Info round-up on the new THUNDERBIRDS TV series

A new Thunderbirds TV series is set to debut in the next couple of months, so I thought it'd be interesting to round up all the info we have on the new series.

The new show is called Thunderbirds Are Go! and is the third television series in the franchise, following on from the original Thunderbirds that aired in 1965-65 and the animated Japanese homage series Thunderbirds 2086, which aired in 1986.

All versions of the franchise feature International Rescue, an independent organisation working from a remote Pacific island which maintains and operates several large vehicles which are used in helping out in dangerous situations, such as disaster relief or rescue missions. In the original series and the new reboot, International Rescue is run by the Tracy family, led by patriarch Jeff Tracy. His sons Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John pilot Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Thunderbird 1 is a superfast rocket plane, capable of reaching any danger zone on Earth in a matter of hours and assessing the situation. Thunderbird 2 is a heavy lifter craft which can transport a variety of smaller, automated vehicles tailored to deal with almost any situation. Thunderbird 3 is a spacecraft capable of interplanetary travel. Thunderbird 4 is a deepwater submarine. Thunderbird 5 is a space station in geostationary orbit, constantly scanning for disasters and mayday signals so the team can respond as quickly as possible. Additional characters include Brains, the creator of the Thunderbird vehicles, and the Hood, a mysterious villain who wants to capture the Thunderbird vehicles and use them to develop weapons technology he can sell to the highest bidder. Also important are Lady Penelope and her chauffeur/bodyguard Parker, who are (sometimes surprisingly ruthless) secret agents working in an intelligence-gathering role for International Rescue.

The new show seems to retain all of this backdrop, along with adding new recurring characters such as Kayo and Colonel Casey. The new series has been described as a reboot, so it's assumed it replaces the original show in continuity rather than working as a sequel to it. The precise date of the reboot, or how it will accommodate new technological innovations like the internet, are currently not known.

What is known is that the show will drop the puppets of the original (too expensive, apparently) and will use CGI characters. Before you throw things at the computer, they are using real miniatures, sets and models (although I suspect they will be using both physical ships and CGI versions and switching between them as needed) and integrating the CG characters with them. How successful this will be remains to be seen.

The new cast includes some known names. The biggest coup is Rosamund Pike, recently festooned with awards and nominations for her role in Gone Girl. She will be playing Lady Penelope, with original 1960s Parker David Graham reprising his role. British comedian Kayan Novak, known for his TV series Fonejacker and Facejacker and his role in the comedy film Four Lions, is playing Brains, whilst Thomas Brodie-Sangster (recently seen as Jojen Reed on Game of Thrones) is playing both Gordon and John Tracy. Angel Coulby (Merlin) is playing new character Kayo, whilst Sandra Dickinson (Trillian in the BBC TV version of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is playing Grandma Tracy. Weta Digital, who worked on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, as well as Avatar, are providing the effects work.

The new show will debut on ITV in the spring. Its success will hinge on how well the CG characters go across (the initial design reveal above is not hugely encouraging, although the new vehicle designs are pretty solid) and what age it's pitched at. The original was successful partly because it was kid-friendly without necessarily talking down to them, the result of the show being expanded from 25 to 50 minute episodes necessitating the introduction of more character-building scenes, comic relief and dialogue. The new show will consist of half-hour episodes, likely to be focused more on action. If they can still put together good stories with that constraint, this should be a watchable show.

Cast announced for new THUNDERBIRDS TV series

Iconic 1960s children's TV series Thunderbirds is returning for a new run. 26 episodes will air in 2015, with the series already in pre-production.

Gerry Anderson announced that the project was underway shortly before his death. Sadly, he passed away before it entered production. The new show will be called Thunderbirds Are Go! and is a co-production between ITV in the UK and Pukeko Pictures in New Zealand, with Weta Workshop (who have done the effects for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, amongst others) handling design work and some of the effects.

Unlike the original show, which used puppets (and was a major influence on the movie Team America: World Police), the new series will use scale sets, some miniatures and CGI to depict the characters and some of the effects.

The announced voice cast so far consists of:

Kayvan Novak (Four Lions, Facejacker) as Brains.
Rosamund Pike (The World's End, Die Another Day) as Lady Penelope.
David Graham (the original Thunderbirds) as Parker.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones) as Gordon and John Tracy.
Rasmus Hardiker (Saxondale, Cockneys vs. Zombies) as Alan and Scott Tracy.
Sandra Dickinson (The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) as Grandma Tracy.
Angel Coulby (Merlin) as Kayo (a new character).
Adjoa Andoh (Doctor Who, Casualty) as Colonel Casey (a  new character).
David Menkin as Virgil Tracy.
Andres Williams as the Hood.

And yes, that's the 88-year-old David Graham reprising his role as Parker, which he first played in the original Thunderbirds in 1965.

New THUNDERBIRDS series greenlit

With the sad news of Gerry Anderson's death in December, it was assumed that his plans for a new Thunderbirds TV series had also been abandoned. Happily, this is not the case. Today it was confirmed a new Thunderbirds TV series is entering production for airing in 2015.

The new series will be a co-production between New Zealand's Pukeko Pictures and CITV in the UK, which will also broadcast the show (hopefully in a better timeslot than the new Captain Scarlet, which they pretty much killed through appallingly awful scheduling). Surprisingly, the show will not be all-CGI, instead using a mixture of models and sets along with CGI. The characters will be CG, as presumably will be the more action-oriented scenes. The CGI for the series will be provided by no less a source than Weta, who did the CGI for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies and King Kong, amongst many other films.

A 26-episode season is now in pre-production for airing in 2015.

RIP Gerry Anderson

On Boxing Day it was announced that Gerry Anderson had passed away at the age of 83. Anderson was one of the most famous figures in UK TV in the 1960s and 1970s, working on a number of science fiction and fantasy shows. However, he will always be closely associated with a number of children's series featuring puppets operating highly-detailed vehicles: Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and Terrahawks.

 
In addition to his puppet shows, Anderson created several live-action SF series: UFO, Space: 1999 and Space Precinct (as well as the non-SF The Protectors). Despite his fame and his shows' place in popular culture, he was unable to find a format with longevity: aside from Terrahawks, none of his shows lasted more than two seasons. Thunderbirds returned with a live-action movie in 2004 which Anderson was not involved with, criticised heavily and was panned on release. Anderson did produce a two-season revival of Captain Scarlet in 2005 (using CGI) which was critically well-received, but which was not a financial success.

Despite the setbacks, Anderson's shows were always worth watching. They usually presented a positive view of the future and of the ways that technology could improve people's lives, though tinged with caution over its misuse. His shows also had production values that defied belief for their day: the model effects (and endless, artistically impressive explosions) on Thunderbirds are particularly stunning for a series made in 1965. His 1970-71 TV series UFO (which inspired the 1994 computer game X-COM and its sequels and recent remake) was also notable for being aimed squarely at adults, with a dark theme of paranoia running through the series along with a much grimmer tone than his other work, a move which was very successful.

Anderson also had an influence on other shows. His work inspired Ron Thornton, the creator of the CGI on Babylon 5 and, later, Star Trek: Voyager, to make space scenes more colourful and original (Thornton later worked with Anderson on the new Captain Scarlet). Anderson's habit of putting highlights from the episode in the title sequence of each episode also led to the creators of the newer Battlestar Galactica to do the same thing in their show, somewhat controversially. His work was also very popular in Japan, where even a tribute anime to Thunderbirds was produced in the 1980s (called Thunderbirds 2086 with the permission of the company that produced the original show, but without Gerry Anderson's involvement).

In 2011 Anderson was working on a revival of Thunderbirds using CGI, but the status of the project became uncertain after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and had to retire. Hopefully, this project will be revived and introduce a new generation of fans to his work and legacy.

Gerry Anderson working on new THUNDERBIRDS TV series

Gerry Anderson confirmed yesterday on the BBC News that he is now working on a new TV series based on his classic 1960s children's show Thunderbirds. Anderson successfully brought back Captain Scarlet as an animated CGI series for a two-season run a few years back, so I assume he'll be pursuing the same sort of format for Thunderbirds.


Thunderbirds ran for two seasons in 1965-66 and was a huge success. Set in the late 21st Century, the series depicted the adventures of International Rescue, run by the fabulously wealthy Tracey family. Using several large vehicles known as 'Thunderbirds', the Tracey boys helped resolve disasters and accidents around the world, sometimes ones caused by natural disasters and others caused by villainous interventions. Their principal foe was a strange, mystical enemy known as 'The Hood', who coveted the technology used to build the Thunderbird craft. Whilst the action was filmed with puppets, the series became infamous for the quality of its miniatures work and special effects, which were light-years beyond anything else on British TV at the time (its famed special effects maestro Derek Meddings, known for his ability to make something explode twenty-three times, later went on to work in Hollywood, most notably on the Tim Burton Batman).

After the original series ended, it became an immense hit in Japan, where an anime series influenced by the original was released in the 1980s (and was dubbed into English directly as Thunderbirds 2086, although this was not authorised by Gerry Anderson). However, later attempts to resurrect the show were stalled by rights issues and disputes. A 2004 live-action film directed by Jonathan Frakes flopped and was a critical failure (Anderson: "The biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my life,").

Whilst I'm broadly sceptical of remakes, there are a few properties that seem to be very suitable for it: Thunderbirds, Blake's 7 and UFO (another Gerry Anderson production which later inspired the X-Com PC game franchise) are actually my top three choices, so this is promising news. Anderson's new Captain Scarlet, with CGI graphics provided by Ron Thornton (the pioneer behind Babylon 5's groundbreaking effects), also seems to have been reasonably well-received, though it was shunted around the schedules disgracefully by ITV. Hopefully that won't happen again.

UFO movie will now be first in a trilogy

In a prior post I commented on plans to develop Gerry Anderson's classic 1970 TV series UFO as a movie. In a new interview, the director, Matthew Gratzner, has indicated their plans are now radically more ambitious for the project.

Skydiver, a possibly somewhat inefficient submarine-launched jet aircraft, but very modest by Anderson's normal standards of unnecessarily complicated vehicles.

The project is now envisaged as a trilogy. The first movie sounds like it will borrow heavily from a storyline in the series about pilot Paul Foster (Joshua Jackson, the only confirmed castmember so far) stumbling across the SHADO organisation and then joining it. The trilogy's storyline is under wraps but comments in the interview suggest it will broadly follow the series arc, in which SHADO gradually uncovers more information about the aliens and their technology and their goals, with a view to eventually defeating them (radical, I know).

Also encouraging is news that after relocating the action to the USA, the latest draft of the script has re-set it in the UK, with either Pinewood or Shepperton earmarked to stand in for SHADO's secret HQ underneath a film studio. The movie will also favour miniatures for the effects sequences, only going digital for sequences that would otherwise be impossible. After Moon recently doing something similar, could we be seeing the start of the long-prophesied CGI backlash? It sounds like important SHADO vehicles like Skydiver will still be used, but no word yet on the iconic Interceptors or the SHADO ground APCs.

No word on the casting of Commander Straker yet, although, as with the original series, he will still be an American. Gratzner states that he favours an international cast for the movie, and has resisted turning any of the male characters into women to increase the number of female roles in the story. However, several of the female characters, including Colonel Lake and Lt. Ellis, will likely have bigger roles than in the series. The director states that have favours Ali Larter (from Heroes) for the role Colonel Lake, which I must admit I'm not sold on. More amusingly, apparently there is an ongoing creative debate about whether the Moonbase technicians will keep their purple anti-static wigs. I suspect he might lose this one, but it's good to know they put up a fight.

And yes, Gerry Anderson will be involved as a consultant on the project. The first movie is expected to film next year to be a major 2011 release.

Gerry Anderson's UFO coming to the movies

Gerry Anderson's excellent 1970 TV series UFO is heading for the big screen. The movie option for the series was bought some years ago and the project has languished in development hell ever since, but according to Variety the project is now being fast-tracked with production expected to begin next year, with Matthew Gratzner directing and former Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson (currently in Fringe) playing the role of Major Paul Foster.


The series was Gerry Anderson's first foray into the world of live-action television, having spent the previous decade making puppet-based shows such as Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. The show was set in the then-futuristic year of 1980 and saw Earth under clandestine attack from an enigmatic alien race. To confront the alien menace, the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation (SHADO) is formed. SHADO headquarters is located under a film studio near London, from where it organises the interception of alien spaceships using Interceptor craft based on the Moon and Skydiver, a submarine whose front section breaks off and turns into an atmospheric fighter aircraft. Ground combat teams could also be deployed via massive tank-like vehicles. However, despite the impressive military hardware on show, some episodes also dealt with much more shadowy struggles between SHADO operatives and alien infiltrators, more along the lines of the Quinn Martin US show The Invaders.

UFO (pronounced 'you-foe' rather than the traditional acronym) was also rather unusual in that it was quite bleak. Our 'heroes' were somewhat morally ambiguous, and sympathetic aliens appeared from time to time who were remorselessly hunted down by SHADO. The aliens' motives are enigmatic and never fully explained, and even episodes where SHADO 'won' were usually undermined by the cost in lives and resources required to get there. The show was also unusual in that it had no central protagonist. Early episodes focused on new SHADO recruit Paul Foster as he learns about the organisation, but later episodes focused more on SHADO commander Ed Straker (Ed Bishop). Some episodes notably focused almost entirely on guest stars as they came into contact with the aliens, with SHADO personnel only appearing in background roles.

It was an absolutely terrific show, but sadly was not renewed for a second season. A few years later Anderson launched an attempt to get it back on the screen, re-focusing the premise on Moonbase and its staff there, and this eventually became a completely different (and rather inferior) series called Space: 1999, in which the Moon gets blown out of orbit around the Earth and somehow ends up crossing interstellar space. It was a very silly show that was intermittently entertaining in its first season and turned into a very bad joke in its second, despite the coolness of the Eagle spacecraft.

UFO's influence lived on, giving rise to the popular 1990s X-COM series of computer games (Enemy Unknown, Terror from the Deep, Apocalypse and Interceptor) which 'borrowed' much of its structure from the SHADO organisation in the series.

The new movie will apparently stay faithful to the original set-up, with a perhaps inevitable change of location to the USA (the new SHADO HQ is located under a Hollywood film studio, for example). Interesting to see how it turns out.