Thunderbirds: the Dan Dare connection

By John Freeman on 12 October 2007

BBC4 is continuing its efforts to mine Britain’s rich science fiction and comics culture with a new documenatary on the 1960s cult classic puppet show Thunderbirds.

Dan Dare fan site dandare.info reports the Beeb has discovered Dan Dare was an influence on the look of the show created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and designed by Derek Meddings, and may be using the Dan Dare montage created by Barbara Kershey for the Luxembourg Comics Expo in 2003 featured on their pages (right).

Thunderbirds has a more obvious comics connection with Dan Dare of course: artist Frank Bellamy reinvented Dan Dare’s look for Eagle and drew most episodes of the Thuderbirds comic strip for TV Century 21.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.