Thunderbirds are go!!!!

[Agrippa]

Never mind Thunderbirds , with or without strings, with puppets that
look about as lifelike as Philip Schofield, when are they bringing
back "The High Chaparral"?

[mickeyflinn]

Bumping an old(ish) thread, but in case no-one else has seen this;


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2B5p1Ajtc4
The three episodes are old audio only ones from 1966 that have been adapted to make actual episodes.

[Railwaygun]

FAB!!

[zwilnik]

I'm one of the backers of this one. Looking forward to the new episodes

[Bealman]

Now that IS cool. 

[railsquid]

Every time I see this thread pop up, I think it's about Virgin's rescue locomotives...

[D1042 Western Princess]

I sincerely hope they are better than the rubbish currently pretending to be "Thunderbirds" on TV at the moment!
Sylvia and Gerry (and their talented teams of course) beat the CGI stuff hands down with their "Supermarionation".

[Karhedron]

I rather enjoy the rebooted CGI version. It is different to the original but I like that they have a distinct take rather than just slavishly copying the original.

In one regard, it is actually closer to Gerry Anderson's original vision for Thunderbirds in having a faster pace and a 25-ish minute running time (like most of his other shows). Thunderbirds was extended at the urging of Michael Grade to a 45 minute running time which explains the long, repetitive launch scenes as well as slo-mo feel to some parts. It had to be padded to reach that running time. TBAG cuts it back to the originally intended running time and packs the action in faster.

[D1042 Western Princess]

I rather enjoy the rebooted CGI version.
TBAG cuts it back to the originally intended running time and packs the action in faster.

To me it was the redesigned vehicles and uniforms (unnecessarily so, in my view), the sex change of some of the characters and so on.
It just wasn't "Thunderbirds" in my opinion, any more than a Britannia is a 2-10-0 9F. The boilers might look similar, have the same number of wheels etc. but in truth it was all very different and it didn't work for me.

[Bealman]

Having watched a few of the cartoon versions, I've mellowed on them a bit and don't think they're too bad.

However, as a young railway modeller back in the 60s, the scenic work on all the Gerry Anderson stuff was inspiring.

[Skyline2uk]

I recently watched a fair chunk of the original episodes by borrowing my friends DVDs.

Even after the initial shock of finding that my favourite episode fom my youth was in fact the very first one (the one with Skyflash aircraft mysteriously crashing and then saving Lady P who was on one), I still kept going and enjoyed them very much.

Having said that, some of the attitudes on display would never get passed censors now. I mean the episode with the huge building catching fire, a fire caused by a "women driver", can you imaging how badly that would go down now?!

Skyline2uk

[Bealman]

Yep, that goes for most stuff these days.  :'(

However, the models and real chemical flame and explosions remain impressive.

The airliner in the first episode was Fireflash, by the way, and TinTin was on board, not Lady P.

[Skyline2uk]

 

The name I can accept (possibly got it wrong re my screen name!), but I was SURE Lady P was on said endangered plane....

Maybe I am thinking this because she flies on it in other episodes?

Anyway, I bow to your superior knowledge Mr B 

Skyline2uk

[Bealman]

 

Thanks, but I don't think the world depends on either of us being correct! 

[railsquid]

You may or may not be interested to know that the Japanese national broadcaster NHK will be showing this on Saturday evenings from tomorrow.

Still mystified as to why they'd be interested in strategically positioned rescue locomotives mind you...