Gerry Anderson’s prolific career as a television and film producer encompasses puppetry, live-action, stop-motion animation, and CGI, traversing science fiction adventure to underwater fantasy, espionage action, and beyond. Even with such a far-reaching body of work, Gerry’s various TV shows and films still remain the tip of the iceberg. He was rarely running low on ideas for new productions and constantly strove towards making the next big thing.
Despite many further proposals for other television and film projects going unrealised, plenty of pre-production paper trails exist that all showcase Gerry’s fertile creative imagination and determined drive in creating new, exciting worlds. With August 2024 being the 25th anniversary of Anderson Entertainment, we’re diving deep into the archives and examining many of Gerry Anderson’s unseen worlds – with a little help from Jamie Anderson to explain what these worlds could have been!
25. Terrahawks
Fred: Terrahawks enjoyed a popular lifespan during the early 1980s, so much so that pre-production work on a third series commenced before finances were pulled from under the series’ feet. This Steve Begg design would have presumably featured in an unseen third series of Terrahawks. What might a third series of Terrahawks have included?
Jamie: By the end of Terrahawks‘ run, it had found its feet. The strange but highly effective blend of comedy and drama in a heightened (and often silly) science fiction setting was working really well. With a well oiled crew wanting to tell increasingly exciting stories, they were looking at new environments for the Terrahawks‘ next set of adventures. Steve Begg designed the Snowhawk (recently brought to life in Deep Blue Z) for arctic adventures. But he also wanted to take the Terrahawks team underwater – hence the super design for Seahawk. Sadly, it never made it to screen, but we did end up using it in the Terrahawks audio series, and Chris Thompson created a rather snazzy CG model of it, which we saw animated in the trailer for series 2.
24. Lightspeed
Fred: This striking concept art from Dominic Lavery (of New Captain Scarlet fame) comes from Lightspeed, one of your dad’s final projects that he worked on. This looks very high-tech and close to the aesthetic of New Captain Scarlet, showing the launch bay of the spacecraft Columbus, along with a design for a ‘Boss’ android. What would we have seen from Lightspeed?
Jamie: Lightspeed, to me, always had a lot of appeal. It was a kind of Blake’s 7 meets Battlestar Galactica show for the 21st century. Essentially. it was to be an action-adventure series set in space, four hundred years in the future. It followed a misfit crew of mercenaries who are framed for the destruction of an Earth-orbiting space station and forced to flee into deep space aboard a stolen starship, the Columbus. The Columbus is the first craft with a star-drive, capable of hyper-light speeds, making the crew unwilling explorers of the galaxy as they search for a new home while being pursued by a military ship, the Nemesis. It was to be a seriously high-budget affair, and I genuinely think that it could have catapulted the Anderson name into the upper echelons of contemporary genre entertainment should it have gone ahead.
23. Operation Shockwave
Fred: Fans may know of Operation Shockwave as one of several projects that your dad conceived in the late 1970s, around the same time as Intergalactic Rescue, Five Star Five, and Thunderhawks. However, fans may not know that this political thriller went through several iterations, including as a proposed venture in the 1980s with Christopher Burr! What can you tell us about this particular chapter in Operation Shockwave’s life?
Jamie: Operation Shockwave was such a great idea – way ahead of its time when it was originally written in the early 1980s. It was to be a thriller based around a terrorist threat, where innocent people were forced to make horrendous threats on live TV. That kind of idea seems all too ‘normal’ now in a world where we’ve experienced regular terrorist threats, and have rolling news, live streaming, and instant access to information. But for what would now be (I guess) a sort of period piece, set in the late 1970s, it would still pack a punch. Dad wrote the treatment but always wanted someone else to write the script. Sadly, when they tried to get the film made in the 1980s it all went terribly wrong, and Mum and Dad were briefly detained by the authorities in Israel! But that’s a story for another day.
22. The Andermatt Thunderbolt
Fred: Rodney Matthews is best known in Anderson circles for conceiving Lavender Castle, which your dad produced in the late 1990s as a mixture of stop-motion animation and CGI. With this wonderfully tongue-in-cheek title (no doubt a reference to the 1953 Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt), what would have The Andermatt Thunderbolt been all about?
Jamie: Dad was incredibly fond of Rodney Matthews – both on a professional and personal level, so after Lavender Castle, he wanted to find another way to work with him. One particular image of Rodney’s always stuck in Dad’s mind – a vast gothic locomotive. That got him thinking about who might have built such a vast machine, and why. As he went down the rabbit hole, he came up with a story world that would explain the train’s existence, on a distant planet, and the adventure and discoveries that would revolve around it. It’s a very sweet and fun idea.
21. Lightspeed
Fred: Another piece of concept art from the world of Lightspeed, this time showing armoured soldiers fighting less-than-friendly looking creatures on some alien world. Lightspeed looks as if it would have had a much darker and violent tone; is that what we would have seen?
Jamie: Ah yes – these delightful-looking creatures are on the hostile alien races of Lightspeed – The Visith. As you can probably tell from this, Lightspeed was to be an action-adventure drama for an older audience. So we would definitely have seen high-stakes drama, death, and destruction.
20. Operation Shockwave
Fred: Another intriguing piece of the Operation Shockwave puzzle, this correspondence already hints at the prolonged and troubled history the project endured. What was it about Operation Shockwave that kept Gerry’s interest, do you think?
Jamie: As I mentioned before, this was actually a really smart story idea. Thoughtful, edgy, and quite shocking when it was originally penned. Dad could be very persistent with projects (think of Space Precinct, which took nearly 10 years to bring to the screen), and clearly Operation Shockwave stuck with him as a project he one day wanted to bring to fruition. Sadly, it never came to pass, and modern shifts in technology destroyed many of the story elements.
19. Shockwave
Fred: The cover page of the script for Shockwave. This was co-written by long-time collaborator and Anderson script writer Tony Barwick. With its quite similar name to earlier entries in this list, what would this iteration have entailed, and how might this version differ from other incarnations of the political thriller? Or was this to be a different project entirely?
Jamie: In the worlds of Anderson, you often find persistent titles, names, or phrases that get reused. Ones that Dad was very fond of. He clearly thought the word ‘Shockwave’ was impactful and cool. It is, right? But this is a completely different project to Operation Shockwave. This one, simply entitled Shockwave, was a collaboration with long-time writing and creative partner Tony Barwick. Aimed to be a feature, or a pilot leading to a TV series, this feels a bit like Goonies meets Flight of the Navigator. Really fun. Could still work now!
18. The Hit Squad
Fred: With Terrahawks a proven success, Gerry and Christopher looked to create further TV and film productions, including The Hit Squad, alternatively known as Strike Force Three. This series was initially pitched as another Supermacromation series, but later synopsis paperwork also describes this series as an ‘international cartoon’.
The Hit Squad/Strike Force Three would have focused on the efforts of a top trio of crime fighting operatives with the purpose of battling against B.A.N.D.I.T (British And International Terrorists). This design by Steve Kyte is of the Baron, one of the three members of the Hit Squad. What else can you tell us of the Baron and what would have The Hit Squad entailed?
Jamie: This could have been Supermacromaction or 2D animated – that element was left open, but this was a kid Protectors for kids, I think. Not that it would have been a bad thing! The series centered around a trio of highly skilled individuals: Baron, the leader; Jo-Dan, a martial arts expert and criminologist; and Karma, a woman with ESP and psychology expertise. They are recruited from the world’s elite fighting forces and undergo a rigorous final test to prove their worthiness.
Operating from a secret Warbase disguised as a freeway filling station, the Hit Squad is tasked with combating the growing threat of B.A.N.D.I.T., a terrorist organization led by the evil Darkon. Darkon, operating from a North Pole base, seeks to destabilize Western governments and enslave their people. He is aided by Mongrel, a physically imposing and ruthless henchman. The Hit Squad utilises advanced weaponry and technology, including the B.LINK (telepathic communication), Rockette Gun, Microbow, and Rainbow, in their fight against Darkon and the B.A.N.D.I.T. sect. The series promises thrilling action, high-stakes espionage, and cutting-edge gadgetry as the Hit Squad battles to protect the free world.
17. 5 Star 5
Fred: Five Star Five is one of your dad’s better-known ‘lost’ productions, and this actually spent some time in pre-production before funding collapsed. This Star Wars-esque sci-fi blockbuster was eventually brought to life by Richard James in a trilogy of novels. We have here concept art from Michael Stringer (Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Casino Royale (1967)), depicting a Zargon craft deploying its forces. What can you tell us about Gerry’s original vision for Five Star Five?
Jamie: Five Star Five was intended to be Dad’s answer to Star Wars, a sci-fi fantasy feature film pitched as “The Magnificent Seven in space.” The film was co-written by him and Tony Barwick, and even entered pre-production. However, funding for the project collapsed in 1979, and the film was never made.
16. Deep Sky
Fred: At some point in Lightspeed’s brief, embryonic lifespan, it was renamed to become Deep Sky and adjusted from being a TV series to becoming a movie, billed as “Star Trek meets The Fugitive” in preliminary documents. How different might Deep Sky have been from Lightspeed?
Jamie: Essentially, very few modifications were made between Lightspeed and Deep Sky. The key changes were a focus on exploration in the latter, which made sense for the serialised nature. It also had a slightly lighter tone – with more adventure and humour. But this gives you a little insight into how show ideas evolve over time to meet market feedback and broadcaster/commissioner requirements.
15. G.F.I.
Fred: G.F.I. is one of the rather more notorious lost worlds of Gerry Anderson’s, with a pilot episode produced that was deemed to be so poor it remains shunned from public viewing! Looking through the initial script for the proposed series’ debut episode, Supernova, what might have G.F.I. still been able to offer?
Jamie: G.F.I.… what can I say? There was a lot of fun and promise in the show. But the execution of the animation was pretty terrible, and things seemed to snowball from there. It was to be a kind of intergalactic Thunderbirds. Supernova involves the GFI crew responding to a distress signal from the research ship Endeavour. The Endeavour is trapped within the gravity field of a dying star, on the verge of going supernova.
Commander Brett and his team, piloting their ship Phoenix, must navigate the intense radiation and gravitational pull to rescue the Endeavour’s crew before the star explodes. The mission is complicated by the presence of another ship, the Black Hole, whose crew’s intentions are unclear. The GFI crew must race against time to evacuate the Endeavour’s crew while also dealing with the potential threat posed by the Black Hole.
14. Inter-Galactic Rescue 4
Fred: This opening descriptive page from the series bible of Inter-Galactic Rescue 4 offers an intriguing summary as to what this series may have entailed. Conceived by Gerry around 1975, Inter-Galactic Rescue 4 eventually saw the light of day through a novel adaptation by Richard James. Reading through this premise, it rather sounds like it’s shooting for a younger demographic than Space: 1999. Do you think Inter-Galactic Rescue 4 might have been a hit with younger audiences in its intended form back in the 1970s?
Jamie: IGR4 had real potential. The Thunderbirds meets Lost in Space vibe would have worked really well, I think. Probably not quite the right tone for an audience today, but in the 1970s I think this could have been a real hit!
13. The Hit Squad
Fred: Another character design from The Hit Squad/Strike Force Three, the Bandits would have been the foot soldiers of the B.A.N.D.I.T. organisation under the command of the villainous Darkon. With its uncompromising skull and crossbones design, The Hit Squad sounds like it could have been quite a grim and intense series! In an age of growingly hyperviolent sci-fi action marketed towards children (Terminator, Robocop, Aliens), could The Hit Squad have been a hit?
Jamie: Looking through the pages of The Hit Squad now, it feels very much like the successful cartoons of the 1980s. There are elements of He-Man, Inspector Gadget, and G.I. Joe in there – but with added ‘violence’. What’s not to like?
12. The Hit Squad
Fred: We have here the Skyfish, one of the main vehicles used by B.A.N.D.I.T. in The Hit Squad. This Steve Begg design rather doffs its aquatic cap to Skydiver from UFO, and serves as a combined submarine that can convert into a flight mode. We rarely saw underwater special effects sequences in Terrahawks, do you think The Hit Squad might have learnt from what Gerry and Christopher established with Terrahawks?
Jamie: Another of Steve Begg’s fantastic designs here. He churned out so much great stuff! And I think there’s a near-universal thrill of watching underwater model work! The Skyfish was a technologically advanced vehicle utilized by Darkon, the leader of B.A.N.D.I.T. It serves as both a hunter/killer submarine and an aircraft, showcasing its versatility and adaptability.
The Skyfish is described as having a sleek and futuristic design, with a runway hacked out of the ice at Darkon’s North Pole base. It is capable of submerging and traveling underwater, making it difficult to detect and track. However, its most remarkable feature is its ability to transform into an aircraft, taking off from the water and soaring through the sky. This transformation is achieved through advanced engineering and likely involves retractable wings and a powerful propulsion system.
The Skyfish’s dual functionality provides Darkon with a strategic advantage, allowing him to operate covertly and launch surprise attacks. It is a formidable weapon in his arsenal, posing a significant threat to the Hit Squad and the free world.”
11. Off the Fat of the Land
Fred: Your dad’s closely associated with science fiction, adventure, spy-fi, and fantasy – but he also nearly wrote a sitcom! Off the Fat of the Land was devised by Gerry alongside Ronnie Cass, co-writer of several Cliff Richard comedy musicals of the 1960s. What do we know of Off the Fat of the Land?
Jamie: It revolves around two contrasting characters, Peter Morton and Andrew Cunningham. Peter, born into aristocracy, finds himself in financial trouble. His stately home, Merridale Manor, is in disrepair, and he’s struggling to maintain his lifestyle. Andrew, on the other hand, is a flamboyant and successful entrepreneur, though overweight and lacking in refinement.
When Andrew decides to buy Merridale Manor, Peter is initially resistant but sees an opportunity. He decides to transform the estate into a health farm, capitalising on the growing trend of fitness and well-being. This sets up a rivalry between Peter and Andrew, as they cater to different clientele with opposing philosophies.
The series explores the clash between the old money, represented by Peter and his sister Jennifer, and the nouveau riche, embodied by Andrew. It also delves into the comedic potential of the health farm setting, with its eccentric guests and staff.
Our documents also reveal that the concept for Off the Fat of the Land dates back to the late 1960s, with Ronnie Cass originally envisioning it as a radio series. The idea was later developed into a television treatment, and in 1980, Dad became involved in the project, retooling it alongside Cass.
In 1995, there were discussions about reviving the concept, with Ronnie Cass proposing a collaboration with Ronnie Wolfe to write a sitcom… but it never came to fruition.
10. G.F.I.
Fred: This character concept art of D’or, one of the heroes from G.F.I., offers an insight into the series’ animation style. How appealing do you think G.F.I. could have been to younger audiences?
Jamie: I remember first seeing these character designs during a holiday in Portugal around 1990/1991. D’or and Argent (gold and silver) were fun designs, but Argent in particular always felt a bit ugly to me. Having said that, the show itself had a lot of fun ideas, and the overall style could have worked well in a 1990s kids slot. It’s just a shame that the delivered episode was so… ropy!
9. 5 Star 5
Fred: Another piece of concept art of Five Star Five from Michael Stringer, depicting a plethora of robotic characters. Given the close comparisons that Five Star Five has received between itself and Star Wars, do you think these characters could have had the same appeal as R2D2 and C-3PO?
Jamie: The presence of a talking chimpanzee and a marauding robot among the Five Star Five team suggests a focus on unconventional and quirky characters. This aligns with the appeal of R2-D2 and C-3PO, who stood out as unique and memorable figures in the Star Wars universe. And I’m sure that Dad and Tony will have drawn some inspiration from A New Hope, and its success.
8. Starcruiser
Fred: The lesser-seen Starcruiser from the late 1970s was another TV project devised by Gerry along with Fred Freiberger, along with Intergalactic Rescue 4. Although the proposed 13-episode TV series failed to materialise, it went on to become a comic strip in the pages of Look-in and even managed to have a model kit from Airfix made of the star craft. Some story outlines from the proposed TV version exist, including a full script of Run Robot Run. What do we know of Starcruiser?
Jamie: So, the idea for the Starcruiser TV series came from Dad and Fred Freiberger. They were tossing around a couple of different directions for the show:
Format 1: A family-friendly space adventure. Think of a mobile home that turns into a spaceship. The crew? A family—mom, dad, and two kids—who zoom around the universe, hopping from planet to planet for all sorts of adventures. It’s got a bit of a vibe like Dad’s 1975 pilot, The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity, and it feels like Lost in Space.
Format 2: An interstellar police and exploration team. Here, Starcruiser 1 is part of Interstellar Command, and the crew includes a captain, a lieutenant, a doctor, and a professor. They’re off on missions, reporting back to their boss at Interstellar Command. This version was talked about in a 1979 issue of Starlog.
Now, there’s a 12-page treatment and a 34-page script titled Run Robot Run that’s surfaced, focusing on the family adventure format. Freiberger likely wrote this script, which is set in a new universe on the other side of a Black Hole. It follows the Wilson family—John, Ellie, Sandy, and Jamie (I wonder if that’s where I got my name?)—along with their pet parrot, Oscar. They stumble upon a planet called Zakron, where two electrically charged moons are about to collide. They try to warn the locals, but things go sideways when their ship gets damaged, and they’re up against a rogue robot controlled by Harry Cartwright, a former Starcruiser designer.
7. Thunderhawks
Fred: Terrahawks began life as another of Gerry’s proposals in the late 1970s under the name of Thunderhawks. This earlier incarnation was mostly devised between Gerry and former AP Films/Century 21 Productions producer Reg Hill. We have here a preliminary incarnation of the much-loved Zeroid robots, but here illustrated with protruding, human-esque limbs. These designs rather tap into the earlier style of robot companion in classic Anderson shows like Robert the Robot or Braman. Do you think it was the right call for these designs to evolve into the more beloved spherical robotic shape of the Zeroids that we know today?
Jamie: I’m happy they evolved these to become the Zeroids, and with how the show evolved overall. Not everyone loves Terrahawks, but for me it’s still one of my favourites!
6. Regor the Rescue Dog
Fred: Another quirky addition to the Anderson canon! This very good boy looks ready to tackle any disaster scenario that might leave normal rescue services paralysed. What can you tell us about Regor the Rescue Dog? Would it have been something along the lines of Thunderbirds meets Lassie?
Jamie: Regor is a fictional dog created by Dad. He’s a super-smart mongrel with incredible rescue skills. Here’s the gist of his story:
Regor starts out as a stray, found by Roger Wilson, a lonely widower. The two form a close bond, and Regor’s name is actually “Roger” spelled backward, symbolising their connection. Regor’s intelligence is off the charts, possibly due to some experiments at nearby labs, and he quickly becomes an amazing rescue dog. Trained by local vet Andy Austin, Regor gets all sorts of specialised gear to help him in his missions. So very much a cyber Lassie with a splash of Thunderbirds.
5. T-Force
Fred: While making Terrahawks and beginning preliminary work on The Hit Squad, Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr also had their sights set on a fresh remake of Thunderbirds from Anderson Burr Pictures in the early 1980s, named T-Force. We have here a vehicle named The Facilitator, designed by Steve Begg. The Facilitator would have been T-Force’s equivalent of Thunderbird 2, consisting of a delta-wing-styled craft that lands a detachable ground-based vehicle, which can then deploy other, smaller vehicles. How might T-Force have updated the classic Thunderbirds formula?
Jamie: T-Force was going to be a live-action remake of Thunderbirds, but with a darker, grittier twist. Dad came up with the idea in the 1980s after Terrahawks did well. Unfortunately, it never got off the ground, but we’ve got some details on what it could have been.
The idea was to update Thunderbirds for a modern audience, using better special effects and leaning into the action-packed entertainment of the time. The show would have had a more mature and realistic tone, diving into complex themes and moral dilemmas. International Rescue would’ve been even more secretive, and the Tracy family dynamic would have been deeper, with more internal conflicts.
The Tracy brothers were set to be shown as highly skilled professionals, each excelling in their own field. Lady Penelope and Parker would have taken on more active roles, using their espionage skills and advanced tech in the action.
The villains, especially The Hood, would have been more ruthless and cunning, posing serious threats to International Rescue. The show would’ve also introduced new characters and vehicles, adding fresh layers to the Thunderbirds universe.
Sadly, T-Force didn’t get the funding it needed, so it never saw the light of day. But the concept art and story outlines that remain give us a glimpse of what could have been an exciting reimagining of a classic.
4. A Christmas Miracle
Fred: A Christmas Miracle was envisioned by Gerry around 2008 as a Christmas-themed sci-fi feature film, with a full-length script being written prior to his passing. What kind of story would A Christmas Miracle have told?
Jamie: I can’t actually tell you too much about this one, because it’s more active than many of the other titles from the archive. But aliens at Christmas? What’s not to like?
3. Eternity
Fred: Eternity was one of your dad’s most ambitious concepts, involving religious allegories, interplanetary organised crime, and sentient planets. Why do you think your dad constantly strove for large-scale science fiction adventure such as Eternity?
Jamie: I think Dad was always drawn to large-scale science fiction because it gave him the perfect canvas to explore big ideas and push the boundaries of imagination. He had this incredible knack for creating entire worlds, not just stories. For him, it wasn’t just about telling a tale; it was about building a universe where anything was possible, where he could mix adventure, technology, and human drama in a way that felt epic and meaningful.
Projects like Eternity allowed him to dive deep into the unknown, explore futuristic concepts, and tackle themes that resonated on a grand scale. He was fascinated by the idea of what humanity could achieve, or struggle with, in these vast, unknown futures. Plus, Dad always loved the challenge of making something visually spectacular, something that would captivate audiences and keep them on the edge of their seats.
2. Thunderhawks
Fred: We have here a design for Thunderhawk 2, presumably one of Reg Hill’s for Thunderhawks. Gerry and Reg’s initial outline depicted the Thunderhawk organisation suggests the outfit would have been much larger in scale compared to the eventual Terrahawks. As a security outfit, the Thunderhawks would have had more in common with Spectrum or SHADO. How different might things have been had Thunderhawks taken off and Terrahawks never happened, do you think?
Jamie: Thunderhawks would have been quite different from Terrahawks in several key ways. For starters, Thunderhawks was envisioned as an anime series, blending Dad’s Supermarionation style with Japanese animation. This would have been a big shift from the puppet-based format of Terrahawks.
While both shows would have focused on elite teams defending humanity, Thunderhawks likely would have taken place in space, giving it a distinct setting compared to the Earth-based adventures of Terrahawks. The anime style also would have allowed for more stylized characters and visually striking designs, potentially attracting a broader audience beyond just sci-fi fans.
Overall, Thunderhawks represents a fascinating “what if” in Dad’s career, offering a glimpse of the creative directions he was exploring at the time.
1. T-Force
Fred: This promotional artwork for T-Force is strikingly similar to the Space Police pilot film from 1983, which would have been produced around the same time. Your dad was clearly never lost for future ideas for television and film projects and was constantly looking to make his work bigger and better before. Based on what we know of T-Force and how your dad’s classic work was enjoying a resurgence of popularity around the early 1980s, could T-Force have been a hit?
Jamie: It’s fascinating to see the similarities between the promotional artwork for T-Force and the Space Police pilot from 1983, isn’t it? Dad was always ahead of his time, constantly brainstorming ways to make his projects bigger, better, and more impactful. The early 1980s were a period of renewed interest in his classic work, with fans eager to see what he would come up with next. Given the darker, more mature tone that T-Force was going for, and the way it aimed to update Thunderbirds for a new generation, there’s a good chance it could have been a hit. The concept tapped into the growing appetite for more sophisticated, action-oriented entertainment, and with the right backing, it might have taken off just as his earlier shows had.
Sharing rarities from the archive with fans around the world has been a real joy. It’s incredible to see the enthusiasm and love for Dad’s work continue to thrive. Digging into these lesser-known projects and what might have been is not only a trip down memory lane but also a way to keep his creative spirit alive and well.
Which of these unseen creations do you like the look of the most? Let us know in the comments section below! Don’t forget to discover the ongoing history of Anderson Entertainment over the last 25 years and place your order for our 25th anniversary t-shirt from the Official Gerry Anderson store!
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