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Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation". more...
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The series followed the adventures of International Rescue, an organisation created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced machinery. The series focussed on the head of the organisation, ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, and his five sons who piloted the "Thunderbird" machines. A popular show, the series is still shown today and has inspired a number of later television programmes and films.
Origins
Thunderbirds was the fifth Supermarionation children's series made by Gerry Anderson's AP Films (later Century 21 Productions). Gerry Anderson came up with the concept for Thunderbirds after hearing about a German mine diaster in 1963. The heavy equipment needed to rescue the miners was located far away - transportation time was a major hindrance in the survival of the miners. The "race against time" element is one of the recurring themes in Thunderbirds. The show's title derived from a letter written to his family by Anderson's older brother, while he was serving in the United States during World War II. In the letter, he referred to an American airbase called "Thunderbird Field".
Many of the crew came directly from APF's previous production Stingray, but for Thunderbirds the crew was expanded, and was shot at A.P. Films' ever growing studio at Stirling Road, Slough, Buckinghamshire. It was APF's first one-hour series. Thunderbirds had been in production for several months when ITC Entertainment boss Lew Grade was shown the completed pilot episode, "Trapped In The Sky" and he was reportedly so excited with the result that he immediately instructed Anderson and his team to expand all the episodes from 25 minutes to 50 minutes.
Production commenced in 1964 and the series premiered on British television in September 1965 in the ATV Midlands region. Other ITV regions followed, including London on 25 December 1965. Two seasons were produced, comprising thirty-two episodes in total.
Story
Set in the 21st century (the actual year remains a hot topic amongst fans) the show depicts the adventures of the Tracy family, which consists of millionaire former astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five sons, Scott (pilot in charge of Thunderbird 1), Virgil (pilot in charge of Thunderbird 2), Alan (astronaut in charge of Thunderbird 3), Gordon (aquanaut in charge of Thunderbird 4) and John (astronaut in charge of the space station Thunderbird 5) - each named after a Mercury astronaut - Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper and John Glenn, respectively. Together with Jeff's elderly mother, the scientific genius and engineer "Brains", the family's manservant Kyrano and his daughter Tin-Tin, the Tracy family live on a remote, uncharted Pacific island. They are, in secret, the members of International Rescue, a private and highly-advanced emergency response organization, which covers the globe and even reaches into space, rescuing people with their futuristic vehicles, the Thunderbirds.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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