What does 'F.A.B.' stand for?
Nothing! Despite appearances, as used by International Rescue in Thunderbirds, 'F.A.B.' is not an acronym - it is simply a call sign like 'Roger' or 'Ten-Four' to acknowledge received instructions. At the time of the series' production, the term 'fab' was in common usage as a shortened form of 'fabulous' which, of course, everything was in the Sixties. The phrase has enjoyed a resurgence in usage in recent years and 'F.A.B.' itself entered the English dictionary for the first time in 2002:

"'F.A.B. interjection British informal an expression of agreement to, or acknowledgement of, a command [from British television series, Thunderbirds]." - Collins Dictionary (2002)

What is Fanderson?
Fanderson is a club for fans of all of the Gerry Anderson television and film productions. The club was formed in 1981 at the request of ITC Entertainment who wanted to assist and support one single fan body for all of the Gerry Anderson productions to which ITC Entertainment owns the copyright. The club is based in the UK and organised by a small unpaid committee of longtime Gerry Anderson fans.

What is Fanderson's relationship with Gerry Anderson?
Gerry is our club President. He takes an active interest in everything we do, regularly contributes to the club magazine by providing information about his latest projects, and always finds time in his busy schedule to offer assistance if required. However, he entrusts all decision-making about the organisation of the club, its merchandise and events, to the members of the committee.

What is Fanderson's relationship with Granada?
Following the merger of Carlton and Granada to form ITV, the licensing rights to the properties in the ITC Entertainment library of films and television programmes are now owned by Granada Ventures, which recognises Fanderson as the only official appreciation society for Gerry Anderson's work. This special relationship gives us access to the ITC library of photographs and other materials, and free licence to produce merchandise based on the television series produced by Gerry for ITC between 1960 and 1976. In return, Fanderson provides Granada with an information resource, consultation service and assistance to their merchandise licensees should they require it.

However, Granada does not officially endorse any fan clubs or appreciation societies: Fanderson's status as the "Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society" is provided by Anderson Entertainment and Gerry Anderson himself. ITC Entertainment authorises Fanderson's status as the only officially-recognised appreciation society for the television series on which they retain the copyright: Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90, The Secret Service, UFO, The Protectors and Space:1999. Apart from the club's relationship with Granada, ITC and Anderson Entertainment, Fanderson is independent of any outside company or individual.

Who runs Fanderson?
The club committee is formed from club members who have offered their services. Committee positions are unpaid and the members' duties are performed in their free time. Committee service continues until an individual decides to 'retire' or is dismissed for acting against the best interests of the club. Vacant committee posts are sometimes advertised in FAB magazine, but certain posts have come about from members suggesting new roles to improve the running of the club.

Do you have an Annual General Meeting, where I can put questions to the committee running the club?
AGMs were organised in the early days of the club but without knowing how many members would actually turn up, the cost involved in hiring the appropriate facilities (for what often turned out to be an attendance by, literally, only one or two members) was agreed to be a waste of club funds that could be put to better use improving the quality of the club magazine, items of merchandise, etc. As a result, we currently have no plans for further AGMs, but members can always put questions to the committee by writing to us. Conventions also provide an excellent opportunity to put your questions to committee members.

Why do I have to join Fanderson to buy your merchandise?
Members of all clubs have access to services and items that are not available to the general public, whether it be the use of a golf course, or retrieving your car after a breakdown. Fanderson is no different to other clubs in this regard. Additionally, there are three clear reasons why our merchandise is exclusively available to club members:

1) UK tax laws exempt the club from paying income tax if we only sell merchandise to our club members. We could elect to do otherwise, but then we would have to pay tax, the cost of which would have to be added to the price of the merchandise, making everything more expensive.

2) Our relationship with the copyright holders of the various Anderson productions means that Fanderson is allowed to produce limited edition merchandise without purchasing the merchandise licences that other merchandise manufacturers must buy in order to produce Gerry Anderson products. However, this arrangement is on the strict understanding that Fanderson only allows its products to be sold to club members. Again, we could elect to do otherwise, but the cost of the merchandise licence fee would add so much to the production costs of each item that they would become too expensive for the majority of club members to consider purchasing - based on the limited quantities that Fanderson could produce. (Commercial manufacturers are able to spread the cost of the licence fee over the production of a much larger number of items, anything from 10 to 50 times the number of units that Fanderson produces.)

3) The club's status, combined with the factors above, enables us to produce items of merchandise that would be too risky for a commercial operation. Many of the items in the Fanderson Sales catalogue would be financially unviable to commercial merchandisers based on the relatively small quantites that they could expect to sell, which is why Fanderson is the only organisation that has ever produced these items.

Why are some of your items of merchandise more expensive than similar items that I can buy in shops?
Even without the cost of a merchandising licence, the limited production quantities of our items mean that our unit costs on certain items are higher than they would be on comparable items produced by a commercial manufacturer. Taking Fanderson's double-album CDs as an example, there are many factors that contribute to the production cost such as engineering, editing and digital remastering, the hire of recording studio facilities, the manufacturing of two CD glass masters, duplication and on-body print for both CDs, packaging reprographics and print, composer royalties, musicians' royalties, and so on. If these production costs amount to, say, £15,000, then Fanderson's unit cost is £30.00 each based on the production of 500 units - the quantity that the club can reasonably expect to sell to members. By contrast, if a commercial manufacturer expects to sell 5,000 copies of a comparable double-CD album, his unit cost is reduced to just £3.00 each, enabling him to sell the product at five times that price and make a reasonable profit.

I don't live in the UK. Can I still join the club?
Yes, of course! About a quarter of our members live outside the UK. You will find full details of membership rates and how to pay on the membership form. The fees for overseas members are slightly higher than for those in the UK as they take into account overseas postage costs which are more expensive than inland postage.

How can I join Fanderson?
There are two options available:

1) You can download the printable Membership Form from this website. This is a pdf format file which can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Complete the form and post it with your payment to the membership address (printed on the form).

2) if you would prefer to be sent a hard-copy membership form, send a stamped self-addressed envelope (or 3 international reply coupons, available from your post office) to Fanderson, PO Box 12, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD10 0YE, United Kingdom. Again, simply complete the form and post it with your payment to the membership address (printed on the form).

Why can't I join Fanderson online?
At the moment we cannot accept on-line registrations, but it is something that we may look to provide in the future.

Can I order merchandise at the same time as applying for membership?
Yes. Just download the printable Fanderson Sales Order Form and fill in the details of the items that you wish to order. Include the cost of the items with your membership fee cheque/payment, and mail both your Membership Form and Order Form to the address shown on the Membership Form.

Why do you have so many different addresses? Can I send mail to just one?
The club members who form the current Fanderson committee live at different locations across the UK, so our three addresses - Berkshire, Birmingham and West Yorkshire - ensure that you will get a much quicker response if you send your mail to the address that will go directly to the person responsible for dealing with your request (as detailed on our forms and in FAB magazine). Our PO Box is really for "first contact" queries or for submitting letters and articles to FAB magazine. However, mail sent to any of our addresses will get forwarded to the right individuals eventually.

How can I pay for my membership?
We accept payment in Pounds Sterling only, and you can pay by cheque (with a UK bank sort code), UK postal order, or most major credit and debit cards. Full details are on every membership form. If you pay by card we will charge you in Pounds Sterling, and your card company/bank will do the conversion and charge you in your local currency. In order for you to check the amount that you have been charged, your card statement will usually show both currencies.

How do I raise a Sterling money order?
Most banks throughout the world can exchange your local currency into Pounds Sterling, although there is a charge to you for doing this. A much more economical way is to pay by credit or debit card.

Why don't you publish club accounts?
In the club's early days, a summary of annual accounts used to be published within Fanderson News (the forerunner of FAB magazine). However, feedback from members made it clear that the majority preferred the pages of the magazine to be filled with interviews, articles, photos, etc, rather than the details of club business. For the last twelve years, the club's accounts have been produced separately and copies are available free of charge to any members who send an A4-sized stamped addressed envelope to the Membership Secretary's address.

When is my membership due for renewal?
The mailing labels which appear on the envelopes in which we mail every copy of FAB magazine detail when your membership is due for renewal, and you will be sent a renewal form with the last issue of your current membership.

When is the next issue of FAB magazine due to be published?
FAB is published quarterly (or once every three months) but you can check the publication date of the latest issue of the club magazine by going to the FAB page of our website. This details the contents of the latest issue together with a publication date as soon as the contents and distribution schedule can be confirmed.

Can you tell me when (insert programme title) is to be broadcast on TV?
If Fanderson is provided with broadcast details in advance of transmission, those details will be posted on the News page of our website. Alternatively, viewers based in the UK can visit the BBC's Radio Times website to search of details of forthcoming broadcasts.

Can you tell me when (insert programme title) is to be released on DVD?
If Fanderson is provided with DVD release information in advance of the release date, those details will be posted on the News page of our website. Alternatively, a search on Amazon UK or Amazon USA will usually reveal any forthcoming DVD releases in the UK or North America.

Can I buy (insert programme title) on DVD from you?
The full range of Fanderson merchandise is detailed on the Fanderson Sales pages of our website and the latest catalogue is sent to all members with each copy of FAB magazine. We cannot supply any items that are not listed in the catalogue. However, there are plenty of sites on the internet where Gerry Anderson DVDs can be purchased on-line: try Amazon UK or Star Trader.

I've got a rare piece of 1960s merchandise. Can you tell me how much it's worth?
Sorry, but we do not offer a valuation service. However, where appropriate, we can put you in touch with professional auction houses who have greater expertise in the current value of such items.

I'm selling a rare piece of 1960s merchandise. Would your members be interested?
Club members are welcome to place a classified ad in FAB magazine, free of charge, for anything Anderson-related that they wish to sell.

What is Fanderson's relationship with Sylvia Anderson?
The only thing that Gerry has ever asked of the club committee is that Fanderson does not involve Sylvia in its various projects and events. Gerry and Sylvia were involved in an extremely acrimonious divorce in the mid-1970s and out of respect for the enormous support that Gerry has offered the club over the last twenty years, we continue to honour his request. However, this does not mean that Fanderson ignores or downplays Sylvia's many valuable contributions to the Gerry Anderson productions - indeed, she is often mentioned in articles and interviews in FAB magazine.

Can you put me in contact with Gerry Anderson?
We are always happy to forward mail to Gerry on members' behalf, although he is very busy with a number of projects and is not always able to respond.

Can I get autographs from the various people involved in making my favourite programmes?
Sorry, but we do not offer an autograph service. However, our convention guests are more than happy to provide their autographs to attendees.

How do you decide what merchandise to produce?
The information that our members provide about their preferred productions helps us to target our efforts towards the most popular shows, although we aim to cover all of them to some degree. Many of our items have either been suggested by our members, or in some cases (such as with the mini-models) actually produced by our talented members.

Do you have a CD soundtrack of the music from Space:1999 Year One?
Fanderson produced a double-album of the Space:1999 Year One music in 1998 but, under the terms of our agreement with the various copyright holders, this was a limited edition release and the last copy was sold in December 2000. However, Silva Screen Records have recently released a single-disc album of Space:1999 Year One music as part of their Gerry Anderson series and this is now available from most record shops and online stores.

Can I play your DVDs in the USA?
Fanderson's first DVD release, The Day After Tomorrow/Space Police, is the world's first internationally compatible disc. It is region 0 coded, and is PAL formatted on one side (for most of Europe, Australia, China, etc.) and NTSC on the other (USA, Canada, Japan, etc.). Members with SECAM televisions can play the PAL side - your DVD player should convert to the local system.

The club's second DVD release, UFO & Space:1999 - The Documentaries, is also Region 0 encoded and is available in either PAL or NTSC format.

When and where is your next convention?
Fanderson's most recent convention, Sector 25 , took place at the Holiday Inn London-Elstree in October 2006. There are no firm plans for the next convention at present.


Fanderson Home Page

Fanderson - The Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society is a non-profit making organisation
endorsed by Anderson Entertainment Ltd., The Indestructible Production Company Ltd., Granada Ventures and ITC Entertainment Group Ltd.