For years, the name Gerry Anderson has been synonymous with the old TV series, “Thunderbirds.” I grew up watching the show, and remember thinking how cool the marionettes were and how badly I wanted to be a puppeteer. What I didn’t know was just how many shows Anderson had a hand in, and how little I knew about some of these favorites. Amongst the long list of series he’s created, the two I most remember were his forays into live action, “UFO” and the little known (yeah, right) “Space: 1999.” Both of these series are a part of most every older sci-fi fan’s list of favorite shows, though the most widely recognized is “Space 1999.” I watched “UFO” all the time when I was really little but my memories of the show were minimal. Thinking about the series now, the main things I remember have to do with hair. I have faint images of a guy with really white hair and hot chicks with purple hair.

Since I started this reviewing gig I’ve learned that Anderson was involved in a ton of shows, including “Supercar”, “Joe 90”, “Secret” and Terrahawks (to name a few). Even better, I’ve had the opportunity to watch most of them as they’ve been released on DVD. What I didn’t know until recently, is that he had also created another live action show called “The Protectors.” The premise was intriguing, though not necessarily original, as it centered on a trio of jet-setting individuals who solved mysteries and fought international bad guys… for a price.

At first, it sounded very similar to a lot of the shows that were coming out of England at the time. The 1st season was released last year and I was curious to see if there was anything that made it stand out from the crowd. While checking into some of the background on the series, I was immediately sold when I read that one of the main stars was Robert Vaughn. I was a huge fan of Vaughn’s earlier (and more high profile) series, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” in which he starred opposite David McCallum. Surely “The Protectors” had to be a winner.

When the set arrived I immediately set to watching some of the episodes. They were only a half hour long, so I was able to get through several of them at one sitting and though it certainly wasn’t as good as “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, it was good enough to hook me in. And I was glad to see Vaughn was in top form as the group’s leader, Harry Rule. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the other main members of the team, played by Nyree Dawn Porter and Tony Anholt. The three worked extremely well together and helped make the series a fun watch.

Since “The Protectors” was one of only a handful of live action series produced by Gerry Anderson, he also opted to go the extra mile when it came to the production value of the show. In order to enrich the look of the series, Anderson chose to shoot it on location, which was rarely done at the time (actually, it’s rarely done today). Whenever the story took the team to some exotic European location, the entire cast and crew went to the real places as opposed to using backdrops or back lots. It was a pricey endeavor, but an overall worthwhile one.

Last month, A&E released the 2nd (and final) season in a 4-disc DVD set. It features all 26 episodes from the sophpomore season, and while it is great having all of these available, I was slightly disappointed by the lack of extra features. The 1st season set at least had a commentary on one of the episodes, but here there are none.

I enjoyed “The Protectors” quite a bit, and I highly recommend it to fans of Gerry Anderson’s work and to those who love old British adventure series in general (but additional features still would have been nice).

Episodes:
Bagman
The Bridge
Fighting Fund
Quin
Lena
Goodbye George
Implicado
The Last Frontier
Baubles Bangles and Beads
Petard
Burning Bush
Border Line
WAM, Part One
WAM, Part Two
Dragon Chase
Zeke's Blues
Decoy
A Pocketful of Posies
Shadbolt
Sugar and Spice
Blockbuster
Wheels
The Tiger and The Goat
The Insider
Trial
Route 27

Starring: Robert Vaughn, Nyree Dawn Porter, Tony Anholt, Anthony Chin, Yasuko Nagazami
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital Stereo
Studio: A&E
Release Date: 4/26/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give The Protectors: Season 2 a B.