Author Archives: Jack Knoll

The Secret Service – 2. A Question of Miracles

If the first episode, A Case For The Bishop, was a little too wild and experimental for your palate, you’ll find yourself in a much safer pair of hands this week. A Question of Miracles, feels like something of a course correction by the Century 21 team. In their format-establishing first script for The Secret Service, Gerry & Sylvia Anderson had laid out all the weird and wonderful tones and techniques they wanted explore with their quirky new series. Some of it worked and some of it didn’t. It was, in many ways, an experiment, as pilot episodes often are.

The Secret Service – 1. A Case For The Bishop

A bizarre mix of Supermarionation and live-action which was cancelled after 13 episodes because Lew Grade didn’t like Stanley Unwin’s gobbledygook. That’s the history of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson’s The Secret Service as most sources dish it out. It’s usually framed as a weird footnote in the Anderson story in between the steady waters of Joe 90 and the big comeback with UFO. Some critics accuse the Andersons of being either uninspired or unhinged when they devised the series’ format and that it was doomed to fail from the start because the adventures of a super-spy-priest and his shrinking gardener couldn’t possibly make good TV.

All About Star Fleet with Ben Page and Jack Knoll

Settle in for an in-depth conversation about the 1980s puppet television series, Star Fleet, originally made in Japan as X Bomber. Now, before you blow a gasket, yes, I’m aware it’s not a Gerry Anderson series. But it’s puppets and it’s sci-fi and it was influenced by Supermarionation so as far as I’m concerned it’s fair game! However, I’m a newbie when it comes to Star Fleet so I needed to recruit an expert to help me cover this unique television series. Enter filmmaker, puppeteer, and Anderson Entertainment content producer, Ben Page.

Talkdown: Behind the Scenes of the Joe 90 Technical Operations Manual with Chris Thompson and Jack Knoll

Today’s Security Hazard offering is a most special video discussion between myself and renowned Anderson writer, director, and artist, Chris Thompson. Chris and I have recently collaborating on all things Joe 90 to bring you the latest book in the successful range of in-universe Technical Operations Manuals from the Gerry Anderson store. If you’ve missed previous news of this release, want to learn even more about the contents of the upcoming manual, or just want to hear two old friends casually chat about their favourite TV shows, this video is for you. The video is embedded below and available to watch on YouTube.

The Thunderbirds Video Games Retrospective

Thunderbirds has action, suspense, some combat scenarios, a range of vehicles to operate, and a wide collection of characters with unique specialist skills. Surely, a video game based on the format is as easy as interpreting Alan Tracy’s nigthmares? So, why has every single Thunderbirds game that’s ever been produced not hit the mark for me?

LEGO SHADO Vehicles and Alien Craft (UFO)

UFO and its wide range of gorgeous vehicles have been an inspiration to LEGO® enthusiasts for many years. In particular, there are some very detailed and impressive brick-built models of the Moonbase Interceptor and the SHADO Mobiles out there which I simply drool over because of how big and complex they are. These builds are normally produced at minifigure scale or thereabouts. But instead of following the same path as the dedicated LEGO® and UFO fans that came before me, I decided that working on the vehicles in microscale would be the best approach to bring the SHADO fleet to life on my shelves.

The Dark Side of Four Feather Falls

The richly detailed Wild West world of Four Feather Falls is full of colourful characters. Gerry Anderson fans who are only casually familiar with this early Supermarionation series might think it’s a charming and twee show for kiddies about talking animals, a singing sheriff, and a magical Native American chief. Now, they’re not exactly wrong about that, but there’s quite a bit more to it.

Which scene from Thunderbirds is being filmed in this photo? Here’s the long answer…

For years I’ve looked at this behind the scenes photograph from Thunderbirds and tried to work out which episode/scene is being filmed. It’s been published in countless books, magazines, and websites over the years and I’ve never found a definitive answer. The puppet characters and the set being worked on are so brightly lit and generic that it’s difficult to make out any distinctive details to make it abundantly obvious which scene is being worked on. In the past I’ve seen some folks identify it as Pit of Peril, End of the Road, Edge of Impact, and a miriad of other alternatives – some of which seemed credible but didn’t quite sit right with me. So, I finally decided to undertake my own investigations. This article started life as an unpublished tweet that got out of hand. You folks know how I like to make a mountain out of a mole hill, so I’ve decided to convert my research into a blog post so that I’m not hampered by Twitter’s pesky character limits. But just like Twitter, the whole thing ended up turning into an argument…