Sci Fi TV series that influenced me pt1
We all have something that influenced us when we were young which sometimes sets you on a path you perhaps never intended.
For me, growing up in the 1960's and '70's it seemed we were living through a veritable golden age of science fiction on TV that showed us possible glimpses into the near or even far future. In the UK we had Gerry and Sylvia Anderson with a whole slew of imaginative TV shows, ostensibly for kids, but quite often watched by adults both then and now. In the US, Irwin Allen had a run of amazing shows too before he moved onto making films.
So in this pt 1 my first impressions and memories are of TV shows from the UK such as the Andersons productions and of course Dr Who on the BBC. My earliest and vague recollection is of 'Supercar' quickly followed by 'Fireball XL5' and for several of them I was much too young to watch them so it was the repeats that I am drawing upon.
Stingray was a surprise hit with me as it was based underwater in the future and is the one I remember the best from those very early years. You have to bear in mind that at the time right up until the late 1960's we only had a small B/W TV and were limited to BBC1, BBC2 (from 1964) and ITV the latter of which for anyone outside the UK was an independent network with plenty of regional variations in what was broadcast.
The Andersons shows were initially on ATV, one of the ITV regions, then broadcast by the rest, so for me as a youngster it was natural that they had commercial breaks in them which at the time didn't distract me - ideal for a loo break! Supercar was fun as it was a car that could do everything, drive, fly, go into space and even go underwater - but it was Fireball XL5 the first one that was properly set in space that I initially gravitated to. But as hinted at above, it was actually the late 60's and into the early 70's that I was able to watch them so Stingray (1964) and even Thunderbirds (1965-66) and Captain Scarlet (1967) had already had their first runs. But that didn't matter to an impressionable kid such as I.
Stingray introduced underwater exploration and possible undersea civilisations, some not so friendly but it was still something to hear 'Standby for Action! Anything can happen in the next half hour!' that sent a chill down my spine (still does today!).
But then came Thunderbirds with it's stunning opening credits: 'Five, Four, Three Two, One: Thunderbirds are Go!' Come on, I know you all had Jeff Tracey's voice saying that in your heads, didn't you! The launch sequences, the dramatic rescues, the even more dramatic music by Barry Gray, it had it all for a kid like me and I was in my element. Even today I reckon the original five Thunderbirds look futuristic.
In order of favourite: TB2, TB3, TB1, TB4 and poor old TB5 which in the original series didn't actually do much except to relay information as to the disaster - but I guess in a way that was what it was supposed to do.
When Thunderbirds stopped and Captain Scarlet took its place I was disappointed but quickly warmed to the series as it did have some elements of space in it so when it too ended I was again disappointed. Joe 90 had a different charm and I loved the theme music but I wondered what had happened to the Andersons direction, I wanted space flight and spacecraft!
By now I, like many youngsters, had been dragged out of bed (metaphorically speaking of course) to watch Neil and Buzz step onto the moons surface for real. So when Gerry and Sylvia Anderson produced UFO (1970) and later Space 1999 (1975/76) I was back in my element and I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up - a spaceman.
ITV also had two other shows that enthralled me: 'Timeslip' and 'The Tomorrow People'. I have the complete series of Time Slip and I'm 3/4 way through it so expect a retrospective review of the series in a future blog.
In the me
an time the BBC had their own strange Science Fiction programme that was both amazing, and terrifying in places, yes, Dr Who. I don't really remember much of the first two Doctors (1963 to 1969) so for me Jon Pertwee's Doctor (1970-74) was the definitive but I did quickly accept Tom Baker when he took over.
For me the Daleks and Cybermen were the terrifying adversaries but when Tom Baker ended his run (longest Doctor, just over 6 years!) I lost interest - well I was no longer a kid after all! That was a shame as I watched Peter Davison as Dr Who for a short while so when I actually met him whilst filming at my parents house for 'Heavenly Bodies' (honestly it was an astronomy programme on the BBC in the mid '90's!), I admitted my favourite Dr Who was Jon Pertwee - he was not amused!
So all those shows generally pushed me more towards science and space but surprisingly I drifted off at a tangent becoming interested in history, mainly ancient history, Greeks, Egyptians, Mayan etc. However there was also the US aspect that also helped both with my space, history and deep sea fascination so coming in a future blog in a few weeks (I have yet to build the US models I have!): pt2 - 'Where no man had gone before' and other hit US Sci-Fi shows.
Stay tuned!
All the models on this page I've either built from kits or they were already assembled. I've tried to make them more interesting with backgrounds, almost all of which are my own images with one exception, the SPV background which is a stock royalty free image that comes with PaintShop Pro software. All images are copyright Paul Money.