The Guardian reported today that Gerry Anderson is preparing to bring Thunderbirds back to our screens some time in the future.
For those not in the know, Thunderbirds followed the adventures of International Rescue, a family of heroes who rescue people, er, internationally. The stories were fairly standard stuff for the 60s, but it was the show’s medium that really grabbed the attention of its audience. Like most of Gerry Anderson’s shows, the cast was composed entirely of puppets. No attempt was made to conceal this; many of the strings were on show, adding to the charm. Today Thunderbirds holds a very special place in the hearts of many people of all ages, despite an iffy recent attempt at big screen live-action success.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, the Thunderbirds creator confirmed that a deal has been reached with ITV, who own the rights to the show, to produce an all-new season of the nation’s favourite puppet show. He’s not at liberty to go into too many details due to signing a non-disclosure agreement, but he did offer the following tantalising tidbits:
“It will certainly be modernised. It will be a brand new show, keeping all the main characters, all the machines and all the locations. Everything will be changed, updated, with all the mod cons “¦ It will have all the elements that made Thunderbirds popular in the first place but will be made with today’s technology and today’s thinking and today’s pace.” (Source: BBC Radio 5 Live).
He also said that he wasn’t fond of working with the puppets as they “can’t do anything.”
Now I don’t know about you, but this puts me in mind of the CGI Captain Scarlett series of a few years ago. That was “¦ rather less than good, if we’re honest. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the new series takes that exact route rather than, say, investing in developing better puppets. Hey, I like puppets. If the makers of Mongrels can craft puppets that are effective and make you care about the characters, then surely it’s worth a try for a project this close to the hearts of its fandom?
Thoughts? Opinions?
Why they can’t let good things just lie is beyond me sometimes.
Is it necessary? Thunderbirds pretty much fulfilled its potential, and you’re right, I’m reminded of CGI Captain Scarlet (also unnecessary).
Sigh.
I thought the New Captain Scarlet was great, it kind of grew on you! As for a TB reboot why not. The live action movie was terrible and an insult! Let GA get his honor back, if its CGI so be it!
I bet the new Thunderbirds is like the kick ass 2004 movie
I’d love it if they made a new season of Thunderbirds and/or another feature length movie. I hope they either use the same puppets and props from the original show OR use the same live actors and sets from the live-action movie. Either/or would be excellent. I hope they don’t use CGI or animation (though I realize every movie, even live action movies, has to use a little CGI here and there). That would suck big time.
I grew up watching Thunderbirds, had all the toys, loved the show. Remembering it fondly through the haze of years, I got some DVDs of the old shows for my kids when they were four. The kids were entranced and would watch over and over and over. What struck me most was the glacial pace of the show. Worked wonderfully for my kids, who a few years later still love the shows. I’d hate to see the original change much, but they’ll certainly speed up the action ten-fold.
Basically, if he wants to make a new series, he needs to manufacture new puppets in the style of the originals, and do all the special effects sequences utilising models. The one update he could do would be to use a lot of green screen in filming the special effects models, more akin to how the original Star Wars movies, just to save them the time and effort of trying to hide the steel wires holding them up. But apart from that – keep the ruddy thing the same as it was in 1966!!