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Go Nagai (永井豪)
Go Nagai at Japan Expo 2008, Paris, France (2008-07-04).
Born	Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔) (1945-09-06) September 6, 1945 (age 66) Wajima, Ishikawa, Japan
Residence	Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Manga artist
Known for	Harenchi Gakuen Mazinger Z Cutie Honey Devilman Violence Jack UFO Robot Grendizer
Awards	4th Kodansha Manga Award Susano Oh
Website
http://www.dynamicproduction.co.jp/ (Japanese) Dynamic Productions

Go Nagai in his studio, Tokyo, 1987; photo by Sally Larsen

Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔, Nagai Kiyoshi^?, born September 6, 1945 in Wajima, Ishikawa), better known by the penname Go Nagai (永井 豪, Nagai Gō^?), is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica.^[1] He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. He is credited with creating the Super Robot genre and for designing the first mecha robots piloted by a user from within a cockpit with Mazinger Z.^[2] In 2005, he became a Character Design professor at the Osaka University of Arts. Since 2009, he is a member of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's nominating committee.

Life[link]

Early life[link]

Go Nagai was born on September 6, 1945 ^[3]—in the Ishikawa Prefecture city of Wajima.^[4] He is the son of Yoshio and Fujiko Nagai (永井芳雄・冨士子),^[5] and the fourth of five brothers.^[6] His family had just returned from Shangai. While he was still in his early childhood, he along with his mother and his four brothers moved to Tokyo after the premature passing of his father.^[4] As a child, he was influenced by the work of Gustave Doré (specifically, a Japanese edition of the Divine Comedy) and Osamu Tezuka (his brother Yasutaka gave him a copy of Lost World).^[7][8][9]

After he graduated from the Metropolitan Itabashi High School of Tokyo,^[6] he entered the world of manga. While passing his ronin year in a prep school in order to aim at the Waseda University, he suffered a severe case of diarrhea for 3 weeks. Aware of his own mortality, he wanted to leave some evidence that he had lived, by doing something that he liked as a child: working on manga. He was determined to create one work of manga in what he thought were his last months.^[10] As Nagai prepared for the task, he went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with catarrh of the colon, and soon healed. But this was the turning point in his life.^[10] Convinced that he would continue working on manga, he stopped attending school after three months and started living as a ronin.^[10]

With the help of his brother Yasutaka, he created his first manga works.^[7][11] Aiming to be a manga artist, despite the fact that his mother opposed his manga career, he submitted his works for publication finding many rejected.^[10] It is said that when the young Nagai submitted his tables to publishers, his mother secretly convinced publishers to reject them.^[4][12][13] However, his work was noticed by Shōnen Sunday, which contacted Shotaro Ishinomori.^[11] Thanks to some trial manga he created with the help of his brother Yasutaka, he was finally accepted in the studio of Ishinomori in 1965.^[7]

The trial manga was about a science fiction ninja,^[9] and was a prototype for a different story, Kuro no Shishi. Nagai was 19 years old when he made this work; it started at 15 or 16 pages and ended up being 88 pages long after a year, and was untitled at that time.^[9] Ishinomori saw this work and praised Nagai for it, but commented that the design was too chunky and should improve it a little. Two or three days later, Nagai was invited to become an assistant with Ishinomori and this work was forgotten until 2007, when it was published for the first time, in the magazine Comic Ran TWINS Sengoku Busho Retsuden (コミック乱 TWINS 戦国武将列伝) by LEED, under the name Satsujinsha (殺刃者(さつじんしゃ)).^[14] His professional career began in 1967, despite the opposition of his mother.^[12]

First works[link]

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After working as assistant of Shotaro Ishinomori, his very first professional manga work was Meakashi Polikichi (目明しポリ吉 also 目明かしポリ吉),^[5][15] a very short gag comedy oneshot, published in November 1967 in the magazine Bokura by Kodansha.^[16] Almost at the same time, this was followed by the manga adaptation of Tomio Sagisu's TV anime Chibikko Kaiju Yadamon (ちびっこ怪獣ヤダモン, Little Monster Yadamon), also published in 1967 in the same magazine.^[17] A common misconception is that Kuro No Shishi (Black Lion) was his first manga work; while not entirely false, what Nagai really made two years earlier than Meakashi Polikichi, was only a draft for what would later be Kuro no Shishi, which would not be actually published until 1978.

His first works consisted entirely of short gag comedy manga. This would change with Harenchi Gakuen.

First success and controversies[link]

In less than a year after debuting, he met with a big success. After being an unknown manga artist, he became a protagonist of televised debates and journalistic investigations. ^[18]

In 1968, while Shueisha was getting prepared to launch its first manga publication, Shōnen Jump, in order to compete with other magazines from rival companies (like Shōnen Magazine from Kodansha and Shōnen Sunday from Shogakukan), Nagai was invited to be one of the first manga artists publishing in the new magazine. He contemplated this, since he had to design a long running series instead of the autoconclusive short stories that he had been developing until that point.^[4] He accepted and the series became a big success, being the first for Nagai ^[19] and making Shōnen Jump sell more than one million copies. ^[15] With Harenchi Gakuen, Nagai was the first to introduce eroticism in modern manga and became the creator of modern erotic manga, ^{[1] [19] [20] [21] [22]} opened the door to a new era in Manga ^[21] and also became the symbol of an entire generation. ^[15] This work has influenced Japanese society radically, completely changing the common perceptions of manga. ^[23]

Until Harenchi Gakuen, Japanese manga had been relatively tame affairs, but things soon changed. ^[20] The manga became so popular that several live-action films and TV series based on the manga were developed. Harenchi Gakuen is considered as probably the work that has had the most influence in the world of manga at the end of the 1960s, leading the newly born Shōnen Jump magazine to sell millions of copies per week. ^[24]

A scandalous manga in its time, it is a very innocent series by today's standards. ^[24] But at the time of his original publication, it met with severe criticism by some parts of the Japanese society. Harenchi Gakuen was criticized as vulgar because it introduced overt eroticism to children. Male students and teachers were depicted as being preoccupied with catching glimpses of girls' panties or naked bodies. Many parents, women's associations, and PTAs protested. ^[25]

In particular, the PTA protests over Harenchi Gakuen were notorious. Nagai was bombarded with interview requests from newspapers, magazines and TV. Whenever he flew outside of Tokyo, TV cameras were waiting for him. He was branded a "nuisance" and even an "enemy of society". He, however, had a clear sense of what things he could or could not do with the manga. ^[26]

At first, Nagai didn't think that the opposition was against him, since he always knew when to draw the line and was aware of the standards that applied with movies and similar things for an audience below 18 years old. At that time, he never drew sex scenes, avoided pictures of genitals and made nudes cute rather than sexy. ^[20] His fans supported him throughout the PTA protests. They sent him letters where they expressed how they were aware that the adults cracking down on them were reading raunchier stuff than what Nagai was producing. ^[20]

The protests were not only against the manga, but also against the TV series. The PTA even managed to prevent the distribution of the magazine in some parts of Japan. ^[18] As a result of the protests, when the series was about to be cancelled because of the PTA. Nagai changed the theme in Harenchi Gakuen into a more mature and serious matter. From nonsense gags with sexy touchs, to a full scale war where murder was depicted in the bloody way for which many know him. This led to the famous ending of Harenchi Gakuen, symbol of freedom and of rejection of the hypocrisy, where all students & teachers, while defending their freedom of expression, are killed by the PTA and other parental forces. This was the ironic answer that Nagai gave to the PTA. It wasn't the true ending of Harenchi Gakuen, as it would return to be published for several years. ^[18]

It was also around this time that he created Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko (ガクエン退屈男), also known as Guerrilla High, another school-themed manga, but this time war between youths and adults was the main theme. A little before that, in 1969,Abashiri Ikka (あばしり一家) was created. Both titles are a direct result of the PTA protests, being both a form of parody of what happened. Abashiri Ikka became a big success, and along with Harenchi Gakuen, the most popular series of Nagai's juvenile period. ^[27]

Dynamic Productions[link]

Thanks to the success of Harenchi Gakuen, Dynamic Productions (ダイナミックプロダクション, also known as Dynamic Production or Dynamic Pro, ダイナミックプロ), was founded by Go Nagai with his brothers in April, 1969. ^[28] Meant to be a group to help him with his works, as a consequence of what happened with Harenchi Gakuen, where he received almost no royalties derived from the TV series, films and gadgets related, Dynamic Productions became a company established to manage Nagai's relations and contractual rights of his work. Dynamic became one of the first companies to require publishers the edition of contracts (even today many manga are designed and published only on the basis of verbal agreements).^[4] It would start as a yugen kaisha (limited company) and would change to a kabushiki kaisha (stock company) in 1970.^[5]

The same year of the foundation of Dynamic Pro, Ken Ishikawa joined the company. He would become Nagai's second assistant after Mitsuru Hiruta, who had been working with Nagai since the beginnings of Harenchi Gakuen.^[5] He would become one of Nagai's regular partners and his best friend. Ken Ishikawa participated as assistant in Harenchi Gakuen, Abashiri Ikka and Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko, particularly in the last one. In parallel with those activities as assistant, he co-produces with Go Nagai what would be in fact his professional debut in manga, Gakuen Bangaichi (1969-09-08 ~ 1970-09-22), and also his second manga, Sasurai Gakuto (1970-01 ~ 1970-05). He temporarily quit Dynamic Productions in 1970. This prompted Nagai to end Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko and the story of this series would be left inconclusive.

Change in genres[link]

Even with the changes in Harenchi Gakuen and other series, Nagai remained writing mostly gag comedies, varying only in the thematic. With the success of Harenchi Gakuen and Abashiri Ikka, most editors expected this kind of story from Nagai. This would start to change in 1970, with the oneshot Oni -2889 Nen no Hanran-, which tells a science fiction story set in the year 2889 about a war between the race of Onis (who in this story are treated as a lower class) and the human beings. After this, in 1971 came the horror oneshot Susumu-chan Dai Shock about a violent collapse of the parent-child relationships. A series of horror oneshots would follow, in the series called Gensou Kyofu e Hanashi (幻想恐怖絵噺), which comprehends Africa no Chi (an original story of Yasutaka Tsutsui), Schalken Gahaku (based in the famous story Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu) and Kuzureru. A little before that, Nagai would be given the chance to write a full serial of an occult horror story called Mao Dante, which would in turn mark the beginning of his most famous horror work, Devilman.

Style and works[link]

In his series Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園, Shameless School, 1968–1972, Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine) Nagai used eroticism and extreme, graphic violence in kid's manga for the first time in Japan, thus breaking taboos and becoming quite controversial.^[1] His use of violence and gross humour was widely loathed in many corners of Japan's society and became a concern for many PTAs at the time. The series temporary ended dramatically when all the characters died during a massacre. This type of content would be a trend in most of Nagai's later work and in those of other directors such as Yoshiyuki Tomino. A Harenchi Gakuen live-action TV series followed in the early 1970s, as well as several other live-action movies and an OVA version (Heisei Harenchi Gakuen, or "Modern-Day Shameless School") in the mid-1990s.

In 1970, Go Nagai started a company, Dynamic Productions, to fund his manga and anime ventures. Dynamic Productions' first titles were Getter Robo and Abashiri Ikka (あばしり一家, Abashiri Family).

After Harenchi Gakuen Nagai created the Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ) series, later expanded into Great Mazinger, Grendizer, and - many years later - Mazinkaiser, where he developed the concept of giant mecha. Mazinger was the first manga where a giant robot was piloted by the hero, thus creating one of the biggest staples of the industry. Mazinger is considered the first successful "Super Robot" anime show, and has spawned numerous imitations.

Simultaneously to Mazinger, he created one of his most popular manga, Debiruman (デビルマン, Devilman), about a demonic hero fighting against hordes of demons. Nagai also turned Devilman into a series which was less violent and gritty than the manga. Years later Nagai revamped this popular series by introducing the main character as a female and altering the storyline. This series is called Devilman Lady (デビルマンレディー, Devil Lady in the US). It was first released as a manga and then later as an anime. Go Nagai considers the Devilman series, as well as the Mazinger series, as being his life's work due to their massive popularity all over the world. In 1972, Nagai managed to have 5 weekly manga publications at the same time, drawing and writing. This hasn't been achieved by other manga artists with the exception of Shinji Mizushima and George Akiyama.^[29]

Another long-running series, Violence Jack (ヴァイオレンス ジャック) spanned multiple volumes and dealt with a giant brute of a man fighting evil warlords in a post-apocalyptic setting where Japan has been devastated by a massive earthquake and isolated from the rest of the world.

One of Nagai's most popular works outside of his fanbase has been Cutey Honey, considered to be one of the first "magical girl" comics and a major influence on future series in the genre (in particular Sailor Moon). Nagai had less success a few years later with Majokko Tickle, a more traditional magical-girl series for younger children, although the accompanying anime was popular on TV in some European countries.

In 1980, he received the 4th Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen for Susano OH.^[30]

Nagai has worked with Shotaro Ishinomori and Ken Ishikawa. He is currently being more prolific in manga production than ever. Much of Nagai's work has been adapted into anime and tokusatsu. Nagai has made cameo appearances in some of his live-action adaptations of his work, including The Toxic Avenger Part II, the Cutie Honey 2004 live action film, and in a special DVD-only episode of Cutie Honey: The Live as Dr. Koshiro Kisaragi.

Success abroad[link]

In Italy, France, and the Middle East, Grendizer was very popular when they aired. They are still fondly remembered to this day. In Spain, a Mazinger Z statue has been erected in Tarragona. It still stands even today.

Influences[link]

Anime Director Hideaki Anno (Evangelion) cited Devilman as a source of inspiration for Evangelion during a conversation between him and Go Nagai published in Devilman Tabulae Anatomicae. Manga artist Kentarou Miura claims that he likes Go Nagai's dynamic style and that Nagai had a big influence on him in an interview which was included as an extra in the fourth volume of the North American DVD release by Media Blasters in 2002. Movie Director Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) claimed that he's a fan of Go Nagai's works in an interview with Sancho Asia and said that he wants to re-adapt Devilman into a live action movie since he didn't like the 2004 live action Devilman adaptation.

Anime titles created or based in the works of Go Nagai[link]

• Devilman (デビルマン)(TV series, 1972-07-08)
• Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ)(TV series, 1972-12-03)
• Mazinger Z tai Devilman (マジンガーZ対デビルマン)(Movie, 1973-07-18)
• Dororon Enma-kun (ドロロンえん魔くん)(TV series, 1973-10-04)
• Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー, Cutey Honey)(TV series, 1973-10-13)
• Getter Robot (ゲッターロボ)(TV series, 1974-04-04)
• Mazinger Z tai Ankoku Daishougun (マジンガーZ対暗黒大将軍)(Movie, 1974-07-25)
• Great Mazinger (グレートマジンガー)(TV series, 1974-09-08)
• Great Mazinger tai Getter Robot (グレートマジンガー対ゲッターロボ)(Movie, 1975-03-21)
• Getter Robot G (ゲッターロボ G)(TV series, 1975-05-15)
• Great Mazinger tai Getter Robot G: Kuuchuu Daigekitotsu (グレートマジンガー対ゲッターロボG 空中大激突, Great Mazinger tai Getter Robo G: The Great Space Encounter)(Movie, 1975-07-26)
• Uchuu Enban Daisensou (宇宙円盤大戦争, The Great Battle of the Flying Saucers)(Movie, 1975-07-26)
• Koutetsu Jeeg (鋼鉄ジーグ)(TV series, 1975-10-05)
• UFO Robot Grendizer (UFOロボ グレンダイザー)(TV series, 1975-10-05)
• UFO Robot Grendizer tai Great Mazinger (UFOロボ グレンダイザー対グレートマジンガー)(Movie, 1976-03-20)
• Daikyu Maryu Gaiking (大空魔竜ガイキング)(TV series, 1976-04) Nagai had some problems with Toei and was left out of the credits.^[31] Eventually Nagai sued Toei and stopped further collaborations for some time. Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of the robot in the Comicon 2007 of Naples, Italy.^[32]
• Groizer X (グロイザーX, Gloizer X)(TV series, 1976-07-01)
• Grendizer, Getter Robot G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaijuu (グレンダイザー・ゲッターロボG・グレートマジンガー 決戦!大海獣)(Movie, 1976-07-18)
• Majokko Tickle (魔女っ子チックル)(TV series, 1978-03-06)
• Psycho Armor Govarian (サイコアーマーゴーバリアン)(TV series, 1983-07-06)
• God Mazinger (ゴッドマジンガー)(TV series, 1984-04-15)
• Chounouryoku Shōjo Barabanba (超能力少女バラバンバ)(OVA, 1985-06-21)
• Mujigen Hunter Fandora (夢次元ハンター ファンドラ, Dream Dimension Hunter Fandora)(OVA, 1985-09-21)
• Violence Jack: Harem Bomber (バイオレンスジャック ハーレムボンバー, Violence Jack: Slumking)(OVA, 1986-06)
• Devilman: Tanjo Hen (デビルマン 誕生編, Devilman: The Birth)(OVA, 1987-11-01)
• Violence Jack: Evil Town (バイオレンスジャック 地獄街, Violence Jack: Jigokugai)(OVA, 1988-12-21)
• Juushin Liger (獣神ライガー, Beast-God Riger)(TV series, 1989-03-11)
• Shutendoji (手天童子, Shuten Douji)(OVA, 1989-12)
• Devilman: Yocho Sirène Hen (デビルマン 妖鳥シレーヌ編, Devilman: The Demon Bird)(OVA, 1990-02-25)
• Violence Jack: Hell's Wind Hen (バイオレンスジャック ヘルスウインド編, Violence Jack: Hell's Wind)(OVA, 1990-11-09)
• Getter Robot Go (ゲッターロボ號)(TV series, 1991-02-11)
• CB Chara Nagai Go World (CBキャラ永井豪ワールド)(OVA, 1991-02-21)
• Abashiri Family (あばしり一家, Abashiri Ikka)(OVA, 1991-05-21)
• Kekko Kamen (けっこう仮面)(OVA, 1991-08-01)
• Kyukioku no Sex Adventure Kamasutra (究極のSEXアドベンチャー カーマスートラ)(1992-04-24)
• Iron Virgin Jun (鉄の処女JUN, Tetsu no Shōjo JUN)(OVA, 1992-07)
• Oira Sukeban (おいら女蛮(スケバン), Sukeban Boy, Delinquent in Drag)(OVA, 1992-08)
• Hanappe Bazooka (花平バズーカ)(OVA, 1992-09)
• Black Lion (黒の獅士, Kuro no Shishi)(OVA, 1992-11)
• New Cutey Honey (新・キューティーハニー, Shin Cutey Honey)(OVA, 1994-04)
• Heisei Harenchi Gakuen (平成ハレンチ学園)(OVA, 1996-03)
• Harenchi Koumon Manyuuki (ハレンチ紅門マン遊記)(OVA, 1996-05)
• Cutey Honey F (キューティーハニーF(ﾌﾗｯｼｭ))(TV series, 1997-02)
• Cutey Honey F (キューティーハニーF(ﾌﾗｯｼｭ))(Movie, 1997-07)
• Shin Getter Robo: Sekai Saigo no Hi (真ゲッターロボ｢世界最後の日｣, Getter Robo: Armageddon))(OVA, 1998-08)
• Devilman Lady (デビルマンレディー)(TV series, 1998-10)
• Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman (デビルマン黙示録)(OVA, 2000–05)
• Shin Getter Robot tai Neo Getter Robot (真ゲッターロボ対ネオゲッターロボ)(OVA, 2000–12)
• Mazinkaiser (マジンカイザー)(OVA, 2001–09)
• Demon Lord Dante (魔王ダンテ, Mao Dante)(TV series, 2002–08)
• Mazinkaiser: Death! The Great General of Darkness (マジンカイザー 死闘!暗黒大将軍, Mazinkaiser: Shitou! Ankoku Daishogun)(OVA, 2003–07)
• New Getter Robo (新ゲッターロボ, Shin Getter Robo)(OVA, 2004-04)
• Panda-Z - The Robonimation (パンダーゼット THE ROBONIMATION)(TV series, 2004-04)
• Re: Cutie Honey (Re:キューティーハニー)(OVA, 2004–07)
• Gaiking Legend of Daiku-Maryu (ガイキング)(TV series, 2005–11)
• Demon Prince Enma (鬼公子炎魔, Kikoushi Enma)(OVA, 2006–08)
• Koutetsushin Jeeg (鋼鉄神ジーグ, Steel God Jeeg)(TV series, 2007-04)
• Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z Hen (真マジンガー 衝撃! Z編 )(TV series, 2009-04)
• Mazinkaizer SKL (マジンカイザーSKL)(OVA, 2010–11)
• Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera (Dororonえん魔くん メ~ラめら)(TV series, 2011-04-07)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Tokusatsu/Live action created or based in the works of Go Nagai[link]

• Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園)(Movie, 1970-05-02)
• Harenchi Gakuen: Shintai Kensa no Maki (ハレンチ学園 身体検査の巻)(Movie, 1970-08-01)
• Harenchi Gakuen: Tackle Kiss no Maki (ハレンチ学園 タックル・キッスの巻)(Movie, 1970-09-12)
• Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園)(TV series, 1970-10-01)
• Shin Harenchi Gakuen (新ハレンチ学園)(Movie, 1971-01-03)
• Battle Hawk (バトルホーク)(TV series, 1976-10-04)
• Pro-Wres no Hoshi Aztecaser (プロレスの星 アステカイザー)(TV series, 1976-10-07)
• X Bomber (Xボンバー, 超宇宙マシーンエックスボンバー, Super Space Machine X Bomber, Star Fleet)[TV series, 1980-10-04)
• Nagai Go no Kowai Zone: Kaiki (永井豪のこわいゾーン 怪鬼)(Movie, 1989-08-25)
• Nagai Go no Kowai Zone 2: Senki (永井豪のこわいゾーン2 戦鬼)(Movie, 1990-08-24)
• The Ninja Dragon (空想科学任侠伝 極道忍者ドス竜, Kuso Kagaku Ninkyoden: Gokudo Ninja Dosuryu)(Movie, 1990-10-25)
• Kekko Kamen (けっこう仮面)(Movie, 1991-03-22)
• Bishōjo Tantei Maboroshi Panty (美少女探偵 まぼろしパンティ)(Movie, 1991-11-25)
• Kekko Kamen 2: We'll be back... (けっこう仮面2, けっこう仮面2 We’ll be back・・・)(Movie, 1992-03-27)
• Nagai Go no Horror Gekijo: Mannequin (永井豪のホラー劇場 マネキン)(Movie, 1992-04-24)
• Oira Sukeban: Kessen! Pansuto (おいら女蛮 決戦!パンス党)(Movie, 1992-07-24)
• Nagai Go no Horror Gekijo: Kirikagami (永井豪のホラー劇場 霧加神)(Movie, 1992-08-28)
• Kekko Kamen 3 (けっこう仮面3)(Movie, 1993-04-23)
• Jushin Thunder Liger: Fist of Thunder (獣神サンダーライガー 怒りの雷鳴 FIST OF THUNDER)(Movie, 1995-02-21)
• Heisei Harenchi Gakuen (平成ハレンチ学園)(Movie, 1996-02-02)
• Kyuketsu Onsen e Yokoso (吸血温泉にようこそ)(Movie, 1997-04-21)
• Lovely Angel: Homon Soap Degozaimasu (ラブリー・エンジェル 訪問ソープでございます)(Movie, 1997-09-26)
• Lovely Angel 2: Taiketsu! Homon Soap Jo vs Shuccho SM Jo!! (ラブリー・エンジェル2 対決!訪問ソープ嬢vs出張SM嬢!!)(Movie, 1997-11-28)
• Kekko Kamen (けっこう仮面, Mask of Kekkou)(Movie, 2004-02-06)
• Nagai Go World: Maboroshi Panty VS Henchin Pokoider (永井豪ワールド まぼろしパンティVSへんちんポコイダー)(Movie, 2004-05-10)
• Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー)(Movie, 2004-05-29)
• Kekko Kamen: Mangriffon no Gyakushu (けっこう仮面 マングリフォンの逆襲, Kekko Kamen: The MGF Strikes Back!)(Movie, 2004–07-23)
• Devilman (デビルマン)(Movie, 2004-10-09)
• Kekko Kamen Returns (けっこう仮面 RETURNS)(Movie, 2004-10-31)
• Kekko Kamen Surprise!! (けっこう仮面 SURPRISE)(Movie, 2004-10-31)
• Kabuto-O Beetle (兜王ビートル)(Movie, 2005-07-16)
• Oira Sukeban (おいら女蛮)(Movie, 2006-02-04)
• Kekko Kamen Royale (けっこう仮面 ロワイヤル)(Movie, 2007-05-25)
• Kekko Kamen Premium (けっこう仮面 プレミアム)(Movie, 2007-06-22)
• Kekko Kamen Forever (けっこう仮面 フォーエバー)(Movie, 2007-07-27)
• Cutie Honey The Live (キューティーハニー THE LIVE)(TV series, 2007-10-02)
• Abashiri Ikka: The movie (あばしり一家 THE MOVIE)(Movie, 2009-11-21)

Additionally, Nagai appears as an actor in the following productions:

• The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)
• Nijisseiki Shōnen Dokuhon (1989)
• Kekko Kamen 2: We'll be back... (1992)
• Nagai Go no Horror Gekijo: Mannequin (1992)
• Oira Sukeban: Kessen! Pansuto (1992)
• Mirai no Omoide: Last Christmas (1992)
• Metropolis (anime) (2001) Guest voice
• Kekko Kamen (2004)
• Nagai Go World: Maboroshi Panty VS Henchin Pokoider (2004)
• Cutie Honey (2004)
• Devilman (2004)
• Cutie Honey The Live (2007) episode 26 (DVD-only episode)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Go Nagai

• Go Nagai (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan)

• (Japanese) 永井　豪（ながい ごう） (日本SF作家クラブ) — a Japanese version of the page.

• The World of Before the Apocalypse Fan Page: Go Nagai
• Go Nagai at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Revelation, An Essay on Devilman by Go Nagai
• (Japanese) The World of Go Nagai, with lists and pictures of various Nagai and Nagai-related works, and many notes on them.
• (Italian) Enciclo'Robopedia - Sezione di Go Nagai, a website with a biography of Go Nagai and a list of almost all of his manga and anime work from 1967 to 2004, as well as other works based on his original ideas.
• (Italian) L'AUTORE / CHI E' GO NAGAI - Dynamic Italie, the official biography of Go Nagai by D/visual.
• (Italian) Shuten Doji (Anime Mundi), detailed production information

Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson in 2009
Born	Gerald Alexander Abrahams (1929-04-14) 14 April 1929 (age 83) West Hampstead, London, England
Occupation	film director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1957 – present
Religion	Jewish
Spouse	Sylvia Anderson (m. 1962–1975) «start: (1962)–end+1: (1976)»"Marriage: Sylvia Anderson to Gerry Anderson" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Gerry_Anderson) Mary Robins (m. 1981) «start: (1981)»"Marriage: Mary Robins to Gerry Anderson" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Gerry_Anderson)

Gerry Anderson MBE (born 14 April 1929) is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation".

His first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series The Adventures of Twizzle and it would be almost a decade before his most famous and successful production, Thunderbirds, would be produced. His production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21 Productions, was originally formed with partners Arthur Provis (hence AP Films – Anderson Provis Films), Reg Hill, John Read.

He has also written and produced several feature films, although these did not perform as well as expected at the box office. Following a successful move towards live action productions in the 1970s, his long and highly successful association with Lew Grade's ITC (Incorporated Television Company) ended with the second series of Space: 1999. After a career lull when a number of new series concepts failed to get off the ground, his career began a new phase in the early 1980s when audience nostalgia for his earlier Supermarionation series (prompted by Saturday morning re-runs in the UK) led to new Anderson productions being commissioned. A number of new projects have resulted including a recent CGI remake of Captain Scarlet entitled Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Gerald Alexander Abrahams was born in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital in Bloomsbury, London and spent the early years of his life in Kilburn,^[1] and Neasden,^[2] North London. Anderson's ancestral name (from the Russia-Poland border) was Bieloglovski, with his Jewish grandfather fleeing Eastern Europe and settling in London. This was changed to "Abrahams" by a British immigration official in 1895. Anderson's mother, Deborah, changed it to "Anderson" because she liked the sound of it.^[3]

The family's name was changed by deed poll in 1939. When World War II broke out, Anderson's older brother Lionel volunteered for the RAF and was posted to the United States for training. He often wrote to his family and one of these letters described a USAF airbase called Thunderbird Field, a name that stuck in his brother's memory.

Gerry Anderson began his career in photography and after the war he secured a traineeship with the British Colonial Film Unit. He developed an interest in film editing and moved on to Gainsborough Pictures, where he gained further experience.

In 1947, he was conscripted for national service with the RAF. After completing his military service, he returned to Gainsborough and remained there until the studio folded in 1950. He then worked freelance on a succession of feature films. During this time he married Betty Wrightman and they had two children.

Start of television career[link]

In the mid-1950s Anderson joined independent television production company Polytechnic Studios, as a director, where he met cameraman Arthur Provis. After Polytechnic collapsed, Anderson, Provis, Reg Hill and John Read formed Pentagon Films in 1957. Pentagon was wound up soon after and Anderson and Provis formed a new company, AP Films, for Anderson-Provis Films, with Hill and Read as their partners. Anderson continued his freelance directing work to obtain funds to maintain the fledgling company.

AP Films' first television venture was produced for Granada Television. Created by Roberta Leigh, The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–1958) was a series for young children about a doll with the ability to 'twizzle' his arms and legs to greater lengths. It was Anderson's first work with puppets, and the start of his long and successful collaborations with puppeteer Christine Glanville, special effects technician Derek Meddings and composer/arranger Barry Gray. It was Anderson's desire to move into live-action television.^[4]

During production of Twizzle Anderson began an affair with secretary Sylvia Thamm and eventually left his wife and children. The Adventures of Twizzle was followed by another low budget puppet series with Leigh, Torchy the Battery Boy (1958–1959). Although the APF puppet productions made the Andersons world famous, Gerry Anderson was always unhappy about working with puppets, and made them primarily as a means of getting a foot in the door with TV networks, hoped to use them as a stepping stone to his desired goal making live action film and TV drama.

AP Films' third series was the children's western fantasy-adventure series Four Feather Falls (1959–1960). During production, following his divorce, Anderson married Thamm in November 1960. Provis left the partnership, working once again with Roberta Leigh on Space Patrol, but the company retained the name 'AP Films' for several more years. Four Feather Falls was the first Anderson series to use an early version of the "Supermarionation" process, though the term still had yet to be coined.

Despite APF's success with Four Feather Falls, Granada did not commission another series from them, so Anderson took up the offer to direct a film for Anglo-Amalgamated Studios. Crossroads to Crime was a low-budget B-grade crime thriller and although Anderson hoped that its success might enable him to move into mainstream film-making, it failed at the box office.

By this time, APF was in financial trouble and the company was struggling to find a buyer for their new puppet series. They were rescued by a fortuitous meeting with ATV boss Lew Grade who offered to buy the show. This began a long friendship and a very successful professional association between the two men, during which Anderson and his collaborators created some of their best work.

Sylvia's increased role[link]

The new series, Supercar, (1960–1961) was created by Anderson and Reg Hill and marked several important advances for APF. Sylvia Anderson took on a larger role and became a partner in the company. The series was also the official debut of Supermarionation, the electronic system that made the marionettes more lifelike and convincing on screen. The system used the audio signal from the pre-recorded tapes of the actors' voices to trigger solenoids installed in the puppets' heads, enabling the puppets' lips to move in exact synchronisation with the voices of the actors.

One of Anderson's most successful ventures was inaugurated during the production of Supercar —the establishment of AP Films (Merchandising) Ltd, a separate company set up to handle the licensing of merchandising rights for APF properties; it was headed by Keith Shackleton (not the wildlife artist and TV presenter of the same name) an old friend of Anderson's from their National Service days.

APF's innovative merchandising made them a world leader in the field and they licensed a huge range of toys, books, magazines and related items. The worldwide popularity of their TV shows was coupled with astute marketing, and the combination made APF one of the most successful merchandising ventures of the decade. The die-cast metal toys from series such as Thunderbirds were hugely popular at the time and they now number among the most collectible toys of their kind. Models from almost all their series have been produced ever since by companies throughout the world, notably in Japan, where the Anderson series have a dedicated following.

APF's next series was the futuristic space adventure Fireball XL5 (1962) and it was the company's biggest success yet, becoming the first Anderson series sold to a US TV network (NBC). Around this time Anderson also saw his Supermarionation style attract imitators, most notably Space Patrol which used similar techniques and as made by several former Anderson staffers; produced in 1962, the 39-episode series debuted on UK television in April 1963 and was later also syndicated to America.

After the completion of Fireball XL5, Lew Grade offered to buy AP Films. Although Anderson was initially reluctant, the deal eventually went ahead, with Grade becoming managing director, and the Andersons, Hill and Read becoming directors of the company.

Shortly after the buy-out, APF began production on a new puppet series, Stingray (1964), the first British children's TV series to be filmed in colour. For the new production APF moved to new studios in Slough, Berkshire. The new and bigger facilities allowed them to make major improvements in special effects, notably in the underwater sequences, as well as advances in puppetry, with the use of a variety of interchangeable heads for each character to convey different expressions.

[edit] Thunderbirds

APF's next project for ATV was inspired by a mining disaster that occurred in West Germany in October 1963. This real-life drama inspired Anderson to create a new programme format about a rescue organisation, which eventually became his most famous and popular series, Thunderbirds (1964–1966). The dramatic title was inspired by the letter Anderson's older brother Lionel had written to his family during World War II.

Grade was very enthusiastic about the concept and agreed to back a series of 25-minute episodes (the same length as Stingray), so the Andersons scripted a pilot episode, "Trapped in the Sky," and began production. Gerry initially wanted actress Fenella Fielding to perform the voice of Lady Penelope, but Sylvia convinced her husband to let her play the role. Thunderbirds also marked the start of a long professional association with actor Shane Rimmer, who voiced Scott Tracy.

Production on Thunderbirds had been underway for several months when Grade saw the completed 25-minute version of "Trapped in the Sky." He was so excited by the result that he insisted that the episodes be extended to fifty minutes. With a substantial increase in budget, the production was restructured to expand episodes already filmed or in pre-production, and create new 50-minute scripts for the remainder. Grade and others were so convinced that Thunderbirds would be a success that a feature-film version of the series was proposed even before the pilot episode went to air. At this approximate time, APF was renamed Century 21 Productions.

After APF was renamed Century 21 Productions, it enjoyed its greatest success with Thunderbirds, and the series made the Andersons world-famous. The 32-episode series was not initially successful in the United States because it was only given a limited release, although it later became hugely successful in syndication. But it was a major hit with young audiences in the UK, Australia and other countries and retains a huge and dedicated international following that spans several generations.

Unfortunately, during the production of Thunderbirds, the Andersons' marriage began to come under increasing strain, and the company also had a setback when the Thunderbirds Are GO feature film flopped. According to interviews published since, Anderson has said that he considered divorce, but this was halted when Sylvia announced that she was pregnant. Their son, Gerry Anderson Jr., was born in July 1967.

By that time, production had started on a new series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967), which saw the advent of more realistic puppet characters which, thanks to improvements in electronics which allowed miniaturisation of the lip-sync mechanisms, could now be built closer to normal human proportions.

Century 21's second feature film, Thunderbird 6, was an even bigger failure than the first, and the problems were compounded by their next (and penultimate) Supermarionation series, Joe 90 (1968). This series returned to more 'kid-friendly' territory, depicting the adventures of a young boy who is also a secret agent and whose scientist father uses a supercomputer called 'BIG RAT' which can 'program' Joe with special knowledge and abilities for his missions. Its relatively poor reception made it the last of the classic Anderson marionette shows.

On 29 August 2008, it was announced by UK Newspaper The Sun that plans had been formed to make a new computer generated series of Thunderbirds. Gerry Anderson started talks with ITV for the rights to the original series.^[5]

Venturing into live action[link]

Anderson's next project took the special effects expertise built up over previous TV projects and combined it with live action. Century 21's third feature film, Doppelgänger (1969) (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun) was a dark, Twilight Zone style sci-fi project about an astronaut who travels to a newly discovered planet on the opposite side of the sun, which proves to be an exact mirror-image of Earth. It starred American actor Roy Thinnes, famed at the time for his role as the protagonist in the American television series The Invaders. Although it was not a major commercial success, Doppelganger was nominated for an Academy Award for its superb special effects.

Century 21's return to television was the abortive series The Secret Service, which this time mixed live action with Supermarionation. The series was inspired by Anderson's love of British comedian Stanley Unwin, who was known for his nonsense language, 'Unwinese', which he created and used on radio, in film and most famously on the 1968 Small Faces LP Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Despite Anderson's track record and Unwin's popularity, the series was cancelled before its first screening; Lew Grade considered that it would be incomprehensible to American audiences, and thus unsellable. Only 13 episodes were produced, and the series was only shown in a handful of broadcast areas in the UK.^{[citation needed]} Most Anderson fans only got to see it when it was finally released on VHS in the mid-90s.^{[citation needed]}

In 1969 the Andersons began production of a new TV series, UFO, Century 21's first full live-action television series. This sci-fi action-adventure series starred American-born actor George Victor "Edward" Bishop, who had also provided the voice of Captain Blue in Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons, as Commander Edward Straker, head of a secret defence organisation set up to counter an alien invasion. UFO was decidedly more adult in tone than any of the previous puppet series, and it mixed the classic Century 21 futuristic action-adventure and special effects with some very serious dramatic elements. UFO was moderately successful on first release, but built up a strong cult following over the years, although it too fell short of the global success of Thunderbirds and was the last series made under the Century 21 Productions banner.

The Bond that never was[link]

During production of UFO, Gerry Anderson was approached directly by Harry Saltzman (at the time co-producer of the James Bond film series with Albert "Cubby" Broccoli), and was invited to write and produce the next film in the series, which was to be Moonraker.^[6] Collaborating with Tony Barwick to provide the characterisation, whilst he himself focused on the action sequences, Anderson wrote and delivered a treatment to Saltzman. Nothing ultimately came of it, and Broccoli and Saltzman proceeded to make Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Live and Let Die (1973) and, after co-producing 1974's Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun, the Saltzman-Broccoli partnership dissolved. Offered £20,000 for the treatment, Anderson refused, fearing that if he accepted he would not be at the helm when it was made; the next Bond film to be made was 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. (This film used only the title of the actual Ian Fleming novel.) Anderson started legal proceedings against Broccoli for plagiarism of story elements but withdrew the action shortly after, nervous of the legal might lined up against him.^{[citation needed]} He relinquished the treatment, and received £3,000 in compensation.^{[citation needed]} A film version of Moonraker was eventually produced in 1979, but did not involve any of Anderson's material, although the special effects were supervised by Derek Meddings, who had spent his early years working for Anderson's Supermarionation programmes.

Breaking ties[link]

By the time UFO concluded, the relationship between the Andersons had deteriorated. Although produced under the aegis of a new company, Group Three Productions (the three being both of the Andersons and Reg Hill), Gerry decided not to work with his wife on his next project, the ITC action series The Protectors. It was one of Anderson's few non-original projects. Lew Grade himself was heavily involved in the programme, and cast both the lead actors, Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter. The production was difficult for Anderson, who clashed with the famously difficult Vaughn.^[7] There were also many logistical problems arising from the Europe-wide filming of the show, but it was very successful in both the UK and America and its theme song "Avenues and Alleyways" became a hit record in the UK for singer Tony Christie. It was also the first live-action series produced by Anderson to survive to a second season.

[edit] Space: 1999

Following The Protectors, Anderson worked on several new projects, none of which he was able to realise. A proposed second series of UFO was shelved, and a return to puppetry, in a television pilot for a series called The Investigator, failed to find a buyer. Elements of the abandoned second series of UFO were eventually turned into what became the most expensive television series ever made at the time, Space: 1999.

Another futuristic sci-fi adventure, it was based on the premise that a huge thermonuclear explosion on the Moon's surface (caused by dumping of nuclear waste) projected it out of orbit and into interstellar space. It starred American husband-and-wife actors Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, who had gained international TV fame in Mission: Impossible. They were cast at the insistence of Grade, and against Sylvia Anderson's strenuous objections.^{[citation needed]}

Separation, and moving on[link]

The Andersons' marriage broke down irrevocably during the first series of Space: 1999 in 1975; Gerry announced his intention to separate on the evening of the wrap party.^[8][9] Sylvia severed her ties with Group Three, and to alleviate his financial plight, Gerry Anderson sold his share of the profits from the APF/Century 21 shows and their holiday home in Portugal to Lew Grade in return for a one-off payment. It was a decision he later bitterly regretted because he could not have then foreseen the huge value the shows would have when eventually released on home video.

Between making the two series of Space: 1999, Anderson produced a one-off television special, The Day After Tomorrow (also known as Into Infinity), about two spacefaring families en route to Alpha Centauri, for an NBC series of programmes illustrating current scientific theory for popular consumption. While making this project Anderson met Mary Robins, a secretary working at the studios; they began a relationship and were married in April 1981.

Space: 1999 was successful enough that a second series went into production in 1976 with American producer Fred Freiberger brought in to replace Sylvia Anderson. Freiberger was known for producing the final season of the original Star Trek. Under Freiberger the series underwent a number of cast and cosmetic changes which to this day inspire debate as to their merits or lack thereof. According to The Space: 1999 Documentary, produced by Kindred Productions for Fanderson, the second series was successful enough that a third almost happened; however, the documentary features Martin Landau stating that the idea was killed because Lew Grade needed money to help finance and promote his pet feature film project Raise The Titanic. Consequently, the budget that would have paid for the third series was redirected into that movie project (which subsequently flopped at the box office). However, given that Raise The Titanic did not enter production until 1979 (and was not promoted and released until the following year), it is more likely that the money that would otherwise have financed a third season of Space: 1999 instead financed the production of ITC's Return of the Saint series. Space: 1999 marked the end of Anderson's association with ATV.

By the late 1970s, Anderson's life and career was at a low point – he was in financial difficulty, found it hard to get work, and perhaps most devastatingly, became estranged from his young son after receiving a note written by him stating that he didn't want to see Gerry any more. Anderson suspected that Sylvia was behind this, but there was little he could do, and he would have no contact with his son for over twenty years.

1980s resurgence[link]

In 1981, episodes of many of Anderson's Supermarionation series were combined and edited together as films. These aired under the title Super Space Theatre.

In the early 1980s, Anderson formed a new partnership, Anderson Burr Pictures Ltd, with businessman Christopher Burr. The new company's first production was based on an unrealised concept devised by Anderson in the late seventies for a Japanese cartoon series. Terrahawks marked Anderson's return to working with puppets, but rather than marionettes this series used a new system dubbed 'Supermacromation' which used highly sophisticated glove puppets – an approach undoubtedly inspired by the great advances in this form of puppetry made by Jim Henson and his colleagues.

It featured another reuse of the Captain Scarlet/UFO formula of a secret organisation defending against aliens. Terrahawks ran successfully from 1983 to 1986 in the UK and only fell short of a four year US syndication deal by one season when the show was cancelled, scrapping attempts at making it more well known. Terrahawks retains a cult following to this day, regarded by some as being at times a "black comedy" version of many of Anderson's older series in addition to being a straight science fiction series. In equal contrast, however, it is regarded by some fans as an unwise rehash of many of the visual concepts of Thunderbirds, and on only a fraction of the Thunderbirds budget. Anderson has claimed on record that he would rather forget the show.

Anderson hoped to continue his renewed success with a series called Space Police a new show mixing live-action and puppets. The Space Police name had already been registered by another company, so Anderson's programme eventually emerged in 1995 as Space Precinct. A pilot film had previously been made with Shane Rimmer, but it took almost ten years to get the concept to the screen. In the meantime, Anderson and Burr produced the cult stop-motion animated series Dick Spanner, which enjoyed many showings on Britain's Channel 4 in the late eighties and early nineties. It was the final project completed by Anderson Burr. Anderson then joined the Moving Picture Company as a commercials director, and provided special effects direction for the hit musical comedy Return to the Forbidden Planet.

1990s – a new audience[link]

The cult appeal of Thunderbirds and the other Supermarionation series grew steadily over the years and was celebrated by comedy and stage productions such as the hit two-man stage revue Thunderbirds FAB. In the early nineties, ITC began releasing home video versions of the Supermarionation shows, and the profile of the shows was further enhanced by productions such as the Dire Straits music video for their single Calling Elvis, which was made as an affectionate Thunderbirds pastiche (with Anderson co-producing), and by Lady Penelope and Parker appearing in a successful series of UK advertisements for an insurance company.

In 1991 Gerry asked journalist and author Simon Archer to write his biography, following an interview by the latter for a series of articles for Century 21 magazine. In September that same year in the UK BBC2 began a repeat showing of Thunderbirds, which rivalled the success of its original run a generation before. This was also surprisingly the series' network television premiere, having never been shown nationally by ITV. It became so popular in Britain that toy manufacturers Matchbox were unable to keep up with the demand for the Tracy Island playset, leading children's show Blue Peter to broadcast a segment showing children how to construct their own. The fan base for the Anderson shows was now worldwide and growing steadily, and Anderson found himself in demand for personal and media appearances.

In response to this greater demand Anderson performed a successful one-man show in 1992, which Simon Archer had written and constructed. Entitled An Evening with Gerry Anderson, it took the form of an illustrated lecture in which he talked about his career, and his most popular shows. He also made numerous media and personal appearances to tie in with revivals and video cassette releases of Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90.

Anderson was interviewed for the BBC's 1993 Doctor Who documentary, "Thirty Years in the TARDIS". He joked that, despite his career of making children's programming, his own son Jamie (appearing with him) was a Doctor Who fanatic.

By 1993 the interviews with Archer had generated so much more material than was required for the biography that a book was published of Gerry Anderson trivia "Gerry Anderson's FAB Facts".^[10] Archer was killed in a car crash on London's orbital M25 motorway on his way to the publishers to collect one of the first print run to present to Anderson, and the book later had to be withdrawn from sale and thousands of copies destroyed as a result of a copyright dispute with ITC America.^[11]

The renewed interest enabled Anderson to return to television production, but several projects including GFI (an animated update of Thunderbirds) did not make it into production. Finally, in 1994, Anderson was able to get the long-shelved Space Police project into production as Space Precinct. It was followed by Lavender Castle, a children's sci-fi fantasy series combining stop-motion animation and computer-generated imagery.

In the meantime, the biography, which had been set aside since Simon Archer's death had been picked up again and was completed by Stan Nicholls from Archer's original notes and manuscript, finally being published in 1996 shortly before Lavender Castle went into production.^[12]

Around this time Gerry was reunited with his elder son, Gerry Jr., at which time it was suggested that Sylvia had been responsible for the enforced estrangement. This reinforced Anderson's already powerful feelings of animosity towards his ex-wife.^[13]

2000 onward[link]

By December 1999, Anderson was working on plans for a computer animated sequel to Captain Scarlet, and test reels were displayed by Gerry at a few fan conventions. Some of the test sequences from these reels were later available for a period as elements in publicity reels available on the website of the production company engaged to make them (the Moving Picture Company or MPC in Soho, London,^[14] where Gerry had previously worked). These early test reels had the visual design and characters looking very much as they had in the original show, although the vehicle designs had been somewhat modernised. Several years after the initial tests the project evolved into the remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, by which time the entire appearance had been very much updated. Gerry Anderson was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2001.

Along with his then business partner John Needham, Anderson created another new series entitled Firestorm which was financed by Japanese investors and featured anime style animation. The project was not a happy one for any of the parties involved, and other planned shows with the Japanese backers, including Eternity failed to come to fruition. Firestorm has yet to be shown on UK television. Anderson and Needham parted company in 2003.

Anderson was originally approached to be involved in a live-action feature film adaptation of Thunderbirds as far back as 1996,^[12] but he was actually turned away by the producers of the 2004 film Thunderbirds, which was directed by Jonathan Frakes, after first being invited to meet with them.^[15] He distanced himself overtly from the project, later turning down an offer of $750,000 simply to write an endorsement of the film shortly before its release; Sylvia Anderson, however, did become involved, and she received a "special thanks" credit in the film. Unfortunately, the film itself received poor critical reviews, and it was a box-office failure in America.

Anderson later praised the execution of the puppet-based political satire Team America: World Police, produced by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which was produced using supermarionation style effects as seen in many of Anderson's past productions.

Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet finally premiered in the UK in February 2005. The show cost £2,300,000 to produce, and was the most expensive children's programme ever to be made in the UK.^{[citation needed]} Although many companies invested in producing toys and merchandise, the lack of exposure given to the series by ITV (episodes were incorporated into an existing children's show and shown in two halves, separated by games and adverts) inevitably failed to produce the excitement that accompanied the original series and disappointing sales followed. The accompanying comic lasted only six editions before being scrapped by its publishers. Anderson's displeasure at ITV's handling of the show was widely reported.^{[citation needed]}. The series was subsequently released on DVD, where it found a new audience who were unlikely to have seen it on first screening and is generally regarded as a very worthy re-imagining of the original concept.

The year 2005 also saw the 40th Anniversary of Thunderbirds, and a wide range of merchandise was produced to celebrate the event. In 2006, ITV announced it would re-run the entire series on its fledgling CITV Channel, a digital service available on cable, satellite and the Freeview service.

ITV4, another digital channel, also ran repeats of UFO and Space: 1999 up until the end of 2009.

As of the end of 2007, Anderson was believed to be working on a new project entitled Lightspeed, about which very little had become publicly known by that time, and on a possible new edition of the UFO series.

On 11 January 2011, during an interview with BBC News to promote the "Genius of Gerry Anderson" stamp set from the Royal Mail, Anderson revealed he had finally negotiated the rights to re-make Thunderbirds, his most famous creation. No additional details had been disclosed as of early March 2011.^[16]

As of March 2011, Gerry has been working with Annix Studios, Pinewood on a new project named "Christmas Miracle" a children's CGI animated feature.

Gerry Anderson productions[link]

Television series (and broadcast dates)[link]

• The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–1959)
• Torchy the Battery Boy (first season only) (1960)
• Four Feather Falls (1960)
• Supercar (1961–1962) – first Supermarionation production.
• Fireball XL5 (1962–1963)
• Stingray (1964–1965)
• Thunderbirds (1965–1966)
• Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967–1968)
• Joe 90 (1968–1969)
• The Secret Service (1969)
• UFO (1970–1971)
• The Protectors (1972–1974)
• Space: 1999 (1975–1977)
• Terrahawks (1983–1984, 1986)
• Dick Spanner, P.I. (1987)
• Space Precinct (1994–1995)
• Lavender Castle (1999–2000)
• Firestorm (2003)
• Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet (2005)

Feature films[link]

• Crossroads to Crime (1960)
• Thunderbirds Are Go (1966)
• Thunderbird 6 (1968)
• Doppelgänger (1969) aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (US title)

Miscellanies[link]

• The Investigator (pilot episode – never broadcast)
• The Day After Tomorrow (a.k.a. Into Infinity) (1976)
• Space Police (pilot episode – never broadcast)
• GFI (pilot episode – never broadcast)
• Appears in interviews in the 1993 documentary, "Thirty Years in the TARDIS" (lengthened for video release as "More than Thirty Years in the TARDIS").

Gerry Anderson had no involvement in the 2004 live action film version of Thunderbirds, although Sylvia Anderson served as a consultant on that project.

In addition, a number of UK comics featured strips that were closely based around Anderson's creations. These started with TV Comic during the early 1960s followed by TV Century 21 and its various sister publications Lady Penelope, TV Tornado, Solo and Joe 90. Later there was Countdown (later TV Action) during the 1970s. There were also a number of tie-in annuals that were produced each year featuring Anderson's TV shows.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fanderson – The Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society
• Gerry Anderson at the Internet Movie Database
• The Gerry Anderson Encyclopedia
• Gerry Anderson at BFI Screenonline
• TV Century 21 A large site dedicated to the productions of Gerry Anderson, mainly Supermarionation.
• Gerry Anderson Links Index and links for all productions
• The Gerry Anderson Encyclopedia