Talk:Sylvia and Gerry Anderson

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Articles for deletion This article was nominated for deletion 14/3/2008. The result of discussion was Speedy Keep.
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[edit] Project Sword

Anyone else remember an Anderson (I think) creation from the late 1960s called Project SWORD'? As a kid I had an annual and I'm sure there were also plastic models of the space ships and stuff in the shops... As I remeber it told the story of the earth facing destruction due to a giant meteorite or some other natural disaster, and project SWORD's task was to co-ordinate the evacuation of the earth's population using an array of miscelaneous spacecraft and suchlike. As I remeber it was actually quite an authoritarian story as many of the plots revolved around SWORD's brave attempts to keep 'the masses' who were trying to get onto the spaceships at bay, most of the 'masses' being those who were deemed as not important enough to warrant saving...

I wonder if it was part of a tie-in to an aborted possible TV show or what??? quercus robur

Yes, such a comic series did exist. Two completely different ones with the same title, in fact. You're remembering the second. Check out this website for information on Anderson-related comics. SpaceCaptain 02:36, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

A case of merchandising leading the creativity, it seems. Century 21 Merchandising bought an existing toy line and then tried to find something to do with it, including using Zero X for a fourth time. Does it deserve it's own article ? Almost certainly. Project SWORD as Project Sword redirects elsewhere ? -- Beardo 04:34, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Date of Gerry and Sylvia's Divorce

I note that 193.113.57.161 changed the date of Gerry and Sylvia's divorce from 1975 to 1980. There seems to be some dispute about the date. I can find sources for shortly before April 1981, mid-1970s, December 1980, and 1977. Can anyone resolve this conflict? Bovlb 01:14, 2005 Jan 8 (UTC)

According to GA's bio, they separated on the night of the Space:1999 wrap party for series 1, but Sylvia refused to allow a quick divorce, hence it wasn't completed until 5 years later. Cain Mosni 13:52, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More Details

The electronic lipsync mechanism was developed in 1958 and debuted with Four Feather Falls[1], not Supercar as the article states. The technology was described in some detail in a December, 1965 issue of New Scientist. The trademark 'Supermarionation' first appeared in Fireball XL5. The last use of Supermarionation was in Alien Attack (1977), a commercial for Jif dessert toppings that was screened prior to Star Wars during its UK theatrical run.

[1] SFX Part XI: Supermarionation (Starlog No. 16, September 1978)

Good information. Why don't you add it to the article? (Incidentally, the term Supermarionation was in fact coined for the second production block of Supercar, however first emerged in Four Feather Falls as you correctly state. 23skidoo 16:46, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article title and missing information

I believe this article should be renamed simply Gerry Anderson, since it is mostly about him. There is very little biographical information about Sylvia here, and if there was she probably rates a separate article on her own. Thoughts? 23skidoo 15:17, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This process is now underway. There is a Sylvia bio page (currently very sparse due to lack of bio info. Pages also exist for AP Films/Century 21 for the company history, and GA's page makes up the spine of the collection. This article is slowly being deprecated. Cain Mosni 13:55, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some editing needed

The mentioned "mining disaster that occurred in West Germany in October 1963" probably refers to the "Wunder von Lengede". The Wiki 1963 list it on November 7 since this is the day the rescue happened; and the internal link to October 1963 fails, because the 1963 lists September-October. Beats me how to edit that, the Manual of Style makes no mention of ranges of months.

Lars T. 21:11, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Poll: splitting the article

Although I received no response when I made this suggestion almost a year ago, I'd like to gauge reaction to splitting this article into separate articles for Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson. There is little precedent that I can find for couples to have a dual article like this, and Sylvia and Gerry divorced some 30 years ago and both have led separate careers since then. I think both individuals are notable enough to have articles on their own. Thoughts? 23skidoo 13:06, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

Split - for articles about people's biography which one would think this should be I agree. However if the content is the Anderson puppetry series then that should perhaps have seperate article pointed to from each. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page) 13:31, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Comment -- Gerry and Sylvia were not just a married couple but a professional partnership, and though they have had individual careers their most famous work seems to have been that which they produced together. With that in mind, we should look at precedents like Gilbert and Sullivan, I think; both partners have individual articles but so does the partnership. -- Antaeus Feldspar 15:05, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Point taken and I would have wholeheartily agreed if the career was being described up to and maybe just after the marital and professional split, however both have had careers and lives since then and Gerry particularly so. Always a tradeoff I know but I err on the side of a split with a possible joint article on the common material. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page) 15:10, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
This is my rationale as well. A good example is the recent Thunderbirds movie. Gerry had nothing to do with it because Sylvia holds the film rights, so it was her name alone associated with the film (not counting creator credits). Gerry, meanwhile, has been working on the new Captain Scarlet, a project Sylvia has no connection with. Similarly, Sylvia had no involvement in Space Precinct, the second year of Space: 1999, Terrahawks, Four Feather Falls, etc. Antaeus' Gilbert and Sullivan analogy doesn't really work because while G&S is a very well known branding -- you never hear about Gilbert or Sullivan separately -- such simply isn't the case with the other G&S -- Gerry and Sylvia. 23skidoo 18:36, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Interestingly the G&S comparision both works and fails to work. First most of their 'notable' contributions were as part of their collaboration, more so than for Gerry and Sylvia. Secondly Sullivan particularly did compose outside the partnership. And finally as an example of how to proceed as Wiki articles they exhibit the same pattern as proposed by myself with an article each for their own biographies ("W. S. Gilbert" & "Arthur Sullivan") and a 'brand' article for the "Gilbert & Sullivan" partnership which many will search for the music under. I can see a similar approach working very well here and being more approprate even than for the writers of the comic operas. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page) 09:04, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Just as an aside, the current Jimbo Wales-sponsored insanity known as the Living People category (something that has left me almost speechless in its concept) may make it mandatory to split this article into two because based on the alleged rationale (what little I can make sense of) both individuals would have to be listed separately, anyway. 23skidoo 12:54, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

mmh talk about Category mayhem and potentially one of the highest "overpopulated" categories! :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page) 14:22, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
Apparently someone was trying to justify it on behalf of Jimbo that it had something to do with a CYA ("cover your ...") regarding potential litigation over libel, but that makes no sense to me. Unfortunately since this is the case of the top person advocating it, there's not much the rest of us peons can do about it, except that someone else is gonna have to do the legwork to add the category -- I ain't gonna do it! ;-) 23skidoo 14:51, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm really in favour for a split. Both Gerry and Sylvia have created work in their own right, and have their own careers - separate from their partnership. A page for each of them really is required; whilst this page can be retained to detail all the information re: their partnership. Howie ☎ 20:57, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Split They have been divorced for a long time, and both have had totally separate careers for the last 30 years. Gerry Anderson has produced several series without Sylvia - before and after they were married. It seems ridiculous to lump them together when they were together for such a short portion of their lives so far. Jamie 12:45, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Per other votes, I think Kevin's proposal makes the most sense: individual articles about both Gerry and Sylvia, and an article about the "branding" of "Gerry and Sylvia Anderson". -- Antaeus Feldspar 17:46, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Definitely split Runcorn 21:53, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Is This Decided Then - or how much positive comment do we need - any voluteers to make the split. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page) 18:31, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Split. It's likely to result in a lot of duplicate information, but that can't be helped. They're people, not just a "brand". SpaceCaptain 03:32, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Split. I agree, although it will be quite difficult, because there is not a great deal of information about Sylvia Anderson in her own right. I have created the Gerry Anderson template, with separate parts for Sylvia and Gerry Anderson, although they both link here at the moment. Bob 00:39, 18 May 2006 (UTC)


Split. Though it will be difficult, as almost everybody is noticing, it has to be done. Good work ;) Brian Wilson 00:47, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Splitting the article

I have begun the process of splitting this article, merely copying most information from this page, editing some of the information more about the productions out and making it into a biography. This is quite difficult, so the Gerry Anderson article is very untidy at the moment and requires some assistance, and the Sylvia Anderson article is just a stub at the moment. Thus, this page should continue for the time being. Bob 01:15, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I am a little unsure what to remove from this article. I have removed anything about Gerry Anderson's productions from after their divorce, but some of the information on here about merchandising, etc is difficult to categorise - perhaps a separate "Anderson merchandising" article would be a solution, but that seems rather unconventional. I'm also not quite sure where to put this page on the template:Gerry Anderson. Would it be possible for somebody else to help, please? Bob 22:25, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What is their nationality?

British, right? It's mentioned nowhere in the intro! Please fix. Moncrief 05:25, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Afd

I closed the AfD. Anyone can merge this if they like, as it was the outcome of a prior afd. SynergeticMaggot (talk) 03:27, 19 March 2008 (UTC)