I bet you think you know ALL about the late great Sir Gerry Anderson and all the comics and merchandising and television series that go with him, eh?
Don't look so smug, because I bet you've never heard of "Project SWORD" before, and I'm going to leave out the full stops because they're time consuming and awkward*.
"But - but - how can this be?" I hear you gasp in shock and awe. "For do we not know about obscure stuff like "Four Feather Falls"? And "Torchy The Battery Boy"?"
For the uninformed, FFF was a puppet western about a cowboy who possessed four magic feathers that could independently control his guns, allow his horse to talk, microwave meals in under four minutes and give him the ability to look through ladies - no, I'm confusing that last with something else. TTBB was about a creepy little cyborg, clearly an influence on Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis and the Cybermen.
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| Torchy. No - hang on - |
If you will allow me to congratulate you on your awareness of the lesser-known end of Andersonia, I shall explicate.
PS was apparently the result of TV21 getting hold of the rights to a whole batch of Far Eastern space-oriented toys. Once they had the rights, creative minds came up with a back story to explain them away: hence the Space World Order for Research and Development was born.
| An example |
It started off humbly, sending ships around the Solar System at the speed of light, until Suddenly! In the year 3031 a meteor hits planet Earth with lethal effect. Project SWORD suddenly has to evacuate as many survivors as possible to the terraformed worlds elsewhere, whilst dealing with a dying Earth and the 'Casuals' who are determined to resist PS with everything they have.
| Note the protective gloves! |
One reason it has remained obscure is that it never got made into a television series, which is a shame as it had some wonderful bits of kit and a great, if depressing, premise. Possibly worries over how such a mournful storyline would play meant no colourful puppetry on the telly.
Another reason for obscurity is that PS's presence in the flagship comic TV21 was in the form of short text stories. Conrad, back in the day, always skipped these in favour of the comic strips and rarely went back to read them.
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| Erm. This can be today's coincidence Remember? "Elementary" the television series yesterday? |
Alright, I was an ungrateful little philistine who should have appreciated the fact that these comics would one day be literally worth their weight in gold.
Anyway, here's a link to a website run by Paul Wood, who knows more about PS than any man alive:
Check it out and ask a question or two. Please note "Why did you never grow up" is the height of bad manners.
My Goals Are Rolls
Conrad the ravenous glutton speaking. I don't presume to hide my better qualities from you, the reader. Here is the 'before' photo:
That's right, 18 of the little rascals. The challenge, of course, was to eat them all before they went mouldy or stale. I am pleased to say we are within sight of our goal:
Very minor domestic news yet I want to get across to you the sense of triumph, be it ever so small, that Conrad feels at getting a tasty bargain.
Traffic
It's what drives us. In the literal sense it tends to drive round the bend, especially when there are roadworks, as yesterday <Mister Hand intervenes to prevent extensive wibbling about lots of slow-moving cars> AND <loud yet still modest fanfare> of course blog stats traffic: we now appear to have hit an average of 300 hits per day when this used to be the total for the week. I know I've been harping on about this, hopefully in a winning, winsome manner that oozes innate British charm. But if I don't, who else will?
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| "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" |
Well, yes, Mother, I'm sure you would, but you're biased**.
Hmmm. Facebook
Conrad, as you must surely know if you are casting your glazzies over this page, promotes his witty wares over on Facebook, and does so daily. Since June 2103, actually.
Wow. That's quite a long time. I never seem to run out of things to say, and as long as First Bus continues to run, I never shall.
I'm not going to enlarge this as it contains delicate personal details. My point is that I get one of these "We at Facebook felt like annoying you again with un-necessary reminders of previous posts" because the worry is that people will read these and find me wanting in the present day.
Finally -
Instead of a cute animal, have a shot-blasting machine instead.
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| Why? Why not! |
* Like me!
** I did mention being raised by weasels, didn't I?
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