STINGRAY, THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLLET komplettes Basisset 66 Karten - Topps, 1993

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STINGRAY, THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLET - Complete VINTAGE Base Set of 66 cards issued by Topps in 1993.

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill. First broadcast on ATV Midlands from September 1967 to May 1968, it has since been transmitted in more than 40 other countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Characters are presented as marionette puppets alongside scale model sets and special effects in a filming technique that the Andersons termed "Supermarionation". This technology incorporated solenoid motors as a means of synchronising the puppet's lip movements with pre-recorded dialogue. Set in 2068, Captain Scarlet presents the hostilities between Earth and a race of Martians known as the Mysterons. After human astronauts attack their city on Mars, the vengeful Mysterons declare war on Earth, initiating a series of reprisals that are countered by Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation. Spectrum boasts the extraordinary abilities of its primary agent, Captain Scarlet. During the events of the pilot episode, Scarlet acquires the Mysteron healing power of "retro-metabolism" and is thereafter considered to be virtually "indestructible", being able to recover fully from injuries that would normally be fatal.  Captain Scarlet, the eighth of ten puppet series that the Andersons produced during the 1950s and 1960s, was preceded by Thunderbirds and followed by Joe 90 and The Secret Service. In terms of visual aesthetic, the series represented a departure from Thunderbirds on account of its use of non-caricatured puppets sculpted in realistic proportions. Re-run a number of times in the UK and purchased by the BBC in 1993, the 32-episode series has entailed tie-in merchandise since its first appearance, from dolls to original novels and comic strips in the Century 21 Publications children's magazine, TV Century 21.  In comparisons to Thunderbirds and other earlier series, Captain Scarlet is generally considered "darker" in tone and less suited to child audiences due to stronger on-screen violence and themes of extraterrestrial aggression and interplanetary war. The transition in the puppets' design has polarised critical opinion and drawn a mixed response from former production staff, although the series has been praised for its inclusion of a multinational, multiethnic puppet cast and its depiction of a utopian future Earth. Having decided to revive the series in the late 1990s, Gerry Anderson supervised the production of a computer-animated reboot, Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, which was broadcast in the UK in 2005.  PLOT SUMMARY: In the pilot episode, a team of Zero-X astronauts investigate the surface of Mars in 2068 after unidentified radio signals emanating from the planet are detected on Earth. The source is discovered to be an extraterrestrial base, which is attacked and destroyed when the explorers mistake a harmless sensor device for a weapon. The inhabitants of the settlement, the Mysterons, are sentient computers that form a collective consciousness. They are the remnants of the original Mysteron race, extraterrestrial life forms that originated in a galaxy other than the Milky Way and maintained their colony on Mars for 3,500 years before abandoning the planet at the turn of the 20th century. Possessing partial control over matter, the Mysteron computers draw on their power of "reversing matter" to rebuild the complex before vowing revenge for the unwarranted aggression.  Reversing matter, also described as "retro-metabolism", allows the Mysterons to re-create the likeness of a person or object in the form of a facsimile that is under their control. This ability is used to conduct a "war of nerves" against Earth, in which the Mysterons issue threats against specific targets (from world leaders and military installations to whole cities and continents) and then destroy and reconstruct whatever instruments are required (whether human or machine) to execute their plans. The presence of the Mysterons is indicated by two circles of green light (the "Mysteron rings") that trail across scenes of destruction and reconstruction. Although the Mysterons are able to manipulate events from Mars, their actions on Earth are usually performed by their replicated intermediaries. The primary agent of the Mysterons, Zero-X mission leader Captain Black, is killed and reconstructed during the encounter on Mars. Before the events of the pilot episode, Black held a senior officer rank in Spectrum, an international security organisation inaugurated in 2067 that mobilises all its personnel, vehicles and other resources in response to the threat posed by the Mysterons. The Spectrum Organisation is directed from Cloudbase, an airborne headquarters stationed at a height of 40,000 feet above the Earth's surface, and has a presence in all major cities. The organisation employs operatives of many nationalities, of whom the most senior hold military ranks and colour-based codenames, are posted to Cloudbase, and answer directly to the commander-in-chief of Spectrum, Colonel White. Cloudbase is defended by the Angels, a squadron of five female pilots named Destiny (squadron leader), Harmony, Melody, Rhapsody and Symphony, who fly the Angel Interceptor fighter aircraft. In addition, the organisation incorporates a fleet of Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles (SPV) hidden in secret locations around the world as well as the Spectrum Patrol Car, hovercraft, transport jets and machine-gun equipped helicopters. Captain Scarlet becomes Spectrum's foremost weapon in its fight against the Mysterons after the events of the pilot episode, in which the Mysterons threaten to assassinate the World President as their first act of retaliation. The original Scarlet is killed in a car accident engineered by the Mysterons and replaced with a Mysteron reconstruction. However, when the Scarlet duplicate is shot by Spectrum officer Captain Blue and falls to his death from a tall structure, it returns to life with the consciousness of its human template restored, and is thereafter free from Mysteron control. Scarlet's ex-Mysteron body possesses two remarkable abilities: he is able to sense the presence of other Mysteron duplicates in his vicinity, and if he is injured or killed, retro-metabolism restores him to a state of top health. Now able to deploy suicidally reckless tactics to thwart Mysteron threats, Scarlet repeatedly braves the pain of death in the knowledge that he will recover to face the Mysterons once more. While Scarlet and Spectrum defend Earth against the threat from Mars, it is found that Mysteron reconstructions are particularly vulnerable to electricity and that they are detectable on X-rays, to which their biology is impervious. Consequently, two anti-Mysteron devices, the "Mysteron Gun" and the "Mysteron Detector," are developed to aid Spectrum. A three-episode story arc charts the uncovering of a second Mysteron complex under construction on the Moon, its destruction by Spectrum, and efforts to negotiate with the Mysterons on Mars via a crystal power source, salvaged from the complex, which is converted into an interplanetary communication device. A failed attempt at satellite surveillance of the Martian surface, aborted military conferences and the sabotaged construction of a new space fleet hinder Spectrum's plans to return to Mars, and the organisation is unsuccessful on two occasions in apprehending Captain Black. The penultimate episode of the series depicts a Mysteron assault on Cloudbase with the use of armed spacecraft, which is ultimately revealed to be a nightmare dreamt by one of the Angel pilots. The finale is a flashback episode that ends inconclusively with regards to the war between Earth and Mars and the fate of Spectrum and the Mysterons.  When talks to find an American broadcaster for Thunderbirds fell through in July 1966, production for the series' second season ended with the completion of just six episodes at the behest of ITC financier Lew Grade. Having overseen Gerry Anderson's work since the creation of Supercar in 1960 – and going on to buy his production company, AP Films, during the making of Fireball XL5 – Grade was enthusiastic for Anderson's programmes to be transmitted abroad, in the lucrative American market, and decided that a new concept would do more to attract potential bidders than a second season of Thunderbirds.  As a result of the cancellation, Anderson was required to come up with an idea for another Supermarionation series. He had once been inspired by the thought of creating a live-action police drama in which the hero would have unexpectedly been murdered halfway through the series and replaced by a new lead character. Now giving fresh consideration to this idea, Anderson resolved that a selling point for his new series could be a character that can be killed at the end of each episode and resurrected by the beginning of the next. This, coupled with contemporary theories about the possibility of life on Mars, led to the idea of an interplanetary war raging between Earth and its neighbour and a worldwide security organisation being called on to defend human civilisation. After further thought, Anderson decided that "Scarlet" would make an unusual codename for this organisation's "indestructible" agent who can come back to life, while "Blue" could be his partner's designation. From this, Anderson reasoned that all the personnel should have colours for names so as to form the whole "Spectrum" of colours, and decided that someone called "White" should be the leader of the Spectrum Organisation, much in the same way that white light is composed of, and can be broken down into, the colours of the spectrum.  Intrigued by the often-heard phrase "life as we know it", Anderson wanted to set the aliens of his new series apart from the conventional extraterrestrials of 1960s television and cinema. He therefore worked from a basis of "life as we don't know it", and made the Mysterons that were to feature in the series a race of sentient computers as opposed to organic lifeforms, although this is not explicitly stated in the television episodes. The initial intention was that the original Mysteron civilisation came from another galaxy. Having established a settlement on Mars in the distant past, they fled the planet centuries later, abandoning their computer complex.  Contemporary recollections of the Second World War proved to be an inspiration for a number of design aspects. For instance, Anderson recalled that RAF pilots had found it difficult to counter German attacks during the Battle of Britain, since taking off from the ground meant that it took considerable time to intercept the enemy. He therefore made Spectrum's headquarters an airborne aircraft carrier called "Cloudbase". The Mysteron rings were inspired by an advertisement for the Oxo line of food products, which included an image of the brand name sliding over a frying pan and the outline of a woman's body.  WRITING: With a provisional series title of The Mysterons, Anderson and his wife, Sylvia, wrote a pilot script in August 1966. This differed significantly from the final draft of the pilot episode. Initially, it was decided that the Mysteron duplicate of Captain Scarlet would be artificially resurrected by an advanced Spectrum computer rather than reviving naturally, and that thereafter he would no longer be truly human but a "mechanical man" akin to an android. Another early ambition was for each episode to feature a guest star voiced by a well-known actor of the day. To this end, the role of the World President in the pilot episode was originally intended to be voiced by the American-born actor Patrick McGoohan.  With Anderson serving chiefly as executive producer, the majority of the writing input for Captain Scarlet was provided by Tony Barwick, who had previously written for the short-lived second season of Thunderbirds. Originally given the role of script editor, Barwick went on to pen 18 of the 32 episodes himself, and was also often required to make substantial changes to other writers' work. While discussing his approach to writing episodes in a 1986 interview, he drew parallels between the premise and characters of Captain Scarlet and those of Thunderbirds, suggesting, for example, that Spectrum was similar to International Rescue and that the character of Captain Black was like the earlier recurring villain from Thunderbirds, The Hood.  FILMING: After a two-month pre-production period lasting from November to December 1966, filming for the pilot episode, "The Mysterons", began on 2 January 1967, with a budget of £1.5 million for the 32-episode series. At an average cost of £46,000 per episode, or £2,000 per minute, it was the most expensive Anderson production to date. A month before, Anderson and his team had dropped the name "AP Films," since Arthur Provis was no longer working alongside Anderson on a full-time basis, and renamed their company "Century 21 Productions". Many of the directors for earlier Anderson series, such as Alan Pattillo, David Elliott and David Lane, had either left AP Films or were involved in the production of Thunderbird 6, the second Thunderbirds feature film, at the time that Captain Scarlet was being produced. Although Desmond Saunders and Lane were available to direct the first and second episodes, while veteran AP Films director Brian Burgess also contributed, the Andersons needed to transfer some of the more junior production personnel to replace the outgoing staff. To this effect, Alan Perry and Ken Turner were promoted from the camera operator and art departments. Directors drafted in from outside AP Films were Peter Anderson, Leo Eaton and finally Robert Lynn, who had worked as an assistant director on the 1958 Hammer films Dracula and The Revenge of Frankenstein.  The Slough Trading Estate in Buckinghamshire had served as Anderson's production base since the filming of Stingray in 1964. To accelerate production on earlier Supermarionation series, pairs of episodes had been filmed simultaneously on separate sound stages, a practice that continued for Captain Scarlet. Some filming coincided with the production of Thunderbird 6, which was recorded on a separate puppet stage and released in July 1968. Editing rooms, post-production offices and a preview theatre were housed in a separate building on the Slough Trading Estate; the crew collaborated with the Standard Telecommunication Laboratories at Harlow in Essex on the technical and electronic side of the production.  A third unit, headed by Derek Meddings and his assistant Mike Trim, handled special effects and miniatures and was tasked with creating all the permanent sets and models to be used from the pilot episode, such as the Cloudbase interiors and scaled-down Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles. A design innovation for this series meant that the noses of the miniature vehicles would "dip" when stopped, to imitate the sudden application of brakes and deceleration on a real-life vehicle. The miniature of the Cloudbase exterior, which ran to six feet (1.8 m) in length, proved to be too heavy to be held up with strings and was instead supported by a metal pole. To transfer the Mysteron rings from script to screen, the production team acted on the advice of producer Reg Hill, who suggested that a transparency be made that could be panned across the puppet sets using a slide projector.  By the time the series started broadcasting on ATV in September 1967, principal photography had been completed for the first 20 episodes. In general, turnaround for completing all the puppet shots for each episode was two weeks or 11 working days. It was originally predicted that shooting would be wrapped within eight months, but filming overran until late October due to the demands of the Thunderbird 6 shoot. While production on the next Supermarionation series, Joe 90, began in November it was not until early 1968 that the last episodes of Captain Scarlet were edited and completed for broadcast.  MUSIC: Music for Captain Scarlet was composed by Barry Gray, an innovator in electronic music, who had scored all the Supermarionation series preceding it. The opening title sequence theme, "The Mysterons", was rendered electronically and accompanied by a staccato drum beat to introduce the lead character of Captain Scarlet. This seven-note beat was also used to link scenes within episodes, and to cut to advertisement breaks, for which it was accompanied by a zooming image of the Spectrum logo as designed by Tony Dunsterville of the art department. On the subject of the beat, Anderson recalls, "When I went to the recording session, I heard the drum beat he had come up with and I thought, 'Christ, is this all he could produce?' Looking back on it, however, I can see that what he came up with worked very well."  The closing credits theme, "Captain Scarlet", underwent significant change after the completion of the first 14 episodes. The first version had been mainly instrumental, with the words "Captain Scarlet!" sung in time to the aforementioned staccato drum beat after which a “vocoded” repetition of the words "Captain Scarlet!" provided by Gray himself would be heard. This was then revised as a song performed by a London-based pop group The Spectrum, assembled by RCA Victor as an imitation of the American band The Monkees, who happened to share their name with the organisation that appears in Captain Scarlet.  The seven-note beat is now used during "The Through the Window" on Q Radio.  In addition to the main theme, Gray scored incidental music for 18 episodes of Captain Scarlet between March and December 1967. Musical accompaniment for the remaining 14 episodes was achieved by re-using these completed tracks as well as music from previous Anderson productions such as Thunderbirds. In composing his incidental music, Gray made extensive use of two contrasting, yet similar, themes to illustrate Spectrum and the Mysterons. In their notes to the soundtrack release, Ralph Titterton and Tim Mallett suggest that the music is dominated by a "military feel", with an emphasis placed on percussion, brass and wind instruments, by contrast to the full orchestral sound of the Thunderbirds score. With the exception of the four-note Mysteron motif, Gray generally restricted his use of electronic synthesisers, including an Ondes Martenot, to space sequences, preferring traditional instruments for Earth-bound action. Captain Scarlet's motif, heard in both versions of the end credits theme and the incidental music, is a melodic variation on the Mysteron theme, emphasising Scarlet's history as an ex-Mysteron.  Awarding the soundtrack CD release a rating of four stars out of five, Bruce Eder of the website AllMusic describes the collection of theme and incidental music as "a strange mix of otherworldly 'music of the spheres', late-50s/early-60s 'space-age pop', 'British Invasion' beat, Scottish folk-inspired tunes, kids-style 'Mickey Mouse' scoring, martial music, light jazz, and light classical", and singles out both "Cocktail Music", from "Model Spy", and the piano track, performed by Gray, from "The Inquisition", for particular praise. In his BBC Online review, Peter Marsh opines that the darker tone of the music is reflective of Captain Scarlet as a programme featuring realistic puppets and death, frightening alien villains and "no laughs", stating that "dissonant vibraphone chords shimmer under hovering, tremulous strings contrasted with urgent, militaristic drums and pulsing brass – driving the action ever onto its climax (and, no doubt, a big explosion)."  On 8 October 2015, Fanderson released a 3-disc set exclusively for club members. It contains music either written for, or used in, all but three episodes ("The Heart of New York" and "Treble Cross" contain no original music and the cue recordings for "Traitor" are lost).  PUPPETS: Supermarionation, a technique in which the movement of the marionette puppet's mouth is electronically synchronised with character dialogue, had been formulated by Gerry Anderson for Four Feather Falls in 1960. Until production for Captain Scarlet, the head of the puppet had been disproportionately large in comparison to its body, as the head contained a solenoid that formed the key component of the lip-synch mechanism. The production team was not able to scale up the body to match the head, as this would have made the puppets hard to operate and have necessitated a proportionate scaling-up in the size of the puppet sets. Since Gerry Anderson had expressed frustration with this caricatured design during the production of earlier Supermarionation series, and wished that the puppets would more accurately reflect human biology, before production commenced on Captain Scarlet the producer, Reg Hill, and his associate, John Read, designed a new type of puppet in which the solenoid was instead placed inside the chest, to permit a head of realistic proportion. The costume designer for Captain Scarlet was Sylvia Anderson, who was influenced by the work of French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, in particular his 1966 "Cosmonaut" collection, in designing the Spectrum uniforms.  After test-sculpting in Plasticine, the puppet heads were moulded on a silicone rubber base and made using fibreglass. At heights ranging from 20 to 24 inches (approximately one-third life-size) the next-generation puppets were no shorter than their predecessors. For previous series, puppet eyes had been sized out of proportion to the heads, but as part of the realistic look introduced in Captain Scarlet, the eyes of production personnel were photographed and the images scaled down for attachment to the eye sockets. As had been the case for earlier series, a number of alternative heads displaying a range of expressions were created for main character puppets, including "smilers", "frowners" and "blinkers". Since episodes of Captain Scarlet were filmed in pairs, one on each of the puppet stages available at the Century 21 Studios, duplicates were made of the "expressionless" template of each main character. For the pilot episode, an "agony" head was specially sculpted for the Captain Scarlet puppet for a brief reaction shot of Scarlet's Mysteron double being shot by Captain Blue.  The increased realism of the puppets meant that their mobility was significantly reduced, ironically leaving the new design less lifelike than Anderson had hoped, as he recalls: "Suddenly, all the movements had to be as realistic as the puppets and that made it difficult for the puppeteers to animate them." To minimise the amount of movement required, the puppets were made to stand on moving walkways or sit at moving desks: for example, Colonel White's desk on Cloudbase is seen to rotate, while Lieutenant Green is seen to operate the Cloudbase main computer from a sliding chair. Puppeteer Jan King recalls: The Captain Scarlet puppets were not built to walk. They were too heavy and not weighted properly anyway... It is virtually impossible to get a string puppet to walk convincingly on film unless it is a very caricatured puppet. In Captain Scarlet, if a puppet had to move off-screen, it was done in a head-and-shoulders shot – the floor puppeteer would hold the legs of the puppet and then move the puppet physically out of shot at the right time, trying to make the body and shoulders move as if the puppet were walking.  The "under control" puppets described by King were stringless and controlled from the waist. One resulting advantage was that a puppet could be moved through a doorway without necessitating a break in the shot. For shots displaying characters such as the Angels seated in aircraft cockpits, variations of the "under control" design, comprising just a head and torso, were manipulated by levers and wires positioned underneath the set. This development of Supermarionation would be named "Supermacromation" when Anderson returned to puppetry in the 1980s with his later production, Terrahawks.  REVAMP PUPPETS AND LIKENESSES: Before Captain Scarlet, supporting character puppets had been specially sculpted in clay as and when episodes required them. The guest parts in Captain Scarlet, however, were filled by a permanent "repertory company" of over 50 puppets made to the same standards of workmanship as the main characters. Known as "revamp puppets" or "revamps", these puppets appeared on an episode-by-episode basis, cosmetically altered for each role in aspects such as hairstyle and hair colour. An initial intention was for each episode to include a "guest star" puppet to be sculpted on, and voiced by, a known public figure but this idea was abandoned due to budgetary constraints. Both main character and revamp puppets from Captain Scarlet appeared in Anderson's final two Supermarionation series, Joe 90 and The Secret Service.  The likeness of the Captain Scarlet character has, since his first appearance, been attributed to Francis Matthews, who voiced Scarlet in the series, Cary Grant and Roger Moore. Ed Bishop later claimed that Captain Blue had been modelled on his likeness, but sculptor Terry Curtis states that he made the puppet to resemble himself and simply added a blond wig when he learnt that Bishop was to voice Blue. Curtis, a James Bond fan, based the appearance of Captain Grey on Sean Connery and Destiny Angel on Ursula Andress, Connery's co-star in the 1962 Bond film Dr No. Meanwhile, the character of Lieutenant Green was sculpted on its voice actor, Cy Grant; Rhapsody Angel on model and actress Jean Shrimpton; Melody Angel on singer and actress Eartha Kitt; and Harmony Angel on actress Tsai Chin.  CASTING AND CHARACTERS: The regular puppet cast of Captain Scarlet was the largest of all the Anderson Supermarionation series. While earlier productions had emphasised the benefits of futuristic technology, for Captain Scarlet it was decided to develop and deepen the cast of characters. Further to the enhanced realism of the puppet design, voice roles for Captain Scarlet were, as opposed to Thunderbirds and other predecessors, also intended to be less caricatured. Anderson biographers Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn note that, between Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, a proliferation of English-accented voices altered the sound of the Supermarionation production and its impression on the viewer.  Francis Matthews, voicing Captain Scarlet, had previously turned down offers for voice-acting on Thunderbirds. Matthews claims that Gerry Anderson went to great lengths to get him to sign on to Captain Scarlet because of the skilled Cary Grant impression that he had once used for a radio programme, and indeed the English actor based the tones of Scarlet on Grant's Mid-Atlantic accent. In contrast, Anderson claims in his biography that the impression was Matthews's choice at audition, and that whilst it was not what had been intended for Captain Scarlet, the production team nevertheless elected to use it. Matthews's filmography prior to Captain Scarlet included the Hammer films The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966) and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966).  Matthews's co-star in Dracula: Prince of Darkness had been Charles Tingwell, who was chosen to voice Dr. Fawn, the Cloudbase chief medical officer. Tingwell, who had provided voices for the second season of Thunderbirds and its first feature film, Thunderbirds Are Go, had initially been recommended to the Andersons by Ray Barrett, a fellow Australian actor who had worked on Stingray and Thunderbirds. However, due to theatre commitments, Tingwell could only contribute to the first 12 produced episodes of Captain Scarlet. Also departing after the completion of "Shadow of Fear" was the voice of Captain Grey, Paul Maxwell, a Canadian actor who had voiced the character of Steve Zodiac three years earlier in Fireball XL5.  Cy Grant, a Guyanese actor selected for the role of Lieutenant Green (Colonel White's assistant and Cloudbase's main computer operator and public announcer), had been known to the Andersons for singing topical calypsos on the current affairs programme Tonight. His casting influenced the decision to accept Edward Bishop as Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet's friend and mission partner), as Bishop recalled in an interview recorded in 1995: "It was just that a girl in my agent's office happened to be on the ball. She represented this black actor by the name of Cy Grant and Gerry and Sylvia wanted to use him ... And the girl said, 'Oh, by the way, Mr Anderson, we've just taken on a new, young American actor' – shows you how long ago it was – 'a new American actor, name of Edward Bishop. And we know how much you like American voices. Would you like to meet him as well?' He said, 'Okay, send him out.' So I went out and auditioned and got the job."  Donald Gray, who had found himself typecast after appearing in the lead role in Saber of London, a detective series, was having to resort to voice work to support his acting career. The South African actor was selected for three regular roles: Colonel White, Captain Black and the Mysterons. After his mind is hijacked in the pilot episode, Black speaks with the same voice that the Mysterons are heard to use when transmitting threats to Earth. For his portrayals of Black and his Mysteron masters, Gray's voice was electronically deepened, by running the tape at high speed whilst he was recording his lines and playing it back at normal speed, to produce a haunting effect. The voice of Captain Ochre was provided by English-born Canadian, Jeremy Wilkin. Having served in the role of Virgil Tracy during the second series of Thunderbirds, Wilkin remained to voice Ochre for the subsequent production. The character of Captain Magenta, meanwhile, was voiced by Gary Files. Another Australian actor, Files was a fresh addition to Century 21 Productions, and was cast for a number of roles in the second Thunderbirds film, Thunderbird 6, before progressing to the role of Magenta for Captain Scarlet.86 Like Files, Welsh actress Liz Morgan was new to the Anderson productions and voiced the regular characters of Destiny Angel, the lead pilot of the Spectrum Angel fighter squadron, and one of her subordinates, Rhapsody Angel.  Sylvia Anderson, the voice of Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds, voiced Melody Angel, while Canadian actress Janna Hill was given the part of Symphony. The character of Harmony Angel was voiced by Morgan for five episodes before being replaced by Chinese actress Lian-Shin about one-third of the way through the recording sessions. Although Lian only provided the voice of Harmony for one episode, "The Launching," she received billing for 20 episodes.  Supporting character voices were performed by Anderson, Files, Hill, Maxwell, Morgan, Tingwell and Wilkin. Completing the supporting cast were American actor David Healy and British actor Martin King. Canadian Shane Rimmer, who had performed the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds and its films, made a number of uncredited contributions in addition to writing for the series. Fellow Canadian Neil McCallum, who had provided the voice of the character of Dr Ray Pierce in Thunderbirds Are Go, can be heard in four episodes, though he was not credited. Six members of the voice cast would continue their association with the Andersons after Captain Scarlet. Healy would voice the character of Shane Weston in the penultimate Supermarionation series, Joe 90, while Files would voice Matthew Harding on The Secret Service. Wilkin, Morgan and King were all given small roles for these final two Supermarionation series, while Bishop appeared as SHADO Commander Edward Straker in Anderson's live-action series, UFO, which was transmitted in the United Kingdom from 1970.  VOICE RECORDING: Character dialogue was recorded on a fortnightly basis, with lines for up to four episodes taped at each session, at the Anvil Films Recording Studio at Denham in Buckinghamshire. Each actor, regardless of the size of their contribution, was paid 15 guineas (£15.75) per episode with repeat fees. The cast were not given the opportunity to tour the Century 21 studios in Slough until all their work was finished and therefore had no visualisation of their characters during the recording itself. This was to the regret of Liz Morgan: "We all said that we wished we had seen the puppets before doing the dialogue, as it would have been helpful to have something physical to base the voices on. I knew that Destiny was French and that Rhapsody had to be frightfully 'Sloaney,' but that was about it."  All Captain Scarlet episodes, with the exception of the pilot episode, incorporate two sets of opening titles. The first of these sequences displays the title card and the primary production credits. The camera moves forward through the scale-model set of a run-down, night-time alleyway, forming the point-of-view shot of an unseen assassin, who turns a corner only to meet his death at the gun barrel of Captain Scarlet. The two seven-letter words "Captain Scarlet" gradually appear in time with the seven strikes of the Captain Scarlet staccato drum beat composed by Barry Gray. This opening sequence is accompanied by a voice-over from Ed Bishop, which states, "The Mysterons. Sworn enemies of Earth. Possessing the ability to recreate an exact likeness of an object or person. But first, they must destroy ... Leading the fight, one man fate has made indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet." The sequence is intended to demonstrate Scarlet's indestructibility, with the assassin's machine-gun bullets having no effect on their target.  A number of variations of the voice-over have been used. Bishop's introduction to the pilot, which is unique to that episode, runs: "The finger is on the trigger. About to unleash a force with terrible powers, beyond the comprehension of Man. This force we shall know as 'the Mysterons'... This man will be our hero, for fate will make him indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet." A little-used alternative version runs: "One man. A man who is different. Chosen by fate. Caught up in Earth's unwanted conflict with the Mysterons. Determined. Courageous. Indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet." Later prints feature an additional voice-over by Donald Gray, warning: "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this. Do not try to imitate him." This served both to establish the background to the series and to warn child viewers not to risk their safety by copying Scarlet's actions. It was either placed after the alternative "One man..." voice-over or used in isolation, such that no voice-over by Bishop was heard.  From the second episode onwards, a secondary opening sequence runs immediately after an initial teaser: as the Mysterons announce their latest threat against Earth, the "Mysteron rings" pass over the primary puppet cast in a number of environments to demonstrate the aliens' omnipresence. Meanwhile, the characters' Spectrum codenames are flashed up on-screen. The Mysterons invariably begin their threat with the words, "This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen."  The end credits sequence was originally intended to feature images of printed circuit boards and other electronic components, to reflect the Andersons' early conception of the resurrected Captain Scarlet as being a "mechanical man". In the completed sequence, the end production credits are superimposed on a series of ten paintings, which depict Scarlet in moments of extreme danger. In earlier episodes, these images are accompanied by the instrumental version of Barry Gray's Captain Scarlet theme music; in later ones, this is replaced by the lyrical version sung by The Spectrum. The paintings were produced by comic artist Ron Embleton, who would later illustrate the adult comic strip "Oh, Wicked Wanda!" for Penthouse magazine. In 2005, the Animation Art Gallery in London released licensed limited editions of the paintings signed by Francis Matthews, the voice of Scarlet.  In Japan, the original opening credit sequences were replaced with a montage of action clips from various episodes, accompanied by a unique theme song performed by children. This version is included in the special features of the Captain Scarlet DVD box set.  BROADCASTS: Captain Scarlet officially opened on British television on 29 September 1967, in the late-afternoon slot of 5.25 pm, in the ATV Midlands region. Viewing figures for the pilot episode, "The Mysterons", were promising at 0.45 million. Five months earlier, on 29 April, the series opener had been given a late-night test transmission in the London area. After the start of the Midlands broadcasts, London and Scotland followed on 1 October, with the Granada, Anglia, Southern, Westward and Channel areas all televising the series by the end of the month. However, it was not until the start of 1968 that the series was being broadcast all across the nation. In the Midlands region, the ratings averaged 1.1 million. In 1968, Captain Scarlet was also screened in more than 40 other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In the United States, the series was transmitted on first-run syndication. Meanwhile, only six episodes of the series were transmitted in the Netherlands.  Repeat runs have varied greatly according to region. While Granada, HTV and Tyne Tees continued to broadcast the series into 1972, the Midlands received four colour re-runs from 1969 to 1974, while in other areas, such as Yorkshire, it was not repeated at all. All 32 episodes were purchased by ITV for broadcast on Saturday mornings between 1985 and 1986, with broadcasting in segmented form on the ITV Night Network in 1987. A BBC commission led to the series' first simultaneous network broadcast on BBC2 starting on 1 October 1993. On this occasion, the pilot episode attracted an audience of four million, high enough to award it third position in the BBC2 ratings chart for the week of transmission.  Digitally remastered, the series resurfaced on BBC Two in the autumn of 2001. On this occasion, the episode schedule needed to be re-arranged at short notice to avoid offence in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The second episode, "Winged Assassin", in which the Mysterons destroy and reconstruct a plane to assassinate a world leader, and the third, "Big Ben Strikes Again", in which London comes under threat from an atomic device, were held back and replaced with the fourth episode, "Manhunt", due to parallels between the plotlines and events in the real world. In the week after the attacks, the Captain Scarlet section on the Carlton website was also temporarily removed.  RECEPTION: While Thunderbirds had run for two series, Lew Grade's unexpected cancellation of the production led Anderson to assume that there was no possibility of Captain Scarlet lasting for more than one. In Anderson's words, "I didn't expect it to continue. I simply went to Lew and asked, 'What's the next thing you want us to do?'"  Captain Scarlet has generally been viewed as much "darker" in tone compared to Gerry Anderson's earlier science-fiction programmes, as Andrew Billen noted in New Statesman when its remake was broadcast 2005: "Whereas Thunderbirds was about rescuing people, Scarlet was about damnation, the soul of a resurrected man being fought for between Captain Scarlet and the equally indestructible Captain Black. It was Anderson's Gothic period." The horror factor of the Mysterons has been recognised, with the depiction of the extraterrestrials giving the series a ranking of 82nd in Channel 4's 2003 list programme 100 Greatest Scary Moments. Simon Wickes of the TV Century 21 website asserts that serious writing of the scripts is ultimately due to the realism of the new, accurately-proportioned puppets, and that this aesthetic change also answers for the heightened realism of the series' scale models.  Parallels have been drawn between Captain Scarlet and the Cold War. Historian Nicholas J. Cull interprets the "war of nerves" between Earth and Mars as a reflection of the strain on international relations during the 1960s and likens the "enemy within" scenario of Martians taking physical control of humans to the plots of such films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). According to Mark Bould, the series "seemed in tune with a decade of civil disobedience and anti-imperialist guerrilla wars" – a view supported by Rebecca Feasey of the University of Edinburgh, who has written that it is one of a number of series that "exploited the fears of 1960s America by presenting civil disobedience and the potentially negative impact of new technologies." Since 2001, comparisons have been made to the September 11 attacks, as well as the ensuing War on Terror.  To other reviewers, Captain Scarlet remains a "camp classic" that, in Bould's opinion, relates well to other Anderson productions due to a common depiction of "a utopian future benefiting from world government, high technology, ethnic diversity, and a generally positive sense of Americanisation. They articulate the commonly made connection between technological developments and economic prosperity." He also states that Captain Scarlet espouses "Euro-cool consumerism". The concept of world government is common to Anderson's work and was inspired by his thoughts on the matter at the time: "I had all sorts of fancy ideas about the future ... we had the United Nations and I imagined that the world would come together and there would be a world government." Peter Wright, on the series' depiction of technology, notes the "qualified technophilia" that it shares with Thunderbirds.  Since its first appearance, Captain Scarlet has been criticised for its filming, which has been considered too static due to the problem of moving the Supermarionation puppets convincingly. The return to a 25-minute episode format, as had been the case with series preceding Thunderbirds, has been blamed for a perceived drop in quality of storytelling and a lack of subplots. Concerns have also been raised about the development of the characters: in a 1986 interview, script editor Tony Barwick described Captain Scarlet as "hard-nosed stuff" that lacked humour, stating, "It was all for the American market and to that extent there was no deep characterisation. The characters all balanced one against the other." To Jeff Evans, writer of The Penguin TV Companion, it is "more detailed"; he explains: "The agents were given private lives and real identities, and were furnished with other biographical data."  Science-fiction author John Peel considers Captain Scarlet inferior to Thunderbirds, arguing that although the special effects had improved, it was to the detriment of the scriptwriting. He compares this schism to the disappointing reception to Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) following the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): "Anderson made the same mistake that George Lucas made, assuming that if the effects were praised in Thunderbirds, the public wanted a show with more effects." Peel also finds fault with the nature of Scarlet himself, suggesting that the use of an "indestructible" hero made the conclusions to the episodes too predictable. Furthermore, he expresses a concern that Scarlet, who is often seen to risk his life in a bid to thwart Mysteron plots, served as a poor role model to a target audience of impressionable children.  Seen as a cult series by some critics, Captain Scarlet ranked 33rd in a 2007 Radio Times poll to determine the greatest science-fiction series of all time. Despite concerns that it is not a true "children's" series on account of its "dark" tone and violence, it appeared in 51st position in the 2001 Channel 4 list show 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows. Judging Captain Scarlet next to its immediate predecessor, Thunderbirds, Gerry Anderson's own verdict is unambiguous: "Nothing was as successful as Thunderbirds. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was very successful, but once you've had a smash hit, everything tends to look less successful in comparison."  PUPPETS: Turning his attention to Sylvia Anderson's costume design, Bould praises the "commitment to fashion" evident throughout the Anderson series, singling out the design of the Spectrum Angel uniforms. The realistic design of the new puppets has been praised by Vincent Terrace and criticised by others. Certain members of the production staff had the impression that they lacked the charm of the earlier generation of puppets due to the authentic proportions that were now being used. Director David Lane's initial thoughts on a prototype, sculpted by head puppet-maker John Brown, were, "it was as if there was a little dead person in the box ... because it was perfect in all its proportions it just looked odd." Brown remembers placing the prototype next to the Lady Penelope puppet from Thunderbirds and gauging the response from colleagues: "When they saw it, some people were horrified by the difference. Some didn't like it, some did." Commentators have noted that facial expression was sacrificed in favour of a realistic design, a result on which Terry Curtis remembers: The changes of expression on those puppets had to be perfect and in no way exaggerated like the old ones were. I remember when fellow puppet designer Tim Cooksey did Colonel White, he had a lot of trouble doing different expressions as the face was just so realistic. I had a similar problem with Captain Blue. I remember I did a Blue "smiler" head and people could hardly tell the difference between that and the normal one. Sculptor John Blundall has called the new puppet design "ridiculous", criticising Anderson's attempts to make the puppets appear more lifelike on the basis that "We always try to do with puppets what you can't do with humans." Expressing a preference for the design Thunderbirds era, Blundall agrees that the transition from caricature to realism was at the expense of "character and personality", asserting that "If the puppet appears completely natural, the audience no longer has to use its imagination." Anderson states that he pushed for the reshaping of the puppets to please viewers, deeming it not "a case of moving to a new technique, but more a case of incorporating new ideas with existing methods." Evans praises the new puppets, describing them as "perfect in proportion" and commending the fact the electronic circuitry was now in the puppets' bodies.  Summing up Captain Scarlet as "better puppets, bigger action and a huge step backwards in stories" compared to Thunderbirds, Peel disputes the claim that the next generation of puppets mark a failure on the part of the series, arguing that the increased realism could not have deterred an audience familiar with the previous design. Although to his mind the characterisation was less endearing, Peel suggests that it is an over-emphasis on the visual, at the expense of characterisation, that truly accounts for the reduced credibility of Captain Scarlet.  RACE, GENDER AND SYMBOLISM: During its 1993 UK repeat run, Captain Scarlet attracted attention with regard to the black-and-white dualism debate for its use of the codenames "White" to designate the head of Spectrum, Colonel White, and "Black" for the villainous Captain Black. Defending the series against the accusations of racism and political incorrectness, Anderson pointed out that Lieutenant Green, Melody Angel and Harmony Angel are among the heroes of the series in spite of their African and Asian backgrounds. Green is the only male black character to be given a substantial role in any series produced by Anderson.  In academic works, the diversity of the Spectrum personnel in terms of both race and gender has been viewed highly. Bould praises the series for its "beautiful, multiethnic, female Angel fighter pilots" and "secondary roles played by capable women." In an interview conducted in 2003, Anderson confirmed that a conscious effort was made to feature ethnic minorities: "... I think people who make television programmes have a responsibility, particularly when children are watching avidly and you know their minds can be affected almost irreversibly as they grow up. We were very conscious of introducing different ethnic backgrounds."  Guyanese actor Cy Grant, who voiced the character of Lieutenant Green and believed that Captain Scarlet had positive multicultural value, discussed the allegorical nature of the series. According to him, Christian symbolism was heavily implied, with Colonel White assuming the role of God, opposed by the Devil in the form of Captain Black and descended by Captain Scarlet, who serves as a Christ allegory; moreover, Cloudbase represented Heaven and was guarded by its own fleet of Angels. Grant has also lionised Green as an African trickster hero. On dualism, he argued, "the 'darkness' of the Mysterons is most easily seen as the psychological rift – the struggle of 'good' and 'evil' – of the Western world as personified by Colonel White and his team. Dark and light are but aspects of each other. Incidentally, green is the colour of nature that can heal that rift."  Since the 1960s, the TV series has been supplemented by tie-in merchandise, example products ranging from toy dolls to a driving-themed video game, released for the PlayStation 2 platform in 2006. The ATV game show The Golden Shot, presented by Bob Monkhouse, adopted Captain Scarlet as the theme for its 1967 Christmas special. Broadcast live on 23 December, the programme featured guest appearances from Francis Matthews and "The Spectrum", who performed their latest single, "Headin' for a Heatwave".  AUDIO EPISODES: To complement the TV episodes, Century 21 released five further Captain Scarlet stories as vinyl record EPs, each running to approximately 21 minutes, and starring the original voice cast, in 1967. TV Century 21 script editor Angus P. Allan wrote Introducing Captain Scarlet, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Captain Scarlet of Spectrum, while Captain Scarlet is Indestructible and Captain Scarlet versus Captain Black were scripted by his assistant, Richard O'Neill.  The first of the audio adventures, Introducing Captain Scarlet, is set during the dénouement to the pilot episode, The Mysterons. The plot mainly focuses on a military conference investigating the events of the episode, with the inclusion of audio flashbacks to provide exposition. At the conclusion to the adventure, it is revealed that the Mysteron duplicate of Captain Scarlet has returned to life and that Scarlet's loyalty to Spectrum can be restored with the aid of the advanced computer that featured in the Andersons' pilot script for "The Mysterons".  BOOKS AND COMICS: In the late 1960s, three tie-in novels were published under the pen name "John Theydon", a pseudonym for author John William Jennison, titled Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967), Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur (1967) and The Angels and the Creeping Enemy (1968). As implied by its title, the third novel places the focus on the Spectrum Angels as the primary protagonists. Later, in 1993, Young Corgi Books published four novelisations, targeted at children, based upon the original series episodes "The Mysterons", "Lunarville 7", "Noose of Ice" and "The Launching".  Captain Scarlet also formed the basis of three comic strips drawn for the weekly children's comic, TV Century 21. Spanning 17 issues (numbers 141–157) from September 1967 to January 1968, the strip adventures were written by Angus P. Allan with artwork by Ron Embleton, and were titled We Will Destroy Unity City, We Will Destroy the Observatory Network and We Shall Make Earth a Planet of Silence. Following the end of the TV series, the comic continued the story of the Captain Scarlet universe, with later strips revealing that the Mysterons deactivate their Martian complex and relinquish their control over Captain Black, while Scarlet himself leaves Spectrum to make use of his powers in the fight against Earth-bound criminals and threats. The Mysterons ultimately re-awaken, prompting Scarlet and Spectrum to resume their struggle.  A manga adaptation of the series, titled Captain Scarlet, ran in the Japanese Shōnen Book anthology from January to August 1968. Century 21 published annuals based on the series between 1967 and 1969, while the original Captain Scarlet comic strips were reprinted in the 1968 and 1969 editions of TV21 Annual. Further annuals, published in 1993 and 1994 by Grandreams, coincided with the BBC2 repeats of the TV episodes. In 2002, Carlton Books released a new edition to accompany the digitally remastered broadcasts that had started in 2001.  HOME VIDEO: In the United Kingdom, Carlton Video commercially released the series, as both eight separate volumes and as a "Complete Series Box Set", from September 2001 to March 2002. Presented with the same remastered video and audio quality that was introduced for the BBC Two repeats of 2001, the box set incorporates a ninth tape including The Indestructible Captain Scarlet, a special programme that describes Spectrum, the Mysterons and the events of the TV series. Earlier releases, marketed by PolyGram and "Channel 5", had numbered the episodes in an order different from that of the 1960s broadcasts and, in the case of the first two volumes, had added to them with the insertion of footage specially filmed for the ITC Captain Scarlet compilation films of the 1980s.  Since September 2001, Captain Scarlet has also been available in five volumes on PAL Region 2 DVD, also marketed by Carlton, with a new Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound sound mix to complement the original mono track. Special features for these releases include audio commentaries with Gerry Anderson for the episodes "The Mysterons" and "Attack on Cloudbase", the five audio episodes from 1967, behind-the-scenes production photos, information about original ITC advertising and merchandise, and 1960s TV spots. As with the VHS releases, the five DVD volumes have also received a box set edition, which incorporates a bonus sixth disc including Captain Scarlet S.I.G. (a behind-the-scenes documentary produced and presented by Gerry Anderson) and five sets of alternative opening credits.  The special features of the four-disc NTSC North American Region 1 edition of the box set, released by A&E Home Video in 2002, are mostly similar to those of the Region 2 version, with the additions of a text-based "Introduction to Captain Scarlet" and DVD-ROM content. In 2004, Imavision unveiled a French-language edition of the box set aimed at the Canadian market. The set is also available in Japan on Region 2 (as six discs) and Australia on Region 4 (as five discs).  On February 10, 2015, Shout! Factory, through their deal with ITV, re-released the complete series on DVD in America through Timeless Media Group containing the 2 Gerry Anderson commentaries, 3 Spotlight on Captain Scarlet featurettes, and a never-before-seen interview with Gerry Anderson about his early career.  LATER PRODUCTIONS: Distribution rights to much of the ITC Entertainment catalogue have been transferred since the 1980s, initially to PolyGram Entertainment, (or "PolyGram Television") then Carlton International in the late 1990s after a partial sale to the BBC in 1991. In 2004, Carlton International merged into Granada International, the current rights holder, which in 2008 was renamed ITV Global Entertainment, a division of ITV plc. Theatrical release rights are held by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). In addition to other projects, Gerry Anderson announced plans for a live-action film adaptation of Captain Scarlet in 2000 and again in 2002 during the production of the Thunderbirds film released in 2004, but the idea has not been developed since.  COMPILATION FILMS: In 1980, the New York offices of ITC, under the supervision of Robert Mandell, combined episodes from the original series to make two compilation films for American audiences, with the aim of reviving transatlantic syndication sales. This became common practice for Anderson productions during the 1980s, with made-for-television films comprising episodes of Stingray and Thunderbirds airing to US cable audiences under the generic promotional banner of "Super Space Theater". On 24 November 1988, the second Captain Scarlet film, Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars, was broadcast as the second episode of the American television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, from Minneapolis, on station KTMA.  CGI TEST FILM AND SERIES: In 1999, Gerry Anderson supervised the production of a short computer-animated test film, Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons, to explore the possibility of updating a number of his 1960s Supermarionation series for a 21st-century audience. The working title was Captain Scarlet – The New Millennium. Produced in London by the Moving Picture Company, the film features Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop reprising the roles of Captains Scarlet and Blue. Made using a combination of Maya 3D computer graphics software and motion-capture technology, the plot commences a few years after the Mysterons end their hostilities against Earth, but the reappearance of Captain Black sets the stage for a revival of the war with Mars. Although the film has yet to receive a home video release, it was publicly screened at a Fanderson convention in 2000 and at a science lecture in 2001.  Plans for a full CGI Captain Scarlet television series to follow the test film finally resulted in Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. A reboot of the original series, this was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on the Saturday-morning CITV programme, Ministry of Mayhem, from 12 February 2005. Produced by "Anderson Entertainment" and the "Indestructible Production Company", the animation used to create the series is billed in the credits as "Hypermarionation" to acknowledge the 1960s puppet technique, Supermarionation.  

Thunderbirds is a British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) and distributed by ITC Entertainment. It was produced between 1964 and 1966 using a form of electronic marionette puppetry (dubbed "Supermarionation") combined with scale model special effects sequences. Two series were filmed, comprising a total of 32 episodes. Production ceased after Lew Grade, the Andersons' financial backer, failed in his efforts to sell the programme to American network television.

Set in the mid-2060s, Thunderbirds is a follow-up to the earlier Supermarionation productions Four Feather Falls , Supercar , Fireball XL5 and Stingray . It follows the exploits of International Rescue (IR), a life-saving organisation equipped with technologically-advanced land, sea, air and space rescue craft; these are headed by a fleet of five vehicles named the Thunderbirds and launched from IR's secret base in the Pacific Ocean. The main characters are ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, the founder of IR, and his five adult sons, who pilot the Thunderbird machines.

Thunderbirds began its first run in the United Kingdom on the ITV network in 1965 and has since been broadcast in at least 66 other countries. Periodically repeated, it was adapted for radio in the early 1990s and has influenced many TV programmes and other media. As well as inspiring various merchandising campaigns, the series has been followed by two feature-length film sequels (Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6 , released in 1966 and 1968 respectively), a 2004 live-action film adaptation and a mimed stage show tribute. The second of two TV remakes, the computer-animated Thunderbirds Are Go , premiered in 2015, in honour of the original show's 50th anniversary.

Widely considered to be the Andersons' most popular and commercially successful series, Thunderbirds has received particular praise for its effects (directed by Derek Meddings) and musical score (composed by Barry Gray). It is also well remembered for its title sequence, which opens with an often-quoted countdown by actor Peter Dyneley (who voiced the character of Jeff): "5, 4, 3, 2, 1: Thunderbirds Are Go!" A real-life rescue service, the International Rescue Corps, is named after the organisation featured in the series.

Storyline

Set between 2065 and 2067, Thunderbirds follows the exploits of the Tracy family, headed by American ex-astronaut turned multi-millionaire philanthropist Jeff Tracy. He is a widower with five adult sons: Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan. The Tracys form International Rescue (IR), a secret organisation dedicated to saving human life. They are aided in this mission by technologically advanced land, sea, air and space vehicles, which are called into service when conventional rescue techniques prove ineffective. The most important of these are five machines named the "Thunderbirds ", each assigned to one of the five Tracy brothers:

  • Thunderbird 1 : a hypersonic rocket plane used for fast response and accident zone reconnaissance. Piloted by primary rescue co-ordinator Scott Tracy.

  • Thunderbird 2 : a supersonic carrier aircraft that transports rescue vehicles and equipment to accident zones in detachable capsules known as "pods". Piloted by Virgil.

  • Thunderbird 3 : a single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft. Piloted alternately by Alan and John, with Scott as co-pilot.

  • Thunderbird 4 : a utility submersible. Piloted by Gordon and normally launched from Thunderbird 2 .

  • Thunderbird 5 : a space station that relays distress calls from around the world. Manned alternately by "space monitors" John and Alan.

With the engineer Brains and Jeff's elderly mother, as well as the Malaysian manservant Kyrano and his daughter Tin-Tin (who serves as Brains' assistant), the family reside in a luxurious villa on Tracy Island, their hidden base in the South Pacific Ocean. his location, IR is safe from criminals and spies who envy the organisation's technology and seek to acquire the secrets of its machines.

Despite its humanitarian principles, some of IR's operations are necessitated not by misadventure but deliberate sabotage motivated by greed for power and wealth. For missions that require criminal investigation, the organisation incorporates a network of undercover agents headed by English aristocrat Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and her butler Aloysius Parker. Based at Creighton-Ward Mansion in Kent, Penelope and Parker's primary mode of transport is FAB 1, a specially-modified Rolls-Royce. The most persistent of IR's adversaries is the criminal known only as the "Hood". Operating from a temple in the Malaysian jungle, and possessing abilities of hypnosis and dark magic, he exerts a powerful telepathic control over Kyrano, his estranged half-brother, and manipulates the Tracys into missions that unfold according to his nefarious designs. This allows him to spy on the Thunderbird machines and, by selling their secrets, make himself rich.

Production

I started to think that there really ought to be dumps around the world with rescue gear standing by, so that when a disaster happened, all these items of rescue equipment could be rushed to the disaster zone and used to help to get people out of trouble ... I was thinking, 'Rescue, yes, rescue, but how to make it science fiction? What about an international rescue organisation?'

— Gerry Anderson on the premise

Thunderbirds was the fourth Supermarionation puppet TV series to be produced by APF, which was founded by the husband-and-wife duo of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (née Thamm) with their business partners Arthur Provis, Reg Hill, and John Read. Pitched in late 1963, the series was commissioned by Lew Grade of ITC, APF's parent company, on the back of the positive audience response to Stingray.

Gerry Anderson drew inspiration for the series' underlying concept from the West German mining disaster known as the Wunder von Lengede ("Miracle of Lengede"). In October 1963, the collapse of a nearby dam flooded an iron mine in the municipality of Lengede, killing 29 miners and trapping 21 others underground. Lacking the means to drill an escape shaft, the authorities were forced to requisition a heavy-duty bore from Bremen; the considerable time necessary to ship this device by rail had significantly reduced the chances of a successful rescue. Recognising the advantages of swifter crisis response, Anderson conceived the idea of an "international rescue" organisation that could use supersonic aircraft to transport specialised rescue equipment quickly over long distances.

Seeking to distinguish his 26-episode proposal from APF's earlier productions, Anderson attempted to pitch stories at a level that would appeal to both adults and children. Whereas previous series had been shown during the late afternoon, Anderson wanted Thunderbirds to be broadcast in a family-friendly primetime slot. Sylvia remembers that "our market had grown and a 'kidult' show ... was the next step." The Andersons retired to their holiday villa in Portugal to expand the premise, script the pilot episode and compose a scriptwriters' guide. According to Sylvia, the writing process depended on a "division of labour", whereby Gerry created the action sequences while she managed characterisation. The decision to make a father and his sons the main characters was influenced by the premise of Bonanza , as well as Sylvia's belief that the use of more than one heroic character would broaden the series' appeal. The Tracy brothers were named after Mercury Seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Gordon Cooper and Alan Shepard.

The series' title was derived from a letter written by Gerry's brother, Lionel, while he had been serving overseas as an RAF flight sergeant during World War II. While stationed in Arizona, Lionel had made reference to Thunderbird Field, a nearby United States Army Air Forces base. Drawn to the "punchiness" of "Thunderbirds ", Anderson dropped his working title of "International Rescue " and renamed both the series and IR's rescue vehicles, which had previously been designated Rescues 1 to 5 . His inspiration for the launch sequences of Thunderbirds 1 , 2 and 3 originated from contemporary United States Air Force launch procedure: Anderson had learnt how the Strategic Air Command would keep its pilots on permanent standby, seated in the cockpits of their aircraft and ready for take-off at a moment's notice.

In the DVD documentary The Thunderbirds Companion , Anderson explained how a rise in filming costs had made overseas distribution revenue even more important and essentially caused Thunderbirds to be made "as an American show". During the character development and voice casting process, the Andersons' main priority was to ensure that the series had transatlantic appeal, thus increasing the chances of winning an American network deal and the higher audience figures that this market had to offer. Scripts were typed in American English and printed on US-style quarto-size paper.

Filming

Thunderbirds was filmed at APF's studios on the Slough Trading Estate between 1964 and 1966. In preparation, the number of full-time crew was expanded to 100. Shooting began in September 1964 after five months of pre-production. Due to the new series' technical complexity, this was a period longer than for any of APF's earlier productions. To speed up the filming, episodes were shot in pairs, at a rate of one per month, on separate soundstages and by separate crews (designated "A" and "B"). By 1964, APF was the UK's largest commercial user of colour film, consuming more than three million feet (570 miles or 910 kilometres) of stock per year.

Alan Pattillo, a longtime scriptwriter and director for APF, was appointed the company's first official script editor in late 1964. This move was aimed to reduce the burden on Gerry Anderson who, while reserving his producer's right to overall creative control, had grown weary of revising scripts himself. Direction of episodes was assigned in pairs: veterans Pattillo and David Elliott alternated with the less-experienced Desmond Saunders and newcomer David Lane for each month's filming. Due to the difficulties of setting up takes, progress was slow: even on a productive day, it was rare for the crew to complete more than two minutes of puppet footage. In a contemporary interview, Hill noted that Thunderbirds contained several times as many shots as a typical live-action series. He explained that rapid editing was necessary on account of the characters' lack of facial expression, which made it difficult to sustain the viewer's interest for more than a few seconds per shot.

Lew watched ["Trapped in the Sky"] and at the end he jumped up shouting, 'Fantastic, absolutely fantastic! This isn't a television series – this is a feature film! You've got to make this as an hour!' ... I'm glad we did it, because it made the series much bigger and much more important. But it was still a very, very difficult job.

— Gerry Anderson on the format change

After viewing the completed 25-minute pilot, "Trapped in the Sky", Lew Grade was so impressed by APF's work that he instructed Anderson to double the episode length and increased the series' budget per episode from £25,000 to £38,000. As a result, Thunderbirds became not only the company's longest and highest-budgeted production, but also among the most expensive TV series to have been made up to that point. The crew, who had been filming at a rate of two 25-minute episodes per fortnight, faced significant challenges during the transition to the new format: eight episodes had already been completed, scripts for up to ten more had been written, and substantial rewrites would be necessary to satisfy the longer running time. Anderson lamented: "Our time-scale was far too drawn out. ITC's New York office insisted that they should have one show a fortnight ... Everything had to move at twice the speed." APF spent over seven months extending the existing episodes.

Tony Barwick, who had impressed Pattillo and the Andersons with an unsubmitted script that he had written for Danger Man , was recruited to assist in the writing of subplots and filler material. He found that the longer format created opportunities to strengthen the characterisation. Science-fiction writer John Peel suggests that "small character touches" make the puppet cast of Thunderbirds "much more rounded" than those of earlier APF series. He compares the writing favourably to that of live-action drama. The new footage proved useful during the development of the first series finale, "Security Hazard": since the previous two episodes ("Attack of the Alligators!" and "The Cham-Cham") had overspent their budgets, Pattillo devised a flashback-dominated clip show containing only 17 minutes of new material to reduce costs.

Filming of Series One was completed in December 1965. A second series was also commissioned late that year and entered production in March 1966. Barwick became a full-time member of the writing staff and took over the role of script editor from the outgoing Pattillo. The main puppet cast and vehicles were rebuilt; in addition, the art department expanded some of the standing sets, including the Tracy Villa lounge and the Thunderbird 5 control room. To accommodate the simultaneous filming of the TV series and Thunderbirds Are Go , APF purchased two more buildings on the Slough Trading Estate and converted them into new stages. As crew and studio space were divided between the two productions, filming of the TV series progressed at half the previous speed, as APF's B crew produced one episode per month. Filming on Thunderbirds Are Go was completed by June, allowing A crew to resume work on the series to shoot what would prove to be its penultimate episode, "Ricochet".

Production of Thunderbirds ended in August 1966 with the completion of the sixth episode of Series Two. In February that year, it had been reported that Grade had been unable to sell the series in the United States due to disagreements over timeslots. In July, he cancelled Thunderbirds after failing in his second attempt to secure an American buyer. The three major US networks of the time – NBC, CBS and ABC – had all bid for the series, with Grade repeatedly increasing the price. When NBC withdrew its offer, the other two immediately followed.

By the time of its cancellation, Thunderbirds had become widely popular in the UK and was being distributed extensively overseas. Grade, however, believed that without the financial boost of an American network sale, a full second series would fail to recover its production costs. He therefore asked Anderson to devise a new concept that he hoped would stand a greater chance of winning over the profitable US market. This became Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons .

Casting and characters

Regular Puppet Cast

Name

Role(s)

Voiced by

Jeff Tracy

Leader of IR

Peter Dyneley

Scott Tracy

Thunderbird 1 pilot Thunderbird 3 co-pilot

Shane Rimmer

Virgil Tracy

Thunderbird 2 pilot

David Holliday (Series One) Jeremy Wilkin (Series Two)

Alan Tracy

Thunderbird 3 astronaut Thunderbird 5 Space Monitor

Matt Zimmerman

Gordon Tracy

Thunderbird 4 aquanaut Thunderbird 2 co-pilot

David Graham

John Tracy

Thunderbird 5 Space Monitor Thunderbird 3 astronaut

Ray Barrett

Brains

Engineer, scientist, inventor

David Graham

Tin-Tin Kyrano

Maintenance technician, laboratory assistant

Christine Finn

Kyrano

Manservant, cook

David Graham

Grandma Tracy

Housekeeper, cook

Christine Finn

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward

IR's London agent

Sylvia Anderson

Aloysius Parker

Penelope's butler and chauffeur

David Graham

The Hood

Criminal, dark magician

Ray Barrett

Voice-recording sessions were supervised by Pattillo and the Andersons, with Sylvia Anderson in charge of casting. Dialogue was recorded once per month at a rate of two scripts per session. Supporting parts were not pre-assigned, but negotiated by the cast among themselves. Two recordings would be made at each session: one to be converted into electronic pulses for the puppet filming, the other to be added to the soundtrack during post-production. The tapes were edited at Gate Recording Theatre in Birmingham.

In the interest of transatlantic appeal, it was decided that the main characters would be mostly American and therefore actors capable of producing an appropriate accent were used. British, Canadian and Australian actors formed most of the voice cast; the only American involved was stage actor David Holliday, who was noticed in London's West End and given the part of Virgil Tracy. Following the completion of the first series, Holliday returned to the US. The character was voiced by English-Canadian actor Jeremy Wilkin for Thunderbirds Are Go , Series Two and Thunderbird 6 .

British actor David Graham was among the first to be cast. He had previously voiced characters in Four Feather Falls , Supercar , Fireball XL5 and Stingray . Beyond the APF productions, he had supplied one of the original Dalek voices on Doctor Who . Cast alongside Graham was Australian actor Ray Barrett. Like Graham, he had worked for the Andersons before, having voiced Titan and Commander Shore in Stingray . A veteran of radio drama, Barrett was skilled at performing a range of voices and accents in quick succession. Villains of the week would typically be voiced by either Barrett or Graham. Aware of the sensitive political climate of the Cold War and not wishing to "perpetuate the idea that Russia was the enemy with a whole generation of children watching", Gerry Anderson decided the Hood (voiced by Barrett) should be Oriental and placed his temple hideout in Malaysia to defy the viewer's expectations.

Although Lady Penelope and Parker (the latter voiced by Graham) were among the first characters developed, neither was conceived as a major role. Parker's Cockney manner was based on a waiter at a pub in Cookham that was sometimes visited by the crew. On Gerry Anderson's recommendation, Graham dined there regularly to study the accent. Anderson's first choice for the role of Penelope had been Fenella Fielding, but Sylvia insisted she take the part herself. Her Penelope voice was intended to emulate Fielding and Joan Greenwood. On Penelope and Parker's secondary role as comic relief, Gerry explained, "We British can laugh at ourselves, so therefore we had Penelope and Parker as this comedy team. And in America they love the British aristocracy too.'"

As well as Jeff Tracy, English-Canadian actor Peter Dyneley voiced the recurring character of Commander Norman, chief of air traffic control at London International Airport. His supporting character voices were typically those of upper-class Englishmen. Shane Rimmer, the voice of Scott, was cast on the strength of his performance on the BBC soap opera Compact . Meanwhile, fellow Canadian Matt Zimmerman was selected at a late stage in the process. The expatriate West End actor was given the role of Alan on the recommendation of his friend, Holliday: "They were having great difficulty casting the part of Alan as they wanted a certain sound for him, being the youngest brother. David, who [was] a bit older than I am, told them that he had this friend, me, who would be great."

Christine Finn, known for her role in the TV serial Quatermass and the Pit , provided the voices of Tin-Tin Kyrano and Grandma Tracy. With Sylvia Anderson, she was also responsible for voicing most of the female and child supporting characters. Supporting parts were occasionally voiced by John Tate (the father of Space: 1999 actor Nick Tate), Bud Tingwell and Paul Maxwell; the latter two joined the cast in Series Two following their contributions to Thunderbirds Are Go . None of these three actors were credited for their performances.

Design and effects

The puppet stages used for the filming of Thunderbirds were only one-fifth the size of those used for a standard live-action production, typically measuring 12 by 14 by 3 metres (39.4 by 45.9 by 9.8 ft) in length, width and height. Bob Bell, assisted by Keith Wilson and Grenville Nott, headed the art department for Series One. During the simultaneous filming of Series Two and Thunderbirds Are Go in 1966, Bell attended mainly to the film, entrusting set design for the TV series to Wilson.

Since it was necessary for the art department's interior sets to conform to the effects department's exterior plans, each team closely monitored the other's work. According to Sylvia Anderson, Bell's challenge was to produce complex interiors on a limited budget while resisting the effects department's push for "more extravagant" design. This task was complicated by the unnatural proportions of the puppets: Bell struggled to decide whether the sets should be built to a scale proportionate to their bodies or their oversized heads and hands. He used the example of FAB 1 to illustrate the problem: "As soon as we positioned [the puppets] standing alongside [the model], they looked ridiculous, as the car towered over them." He ultimately adopted a "mix-and-match" approach, in which smaller items, such as tableware, were scaled to their hands and furniture to their bodies.

While designing the Creighton-Ward Mansion sets, Bell and his staff strove for authenticity, ordering miniature Tudor paintings, 13-scale Georgian- and Regency-style furniture and carpeting in the shape of a polar bear skin. This realism was enhanced by adding scrap items acquired from household waste and electronics shops. For example, a vacuum cleaner pipe serves as Virgil Tracy's launch chute.

Puppets

The head puppet sculptor was Christine Glanville, who also served as the lead puppeteer. Glanville's four-person team built the 13 members of the main cast in six months at a cost of between £250 and £300 per puppet (approximately £4,569 and £5,483 today). Since pairs of episodes were being filmed simultaneously on separate stages, the characters needed to be sculpted in duplicate. Facial expressions were diversified by means of replaceable heads: as well as a head with a neutral expression, each main character was given a "smiler", a "frowner" and a "blinker". The finished puppets were approximately 22 inches (56 cm) tall, or 13 adult human height.

The puppets were made up of more than 30 individual components, the most important of which was the solenoid that synchronised lip movements with the characters' pre-recorded dialogue. This device was positioned inside the head unit; consequently, torsos and limbs appeared relatively small. The puppets' likenesses and mechanics are remembered favourably by puppeteer Wanda Brown, who preferred the Thunderbirds marionettes over the accurately-proportioned ones that first appeared in Captain Scarlet : "The puppets were easier to operate and more enjoyable because they had more character to them ... Even some of the more normal-looking faces, such as Scott and Jeff, for me had more character than the puppets in the series that came afterwards." Rimmer speaks positively of the puppets' still being "very much caricatures", since it made them "more lovable and appealing ... There was a naive quality about them and nothing too complex."

The appearances of the main characters were inspired by those of actors and other entertainers, who were typically selected from the show business directory Spotlight . According to Glanville, as part of a trend away from the strong caricature of previous series, APF was seeking "more natural faces" for the puppets. The face of Jeff Tracy was based on that of Lorne Greene, Scott on Sean Connery, Alan on Robert Reed, John on Adam Faith and Charlton Heston, Brains on Anthony Perkins and Parker on Ben Warriss. Sylvia Anderson brought the character of Penelope to life in likeness as well as voice: after her test moulds were rejected, sculptor Mary Turner decided to use Anderson herself as a template.

Main character heads were initially sculpted in either Plasticine or clay. Once the general aspect had been finalised, this served as the template for a silicone rubber mould. This was coated with Bondaglass (fibreglass mixed with resin) and enhanced with Bondapaste, a putty-like substance, to accentuate contours. The Bondaglass shell was then fitted with a solenoid, leather mouth parts and plastic eyes, as well as incisor teeth – a first for a Supermarionation production. Puppets known as "revamps", which had plastic heads, portrayed the supporting characters. These marionettes started their working lives with only a mouth and eyes; their faces were remoulded from one episode to the next. Particularly striking revamp moulds were retained and, as their numbers increased, photographed to compile an internal casting directory.

Wigs were made of mohair or, in the case of the Penelope puppet, human hair. Puppet bodies were built in three sizes: "large male" (specifically for the Tracys and the Hood), "small male" and "small female". Sylvia Anderson, the head costume designer, devised the main characters' attire. To give the puppets increased mobility, the costume department generally avoided stiff synthetic materials, instead working with cotton, silk and wool. Between 1964 and 1966, the department's stock numbered more than 700 costumes.

Each puppet's head was fitted with about 10 thin tungsten steel wires. During the filming, dialogue was played into the studio using modified tape recorders that converted the feed into electronic pulses. Two of the wires relayed these pulses to the internal solenoid, completing the Supermarionation process. The wires, which were sprayed black to reduce their visibility, were made even less noticeable through the application of powder paint that matched the background colours of the set. Glanville explained the time-consuming nature of this process: "[The puppeteers] used to spend over half an hour on each shot getting rid of these wires, looking through the camera, puffing a bit more [paint] here, anti-flare there; and, I mean, it's very depressing when somebody will say to us, 'Of course the wires showed.'" Positioned on an overhead gantry with a hand-held cruciform, the puppeteers co-ordinated movements with the help of a viewfinder-powered CCTV feedback system. As filming progressed, the crew started to dispense with wires and instead manipulate the puppets from the studio floor using rods.

Since we always tried to minimise walking, we'd show the puppets taking one step only, then promptly cut. Through interspersing the programmes with "meanwhile" scenes – that is, showing what else was going on in the story at the same time – we would then cut back to the puppet who was now already in his craft.

— Alan Pattillo on puppet movement

Due to their low weight and the fact that they had only one control wire per leg, the puppets were unable to walk convincingly. Therefore, scenes involving movement were filmed from the waist up, with a puppeteer holding the legs below the level of the camera and using a "bobbing" action to simulate motion. Alternatively, dynamic shots were eliminated altogether: in an interview with New Scientist , director of photography John Read spoke of the advantages of circumventing the lack of agility so that the puppets "appear, for example, to walk through doors (although the control wires make this impossible) or pick up a coffee cup (although their fingers are not in fact jointed)." Live-action shots of human hands were inserted whenever scripts called for more dexterous actions to be performed.

Special effects

The effects for all the APF series from Supercar to UFO were directed by Derek Meddings, who later worked on the James Bond and Superman films. Knowing that Thunderbirds would be the "biggest project [APF] had worked on", Meddings found himself struggling to manage his workload with the single filming unit that had produced all the effects for Stingray . He therefore established a second unit under technician Brian Johncock, and a third exclusively for filming airborne sequences. This expansion increased the number of APF crews and stages to five each. A typical episode contained around 100 effects shots; Meddings' team completed up to 18 per day.

An addition to the effects department was Mike Trim, who served as Meddings' assistant in designing vehicles and buildings. Meddings and Trim jointly pioneered an "organic" design technique in which the exteriors of models and sets were customised with parts from model kits and children's toys. Models and sets were also "dirtied down" with powder paint or pencil lead to create a used look. Toy cars and vans were used in long shot, while scale vehicles were equipped with basic steering and suspension for added realism. Miniature fans and Jetex pellets, which are capable of issuing air jets or chemical exhaust, were attached to the undersides to simulate dust trails. Another of Meddings' inventions was a closed, cyclical effects stage nicknamed the "rolling road": consisting of two or more loops of canvas running at different speeds, this device allowed shots of moving vehicles to be filmed on a static set to make more efficient use of the limited studio space. Airborne aircraft sequences were mounted against a "rolling sky", with smoke fanned across to simulate passing clouds.

One of Meddings' first tasks was to shoot stock footage of the Thunderbird machines and the series' main locations, Tracy Island and Creighton-Ward Mansion. The finished island model was a composite of more than a dozen smaller sets that could be detached from the whole and filmed separately. The architecture of the mansion was based on that of Stourhead House, located on the Stourhead Estate in Wiltshire. In the absence of head designer Reg Hill, who was serving as associate producer, Meddings was further tasked with designing the Thunderbird fleet and FAB 1. Scale models for the six main vehicles were built by a contractor, Master Models of Middlesex. Models and puppet sets combined, more than 200 versions of the Thunderbird machines were created for the series.

During the designing and filming process, Meddings' first priorities were realism and credibility. With the exception of Thunderbird 5 , each vehicle was built in three or four scales. Meddings' swing-wing concept for Thunderbird 1 was inspired by his wish to create something "more dynamic" than a fixed-wing aircraft. He remained unsatisfied with the prototype of Thunderbird 2 until he inverted the wings, later commenting, "... at the time, all aircraft had swept-back wings. I only did it to be different." This decision was made out of personal preference and was not informed by any expert knowledge on Meddings' part. He described the Thunderbird 2 launch as "probably the most memorable" sequence that his team devised for an APF production.

The largest model of Thunderbird 3 , whose design was based on the Soviet Soyuz rocket, was six feet (1.8 m) tall. Thunderbird 4 was particularly difficult to film: as the scale of the model did not correspond to the water inside the shooting tank, creative camera angles and rapid editing were used to produce a sense of realistic perspective. Thunderbird 5 , the most difficult vehicle for Meddings to visualise, was based on the Tracy Island Round House. Since most of the space station's appearances were provided by stock footage, the model was rarely filmed. Pod Vehicles were designed on an episode-by-episode basis and built from balsa wood, Jelutong wood or fibreglass. To save time and costs, other minor vehicles were built in-house from radio-controlled model kits.

As the puppets of Lady Penelope and Parker needed to fit inside, the largest of all the models was the seven-foot FAB 1, which cost £2,500 (approximately £46,000 today) to build. The Rolls-Royce's name and colour were both chosen by Sylvia Anderson. Rolls-Royce Ltd. supervised the construction of the plywood model and supplied APF with an authentic radiator grille for close-up shots of the front of the car. In exchange for its cooperation, the company requested that a Spirit of Ecstasy be fixed to the chassis and that the characters avoid referring to the brand with abbreviations such as "Rolls".

Scale explosions were created using substances such as fuller's earth, petrol gel, magnesium strips and Cordtex explosive. Originally filmed at up to 120 frames per second (f.p.s.), they were slowed down to 24 f.p.s. during post-production to increase their apparent magnitude and length. Gunpowder canisters were ignited to create rocket jets. The wires that electronically fired the rockets also allowed a member of the crew, holding a cruciform and positioned on an overhead gantry, to "fly" the model over the set. By far the most unwieldy model was Thunderbird 2 , which Meddings remembered as being "awful" to fly. A combination of unreliable rockets and weak wiring frequently caused problems: should the former be slow to ignite, the current quickly caused the latter to overheat and snap, potentially damaging the model and even setting fire to the set. Conditions above the studio floor were often dangerous due to the heat and smoke. Although many of the exhaust sound effects used in the series were drawn from an audio library, some were specially recorded during a Red Arrows display at RAF Little Rissington in Gloucestershire.

By 1966, Meddings' commitments were split between Series Two and Thunderbirds Are While Meddings worked on the film, camera operator Jimmy Elliott assumed the responsibility of directing the TV effects. By this stage, the basic frame of Thunderbird 2 had been damaged so many times that the model had needed to be rebuilt from scratch. Meddings was displeased with the result, reflecting that the replacement was "not only the wrong colour, it was a completely different shape ... I never felt our model-makers managed to recapture the look of the original."

Critic David Garland suggests that the challenge facing the Thunderbirds effects department was to strike a balance between the "conventional science-fiction imperative of the 'futuristic'" and the "seeping hyper-realist concerns mandated by the Andersons' approach to the puppets". Thunderbirds has been praised for the quality of its effects. Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, writers of Collins Telly Guide , consider the model work "uniformly impressive". To Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping, writers of The Guinness Book of Classic British TV , the effects are "way beyond anything seen on TV previously". Impressed by their work on Thunderbirds , film director Stanley Kubrick hired several members of Meddings' staff to supervise the effects shooting for 2001: A Space Odyssey .

Title sequence

The series' title sequence, storyboarded by Gerry Anderson, is made up of two parts. It opens with a countdown of "5, 4, 3, 2, 1: Thunderbirds Are Go!", provided by Dyneley in character as Jeff Tracy. In a departure from the style of Stingray , the Thunderbirds title sequence varies with each episode: the first part consists of an action montage that serves as a preview of the plot. Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn, biographers of Gerry Anderson, compare this device favourably to a film trailer.

The second part, accompanied by composer Barry Gray's "The Thunderbirds March", features portraits of the main puppet cast superimposed on various vehicles and settings. Peel describes this as "ostensibly a return to the 'series stars' concept long known in TV", while Garland considers such imagery demonstrative of Anderson's commitment to "incremental realism" through a convergence of human and puppet characteristics. Essayist Jonathan Bignell suggests that the use of portraits conveys Anderson's partiality to "visual revelation of machines and physical action".

According to Daniel O'Brien, writer of SF:UK: How British Science Fiction Changed the World , the Thunderbirds title sequence encapsulates the reasons for the series' enduring popularity Dyneley's countdown is particularly well remembered and has been widely quoted. Dean Newman of the Syfy channel website ranks Thunderbirds eighth in a list of "Top 10 TV title sequences", while Den of Geek's Martin Anderson considers the sequence the best of any TV series.

Music

The score was composed by Gray, who served as musical director for all of the Anderson productions up to the first series of Space: 1999 . In response to Gerry Anderson's request that the main theme have a "military feel", Gray produced a brass-dominated piece titled "The Thunderbirds March", which was recorded in December 1964 at Olympic Studios in London. The end titles were originally to have been accompanied by "Flying High", a lyrical track sung by Gary Miller with backing by Ken Barrie. Ultimately, a variation of the march was used instead] I.cidental music was recorded over nine months between March and December 1965. As most of the music budget was spent on the series' earlier episodes, later instalments drew heavily on APF's ever-expanding music library.

Peel considers "The Thunderbirds March" to be "one of the best TV themes ever written – perfect for the show and catchy when heard alone". Morag Reavley of BBC Online argues that the piece is "up there ... in the quintessential soundtrack of the Sixties" with the James Bond films and the songs of Frank Sinatra, Elvis and The Beatles. More generally, he praises the series' "catchy, pulse-quickening tunes", as well as Gray's aptitude for "musical nuance" and the mixing of genres. Heather Phares of Allmusic considers "Thunderbirds Are Go!" – the track accompanying the launch sequences of Thunderbirds 1 , 2 and 3 – to be a reflection of the mod aspect of 1960s British spy fiction. She also highlights Gray's homage to – and divergence from – musical norms, commenting that his score "sends up the spy and action/adventure conventions of the '60s very stylishly and subtly".

David Huckvale identifies Wagnerian homage in both the theme music and the series' premise. Noting that the theme's opening string ostinato is similar in effect to a recurring motif in Ride of the Valkyries , he also likens the Thunderbird machines to Valkyries themselves: "Their function is more benevolent than those warrior maidens, but they do hover over danger, death and destruction." Kevin J. Donnelly of the University of Southampton acknowledges the series' "big-sounding orchestral score", which he compares to that of a live-action film. He also suggests that the music serves partly to draw attention away from the physical imperfections of the puppets.

To celebrate the show's anniversary, "Thunderbirds Are Go - 50 Years On" at Colston Hall, Bristol was celebrated as the theme music is brought to life, led by Charles Hazlewood and his All Star Collective.

Broadcast

Thunderbirds premiered on British television on 30 September 1965 on the ITV franchises ATV Midlands, Westward and Channel. Other broadcasters, including ATV London and Granada, started transmissions the following month. The Christmas-themed series finale, "Give or Take a Million", was first broadcast on 25 December 1966. Despite Grade's decision to extend the running time, Midlands and Granada broadcast each episode in two parts. In these areas, both 25-minute instalments aired on the same day, separated by the ITN Evening News. The conclusion opened with a narration by Shane Rimmer summarising the first part's action.

Granada transmitted Thunderbirds in its original, 50-minute format for the first time with the start of repeats in 1966. In 1968, the franchise briefly aired episodes in three parts due to timeslot restrictions. The availability of repeats during the 1960s and 1970s varied among regions. ATV Midlands screened the series regularly into the early 1970s; by contrast, Thunderbirds was entirely absent from Yorkshire Television between 1968 and 1976. The series was last transmitted on the ITV franchises in 1981.

In 1990, 8 of the 19 audio episodes released by APF Records were converted into radio dramas, which were transmitted on BBC Radio 5. The success of the radio series encouraged the BBC to acquire the rights to the TV episodes, which it broadcast simultaneously in all regions from September 1991 on BBC 2.

Since the end of the first network run, which achieved average viewing figures of more than six million, the BBC has repeated the series six times: between 1992 and 1993 (Series One only), 1994 and 1995 (nine episodes only), and 2000 and 2001 (in remastered form), as well as in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Other channels that have shown repeats include UK Gold (1994–95), Bravo (1996–97), Cartoon Network (2001–02), Boomerang (2001–03) and Syfy (2009). In Scotland, the BBC screened a Gaelic dub, Tairnearan Tar As ("Thunderbirds Are Go ") in the early 1990s.

Before its UK debut, Thunderbirds was distributed to 30 other countries including the US, Canada, Australia and Japan. Pre-sales revenue totalled £350,000 (approximately £6 million today). In the year following the series' first appearance, the number of countries increased to 66. In Japan, where it was first broadcast by NHK, Thunderbirds attracted a sizeable fan following and influenced series such as Ultraman , Mighty Jack , Himitsu Sentai Gorenger , Super Rescue Solbrain and Neon Genesis Evangelion . In the US, the two-part format entered first-run syndication, to modest success, in 1968. Other overseas broadcasters have included TechTV and Family Room HD (US), BBC Kids and YTV (Canada), Nine Network and Foxtel (Australia), TVNZ (in the 1980s) and later TV3 (New Zealand), MediaCorp TV12 Kids Central (Singapore) and RTÉ Two (Republic of Ireland).

Reception

Thunderbirds is generally considered the Andersons' most popular series and their greatest critical and commercial success. In 1966, the show received a Royal Television Society Silver Medal for Outstanding Artistic Achievement and Gerry Anderson received an honorary fellowship of the British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society. In 2007, Thunderbirds achieved 19th place in a Radio Times magazine reader poll to determine the best science-fiction TV programme of all time. It is ranked fourth by the 2013 Channel 5 list show 50 Greatest Kids' TV Shows .

For Peel, Thunderbirds is "without a doubt the peak of the Supermarionation achievement". Suggesting that the series is pitched at a "more adult" level than its predecessors, he adds that its sense of adventure, effective humour and "gripping and convincing" episodes ensured that "everyone in the audience found something to love about it." Simon Heffer, a fan of Thunderbirds in childhood, commented positively on the series for The Daily Telegraph in 2011: "All the elements we children discerned in whatever grown-up television we had been allowed to watch were present in Thunderbirds : dramatic theme and incidental music; well-developed plots; goodies and baddies; swaggering Americans, at a time when the whole of Britain was in a cultural cringe to them; and, of course, glamorous locations ... Then, of course, there was the nail-biting tension of the rescues themselves ..." Film critic Kim Newman describes the series as a "television perennial".

In his foreword to John Marriott's book, Thunderbirds Are Go! , Anderson put forward several explanations for the series' enduring popularity: it "contains elements that appeal to most children – danger, jeopardy and destruction. But because International Rescue's mission is to save life, there is no gratuitous violence." According to Anderson, Thunderbirds incorporates a "strong family atmosphere, where Dad reigns supreme". Both O'Brien and script editor Alan Pattillo have praised the series' positive "family values". In addition, Heffer and others have written of its cross-generational appeal. In 2000, shortly before the series' BBC revival, Brian Viner remarked in Radio Times that Thunderbirds was on the point of "captivating yet another generation of viewers". Stuart Hood, writing for The Spectator in 1965, praised Thunderbirds as a "modern fairy tale"; adding that it "can sometimes be frightening", he recommended that children watch it accompanied by their parents. Writing for Dreamwatch in 1994, Andrew Thomas described Thunderbirds as only "nominally" a children's programme: "Its themes are universal and speak as much to the adult in the child as the child in the adult."

Jeff Evans, author of The Penguin TV Companion , argues that the series' 50-minute format allows for stronger character development and "tension-building". O'Brien is less positive in his appraisal of the writing, asserting that the plots are often "formulaic" and are sometimes "stretched to snapping point" by the extended running time. Cornell, Day and Topping are critical: they consider the writing at times "woefully poor" and argue that Thunderbirds as a whole is "often as clichéd as previous Anderson series". Peel, despite praising the storylines and characterisation, suggests that the "tongue-in-cheek" humour of Stingray is less evident. Where Thunderbirds improves on its predecessor, Peel believes, is in its rejection of fantasy plot devices, child and animal characters, comical and stereotyped villains and what he terms the "standard Anderson sexism": female characters, marginalised in earlier series, are more commonly seen to play active and sometimes heroic roles.

Noting the attention to detail of the series' launch sequences, Jonathan Bignell argues that part of the motivation for dedicating large amounts of screen time to the Thunderbird craft is the need to compensate for the limited mobility of the puppet cast. The focus on futuristic machines has also been explored by cultural historian Nicholas J. Cull, who comments that of all the Andersons' series, Thunderbirds is the most evocative of a recurring theme: the "necessity of the human component of the machine", whereby the failures of new technology are overcome by "brave human beings and technology working together". This makes the series' vision of the 2060s "wonderfully humanistic and reassuring". O'Brien similarly praises this optimism, comparing the Tracy family to guardian Übermensch. Writing for Wired UK magazine, Warren Ellis asserts that the series' scientific vision could inspire the next generation of "mad and frightening engineers", adding that Thunderbirds "trades in vast, demented concepts ... immense and very beautiful ideas as solutions to problems."

Thomas argues that the world of Thunderbirds is similar to the 1960s to the extent that contemporary capitalism and class structures appear to have survived mostly intact. He also observes, however, that wealth and high social status are often depicted as character flaws rather than strengths. According to Thomas, a contributing factor to the series' lasting popularity is the realism of IR's machines. Newman, for his part, suggests that "the point isn't realism. The 21st century of Thunderbirds is detailed ... but also de-populated, a high-tech toyland". He is more negative in his comparisons of contemporary and future values, noting the "square, almost 50s" attitudes to race, gender and class. With regard to stereotyping, Hood comments that he "would be happier if [villains] didn't seem to be recognisable by their pigmentation". Cull, by contrast, considers the series largely progressive on the subject of race, arguing that it rejects negative stereotyping through the use of "positive non-white characters" such as Kyrano and Tin-Tin. However, he deems many of the one-off villains derivative, commenting that these characters are typically presented as "corrupt businessmen, spivs and gangsters familiar from crime films".

Various commentators – including Bignell, Cull and O'Brien – have also discussed Thunderbirds as a product of the Cold War era. Bignell comments that the Hood's Oriental appearance and mysterious powers draw parallels with James Bond villains and fears of China operating as "a 'third force' antagonistic to the West". Cull observes that, despite the series' focus on the dangers of nuclear technology, the Thunderbird machines contradict this particular theme: in their case, "an image of technology associated with the threat of Cold War mass destruction – the rocket emerging from the hidden silo – was appropriated and deployed to save life rather than to take it." He argues that the series adheres more closely to cultural norms by drawing on the "Cold War cult of the secret agent whose skills defend the home from enemies unknown", noting Lady Penelope's role as a spy in addition to two episodes ("30 Minutes After Noon" and "The Man from MI.5") that are heavily influenced by the James Bond novels and film adaptations.

In Japan, Masaaki Hirakata, curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography noted that "‘Thunderbirds’ was like a modern sci-fi expression of bunraku, which probably explains why it was accepted so readily here,” during a 2001 exhibit devoted to the programme.

The presentation of smoking in Thunderbirds was the subject of a study published in the medical journal Tobacco Control in 2002. Despite identifying examples in 26 episodes, Kate Hunt of the University of Glasgow concluded that Thunderbirds does not actively promote smoking – a view opposed by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation (RCLCF) at the time of the series' relaunch on BBC 2. Rejecting the RCLCF's proposal that the remastered episodes be edited to digitally erase all visible cigarettes and cigars, the BBC stated that the series "does not glorify or encourage smoking" and described the activity as "incidental to the plot".

Merchandise

More than 3,000 Thunderbirds -themed products have been marketed since the series' debut. To accommodate the high demand for tie-ins, APF established three dedicated subsidiaries: AP Films Merchandising, AP Films Music and AP Films Toys. Some British commentators dubbed the 1966 end-of-year shopping season "Thunderbirds Christmas" due to the series' popularity. In the early 1990s, Matchbox launched a new toy range to coincide with the BBC 2 repeats. Sales figures for Christmas 1992 exceeded those achieved by the Star Wars merchandising campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s. Demand for Matchbox's Tracy Island Playset overwhelmed supply, resulting in shop fights and a substantial black market for the toy.

A comic strip featuring the characters of Lady Penelope and Parker debuted in the early issues of APF Publishing's children's title TV Century 21 in 1965. A full-length Thunderbirds strip appeared a year later, at which point the Lady Penelope adventures were given their own comic. Thunderbirds , Lady Penelope and Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds annuals were published in the late 1960s; during the same period, eight original novels were written. In 2008, FTL Publications of Minnesota launched a new series of tie-in novels.

Between 1965 and 1967, APF Records released 19 audio episodes in the form of vinyl EPs. Three are original stories; the rest are adapted from TV episode soundtracks, with additional narration provided by a member of the voice cast. The series' first video game tie-in, developed for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers, was released by Firebird Software in 1985. Other titles have since been released for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 2. During the late 1980s, the series was issued on home video for the first time by PolyGram and its subsidiary Channel 5. Following its acquisition by Carlton International Media in 1999, Thunderbirds was digitally remastered for the release of the first DVD versions in 2000.

Later productions

Thunderbirds has been followed by two film sequels, a live-action film adaptation, two animated TV remakes and several re-edited presentations for TV broadcast and home video. The second of the remakes, Thunderbirds Are Go , premiered on ITV in 2015, the 50th anniversary year of the original.

Film

The feature-length film sequels Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6 were released in 1966 and 1968. The first was greenlit by Lew Grade before the TV series had started its broadcast run. Written and produced by the Andersons and directed by David Lane, both films were distributed by United Artists. Neither was a critical or commercial success, and Century 21 Cinema's plans for further sequels were abandoned.

In the early 1980s, episodes of Thunderbirds and other Supermarionation series were re-edited by ITC's New York offices to create a series of compilation films. Branded "Super Space Theater", this format was mostly intended for family viewing on American cable and syndicated TV. Three Thunderbirds features were produced: Thunderbirds to the Rescue , Thunderbirds In Outer Space and Countdown to Disaster .

Plans for a live-action film adaptation were first announced in 1993. These eventually culminated in the 2004 film Thunderbirds , directed by Jonathan Frakes and produced by StudioCanal and Working Title Films. It was a critical and commercial failure and was poorly received by fans of the TV series.

TV

The Andersons sold their intellectual and profit participation rights to Thunderbirds and their other productions in the 1970s. As a result, they had no developmental control over subsequent adaptations of their works. Thunderbirds was first remade for TV in the early 1980s as Thunderbirds 2086 . In this anime re-imagining, set 20 years after the original, the vastly expanded IR is based within an arcology and operates 17 Thunderbird machines. It was inspired by Thunderhawks , an updated story concept by Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill that later served as the basis for Anderson's Supermacromation series Terrahawks .

Two re-edited series, based on condensed versions of 13 of the original episodes, aired in the US in 1994. The first, Thunderbirds USA , was broadcast as part of the Fox Kids programming block; the second, Turbocharged Thunderbirds , was syndicated by UPN. Developed as a comedy, Turbocharged Thunderbirds moved the action to the planet "Thunder-World" and combined the original puppet footage with new live-action scenes featuring a pair of human teenagers.

As well as Thunderhawks , Anderson developed other ideas for a remake. A 1976 concept, Inter-Galactic Rescue 4 , was to have featured a variable-configuration craft capable of performing rescues on land and sea, in air and in space; Anderson pitched the idea to NBC, who rejected it. This was followed in 1984 by another proposed updating, T-Force , which at first could not be pursued owing to a lack of funding. Development resumed in 1993, when it was decided to produce the series, now titled GFI , using cel animation. But Anderson was disappointed with the results and the production was abandoned.

In 2005, Anderson re-affirmed his wish to remake Thunderbirds but stated that he had been unable to secure the necessary rights from Granada Ventures. His negotiations with the company and its successor, ITV plc, continued for the next few years. In 2008, he expressed his commitment to creating an "updated" version, ideally using CGI; three years later, he announced that work on the series had commenced. Following Anderson's death in December 2012, it was confirmed that a deal had been struck between ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures to remake Thunderbirds using a combination of CGI and live-action model sets. The new version, Thunderbirds Are Go , was commissioned for two series of 26 episodes each. The first 13 episodes of Series One were broadcast on ITV HD and CITV between April and June 2015.

In July 2015, to celebrate the series' 50th anniversary, Filmed in Supermarionation documentary director Stephen La Rivière launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds necessary to produce three new puppet episodes based on the Thunderbirds mini-albums of the 1960s. The project, titled "Thunderbirds 1965", is supported by ITV, Sylvia Anderson and the estate of Gerry Anderson.

2017 marks the inaugural "Thunderbirds Day" on the anniversary of the first episode's airing, 30th September. Primarily an exercise to promote the third series of the new television adaptation, events are also planned to include the original classic figures. From Friday 22 September to Sunday 29 October 2017, the Emirates Air Line Cable Car will feature "Thunderbirds Are Go" branding, and the InterContinental London - The O2 hotel will be offering a Lady Penelope Afternoon Tea from Friday 15th September until 30th October.

Influence

Thunderbirds has influenced TV programmes, films and various other media. The puppet comedy of the film Team America: World Police was directly inspired by the idiosyncrasies of Thunderbirds -era Supermarionation techniques. Allusion and homage are also evident in Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave , Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Spaced , as well as the character design of Star Wars: The Clone Wars . The BBC sketch comedy Not Only... But Also included a segment titled "Superthunderstingcar" – a parody of Thunderbirds , Supercar and Stingray .

IR's life-saving mission inspired the founding of the volunteer International Rescue Corps, originally made up of a group of British firemen who contributed to the humanitarian effort following the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. Virgin Group has used the series in branding its services: Virgin Atlantic operates a Boeing 747-400 airliner named Lady Penelope , while Virgin Trains owns a fleet of locomotives that are all named after main characters and vehicles and used specifically to "rescue" broken-down trains.

A mimed stage show, Thunderbirds: F.A.B. , has toured internationally and popularised a staccato style of movement known colloquially as the "Thunderbirds walk". The production has periodically been revived as Thunderbirds: F.A.B. – The Next Generation .

Cover versions of "The Thunderbirds March" have been released by musicians and bands such as Billy Cotton, Joe Loss, Frank Sidebottom, The Rezillos and The Shadows. Groups who have written songs inspired by the series include Fuzzbox (with "International Rescue"), TISM (with "Thunderbirds Are Coming Out"), Busted (with "Thunderbirds / 3AM") and V6 (with "Thunderbirds – Your Voice"). In 1991, Anderson filmed the music video for the Dire Straits single "Calling Elvis" with a collection of Thunderbirds -style puppets.

During the 1960s, APF produced themed TV advertisements for Lyons Maid and Kellogg's. Aspects of Thunderbirds have since been used in advertising for Swinton Insurance, Nestlé Kit Kat, Specsavers and the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

  • Condition: Neu
  • Subject Type: TV & Movies
  • Card Size: Standard
  • Autographed: No
  • Set: Thunderbirds
  • Character: Lady Penelope, Captain Scarlet, Troy Tempest, Marina, Brains, Scott Tracy, Virgil Tracy, Colonel White, Captain Blue, 'Phones
  • Number of Cards: 66
  • Custom Bundle: No
  • Material: Card Stock
  • Year Manufactured: 1993
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Franchise: Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet
  • TV Show: Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet
  • Vintage: Yes
  • Type: Non-Sport Trading Card
  • Language: English
  • Manufacturer: Topps
  • Features: Base Set
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Gerry Anderson, Animation
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom

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