Just wondering, as I learn that a film version is in the works.
I didn’t think that the Tracy family had any international fanbase at all. How well known is it stateside (and elsewhere?)
it’s da shiznit in Japan.
Well, actually, they’re showing it occasionally as part of NHK’s 50th anniversary year flashbacks…but apparently, it was really popular here back in the day. You can still find toys, etc., they’re still used as part of ad campaigns, etc.
I used to love watching it when I was a wee’un.
I remember it, but I actually preferred “Stingray.” That Marina–hubba hubba!
It was big in Holland in the sixties. I loved it.
Thunderbirds has been in syndication for almost 40 years: the BBC estimates it has more than 100 million fans in 66 countries worldwide. Indeed, in North America, Europe and Australasia it would be difficult to find someone who isn’t familiar with Gerry Anderson productions on some level, though whether it’s Thunderbirds they remember or Fireball XL5 or Captain Scarlet varies from person to person.
When Carlton bought the ITC library from Seagram in 1999, it knew full well what it was acquiring. Almost immediately they digitally remastered Thunderbirds for an extraordinarily successful BBC run which stimulated fresh demand for the entire canon and very healthy DVD sales in Britain and abroad.
The motion picture rights to Thunderbirds have been floating around Hollywood for years; scripts have been written, roles cast and production abandoned several times in the 1990s, though I’m afraid we won’t be as lucky this time.
To answer the OP, not very popular.
It airs(just recently joining the lineup) on Tech TV, a little watched but very good cable network.
In its original run, it wasn’t any big deal in the states. I don’t recall it being run all that much in the New York City area, though Supercar, Fireball XL-5, Stingray, and Space Patrol* all were. If it’s not show in New York, it probably was shown sporadically elsewhere.
*Not by the Andersons, and few seem to have heard of it, though there is a web page
Well, if people don’t remember Supermarionation*, then Orbitz.com’s ad agency’s just throwing money away.
[sub]*Is it just me, or does this look like it could mean “A country run by the Nintendo plumber guy?”[/sub]
Oh ghod how I loved this show as a child.
I still watch it.
Anyone else ever catch the animated movie/series version of Thunderbirds? I vaguely recall seeing it on the Showtime network, back in… the mid 80s, I think.
I never saw the original show until just a couple years ago, and, as Mahaloth mentioned, it’s running on TechTV currently.
I can’t really recall much about the animated version, other than the fact that it used the “Thunderbirds are go!” tagline. The vehicles used were more reminiscent of Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman?) than the marionette Thunderbirds show.
Well, back in the 1960s, when I was a little kid, I watched the Thunderbirds regularly on Saturday mornings on WNEW TV, channel 5, in New York City. It was one of my favorite shows (Scott, captain of Thunderbird 1, was my favorite).
It was fairly popular among boys my age, but never huge. Some of the other British marionette shows, like “Stingray” and “Captain Scarlet” were also mildly successful in that time period.
As a kid, I was so pleased with myself for figuring out that the whole Tracy family was named after AMerica’s project Mercury Astronauts. Dad Walter (Schirra), and sons Scott (Carpenter), Vergil (Grissom), Alan (Shepard), Gordon (Cooper) and John (Glenn).
I still think it’s unfair there wasn’t a Deke Tracy!!
Actually, Jeff Tracy (the father) is apparently of Meditteranean descent and an accomplished slacker as well if the official biographies are to be believed.
I discovered the show for the first time on Tech TV. I’ve seen parodies of it before, but never saw the original show. I enjoy watching it, but Tech TV seems to have a little consistency problem. They need to discover that people will be much more likely to watch a show if they actually run it at THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY.
I love ‘Thunderbirds.’ It holds up very well in the science fiction and spy genres, even though it’s not a very complex show overall and does tend to repeat common formulae (ditzy scientist who’s developed uber-weapon, cold and conniving Soviet spy making attempts on affable politician’s life using improbable technology, etc.). The presentation on TechTV is also attractive, with an unobtrusive bar on the bottom revealing interesting facts about the episode or the show in general during the action.
Of course, there’s also the novelty value of seeing little puppets on strings acting out plots reminiscient of James Bond films, and the awe one feels when one realizes the immense complexity of some of the sequences.
I never liked the show. When I was a kid, the marionnettes scared me. They just look so unnatural and creepy! I have never watched more than a couple minutes of it because I was so creeped out.
guess I’m just weird 
As a kid, I wondered when I would grow up and get my strings.
I made T-Bird space ship, flying submarine ship thingy and other stuff with my Legos.
I’d heard about the shows for years, but never saw them. I stumbled onto Thunderbirds Are Go! late one night on cable and discovered, much to my amazement, that one shot in the film was ripped off (years later) in The Empire Strikes Back! (Don’t remember what was happening in the shot in Thunderbirds, but in TESB, it’s the scene where the guy walks into Vader’s room and his helmet drops down on his head.) I’ve watched a few episodes of the TV series, but have found it a bit bland for my tastes. If the movie gets a good Doper rating, I’ll probably go see it.
My dad worked for the government, and we were assigned to a base in England from about '68 to '72. I grew up watching Thunderbirds, Joe90, Secret Service (which we called Father Unwin), and Captain Scarlet. My favourite was Captain Scarlet, although Father Unwin and Thunderbirds were very close seconds. My brother actually had a toy Thunderbird 2; aren’t we sorry now that we didn’t keep it!
Funny thing- last October, when my wife and I were visiting London, we watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace… and would you believe, the marching band played the theme from “The Thunderbirds” as they entered the grounds, as if it were serious, formal martial music!
I got a kick out of it, as did everyone who got the joke.