RICHARD JAMES
5 STAR 5
Five Star Five was to be Gerry Anderson’s answer to Star Wars, but never made it to screen after funding for the project collapsed in 1979. Soon after production concluded on Space: 1999‘s second season, Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick collaborated on the screenplay for the sci-fi fantasy feature film which they pitched as The Magnificent Seven in space (with more than a dash of Star Wars thrown in!). The film even entered pre-production, but once funding fell through the feature was canned and the script was forgotten.
Writer and actor Richard James has adapted the original Five Star Five script into a novelisation. ‘John Lovell and the Zargon Threat’ follows the story of the original script, and brings to life the characters and settings that were devised by Anderson and Barwick back in the 1970s. Readers will meet a cast of Anderson heroes and their machines that never made it to screen, and experience a story created in the long gap between 1978’s Space: 1999 and 1983’s Terrahawks.
Following the first novel, Richard has written two further adventures for John Lovell and his team of misfits. These original adventures follow the continued attempts of the Zargons to invade the planet Kestra and feature the same cast of characters developed by Gerry Anderson himself.
In The Doomsday Device, Lovell finds himself in prison on trumped up charges of theft and murder. But who has testified falsely against him and why do the Zargons want him out the way? The discovery of a massive new weapon in space can only spell disaster for Kestra.
The Battle For Kestra follows the Zargons' last, desperate attempt to invade their enemy planet. With a new President in place, John Lovell and his gang must search for the enemy within and thwart the Zargons' plans.
'From its action-packed opening chapter depicting a Zargon raid, James never lets the pace up.' Warped Factor, The Zargon Threat
'I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its great characters and brilliant plot.' Website review, The Doomsday Device
'A few hours of pure escapism that any fan of Anderson's prolific output is likely to enjoy.' Goodreads review, The Zargon Threat
