Thunderbirds Are So...
The original concept of Thunderbirds was of astronaut who had five sons, each of which by the way is named after Mercury program astronauts The family is based on the family that appears in Bonanza a very popular 60s cowboy TV series. Watching an episode of new show, "Thunderbirds Are Go" led me to the conclusion that far from being inferior, as these days, most remakes seem inevitably to be, far from it this could be one of the finest ever attempted.
Gerry Anderson grew up in West Hampstead. And spent a large part of his working life in Slough, Bourne end and Cookham.
He was progressively more successful with several series of marionette TV shows like, twizzle, torchy the battery boy, four feather Falls, supercar, fireball XL5, stingray culminating with Thunderbirds.
He went on to produce Capt Scarlet and Joe 90 after which he finally went into real Life filming which was where he had always wanted to be, (by I knew it was all over when they started shooting real hands in close-up rather than a set of plastic pork sausages). He had his first factory in Slough, and I believe he also had workshops and studios in Slough Bourne end near Marlow.
There is an nice reference in one of the new Thunderbirds are go programs where one of the Tracy boys admits to having been born in Slough.
This new remake "Thunderbirds are go" is fabulous, it doesn't disappoint in any quarter, the CGI and the staging storyboarding and production is top level. They have so far completed two series in this new style of which my only criticism may be the the facial emotions are still not quite there (but they were hardly there at all on the puppets and somehow that seems charming at the time).
FAB
The quality of the design and graphics and the realisation are some of the best I've seen especially on TV. The action and sound are highly produced but this is for today's market of children who are a lot more sophisticated than we were.
Supermarionation
The new series, Supercar, (1960–61) was created by Anderson and Reg Hill and marked several important advances for APF. Sylvia Anderson took on a larger role and became a partner in the company. The series was also the official debut of Supermarionation, the electronic system that made the marionettes more lifelike and convincing on screen. The system used the audio signal from pre-recorded tapes of the actors' voices to trigger solenoids installed in the heads of the puppets, making their lips move in synchronisation with the voices of the actors, and actresses.
Gerry Anderson was born on April 14, 1929 in West Hampstead, London, England as Gerald Alexander Abrahams. He was a writer and producer, known for Thunderbirds (1965), Space: 1999 (1975) and Doppelgänger (1969). He was married to Mary Robins, Sylvia Anderson and Betty Wrightman. He died on December 26, 2012 in Henley-on-Thames, England.
Gerry Anderson was born on 14 April 1929, and through a combination of skill and an incredible level of determination earned his first credit as a producer when he was still in his 20s. Years before the word ‘brand’ was popularly applied to television, Gerry’s name came to represent an inimitable style of entertainment that proved hugely successful around the world. From Fireball XL5 to Space: 1999, Captain Scarlet to Space Precinct, Supercar to Thunderbirds – he has become the UK’s equivalent of Walt Disney.
During the 1960s Gerry used puppetry to realise epic science fiction scenarios that would have been impossible to achieve in anything other than miniature scale. The names of the shows he produced during this era are familiar to millions, and continue to entertain audiences today. An incredible feat unsurpassed by any other British TV and film producer.
As the optimism of the 1960s faded, Gerry Anderson created darker scenarios for the new decade. Live-action series UFO and Space: 1999 anticipated the accomplishments of Star Wars and are still regarded by many as his finest work.
On the theme of psychogeography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Anderson
http://gerryanderson.co.uk/gerry-anderson-life-legacy/
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