Hasta La Ideas

Last month, we blogged about a new lenticular stamp designed by KesselsKramer for the Dutch Post Office. We’ve just heard from GBH in London that they’re also about to launch a whole Thunderbirds inspired set for the Royal Mail in the UK using similar technology. You can see the stamps here…

In October we showcased the new lenticular Dutch stamp created by KesselsKramer and director Anton Corbijn. Using similar processes over a series of stamps, London-based GBH’s Special Stamps Issue: FAB – The Genius of Gerry Anderson set has been created for the UK’s Royal Mail to honour the work of Supermarionation legend Gerry Anderson MBE and his team at Century 21 Productions.

GBH’s lenticular stamps feature the countdown and launch sequence of all the legendary Thunderbirds craft from the iconic 1960s series’ title sequence. And as part of the special edition pack, who better than Brains himself to take fans through how the “m… m… MotionStamp” itself was made:

“The stamps were created by GBH with a process that fused film-making, editing and post production techniques with graphic design,” say GBH.

“Sequences were meticulously trialled from the original master 35mm print at ITV, and the final frames were carefully selected, exported to HD quality, digitally re-mastered and then re-edited back into an all-new 36 frames sequence, for use in the complex micro-lenticular process.”

The lenticular stamps are joined by a Royal Mail Special Stamp Issue of six landscape stamps featuring all of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation TV shows from the 1960s: Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90:

“The stamp format allows the full 35mm frame to be shown exactly as it was shot by Gerry Anderson for the first time, as it was cropped to 4:3 when originally aired on British TV,” say GBH, who have been clearly been meticulous about the detailing here.

Indeed, the presentation pack for the stamps features an interview with original puppet sculptor, Terry Curtis, by Supermarionation expert Chris Bentley (Captain Scarlet deconstructed, below) and a special pull-out four-page comic telling the story of the creation of the Thunderbirds through the illustrations of original TV21 comic artist, Gerry Embleton, with text by Stephen La Rivieire.

The stamps, micro-lenticular mini-sheet and all collectible products will be available from January 11 2011.