Editing Gerry Anderson (section)

===Later career===
By December 1999, Anderson was working on plans for a sequel to ''Captain Scarlet'', and he showed early test reels at a few [[fan conventions]]. These reels had the visual design and characters looking very much as they had in the original show, although the vehicle designs had been somewhat modernised. Several years after the initial tests the project evolved into the remake ''[[New Captain Scarlet]],'' by which time the entire appearance had been significantly updated.

Anderson was appointed [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]] in the [[2001 Birthday Honours]] for services to Animation.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=56237 |date=16 June 2001 |page=13 |supp=y}}</ref>

Along with his business partner John Needham, Anderson created another new series entitled ''[[Firestorm (anime)|Firestorm]]'', financed by Japanese investors and featured [[anime]] style animation. Other planned shows with other Japanese backers, including ''Eternity'' failed to come to fruition. ''Firestorm'' was sold throughout south-east Asia. Anderson and Needham parted company in 2003.

Anderson was originally approached to be involved in a live-action feature film adaptation of ''Thunderbirds'' as far back as 1996,<ref name="GAbio">Archer and Nicholls</ref> but he was actually turned away by the producers of the 2004 film ''[[Thunderbirds (2004 film)|Thunderbirds]],'' which was directed by [[Jonathan Frakes]], after first being invited to meet with them.<ref name="BBCiBerks">{{cite web | publisher= BBCi Berkshire | title = Gerry Anderson | date= 19 July 2004 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/features/2004/07/gerry_anderson_iview.shtml | access-date = 22 May 2006}}</ref> He distanced himself overtly from the project, later turning down an offer of $750,000 simply to write an endorsement of the film shortly before its release; Sylvia Anderson served as a consultant on the project and received a "special thanks" credit in the film. The film received poor critical reviews and was unsuccessful at the US box-office. Anderson disliked the film, describing it as "the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my life".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/feb/07/gerry-anderson-thunderbirds-auction | title= Gerry Anderson auctions Thunderbirds treasures | website= [[TheGuardian.com]] | date=7 February 2009 | access-date = 14 February 2015}}</ref>

''New Captain Scarlet'' finally premiered in the UK in February 2005. The show cost £23 million to produce and was the most expensive children's programme ever to be made in the UK (until [[Ragdoll Productions|Ragdoll's]] ''[[In the Night Garden]]'' came out 2 years later).<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7655589.stm | work=BBC News | title=Talking Shop: Gerry Anderson | date=7 October 2008}}</ref> Many companies invested in producing toys and merchandise. Broadcaster ITV incorporated episodes into ''[[Ministry of Mayhem]]'', an existing children's show, and showed it in two halves, separated by games and adverts. Disappointing merchandising sales followed. The accompanying comic lasted only six editions before being scrapped by its publishers. Anderson's displeasure at ITV's handling of the show was widely reported.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/> The series was subsequently released on DVD.

2005 also saw the 40th anniversary of ''Thunderbirds,'' and a wide range of merchandise was produced to celebrate the event. In 2006, ITV re-ran the entire series on its fledgling [[CITV]] channel, a digital service available on cable, satellite and the [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] service. [[ITV4]], another digital channel, also ran repeats of ''UFO'' and ''Space: 1999'' up until the end of 2009.

In March 2011, Anderson was working with Daniel Pickering and [[Annix Studios]] on a new project named ''Christmas Miracle'', a children's CGI animated feature.