Firestorm from the late Gerry Anderson MBE has come to a close on Kickstarter, reaching a massive 180% of its target. The project to create a pilot for the new Gerry Anderson TV programme needed £49,280 to proceed, and in the end actually raised £88,931.
Jamie Anderson, Managing Director of Anderson Entertainment and son of Gerry Anderson, MBE, says, “Fans of iconic Gerry Anderson shows like Space: 1999, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, UFO and Thunderbirds helped us raise the minimum sum needed in less than 96 hours, in return earning themselves special limited edition rewards from props and collector edition DVDs, to set visits and film credits for helping to back us.”
“We’ve now raised nearly double the sum aimed for, smashing through four of our stretch goals, allowing us to make an even longer, more explosive pilot than we originally hoped for. Over 1,400 fans from all over the world have rallied round and allowed us to take my dad’s project forward in an even bigger and better way than we’d planned for, so we’ll now have security drones and extra characters and scenes, including a huge explosion of evil Black Orchid’s island headquarters.”
Firestorm was originally released in 2003 as an anime series across Japan and South East Asia. However this updated, crowdfunded version of the Gerry Anderson concept has been redeveloped from Gerry’s original synopsis and story outline documents. The new pilot will be filmed using new filming technique called ‘Ultramarionation’, the next stage in evolution from the famous ‘Supermarionation’ technique used for classics as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.
As Jamie Anderson sums it up, “Raising so much money from so many people to get this project off the launchpad proves the support from fans from all over the world for film-making methods using practical effects, miniatures and puppets. The talented team already assembled, including many from AP Films and Century 21 responsible for producing shows like Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Space: 1999 and Thunderbirds will now be joined by Hollywood prop maker Ken Palkow (Star Trek Into Darkness, Mission Impossible, Oblivion, X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Shane Rimmer and Matt Zimmerman, the voices of Scott and Alan Tracy in Thunderbirds. It should be really great and we’re all very excited to get started. With a fair wind and a bit more luck, Firestorm will be on your TV screen in the very near future!”
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published November 4, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
