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By 1965, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson had built a reputation for themselves for making highly-rated television series loved by both children and adults. The newest show, again using puppets as its stars was called Thunderbirds. It zoomed into living rooms and saved Thursday afternoons from September 30, 1965 until December 25, 1966. The basic premise of the series was that Jeff Tracy and his five adult sons formed International Rescue (IR), a secret organization dedicated to saving human life. They were aided in their missions by technologically advanced land, sea, air and space vehicles, which were called into service when conventional rescue techniques proved ineffective. There were five amazing Thunderbird units, which were run by each of the diversely different and talented brothers.
Thunderbirds
Most of the 32 episodes filmed were 50 minutes long as compared to the 25 minutes of the previous series (Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray). The increased length allowed for better stories and better character development. In response to Gerry Anderson's request that the theme music have a military feel, composer Barry Gray created "5-4-3-2-1: Thunderbirds Are Go" and "The Thunderbirds March." The latter piece has been described as one of the best TV themes ever written, perfect for the show and catchy when heard alone.
Interesting fact:
The Thunderbirds special-effects department were praised for their flair with keeping an overall futuristic look to the characters and surroundings. Even with the use of advanced puppetry and innovative camera techniques, the wires that controlled movement were a constant distraction. As filming progressed, the crew started to dispense with the wires and instead manipulate the puppets from the studio floor using rods.
Another Interesting fact:
The five Tracy brothers were named after the Mercury Seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Gordon Cooper and Alan Shepard.
The natural looking faces of the puppets probably looked more than familiar because most were based on actors and other popular performers of the 1960s. I'm certain you'll recognize most of them.
Lastly, the likeness of Lady Penelope was fashioned after the co-creator of the series, Sylvia Anderson (wife of Gerry Anderson). Ms. Anderson's voice was also used to bring the secret agent to life. And why shouldn't the creator have to last word?
Sylvia Anderson and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
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Traveling under the sea seemed to be the next natural step for Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation team and from that idea was hatched the children’s marionette television show named Stingray, filmed entirely in color. Do you remember swimming along on the missions of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (W.A.S.P.) and the crew of the most advanced combat submarine? The organization was based at Marineville, just off the California coast in the year 2065.
Stingray
Relive the lively way each episode began and the romantically moving ending theme.
To be honest (from eleven-year old me), Stingray was the most boring of the sophisticated puppet series. The water-logged pilot was launched on October 4, 1964. After thirty-nine soggy episodes, the show finally drowned on June 27, 1965. Strangely enough, the information behind the characters was more interesting than the actual series.
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Fireball XL5 and its members of the World Space Patrol were launched on its mission to save the galaxy on Saturday morning, October 28, 1962 on NBC. It ran until September 1963. It was the only Gerry Anderson series that ran on a US network. It was also the second puppet series that was filmed in Supermarionation.
Fireball XL5
Fireball
The Crew
Fireball XL5s brave team of stringed puppets were Colonel Steve Zodiac, Doctor Venus (voiced by Sylvia Anderson), Professor Matthew Matic and the transparent robot co-pilot named Robert (voiced by Gerry Anderson with the aid of an artificial larynx). And let’s not forget about Zoonie, Venus' pet, a Lazoon who liked mimicking things. In space, the crew maneuvered with thruster packs and never wore spacesuits outside of the ship. They instead took oxygen pills (talk about ways to cut the budget). The Ship There was no mistaking the old Soviet design of the long cylindrical spaceship, along with the launch concept, which was used in the 1951 film When Worlds Collide. The XL5 was comprised of a winged nose cone, the Fireball Junior, which contained the cockpit and separated from the main body to land on other worlds. The Future Filmed totally in black and white, Fireball XL5 established a style, which Gerry Anderson refined and improved in each series. The next step was to move into a wider market, and also doing it in color.
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For laughs, take a look at the music video done in 2011.
On Saturday morning, January 28, 1961, an excited seven-year old sat down to watch the over-advertised pilot for a brand new kind of children's television series. As NASA's Mercury program was struggling to launch capsules into orbit, the new show would be about a spaceship kind of car that could soar through the sky, dive underwater and maybe travel into space. Mike Mercury was the pilot of the fantastic vehicle and the adventures were about to begin.
Supercar
Long before there was CGI (computer generated images), Gerry Anderson and his team were looking for an innovative way to bring their fantasies to life. Beginning in the early 1960s, multiple series involving puppets on strings driven by science fiction type plots created a new kind of entertainment, which was named Supermarionation.
The first of these sci-fi action series was called Supercar. For the next few weeks, let's reminisce about these childhood visions of the future.
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