After all these years Thunderbirds still entertains! At 65 I remember watching this show, Supercar and Fireball XL5 when I was a kid and the video quality still stands up to today’s standards! Amazing!
Loved Thunderbirds, QUINTESSENTIALLY British, has stood the test of time. NO one goes through this kind of work, for a kid's show anymore. My childhood man, loved GA and his crew (RIP Gerry)
You guys in the UK were lucky seeing all the AP Films productions throughout the years. Thunderbirds per Wikipedia: In the US, the 25-minute format was placed in first-run syndication in 1968 to modest success. Born in US in 1959 I only remember Stingray my first favorite TV show from 1965-1967.
I think that Gerry Anderson hit the nail on the head. When any of the Supermarionation series were on TV, you could always see the strings attached to the puppets and you knew that it was a human hand doing the complicated actions. THAT was the quirky, tonge in cheek charm of those shows. They were believable but NOT entirely real. The details of the special effects, without CGI nor Blue Screen, were painstakingly crafted and added to the realism of ALL the shows. These were labors of love indeed. One of these days I will get the DVD of these series and relive a wonderful time of my childhood!
Can I be honest? I prefer Supermarionation and even old style cartoons over CGI these days. To me CGI feels to cheap and quick, whilst in these older techniques you could really see the time and dedication put into everything by the team. As they say... they don't make 'em like they used to. Sadly I must add!
RIP Gerry ANDERSON. Thanks you for creating som much that became a part of My Childhood. Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain SCarlet, Joe 90 For me, that really defines my childhood! I would suggest I am just one of millions of little boys and girls for whom the world stopped when Thunderbirds came on TV. Thank you for sharing your genius with us all.
Me One of them but not only also for UFO and Space1999,great productions ,i’m a fan of all the serial of that time ,the persuaders,Simon Templar,The avengers Emma Peel and John Steed wow
Thanks Gerry and Sylvia for a lifetime of memories, the shows still knock spots off the competition. Many have tried to copy them but they never can compete with the masters.
Thunderbirds were on Australian tv through the early-mid 80s, obviously reruns, but I did love watching it. I was only 5 but it definitely forms part of my childhood. Thunderbirds and The Goodies.
Even now, I still find Thunderbirds fascinating. I know they are puppets on strings but it’s the characters, not the puppets that made the show. Characters and the many action scenes of the futuristic transports and the explosions.
I can watch these now and get lost into it. Of course we all know it is not real, but due to the skill of the makers, not much imagination is required to make it real in our head. GREAT STUFF!!!!!!
I agree there was a human touch to Thunderbirds that is sorely missing from alot of what passes for modern entertainment now I still watch this now and find it very inspiring that you could do something very simply and still have it entertaining !!
WOW! WOW! WOW!… my childhood Saturday morning in a nutshell!… Cannot thank Gerry and the team enough… That iconic music Lord Have Mercy!… I had all the Thunderbird models apart from Thunderbird 1, and 5. Brilliant memories…
Thunderbirds was one of the reasons I became an engineer! I loved the models/vehicles, you never knew what was coming out of TB2's chosen pod every week, fantastic effects too using high speed cameras?
I'm 56. The first of Gerry's shows I remember watching were Fireball XL-5 and Stingray, but I was too young to know what was going on. Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet were really what I grew up with. Then it was UFO and Space 1999 as I got into my tweens and teen years.
I still remember back then in my country of birth, Colombia, when I saw this show in Spanish. These shows have stood the proof of time, Aquamarina is also my favorite and its melody!
Compared to cartoons, these shows were very well finished and done, the stories well written, characters well developed and show in general was excellent children's fare. A tremendous amount of work went into Gerry's shows,and that they weren't cheapened out or poorly done(like many US produced shows) is the reason that they still have a strong appeal. As old as Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet are, they still entertain because they're not horribly dated.
I was at the right age when thunderbirds hit our screens in the 60's i just loved the show. looking back in time i wondered why lady Penelope never had a spin off of her own show?
Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, etc. I remember these as a kid through the 1960's. I am in awe of the pain staking genius of Mr. Gerry Anderson and his production crew for going through all this trouble just to make me happy. Their dream was our reward.
Watched the new series with grandchildren 8 & 7 & son 38, great fun with lots of hat tipping to original series with lots of in jokes. Well done. Will I watch the rest? Probably not, having grown up with and seen the originals, I am a an Anderboomer and proud of it. Thankfully not a rivet counter I see them for what they are, great television for the era they were made for, which is why the new series is ok for kids of today, colourful and fast moving and great Saturday morning TV. Thanks to GA for his legacy
Even in 2022 i love watching Thunderbirds and i am 53 now. Got the hole thunderbird collection on dvd and love watching them whiff my grandchildren on tv whiff soda and chips.
The Thunder Birds we’re state of the art 🖼 at the time and still holds up fairly well today. Derek Meddings their model maker/ designer did FX for such Bond films as Spy Who Loved Me & MoonRaker
dave doggett yeah a genius man who as stated moved onto mega work on feature films SCI FI /007 BOND etc I well remember finding a news clip GOLDENEYE ?? and keeping it much later a "BIBLE" book ;"21st Century ?? " mass info on tech aspects vechs / filming skills model MINIATURE construction /large dioramas and mini sets etc MEGA input for an amateur model maker /film maker !!! if your as keen on the genre as I'm sure you are GET a copy no regrets !! also any NEW or older TV ANNUALS etc !! charge up the camcorder LOL and good to go !! as many have said CGI not the same as MINIATURE scale model work on film !!!! time biggest problem most will have !! UNFORTUNATELY DM made harsh comments in reply to GERRY A ref to future work!! MIKE TRIM and ALAN SHUBROOK?? 2 other gifted guys who need a mention and many others too!! AS had book published year or 2 ago !! THANKS DAVE D for highlighting the skill!
I love all the puppets in Thunderbirds. Thay are brilliant. A lot of workmanship whent in to thoses puppets. Thay are brilliant. Like . Sting ray. Super car . Captain scarlett. Joe 90. And meny others he maid . Thay are all . Brilliant and beautifully maid very outstanding performance on eatch episodes . The puppets are very outstandingly maid . God bless Gerry Anderson. and to all the team that was involved in makeing. Thunderbirds possible . 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Blast of
3:27 I don't care if it looked unconvincing seeing the marionettes in the wide shots and then real human hands or feet in close up shots. Or if the strings were visible. As Alan Pattillo says, it was part of the charm in Thunderbirds and other Supermarionation shows.
Yeah. I didn't care. Heck, I was three when Thunderbirds hit the screen, and even to my childhood brain, I knew it looked a little silly, but those aircraft and vehicles, and the miniature scenery were awesome! Thunderbirds is why I got into model-making.
As kids, we never viewed the characters as real or human-like; they were toys that came to life. This meant that we could either make our own Thunderbirds craft or buy them and then create our own "episodes". My friends and I would pool our resources and play for hours.
*_Este es un estupendo equipo d trabajo q creo una d las mejores series como los Thunderbirds serie q se quedó en el recuerdo d nuestra niñez muchas felicidades x está estupenda serie....!_* 💎💎💎💎💎
I know Gerry Anderson always wanted to progress into being a ‘proper’ film director with Real actors and was using the Puppet shows as a means to get there. But to have ALL these shows he created on his CV that are beloved by so many children & adults I think is a far better epitaph. So few film directors are remembered by the public, But Gerry Anderson ‘Supermarionation’ TV shows will still be in syndication decades from now because they were well made harmless entertainment for All ages. They’re up there with ‘Star trek’ As far as I’m concerned.
Well I wouldn't say that all of his series were harmless entertainment. I just got myself the complete Captain Scarlet series on DVD, and that for a children's programme, even at the time it was released is pretty dark and menacing. Today's children's programmes wouldn't contain the violence and destruction at display here, not to mention the murdering of characters shown in each episode. Captain Scarlet actually was more adult orientated then any of the other Gerry Anderson productions. Watching these the first time since their original release in 1967 (I was 5 at the time), not only brings back lost memories, but it also surprises me of how complex some of the plots were set up, and also the dialogs used. I, m sure that at that age I only understood half of what was going on, but it was mainly the puppets, the models and those spectacular stunts that got me gripped. And rewatching them today they luckily still do. Back in those days programmes made for children were full of wit, fantasy, skill, enthusiasm, charm etc, unlike plastic TV nowadays.
It's quite interesting how this show Thunderbirds captures the imagination of a child. Now in my 60s I watch and remember the Thunderbirds then and now..how these marionettes made me smile...even now!
Just one addition… this all happened in the 60’s when TV was the big thing and everybody wanted in on it. No one had the budgets that shows get given these days. It was all shoestrings and bubblegum money. What was achieved on low budgets is still amazing to those of us who watched it originally.
I'm from Detroit Michigan...right across the river from Windsor, Ontario..Canada. My exposure to the Thunderbirds came at a young age. Fascinating and very action packed...always loved this series. Also, we had another puppet movie called "Supercar" with Mike Mercury...which was way before "Knightrider" the talking car. Being from Detroit..the car aspect was a big draw. Those days were very innocent and naive....as I think back..those were the good old days. Thank goodness for CKLW in Windsor...as we only had 4 stations at the time....how did we really survived, back then???As a matter of fact some of the stations went off the air at 12:00am...talking about dating myself. Thanks for the back story.
Supermarionation needs to see more use. Only Team America World Police and a very brief short in Stargate SG1 have used the technique since the millennium, to my knowledge.
The only British accents in the original series were lady Penelope and her driver Parker, everyone else was always an American accents done by british based US actors, that show I remember the original series when it was shown in the 1960s :-)
I was 7 in 1965, so perfect age for TB! I am British, but never even noticed the accents were American. Even at that age I noticed the switch to real hands for close-ups, but he was exactly right, I did not care. One of the reasons this series (plus Stingray etc.) is important is that it could not have been made before or since. Too expensive. BTW, unlike some people of my vintage, I applaud Thunderbirds are Go - a worthy successor.
There are 2 kinds of people in this world: Those who LOVED the Thunderbirds, and those useless BUMS with ZERO imagination or talent for making great things!!
Looking forward to passing on my love of Thunderbirds to my daughter. New version next month, if she likes it then I'll get these on DVD. (Again) Shame Riker nearly killed the franchise with Spy Kids 3.
Show Thunderbirds em ação top fez parte da minha infancia, nos dias de hoje não há essa mesma qualidade em marionetes....essa serie estava além de sua época.
You might want to do some research on that, actually. Only the characters and some small moving parts are CG. See also, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-K1vMaYlptNg.html
As a kid saw the studio where it was made slough trading estate thunderbirds was ahead of it's tilme dont forget supercar twizzle and torchy the battery boy
