Security Hazard: 2017

Happy New Year to you all! Welcome to the first post on this blog for 2017. It’s going to be something a little bit different. As well as taking a personal reflection on everything the Security Hazard blog has achieved since it launched in May of 2016, I would also like to take this opportunity to look forward and let you in on what to expect from this little corner of the internet in 2017 – things are changing, but we’ll get to that later.

Last Friday marked this blog’s 50th post since I began writing on May 26th, 2016. I never thought it would get this far. I had no plan for what I was going to do, I just knew that I would need an outlet for all my Gerry Anderson ramblings after moving from the UK to the USA and leaving behind the wonderful Official Gerry Anderson blog (although I’m still involved in the background here and there.)

There have been so many highlights. I was inundated with kind comments when I reviewed the three Thunderbirds 1965 episodes. They remain a popular source of information for people who haven’t had a chance to see the episodes. I’m grateful to the Pod 4 Films team for allowing me to explore their work in such detail and for supporting me in doing so.

These reviews led to my utterly bonkers idea to analyse every single classic episode of Thunderbirds in the same intense level of detail every week. I have been publishing reviews for 19 weeks solidly every Friday and am enjoying the experience a great deal. I have learnt so much about the production of the original series just from analysing the episodes closely and putting pieces of the jigsaw together. It’s certainly been a challenge to write several thousand words every week about my favourite show, but the process is incredibly rewarding and has managed to change my way of looking at a number of episodes that I didn’t originally have a high opinion of. I’m still learning, but 19 weeks in I think I’m beginning to work out what makes this very imperfect series so incredibly good.

Along with those reviews have been the articles published every Monday which have ranged from being incredibly silly to being very insightful about various other Gerry Anderson works. Highlights have included achieving my dream of reviewing the lost pilot show The Investigator and having people actually read it, exploring my hopes for the 50th Anniversary of Captain Scarlet (and learning that some of them might just happen), and creating some fiendishly difficult quizzes for you all to enjoy. I also recently experimented with putting a Gerry Anderson themed gaming video together for the blog which seems to have gone down a treat.

So with 2017 now upon us, will anything be changing? For one very simple reason I have to say that it will. The day after this post goes up, I will be starting a new full time job. It came about very suddenly after Christmas, leaving me with very little time to make any plans. I am excited about the opportunity this job will bring to make life for my family a little more comfortable. But it also means that I just don’t have as much time on my hands as I used to. The time has come to prioritise and fine tune this blog to make sure I can cope with the workload and keep up the good quality writing that I believe I have created so far.

For the moment, therefore, I will cease regularly posting weekly articles on Mondays about general topics. The weekly Thunderbirds reviews on Fridays will, however, continue as before. The Thunderbirds reviews are the real heart and soul of this blog and it would be wrong to abandon or slow up on them now. That is not to say that writing about any other topic is out of the question – new blog posts may come out from time to time when special events occur, but I would not want people to expect them regularly. What I can try to promise is that the Thunderbirds reviews will continue to be published every week. Of course, assuming that happens, in around 3 months time I’ll be looking for something new and produced by Gerry Anderson to explore. Start submitting your ideas now for what you might like to see, and if you’re really lucky I might just be mad enough to do it.

I’m also considering doing more special videos ocassionally. You see, as well as bringing myself to the U.S. several months ago I also shipped over my enormous collection of Gerry Anderson memorabillia from across the years which need to be unboxed. Let me know if that’s something you would be interested in seeing in a video series!

Thank you all so much for supporting the Security Hazard blog during 2016. It has grown into something better than I had ever anticipated and it wouldn’t have continued if it hadn’t been for those of you who come back and read my musings every week. I hope you continue to enjoy what this blog has to offer as we blast into 2017!