Enjoy this celebration of Ray Bradbury and his book, The Halloween Tree! This is from 2007, I sure do miss Ray.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
My Time After Time Reunion panel was very popular with videographers at Dragon Con this year! Here’s a bunch of links to versions online. The one above is from Mike Langford, who also sat with me on the Ray Harryhausen tribute panel.
This one is just the audio from the panel, with a few photos of Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, and myself interspersed.
This one is from my friend Anne-Marie Whisnant, who was sitting on the front row recording with her iPhone.
Hope you enjoy these, and if you have links to any of my panels available online, please get in touch so I can share them here!
Here’s where you can find me at Dragon Con this Labor Day weekend – I’ve got some great panels lined up this year, including hosting reunions with David Warner and Malcolm McDowell for TIME AFTER TIME as well as Warner and Ioan Gruffud for HORNBLOWER! Come see me, won’t you?
The below information is the TENTATIVE program schedule for Anthony Taylor.
Convention Dates are Fri(8/30/13), Sat(8/31/13), Sun(9/1/13), and Mon(9/2/13)
Anthony Taylor
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Title: Hornblower
Description: The stars of Hornblower are here to share their experiences during the making of this iconic series. David Warner, Ioan Gruffud, Anthony Taylor
Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: Grand Ballroom East – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
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Title: Ray Bradbury’s Dark Carnival
Description: Bradbury’s work in the horror genre
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: Roswell 1-2 – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
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Title: British Horror
Description: A chat on the history of British Horror films and Television; from Hammer Horror to Clive Barker’s influence.
Time: Sat 10:00 am Location: Macon – Sheraton (Length: 1 Hour)
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Title: Time After Time Reunion
Description: Stars Malcolm McDowell and David Warner discuss their trip through time as H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper in the 1979 classic Time After Time!
Time: Sat 04:00 pm Location: Atlanta Ballroom – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Moderator / MC for panel
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Title: New Pulp, Old Pulp
Description: Pulp fiction has been enjoying quite a resurgence recently.
Time: Sat 10:00 pm Location: Embassy A-B – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
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Title: Twilight Zone: Serving Man Since 1959
Description: Celebrate and be freaked out by three series and a movie of the sci-fi classic.
Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: M303-M304 – Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
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Title: Gerry Anderson Remembered
Description: Honoring the creator of Thunderbirds, and the moon-smashing excellence of Space:1999.
Time: Sun 02:30 pm Location: M303-M304 – Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
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Title: Richard Matheson: Legend
Description: Tribute to the master of horror and suspense
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Roswell 1-2 – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
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Title: Ray Harryhausen Remembered
Description: We honor the architect of everything great about fantasy movies, from Jason and the Argonauts to Clash of the Titans and beyond.
Time: Mon 11:30 am Location: M303-M304 – Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
I was interviewed recently about all things Supermarionation and Gerry Anderson by the Pop Savvy Rocko Jerome for his blog. I met Rocko at this year’s Wonderfest in Louisville, KY, and found out what a big fan he is of the stringed wonders. Click here or on the photo to read the interview.
Here’s my schedule for the Classic Horror track at this weekend’s Anachro Con. I may be on one or two more panels talking about writing but mostly I’ll be talking classic monsters and horror films all weekend long. The convention will be at the Windy Hill Marriott in Smyrna, GA just outside the perimeter here in Atlanta. Come hang out!
FRIDAY
3:00 PM Frankenstein: Horror or Science Fiction?
An exploration of Mary Shelley’s classic and its far-reaching influence on speculative fiction.
Participants: Carol Malcolm, Clay Gilbert, Anthony Taylor, James R. Tuck, Kathryn Hinds, Anya Martin
4:00 PM Silent Screams
Join us as we discuss the silent era of horror film making.
Participants: Adrian Havens, Anthony Taylor
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Universal Monsters
Join us as we discuss Universal’s classic cycle of horror films.
Participants: Clay Gilbert, Anthony Taylor, James R. Tuck
9:00 PM Jack the Ripper on Film
A discussion about the Whitechapel murders’ cinematic legacy.
Participants: Anthony Taylor, Anya Martin, Jana Oliver, Cherie Priest, Eddie Coulter
SATURDAY
11:00 AM Ghoulishly Funny
A retrospective of the art of Charles Addams and Edward Gorey.
Participants: Carol Malcolm, Anthony Taylor, Delilah Dawson, Cherie Priest
SUNDAY
2:00 PM Hammer House of Horror
A look back at Britain’s legendary studio.
Participants: Clay Gilbert, Anthony Taylor, Cherie Priest, James R. Tuck
My convention schedule is filling up! I’m very happy to be a guest this year at Wonderfest, my favorite convention. I’ve been going to Louisville every year since 1995 to attend this combination Figure/Garage Model Kit/Toy/Classic SF & Horror show, and I always have a great time and find amazing collectibles and goodies there that are available nowhere else. It takes place at Louisville’s Crown Plaza – Airport hotel May 18-19, and I’ll be putting together a Gerry Anderson themed display of vintage collectibles, art, models, props, and more. I’ll also be hosting a few screenings of Gerry’s shows and a panel commemorating his life and work as well. Check out the website and make plans to join me, Lee Meriwether, Brinke Stevens, Sara Karloff, Firefly/Galactica/SW Clone Wars effects artist Lee Stringer, award winning artists Mark Maddox and Belle Dee, and a few thousand of our closest friends for a great weekend!
Though the REALLY BIG NEWS today is the announcement of a new television series of Thunderbirds from Pukeko Pictures and Weta Workshop, I’m very happy to announce that I’ll be a guest at Anachro Con here in Atlanta in just a few weeks! The convention celebrates alternate history and the Steampunk aesthetic, the convention is expanding their programming tracks to include classic science fiction and horror as well. I’ll be talking about some classic Hammer and Universal films, and possibly some retro futuristic-centric panels as well.
Anachro Con takes place February 22-24th at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest Hotel just off I-75 at the Windy Hill Road exit in Atlanta. Check out The convention WEBSITE for more info. Hope to see you there!
I’ll be a special guest at JordanCon V (Which is ALSO Deep South Con 51 – I know, confusing) in Roswell, GA April 19-21st! More details are available here:
http://www.jordancon.org
Hope you’ll join me – DSC is usually a very fun weekend.
Very sad news, Gerry Anderson has passed away. As reported by his son Jamie, Anderson died of natural causes December 26. Gerry had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2010 and moved into an assisted living care facility in October, 2012.
The creator and producer of such classic television series as Supercar, Thunderball XL-5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, UFO and Space: 1999, Anderson leaves a legacy of thought provoking entertainment for all ages. Most recently he consulted with the producers of an upcoming cinematic remake of UFO, and was active in awareness and fundraising for Alzheimer’s research.
The second time I met Gerry Anderson was in 2006 at the Sector 25 Convention near London. I was there promoting the book I had written with Mike Trim, one of the model makers and designers on Thunderbirds. I told Gerry about the book and thanked him for creating the series, as well as UFO, Space: 1999 and the rest of the Supermarionation TV shows. I told him how much they’d meant to me when I was young, and how happy I was to have even a small part in celebrating them through my work on the book. He looked at me for a moment, then thanked me in return. “For what?”, I asked. He’d seen I was very serious in my praise. “For not having me on,” he replied.
So many years later, he was still wary that the shows had been made on very tight budgets for kids, and that all the strings were visible on the puppets. I hope that in the end, he stopped worrying about the strings and saw what we, the fans saw – the care and love that he and his team put into the shows.
Rest in Peace, Gerry. Thanks for the wonderful hours of excitement and entertainment.