![]() Cecil Coleman’s Supercar play figures set. Budgie models seem have to been closest to the mark with their diecast Supercar featuring retractable wings, but another highlight was the battery-operated Supercar from Remco Toys which was able to move in different directions thanks to several discs that slotted into the model. As well as numerous books and games the Supercar itself was the subject of a number of toys in varying scales and quality. Although undeniably rather primitive-looking today the series introduces many of the traditional Anderson motifs, such as the secret base housing a sophisticated craft capable of incredible rescues, and the sheer volume of Supercar merchandise produced shows how popular this new format was. Likewise, although 1959’s Four Feather Falls was far more successful and technically accomplished than either of its predecessors no toys were produced for the series, with the only merchandise available being the usual variety of books, jigsaws and board games, plus an LP featuring Michael Holliday’s songs from the show.Īnderson’s next series, Supercar, would prove to be one of the most significant both in terms of his career and the explosion of associated merchandising. Pelham’s Twizzle puppet is a fair approximation of the character (one might argue it is perhaps slightly more sophisticated than the one that appeared in the television series!) but Pelham’s Torchy only manages a passing resemblance to the nightmarish television original. The Adventures of Twizzle and Torchy the Battery Boy arrived on British television in the latter half of the 1950s, long before television and film-based toys became big business in the 1960s, and while several storybooks and annuals based on these series were released the only other merchandise came from Pelham Puppets and their reproductions of the series stars. Unsurprisingly the earliest Gerry Anderson productions spawned very little merchandise. Nowadays a successful children’s television series may be designed specifically to sell toys, but back in the era of shows like Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, the merchandise evolved out of the program rather than the other way around – although it was certainly a useful way to recoup production costs too! It was the appealing designs of the vehicles themselves that captured the hearts and minds of the viewers, and in turn, created the desire for toys based on those craft – toys that would enable children to create new adventures of their own in the week-long gap between new tv episodes. ![]() It’s worth noting that such a vast merchandising empire as the one which sprang up around these shows was unheard of back in the mid-1960s when so many of his most popular series were being produced. From Supercar to Thunderbirds to Space:1999, each of his series were not only hugely popular but also generated vast amounts of merchandising in the form of books, games, and of course toys. In a career spanning more than fifty years, the films and television series produced by Gerry Anderson have enjoyed a lasting popularity both in Britain and all around the world.
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