I thought that I'd try a category for books written about Supermarionation programs--fiction and nonfiction. It's hard to get them here in the States--and when I can find them, they're rather expensive. Which ones do you think are worth the expense? Are there some that you wouldn't recommend at all?

I recently got a copy of GERRY ANDERSON'S THUNDERBIRDS. I like the pictures, and some of the information was interesting, but it was rather disappointing. There were a number of cartoon strip stories that weren't bad, but not all that great, either, and the drawings were...well, let's say that it was sometimes difficult to tell who was who. Some were nicely drawn, but I remember one showing Virgil as some weatherbeaten old pilot who couldn't possibly have been in his twenties. Possibly not even his thirties. There were comic sections called "Funderbirds" that didn't have the slightest thing to do with Thunderbirds. There was also a section where they gave brief (VERY brief) synopses of some of the episodes...only one of the "episodes" was entitled "The Abominable Snowman"...where the heck did THAT come from? (There was a strip adventure in the book that included a Yeti, but the plot did not match the written synopsis.) There were also several essays on actual disasters that had occurred. I thought that they were going to bring up how such disasters had prompted Gerry Anderson's ideas for the Thunderbirds, but they did not. The book rounded out with a few short stories, with still shots from the series (and some that I presume were from one or the other movies) that were reasonably good reading.

I also found a copy of CALLING THUNDERBIRDS. The plot was fairly interesting, making allowances for the fact that it was aimed at young readers, but hearing the Tracys swearing "By Jupiter!" right and left was rather irritating.

I'm still impatiently waiting for a copy of THE COMPLETE GERRY ANDERSON. I understand that it's on its way. Last I heard, it was in Kansas City....

>>hearing the Tracys swearing "By Jupiter!" right and left was rather irritating.


I love the swearing in the TV21 comic strips

"By Jupiter!"
"Good grief!"
"By the powers!"
"Ye Gods!"

and my fav

"Oh, no...NO!"