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New Thunderbirds TV series?

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:18 am
by Buzz Bumble
No doubt it will be another barely recognisable remake / update of an old TV show with lots of silly changes to try and "modernise" it. :(

This is from Thursday's NZ Herald ...
Thunderbirds are go - again
The children's sci-fi series Thunderbirds is to return to television in a new series after an absence of 45 years, its creator Gerry Anderson said yesterday.

"Thunderbirds are go!" became a catchphrase for generations of schoolchildren after the original series lunched in 1965.

The puppet heroes, led by Jeff Tracy, his sons Scott and Virgil, and their friend Lady Penelope, also spawned the catchphrases "F.A.B." and "Yes, m'lady".

Based on the remote Tracy Island, the swashbuckling family rescued the innocent from disasters the world over using their fleet of Thunderbirds rescue craft - and fought intercontinental evil, particularly in the form of chief baddie The Hood.

But despite the enduring popularity of the series and massive sales for its merchandise - particularly models of the Thunderbirds aircraft - only 32 episodes were ever made, the last in 1966.

A live action movie starring Bill Paxton was made in 2004, but was critically panned and a box office flop.

However, speaking on Radio 5 Live yesterday to promote a new set of Thunderbirds stamps being issued by Royal Mail, Anderson, 81, confirmed that he is o make a new television series.

The "Fanderson" fan website said that Anderson had confirmed that "he has finalised a deal to make a new series of Thunderbirds", but that he had not given any further details.

The biggest question for the producers of the new series will be whether to cast live actors as the Tracy family heroes - or to continue, in time-honoured tradition, in "Supermarionation".
Live actors would be incredibly silly. It must be either puppets (like the original, the "Team America: World Police" parody movie and part of a Stargate SG-1 episode) or use 3D computer graphics models that looks similar to the puppets (like the latest Star Wars animated movie and TV show) or even a "traditional" animated show (there was a Japanese made show called "Thunderbirds 2086" made in the 1980s).

Re: New Thunderbirds TV series?

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:56 am
by Gorman
It will probably be a similar process to the updated Captain Scarlet a few years ago. CG cartoon, very good job done on it as well!

Re: New Thunderbirds TV series?

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:05 am
by Buzz Bumble
There was an earlier attempt at a new TV series by Carlton International. I've got a 5MB promo trailer which says "Coming 2005" near the end. It's difficult to tell if it's using actual puppets or CGI puppets, or a mixture of the two (puppets for close ups and CGI for long-shots) ... although at the end Scott does some jumping around over laser beams and says "Look, no strings". This looked pretty good - updated, but still faithful to the original (maybe a little more humour).

I've also got these two images of CGI craft which were supposedly from a new TV show, but I'm not sure where they're actually from (they may just be fan-made images or from the live-action movie). Thunderbird 2 looks OK, although could use a good diet. Thunderbird 3 looks horrible. :(
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