Doppleganger (aka Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun) was a Century 21 science fiction film that was shot from July - October 1968 written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and Donald James. The plot of the film followed the EUROSEC spacecraft named Sun Probe (the name clearly based on the same vehicle in Thunderbirds) where the vehicle is launched to the sun where the crew of the sun probe discover a mirror image of Earth. Much of Gerry and Sylvia's time and work on Joe 90 and The Secret Service was taken over by work for this film. This is what they spent most of their work on instead of the final SUPERMARIONATION shows.
The idea had been devised in the early 1960s and starred Ian Hendry, Roy Thinnes, Lynn Loring and Patrick Wymark. Universal backed the project but on the case that David Lane won't direct the film, as he did with the two Thunderbirds feature films and should be done by American director Robert Parish. "They were right", says Lane, "When you're dealing with a feature film like that you want an experienced director who can handle artists. I was actually aware that I wasn't in the league. At that point, I'd never shot live-action. Gerry didn't seem to think there was any difference, but I told him, of course there was". Anderson would find Robert Parrish a less malleable director than Lane, "Suddenly I came up against a Hollywood director who didn't want to play and we ended up extremely bad friends". One heated dispute, in particular, was when Anderson asked for John Reads's support for cinematography, stating afterwards "I said that if he felt he was in no way responsible for me, then he should not be a director of the company. Sylvia and Reg both supported me totally, but they didn't say a thing during the meeting. They left me to pull the trigger".
Barry Gray's score for the film is excellent, some of which are among his favourite tracks; including the title theme, Traitor In The Lab, Sleeping Astronauts and Crashlanding and Rescue. The film has had a variety of mixed reviews, positive reviews include the outstanding visual effects provided by Derek Meddings. Two 35mm prints survive, one by Fanderson and the other by the BFI (British Film Institute). The film now owned by Universal Studios, for many years ITC was owned by polygram and with the films sent to Universal studios after ITC folded, Doppelganger was one of them. A UK DVD was released by Universal in September 2008 and then on Blu Ray in February 2017.
A legacy has lasted for this film. Many aspects of this cult film were later used to help develop UFO, which would then develop further onto Space 1999. Many Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons stars would feature in this film, as they're also were for Joe 90 and The Secret Service. Because Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were "less hands on deck" for The Secret Service, did it mean that the quality wasn't as strong as it could have been if they had spent more time on the series?