Thunderbirds
Every other children's TV series has been turned into a film, so now it's the turn of Thunderbirds. Find out all you need to know about Parker and his pals.
1. Thunderbirds are go, in a manner of speaking. A live-action film version of the 1960s children's TV show is to go into production after several years in development.
2. The string-operated wooden dolls will make way for real actors but much will stay the same - the Tracys will run International Rescue from a South Sea island and move around in Thunderbirds 1,2,3 and 4.
3. The TV series was created by Gerry Anderson, who deployed his super-marionation techniques (a marionette with electronic eyes and lips) to great effect.
4. It had two parts. First the voices were put down on tape. The recording was then hooked up to sensors in the puppets' heads - to trigger the movements of the eyes and lips - and the cameras rolled as it all came together.
5. The shows and characters read like a who's who of "cult" children's TV programming - Stingray, Captain Scarlet, UFO, Space:1999, Joe 90, Supercar and Fireball XL5. If only he'd thought of brightly coloured blobs with TVs in their stomachs his creative empire would have been complete.
6. Anderson is nevertheless a visionary. Captain Scarlet showed us how he believed life in the 21st century would be lived - a man in a red hat battling Mysterons (ok, so it's not exactly the war on terror) - while UFO was a glimpse of what we could expect from 1980. Visiting aliens looking for human organs, in case you've forgotten.
7. Thunderbirds is set in 2065, which is where the magnificent cars, planes, submarines and spaceships come from. That is how people will travel in the future.
8. But some who also call themselves Thunderbirds (the US airforce display team) are already travelling in some pretty spectacular ways. And then there's the car.
9. The true devotee can see Thunderbirds everywhere, in every area of life. Maybe you can match the famous actor to the marionette.
10. Or, from the comfort of your computer, relive the show's famous opening credits ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
1. Thunderbirds are go, in a manner of speaking. A live-action film version of the 1960s children's TV show is to go into production after several years in development.
2. The string-operated wooden dolls will make way for real actors but much will stay the same - the Tracys will run International Rescue from a South Sea island and move around in Thunderbirds 1,2,3 and 4.
3. The TV series was created by Gerry Anderson, who deployed his super-marionation techniques (a marionette with electronic eyes and lips) to great effect.
4. It had two parts. First the voices were put down on tape. The recording was then hooked up to sensors in the puppets' heads - to trigger the movements of the eyes and lips - and the cameras rolled as it all came together.
5. The shows and characters read like a who's who of "cult" children's TV programming - Stingray, Captain Scarlet, UFO, Space:1999, Joe 90, Supercar and Fireball XL5. If only he'd thought of brightly coloured blobs with TVs in their stomachs his creative empire would have been complete.
6. Anderson is nevertheless a visionary. Captain Scarlet showed us how he believed life in the 21st century would be lived - a man in a red hat battling Mysterons (ok, so it's not exactly the war on terror) - while UFO was a glimpse of what we could expect from 1980. Visiting aliens looking for human organs, in case you've forgotten.
7. Thunderbirds is set in 2065, which is where the magnificent cars, planes, submarines and spaceships come from. That is how people will travel in the future.
8. But some who also call themselves Thunderbirds (the US airforce display team) are already travelling in some pretty spectacular ways. And then there's the car.
9. The true devotee can see Thunderbirds everywhere, in every area of life. Maybe you can match the famous actor to the marionette.
10. Or, from the comfort of your computer, relive the show's famous opening credits ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
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