RIP Martin Landau

American actor Martin Landau has sadly passed away at the age of 89.

Landau was an actor with a long and storied Hollywood career, making his major film debut in North by Northwest (1959). In 1966 he began appearing on the television series Mission: Impossible, first as a recurring guest star and then as a series regular. Given that he was still getting Hollywood film roles, his decision to regularly appear on TV, limiting his movie exposure, was unusual for the time. Mission: Impossible ended in 1973, but Landau was almost immediately recruited to star as Commander Koenig on Gerry Anderson's Space: 1999, which ran for two seasons from 1975.

Landau made a career comeback in the late 1980s, earning Academy Award nominations for Tucker: The Man and his Dream (1988) and then Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989). Wood Allen, who directed him in the latter, was enthusiastic about Landau's skills and his professionalism and reliability to deliver the material.

Landau finally won the Oscar for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994). Landau watched two dozen of Lugosi's film and became a huge fan of his work, inspiring him to reach deeper to deliver a more worthy performance. In 1998 he also appeared in the first X-Files film.

Landau continued to work right up to his death, earning Emmy nominations for appearances on Without a Trace and Entourage. An actor of range, depth and intensity, capable of playing both standard leading man roles and more artistic, offbeat ones with equal relish, Landau was a tremendous talent, and will be missed.

RIP Gerry Anderson

On Boxing Day it was announced that Gerry Anderson had passed away at the age of 83. Anderson was one of the most famous figures in UK TV in the 1960s and 1970s, working on a number of science fiction and fantasy shows. However, he will always be closely associated with a number of children's series featuring puppets operating highly-detailed vehicles: Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and Terrahawks.

 
In addition to his puppet shows, Anderson created several live-action SF series: UFO, Space: 1999 and Space Precinct (as well as the non-SF The Protectors). Despite his fame and his shows' place in popular culture, he was unable to find a format with longevity: aside from Terrahawks, none of his shows lasted more than two seasons. Thunderbirds returned with a live-action movie in 2004 which Anderson was not involved with, criticised heavily and was panned on release. Anderson did produce a two-season revival of Captain Scarlet in 2005 (using CGI) which was critically well-received, but which was not a financial success.

Despite the setbacks, Anderson's shows were always worth watching. They usually presented a positive view of the future and of the ways that technology could improve people's lives, though tinged with caution over its misuse. His shows also had production values that defied belief for their day: the model effects (and endless, artistically impressive explosions) on Thunderbirds are particularly stunning for a series made in 1965. His 1970-71 TV series UFO (which inspired the 1994 computer game X-COM and its sequels and recent remake) was also notable for being aimed squarely at adults, with a dark theme of paranoia running through the series along with a much grimmer tone than his other work, a move which was very successful.

Anderson also had an influence on other shows. His work inspired Ron Thornton, the creator of the CGI on Babylon 5 and, later, Star Trek: Voyager, to make space scenes more colourful and original (Thornton later worked with Anderson on the new Captain Scarlet). Anderson's habit of putting highlights from the episode in the title sequence of each episode also led to the creators of the newer Battlestar Galactica to do the same thing in their show, somewhat controversially. His work was also very popular in Japan, where even a tribute anime to Thunderbirds was produced in the 1980s (called Thunderbirds 2086 with the permission of the company that produced the original show, but without Gerry Anderson's involvement).

In 2011 Anderson was working on a revival of Thunderbirds using CGI, but the status of the project became uncertain after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and had to retire. Hopefully, this project will be revived and introduce a new generation of fans to his work and legacy.