# Thunderbirds are go! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848 "2005-07-30T04:05:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848/41 "2005-08-10T05:58:15Z")
I got interested in Gerrymation as a child because my uncle was fascinated with it. In particular, he was fascinated by the technology involved in producing it. This is something that’s hard to explain to people looking at this stuff for the first time after decades of exploding special effects technology and budgets, but their model work was really astonishing for the time, and the several series’ can be viewed as a case study in working out the technical problems of this rarified medium of supermarionation. You’ve heard it said about just about everything, but they were way ahead of their time. Thunderbirds was my first exposure to the culture of fandom. I mean, of course I had been watching Dr. Who and could speak about its particulars. I had seen Star Wars and found it exciting. A lot of people I knew had about the same knowledge and interest in these. But on my birthday one year a relative, I don’t even remember which, gave me a blister pack of little die cast metal space ships, and when my uncle saw it, he recognized the ships as The Thunderbirds even though it didn’t say ‘Thunderbirds’ anywhere on the package. Whether it was an outright knock-off or just some repackaged surplus I don’t know, but when my uncle saw that one of the little ships had doors that opened, he said there would be a submarine inside. And lo, when the doors were opened, a little plastic submarine fell out. This was the first time I perceived that there were boundaries of shared knowledge and vocabulary that separated fans from mere audiences. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848/42 "2005-08-10T16:28:59Z")
> [@rackensack](#): > > There’s a two-disk DVD set called[_The Best of Thunderbirds_](http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=proframe&prod_id=710072) that has six episodes and several special DVD extras. It’s a good starting point (it’s what we got my son first) as it’s cheaper than any of the other collections (~$20, vs. ~$40 for the other collections). $16.16 at amazon. I’ve put it in my shopping cart. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848/43 "2005-08-10T22:51:32Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > $16.16 at amazon. I’ve put it in my shopping cart. 🙂 Cool. I think we got it on sale at Target for around $15, but I figured it was safer to quote list. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848/44 "2005-09-08T19:58:36Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > **Stingray, Thunderbirds, UFO.** > > Best TV theme tunes. Ever. (Except for maybe the Rockford files). > > _Anything can happen in the next half hour!_ > (cue bongos\*\*\*\*\*) > > Stingra–y > Stingray > > Stingra–y > Stingray > > Sting-ray > Sting-ray > Sting-ray! > > While I don’t really rank Captain Scarlett up with Thunderbirds, I did give us the [Angels](http://www.spectrum-headquarters.com/symphony.html) ( **Johnny L.A.** You’ve seen them yes?) > > BTW it’s Brain **s**. Plain ‘Brain’ would b-be w-w-weird. > > \*\*\*\*\*The bongos seem to be the alarm signal at WASP, I’m not sure why. [Fireball XL5](http://www.culttelly.co.uk/lyrics/xl5.html) is better, to my taste. _My heart would be a fireball. A fireball. Every time I gaze into your starry eyes._ (I still find myself humming that line. How many years has it been?) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848/45 "2005-09-09T03:20:59Z")
> [@rjk](#): > > [Fireball XL5](http://www.culttelly.co.uk/lyrics/xl5.html) is better, to my taste. > > _My heart would be a fireball. > A fireball. > Every time I gaze into your starry eyes._ > > (I still find myself humming that line. How many years has it been?) I haven’t seen _Fireball XL5_, but those lyrics look vaguely familiar. The song I’m remembering has a 50’s sound. It was used on a space film I saw – possibly in _From The Earth To The Moon_. BTW: Based on the recommendations here (becaus the series came too early for me) I bought the _Stingray_ boxed set. Haven’t had time to start watching them though. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848/46 "2005-09-09T09:02:04Z")
This week BBC2 have been showing two episodes of Thunderbirds every day. And Sky one is showing Stingray at 8am every day, tho’ so far I’ve forgotten to tape it :smack: I want to catch an episode with agent X-two-zero > [@Johnny L. A.](#): > > Now that I’m older, I can pick out flaws Yesterday we had [Alias Mr Hackenbaker](http://www.thunderbirdsonline.co.uk/episodes/alias/) In which Thunderbird two fires a missile at a hijacked airliner (on which a fashion show is taking place) in order to prevent it landing in the Sahara desert so some crooks can nick a new dress material. The airliner _crash lands_ back at London airport but doesn’t explode\*\*\*\*\* because Brains has designed the plane so that all the fuel can be jettisoned in a winged unit which can fly away on its own, and be exploded\*\*\*\*\*\* safely at altitude Flaws you say? Maybe I should’ve done a spoiler box round the whole thing, oh well. \*\*\*\*\* things do tend to explode on Thunderbirds. \*\*\*\*\*\* See \*\*\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Sensibility](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Sensibility](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sensibility)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848/47 "2005-09-11T16:52:11Z")
😃 > [@Small Clanger](#): > > This week BBC2 have been showing two episodes of Thunderbirds every day. And Sky one is showing Stingray at 8am every day, tho’ so far I’ve forgotten to tape it :smack: I want to catch an episode with agent X-two-zero > Yesterday we had [Alias Mr Hackenbaker](http://www.thunderbirdsonline.co.uk/episodes/alias/) In which Thunderbird two fires a missile at a hijacked airliner (on which a fashion show is taking place) in order to prevent it landing in the Sahara desert so some crooks can nick a new dress material. The airliner _crash lands_ back at London airport but doesn’t explode\*\*\*\*\* because Brains has designed the plane so that all the fuel can be jettisoned in a winged unit which can fly away on its own, and be exploded\*\*\*\*\*\* safely at altitude Flaws you say? > > Maybe I should’ve done a spoiler box round the whole thing, oh well. > > \*\*\*\*\* things do tend to explode on Thunderbirds. > > \*\*\*\*\*\* See \*\*\*\*\* I was watching the BBC" episodes too! Excellent stuff! Can still knock spots of lots of todays stuff! IMHO!!! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbirds-are-go/314848.md?page=2)