GERRY ANDERSON

The creator of “Supermarionation,” Gerry Anderson revolutionized television with his puppet action/sci-fi series like the popular Thunderbirds, whose title was inspired by the name of a USAF airbase described by his brother during his military service. After serving in the RAF himself in 1947, Anderson began his career with Gainsborough Pictures in the UK and first began working with puppets on a trio of childrens’ TV series for AP Films, The Adventures of Twizzle, Four Feather Falls, and Torchy the Battery Boy. The process of Supermarionation was officially introduced in 1960 with Supercar and paved the way for such additional successful series as Fireball XL5 (1962) (the first Anderson show sold to a major US network, NBC), Stingray (1964) (his first show in color), Thunderbirds (1964-66), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967), and Joe 90 (1968), as well as two feature films, Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbird 6. At the end of the ‘60s he branched out into live action with the feature film Journey to the Far Side of the Sun and the cult favorite TV show UFO. After an abortive attempt at joining the James Bond franchise in the mid-‘70s (which led to controversial claims of plagiarism), he turned the abandoned second season of UFO into his most famous series, Space: 1999, starring Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, which ran for two seasons. His subsequent work included the glove puppet TV series Terrahawks, the stop-motion show Dick Spanner, while in 1994, he finally revived a pet project called Space Police and put it into production as Space Precinct.

TED SHACKELFORD

The character of Lieutenant Patrick Brogan on Space Precinct is just one of many colorful roles over the years for Oklahoma-born actor Ted Shackelford, a familiar face from numerous television shows over the years. He began acting 1975 with the soap opera Another World and earned roles on such shows as Wonder Woman and The Rockford Files, and the cult action favorite Ebony, Ivory and Jade; however, he really caught the eyes of viewers when he stepped into replace David Ackroyd as Gary Ewing on the hit series Dallas, a 9-episode arc whose positive viewer response led to him portraying the character for another 334 episodes on Knots Landing. He continued to appear in numerous one-off appearances on TV shows including The Division and Dirty Sexy Money before landing in his second most famous role in 2006 as district attorney William Bardwell and his identical twin brother Jeffrey on the daytime soap The Young and the Restless, where he continues to appear on TV sets across the country every weekday.

ROB YOUNGBLOOD

TV actor Rob Youngblood enjoyed his longest-running role on Space Precinct but has appeared in more limited appearances on a number of shows since 1991. One of his earliest roles was on TV’s Dallas (which also provided the springboard for co-star Ted Shackelford) along with appearances on Coach, SeaQuest 2032, and Silk Stalkings. In 1996 he enjoyed a seven-episode run on the popular Melrose Place as Dave Erickson, followed by multi-episode arcs on Murder One and L.A. Firefighters. He retired from acting in 2002 after appearances on JAG and NYPD Blue.

SIMONE BENDIX

Danish-born actress Simone Bendix made her English-language debut in 1993 on the US television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, where her striking beauty caught the attention of casting agents who kept her busy for the next year in a number of roles (including a revival of the cult TV series The Tomorrow People) before landing the character of Officer Jane Castle on Space Precinct. After that show’s completion in 1996, she immediately moved to the acclaimed British miniseries The Crow Road and subsequent British TV appearances on Taggart, Noah’s Ark, and A Touch of Frost. One of her most prominent roles was Mary Magdalene in the high-profile 1999 made-for-TV film, Mary, Mother of Jesus, opposite Christian Bale. In 2001, she returned to Denmark where she remains busy acting on television shows, though she has occasionally returned to the UK including a 2003 appearance for The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.