Farewell Gerry Anderson, crablogger of my childhood - Telegraph.co.uk

In hindsight the episodes are glutinously slow. Each lasted 50 minutes, an eon compared to modern children's programming, particularly given that the plot was always the same. But I remember them flying by. Although they could never match up to Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet were both excellent too. At parties with likeminded nerds, it's still a reliable joke to grab two CD's and pass the Mysterons' shadow over the room. Or to whistle Marina's song, and see if anyone notices. Perhaps that's too sad.

Ultimately the greatest praise of Anderson's output is that it was already 30 years old when I watched it. How many programmes have held two generations in equal thrall? To win the hearts of one set of children is impressive. To win the hearts of those children's children is near-miraculous, and he did it all with puppets.

*Finally, a quiz question (I think via Marcus Berkmann). Unchained -----; Bittersweet -----; Bohemian -----; Manifest -----. What is the next blank in the sequence, and why?