Big Blue Marble

ITT Inc.

Family Reality
English     0     2014     US

Overview

Big Blue Marble was a half-hour children's television series that ran from 1974 to 1983 on numerous syndicated and PBS TV stations. Distinctive content included stories about children around the world and a pen-pal club that encouraged intercultural communication. The name of the show referred to the appearance of Earth as a giant marble, popularized by a famous photograph of the same name taken in December 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17. Each episode featured a segment about the real life of a boy and a girl, one American, the other foreign. The show also had occasional stories about world ecology. In addition there was a weekly segment in which a singing globe "Bluey" invited viewers to write letters to the show, often requests for pen pals. The address to send the letters was in Santa Barbara, California. The character was voiced by executive producer Robert Weimer. Production personnel included creators Ken Snyder, Henry Fownes, and Robert Garrison, and later executive producer Robert Weimer, producer Rick Berman, writers Lynn Rogoff and directors Joe Napolitano, Joseph Consentino, Tom Hurwitz, John McDonald, J.J. Linsalata, Pat Saunders, and Ira Wohl. Robert Saidenberg was supervising producer, Peter Hammer supervising film editor and Dale Glickman post-production supervisor of the series late in its run. Paul Baillergeon composed much of the series' music. Weimer often rewarded staff members with the opportunity to pitch story ideas and direct segments of the series. As a result, many got their first chance to work in that capacity. Some children featured on the show who went on to high-profile careers are: Tisha Campbell, Fran Jolie and Kevin Clash. Before they were well-known, actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Kelly Reno were featured in dramatic segments serialized in the series.

Similar

The Secret Service is a British children's espionage television series, made by Century 21 for ITC Entertainment and broadcast on Associated Television, Granada Television & Southern Television in 1969. Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, and produced by David Lane and Reg Hill, it was the eighth and last Century 21 production to feature – in a manner similar to Thunderbirds and other earlier series – marionette puppet characters as part of a filming technique known as "Supermarionation". Under the direction of Gerry Anderson, who wanted to compensate for the inadequacies of Supermarionation and increase the realism of the format, The Secret Service incorporates footage of live actors for long-distance shots. After The Secret Service, Anderson would not work with puppets again until the 1980s, when he produced Terrahawks in "Supermacromation". Episodes of The Secret Service follow the adventures of Father Stanley Unwin, a character voiced by and resembling the real-life comedian of the same name. Outwardly the parish priest of a rural English village, Unwin is in fact a secret agent for BISHOP, a covert branch of British Intelligence that combats criminal and terrorist threats from overseas. Aided by junior operative Matthew Harding, the Father answers to his London-based superior – codenamed "The Bishop" – as he would in his public profession. When faced with the challenge of collecting intelligence in a hostile situation, Unwin and Matthew deploy the "Minimiser", a gadget capable of shrinking Matthew to a fraction of his normal size for the purposes of carrying out secret reconnaissance. A nonsensical gobbledegook of Unwin's formulation is used to confuse and distract enemies when required.

More info
The Secret Service
1969