'Thunderbirds' is 60 years old!
[media=https://youtu.be/hahdKYRdY5k?t=194]
On this day 60 years ago, 30th September 1965, the first episode of the 'puppet sci-fi' series 'Thunderbirds' was broadcast on British independent television. It was one of a growing series of puppet shows (the technology was called 'Supermarionation') pioneered by husband-and-wife production team Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and their company, APF. They'd started in black and white in 1960 before moving to colour for 1964's 'Stingray'. In spite of its hi-tech 'transatlantic' feel, 'Thunderbirds', we quickly learnt, was not American. It was made in Slough (rhymes with 'cow') just to the West of the Greater London conurbation. In 1965, given the level of respect and admiration enjoyed by the United States, together with the necessity of selling the series to an international audience, looking and sounding 'American' was no bad thing.
The premise of the whole affair was 'International Rescue', an organisation which interevened in perilous situations of all kinds and in all places. Both this, and the presentation, were inherently philanthropic; things got blown up, but lives were saved and bad actors outwitted. The series centred around the exploits of a family group, the Tracys, at the heart of which a father and five adult sons, based mainly on a secret, camouflaged base on an island in the South Pacific. At their disposal were a fleet of high-technology vehicles (the eponymous 'Thunderbirds', numbering 1 to 5) and other ancilliary devices. These were deployed on rescue missions and also featured in an exciting range of sequences which had the advantage of only having to be filmed once but which were seen over and over again to no detrimental effect. Other characters also made frequent appearances, most notably the 'London Agent' Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward with her mansion and her idiosyncratic butler, Aloysius Parker, not seldom seen with a pink Rolls-Royce registered FAB1 and actually designed in collaboration with the firm. If Ford could do 'product placement' in 'Carry On Cabby', then so could Rolls-Royce in 'Thunderbirds'. It was nice to see they didn't take themselves too seriously!
Special effects were an important part of the spectacle. In charge of these was Derek Meddings, who designed the 'Thunderbirds' craft and produced the necessary smoke trails and explosions to order. He did a very creditable job, a fact witessed by his later career including James Bond and Superman films. A lot of work went into making 'Thunderbirds'; APF employed a crew of 100 and production costs for a fifty minutes' long episode (25 minutes was the original intention, but minds changed...making an hour slot on commercial TV) ran into the tens of thousands of pounds ....and you can multiply that by twenty today. The series ran until the end of 1966 when Lew Grade, head of ATV independent television (which by this time owned APF) decided to abandon it and move on. The main reason was, ironically, no sales to the American networks, though it did go out regionally in a few places.
'Thunderbirds' turned out to be one of those things with an 'afterlife'. Even during its run on TV, it spawned a full-length feature film (in 1966) and of course there were subsequent 'revivals' and a few disappointments including films, both 'Supermarionation' and later live-action. But like the best things primarily designed for the very young (think 'Emil and the Detectives') it still stands up today. The sense of drama is still exciting. The vision of technology serving humanity for the best, though, has been lost in the intervening years. There is an increasing sense that we are there to serve it, and, more to the point, its purveyors.
Before I sign off and post the first episode ('Trapped In The Sky': a sort of 'Speed' with an aeroplane...) I must mention the theme tune. That was the work of one Barry Gray, who stepped up and produced a march with a 'military' feel to it. Eric Coates, he of 'Dam Busters' fame, would have been proud of it.
On this day 60 years ago, 30th September 1965, the first episode of the 'puppet sci-fi' series 'Thunderbirds' was broadcast on British independent television. It was one of a growing series of puppet shows (the technology was called 'Supermarionation') pioneered by husband-and-wife production team Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and their company, APF. They'd started in black and white in 1960 before moving to colour for 1964's 'Stingray'. In spite of its hi-tech 'transatlantic' feel, 'Thunderbirds', we quickly learnt, was not American. It was made in Slough (rhymes with 'cow') just to the West of the Greater London conurbation. In 1965, given the level of respect and admiration enjoyed by the United States, together with the necessity of selling the series to an international audience, looking and sounding 'American' was no bad thing.
The premise of the whole affair was 'International Rescue', an organisation which interevened in perilous situations of all kinds and in all places. Both this, and the presentation, were inherently philanthropic; things got blown up, but lives were saved and bad actors outwitted. The series centred around the exploits of a family group, the Tracys, at the heart of which a father and five adult sons, based mainly on a secret, camouflaged base on an island in the South Pacific. At their disposal were a fleet of high-technology vehicles (the eponymous 'Thunderbirds', numbering 1 to 5) and other ancilliary devices. These were deployed on rescue missions and also featured in an exciting range of sequences which had the advantage of only having to be filmed once but which were seen over and over again to no detrimental effect. Other characters also made frequent appearances, most notably the 'London Agent' Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward with her mansion and her idiosyncratic butler, Aloysius Parker, not seldom seen with a pink Rolls-Royce registered FAB1 and actually designed in collaboration with the firm. If Ford could do 'product placement' in 'Carry On Cabby', then so could Rolls-Royce in 'Thunderbirds'. It was nice to see they didn't take themselves too seriously!
Special effects were an important part of the spectacle. In charge of these was Derek Meddings, who designed the 'Thunderbirds' craft and produced the necessary smoke trails and explosions to order. He did a very creditable job, a fact witessed by his later career including James Bond and Superman films. A lot of work went into making 'Thunderbirds'; APF employed a crew of 100 and production costs for a fifty minutes' long episode (25 minutes was the original intention, but minds changed...making an hour slot on commercial TV) ran into the tens of thousands of pounds ....and you can multiply that by twenty today. The series ran until the end of 1966 when Lew Grade, head of ATV independent television (which by this time owned APF) decided to abandon it and move on. The main reason was, ironically, no sales to the American networks, though it did go out regionally in a few places.
'Thunderbirds' turned out to be one of those things with an 'afterlife'. Even during its run on TV, it spawned a full-length feature film (in 1966) and of course there were subsequent 'revivals' and a few disappointments including films, both 'Supermarionation' and later live-action. But like the best things primarily designed for the very young (think 'Emil and the Detectives') it still stands up today. The sense of drama is still exciting. The vision of technology serving humanity for the best, though, has been lost in the intervening years. There is an increasing sense that we are there to serve it, and, more to the point, its purveyors.
Before I sign off and post the first episode ('Trapped In The Sky': a sort of 'Speed' with an aeroplane...) I must mention the theme tune. That was the work of one Barry Gray, who stepped up and produced a march with a 'military' feel to it. Eric Coates, he of 'Dam Busters' fame, would have been proud of it.
61-69, M
