Codes have been a part of Gerry Anderson related comics since issue No. 1 of TV Century 21. The free gift in that issue enabled readers to use two codes, named Blue and Red. Messages coded using either of these would be printed at the bottom of the page for some strips, and agents in possession of the coding device would have been able to read them.

Technically, it is inaccurate to describe as codes any of the methods used in the comics to disguise messages. They are more properly called ciphers, specifically, substitution ciphers. Each letter of the original message (known as clear or plaintext) would be replaced with another, these replacements being the same for each letter regardless of its position in the message (an invarient mapping). However, it is common and acceptable to use the word code in this looser sense to also include ciphers, and such will be used here.

The Red and Blue codes were interesting in that they included an ampersand (&), making for 27 characters in the alphabetic sequence. Both also included substitutions for the numerals zero to nine, each being mapped to a different numeral.

It should be noted that although Brent Cleever has given GACCH permission to print these two codes, he was unable to supply us with a copy of either. Both have long been declassified, and copies are no longer kept in the Records Department. However, GACCH has been able to reconstruct both codes by applying cryptanalysis techniques to the messages found in TV Century 21. Sadly, there was insufficient usage of the numerals in those messages to allow the numeric parts of the codes to be recovered. Should any agent have the correct coding for either of these, please get in touch with GACCH.

Here are the Red and Blue codes in as far as it has been possible to reconstruct them:

Issue No.173 (dated May 11th 2068) of TV21 saw the introduction of a new feature page. Named Coderoom, it would deal with the subject of codes (again, properly ), but from the perspective of breaking them. The feature included a case file relating details of particular codes, some from works of fiction, others taken from history. The page also gave some of the techniques used in the cracking of codes, and would include a short coded message for agents to try to break. Hints would be given as to the probable nature of the code, but the rest was left to the agents themselves.

One of theses messages was the infamous Death Code which led to the murder of Ivan Quant, Head of the Coderoom. Ivan Quant was a child prodigy, able to complete most of The Times crossword at the early age of five! His interest in codes started when he was ten years old, and he knew then that he wanted that to be his life's work. Sadly, that life was to be cut short at just twenty six. Issue No. 179 of TV21 gave a code for agents to attempt, little realising how important its solution would be. The message was short:

16/18/15/15 10/6/26/13/7 26/7 12/13/24/22

The code replaced the letters of the alphabet with numbers, the numbering beginning with Z=1, Y=2, and working backwards in sequence, ending with A=26. The message was not decoded in time, but would be found to read: KILL QUANT AT ONCE. The instructions in the code were carried out by person or persons unknown. After the death of Ivan Quant, the Coderoom was removed from the pages of TV21, it being thought best that it should have a lower profile in the interests of security.

The next codes were those used in the Joe 90 comic. Issue No.2 (dated January 25th 1969) had the Coderpass as a free gift. The Coderpass included two codes, Alpha and Beta. These were used by reading the clear value on the outer envelope and finding its code equivalent on the card insert. The Alpha code was printed on one side of this card, the Beta on its reverse, and choosing which side of the card was uppermost allowed agents to access the code they wanted. Coded messages would appear in issues 2 to 26 of Joe 90, the codes also being used to disguise the clues to the crossword puzzles.

Like the Red and Blue codes, the two Coderpass codes also included numerals, although neither Alpha nor Beta used an ampersand. Here are both codes, printed with the permission of Shane Weston of W.I.N.

The next Anderson related code would be that used in the 1991 Thunderbirds The Comic. This was a more ambitious code than any previously used in the comics. As well as mappings for the alphabet, it included coding for complete words (such as AND, IS, ARE) and the use of punctuation marks to disguise numerals. The oder in which these three encodings is applied is vital. In coding a message, the numerals should be coded first, then the short words should be mapped to their numeric equivalents, and finally the letters should be transformed. The order is reversed when decoding: letters first, followed by exchanging the numerics for short words, and finishing with replacing the punctuation marks with numerals.

Interestingly, the short words can be applied more ambitiously by replacing them when they form part of a word. For instance, in the message Take care tomorrow before your plane leaves, some of the letter patterns could be highlighted in this way - Take cARE TOmorrow beFORe YOUr plane leaves - and then replaced with their numeric equivalents to give this (before the rest of the encoding takes place): Take c5 7morrow be3e 8r plane leaves.

Here is the complete 1991 Thunderbirds code, released with the permission of Jeff Tracy. Note that the code uses a non-standard character, a blocked-in square, to encode the numeral 9. This has been replaced by a hash (#) on the GACCH pages.

The final Anderson related code to date is that given in the first issue of Joe 90, dated 29th July, 1994. This was the B.I.G. R.A.T. code. It did not include numerals nor word replacements, but was a straight-forward alphabetic substitution cypher.

From TV Century 21 to the 1994 Joe 90 comic, remarkably few mistakes were made in the encoding of those messages which appeared in the comics. It should be remembered that someone had to encode those messages by hand.

(Beta Code)DWNB NBK RVQJWLKVENWQO QL TKMINQR SQCRYNKVM WN WM E MWCRJK CENNKV NQ BEZK EYNQCENWS KOSQTWOA EOT TKSQTWOA QL CKMMEAKM. WOTKKT, NBWM REVEAVERB DEM KOSQTKT YMWOA E MCEJJ SQCRYNKV RVQAVECCK. BQDKZKV, WN WM VKSQCCKOTKT NBEN EAKONM JKEVO NQ KOSQTK CKMMEAKM FG BEOT. YFWUYWNQYM NBQYAB RKVMQOEJ SQCRYNKVM CEG ERRKEV, EO EAKON SEOOQN EJDEGM VKJG QO BEZWOA ESSKMM NQ QOK DBWJK WO NBK LWKJT.

Thanks are due to Brent Cleever, Shane Weston and Jeff Tracy for their willingness to allow the publication of these declassified codes. For those agents who need speedy decoding of messages, the GACCH computers have been programmed to decode all the main codes (Red, Blue, Alpha, Beta, Thunderbirds and B.I.G. R.A.T.). See the menu on the left for a link to the online decoder.

For those agents who want to pursue the study of codes, the following books are recommended:

Codes & Secret Writing by Herbert S. Zim [aimed at children]
Secret Language by Julian A. Bielewicz
Harrap's Book of Codes, Ciphers and Secret Languages by Fred B. Wrixon
Codes and Ciphers by Robert Churchhouse [an analytic, mathematical approach]

The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to dedicate this page to the memory of Ivan Quant, and to thank those people who patiently encoded the messages which appeared in the comics.

All text © The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History, and its respective writers, and may not be reproduced without permission.
All images © their respective copyright holders