perform several classic theme songs and other much-loved musical pieces from the worlds of Gerry Anderson. The concert was also the launch of our Stingray: Deadly Uprising saga with a full cast performance of 'Deadly Concerto'. Discover how the evening unfolded with our report of the concert and be sure to place your order of the concert on CD, DVD or Blu-ray!

Unfortunately, the year hasn't been full of absolute positives. Legendary Supermarionation voice actor, David Graham, passed away in September. The man responsible for Parker, Gordon Tracy, Brains, Doctor Beaker, Professor Matic, Mitch the Monkey, and countless other memorable puppet characters leaves behind a hugely impressive career across theatre and television. We celebrated David's extensive career on the website and on our YouTube channel.

And that's a wrap on 2024 from Anderson Entertainment! We'll be winding down for a refuelling of our engines throughout the Christmas period, but we'll be blasting off back into action in the new year as 2025 brings with it several momentous anniversaries of several more of Gerry Anderson's worlds.

Stand by for 2025!

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