I loves me my digital cable. All the way up at Channel 244, there’s TechTV with (are you ready for this) Thunderbirds ! Not only that, but they put in MTV-style popup videos complete with little tidbits about how the show was produced.
Brings me back to the days when I didn’t dare miss Fireball XL-5 and Stingrays either, and try to keep track of which marionette was used for which character (question: Which ones were reused? I forget), and what cheesy props got reused where, and wouldn’t it have been easier just to use human actors. Yes, I know Gerry did Space: 1999 too.
Some thoughts:
Brains needed a real name.
Lady Penelope needed to admit her sexual attraction to her chauffeur, Parker (something in the way he said “Yes, m’lady”) while opening the doors of that bubble-top Rolls meant he knew it, too).
John Tracy needed to come down from Thunderbird 5 for some fresh air once in awhile.
The swimming pool covering Thunderbird 1’s launch pad should have sloshed over when pulled back.
Thunderbird 2 got too much air time - it was just a flying truck!
Did International Rescue ever bill for their services?
Any other fond memories of the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation shows, people?
Supercar The first Anderson/Supermarionation show I ever saw. Apparently there are some videotapes available. Haven’t seen it in ages. I have fond memories (just not terribly clear ones) of Fireball XL5, too. I don’t think I watched any of the Anderson efforts – puppet or live-action – after that.
When I was a kid, I was absolutely crazy about Marina from Stingray. Also, one of the user names I had considered when I signed up here was Troy Tempest.
There was a Walter (Schirra) tracy, a Scott (Carpenter) Tracy, a Vergil (Grissom) Tracy, an Alan (Shepard) Tracy, a Gordon (Cooper Tracy) and a John (Glenn) Tracy.
Dang it, it’s not fair. They need to create a Deke Tracy!
When I was between the ages of 4 and 8, my dad was posted to England. I can remember watching the Thunderbirds (my brother even had a toy Thurderbird 2–too bad we didn’t keep it!), and Joe 90, and Captain Scarlet (my favourite), and a show we referred to as “Father Unwin”, except it was really The Secret Service. Lord, I loved those shows. I wanted to be one of the Angels when I grew up.
I always felt rather sorry for Captain Scarlet, because he had to die over and over again. The fan page says he was “energetic and popular” when off duty, but to me he always seemed rather isolated because of that ability.
I wish TechTV would bring that show back, too. I’ve been watching the Thunderbirds, but it isn’t quite the same. Besides, for a super-secret organization, it’s amazing how many outsiders seem to know their given and family names.
When I was a (latish) teenager, our band name was The Angel Interceptors. We were quite average (except for the name, of course).
My uncle owned half the company (Anvil films) which did the post-production sound on some of the early series. We used to get all sorts of great stuff as freebies, plus get to see where a lot of the dubbing went on. His name would occasionally come up on the credits as ‘dubbing mixer’.
I definitely had the hots for Marina. There. I’ve admitted it.
UFO really, really scared me at the time. I can still recall exactly the sound effect they used when one appeared. Yikes. Now I’ve got goosebumps.