Although she voiced the world’s most F.A.B. spy, Sylvia Anderson claims modestly she had no idea the Lady Penelope puppet was meant to look like her too…. And you’d almost believe her if she hadn’t followed the Thunderbirds secret agent with a string of nearly identical characters, some puppets some actresses, but always the same cool-headed blondes.

As writer, producer, and stylist of Captain Scarlet, UFO, and Space:1999, Anderson took the opportunity to insert her drolly flirtatious, dry-witted alteregos into husband Gerry’s boyish rocket-and-rescue adventures. While he tinkered on the shows’ vehicles that made them rich with toy merchandising, she wrote scripts filled with tongue-in-cheek innuendo far above the heads of their pre-adolescent viewers. Once they switched from puppets to human actors, she supervised the glam-sexy uniforms and mod sets that sealed the adult appeal of the cult shows.

But these icy blonde’s had another thing in common besides appearance and a sense of humor: they were outsiders. Lady Pennelope was an agent of International Rescue, but didn’t fit the gadgetophilic vehicles and numerical ranking of the Thunderbirds (five…, four…, three…, two…, one!). Col. Virginia Lake clashes with Commander Straker in UFO and leaves SHADO only to return as first officer. Meanwhile Doctor Helena Carter on Moonbase Alpha fueds with her boss and lover Commander Konig, wielding influence but still excluded from the men’s get-in-the-rocketship-and-go adventures.

As Sylvia became a successful producer their marriage dissintegrated and it undoubtedly jeopardized the company. For whatever reason Sylvia quit rather than fight, walking away at the height of her career just as the mystical epic Space:1999 had been renewed for a a second primetime season and was about to hit American television. After divorcing Gerry kept his name firmly centered on their creative properties to the point that today Sylvia’s barely mentioned on wikipedia (don’t get me started on wikipedia). He replaced her with an American producer of StarTrek fame, but his changes to Space:1999 resulted in chaos, leaving dismayed cast and crew glad to learn there would be no third season. Without Sylvia the Anderson empire was over…. Thunderbirds became just another line of obscure japanese toys.

But Sylvia took a parting shot during Space:1999’s haitus, hijacking set and costume designers to launch her own sci-fi show about a planet of superior women subduing their men in platform boots, hotpants, and crash helmets. Mature women wore graceful evening gowns and pantsuits with gemstones adorning their faces and artfully styled hair. Star Maidens lasted only one season. Although Sylvia created complex situations and characters to illustrate her advanced femocracy, it just confused German television who thought they were getting a sex farce with spaceships.

It’s interesting to note the show features two blondes: one a militant disciplinarian hunting down errent males, the other a benevolent leader who explains that female rule on planet Medusa was the natural course of evolution. “They could see life was better run by women. Peaceful… productive. And to everyone’s advantage.”