The Genesis of Thunderbirds | The Complete Story of Thunderbirds' Creation
Вставка
- Опубліковано 29 вер 2020
- Chris Dale takes us through the complete story of the creation of Thunderbirds featuring creator and producer Gerry Anderson. After a mining disaster in Germany, Gerry was inspired by the event to imagine a rescue organisation that could be deployed anywhere in the world...
Note: this archive audio is far from ideal quality so captions are provided to improve your viewing experience.
Subscribe to our channel now: bit.ly/GAsubscribeYT
Find out more at the official Gerry Anderson website: www.gerryanderson.co.uk
Follow us on social media:
Facebook: / gerryandersonofficial
Twitter: / gerryandersontv
Instagram: / gerryandersontv
UA-cam: / gerryandersontv
Soundcloud: / gerryandersontv
~~~~~~~~
Tune in to the official Gerry Anderson Podcast!
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-...
~~~~~~~~
Watch us live every month on FAB Live - the Facebook Anderson Broadcast from Jamie Anderson and Richard James - on the Gerry Anderson Facebook page ( GerryAndersonOfficial) or catch up on all the past episodes on the FAB Live UA-cam playlist: • FAB Live
~~~~~~~~
Join tens of thousands of other fans and get the latest Gerry Anderson news in your inbox every Saturday morning, and join the Gerry Anderson email newsletter list: www.gerryanderson.co.uk/subsc... - Фільми й анімація
What's your favourite episode of Thunderbirds? Who is your favourite character? Let us know and celebrate Thunderbirds Day 2020 with us!
My favorite episode is Pit Of Peril
Favorite episode: Pit of Peril
Favorite character: Scott Tracy (R.I.P. Shane Rimmer)
Attack of the alligators and Brains is my favourite character.
I Like EOS, Sun Probe and the Thunderbirds 2004 movie. I hope there is a Thunderbirds 2015 season 4 series about the Tracy family adjusting to their father coming back.
My favorite episode: Terror in New York City.
My favorite character: Scott and Parker.
One could argue Thunderbirds was the greatest TV production of the 20th Century.
It was then and still is today !!!!
Certainly by far the best TV production aimed at children
One could also argue that this is nonsense, and with a good deal more credibility.
When on a degree course I was asked to name the best TV series of all time. I said “Thunderbirds”.
@@LordOfLight ok, and....go!
Telling a story about first responders it doesn't get better than that Gerry truly is a genius
How many careers in engineering, flying and innovation did this series inspire. I know it did mine and many of many of my contemporaries. God bless you Gerry Anderson.
Michael Alexander Likewise, brother!
Yup. I admired the way the women were always held up as being smart. Grandma, Tin Tin, Lady Penelope. They were ahead of their time
My inspiration was to build models, plastic scale models, architectural models, etc...
The attention to detail with regards to engineering, they talked about hydraulic system failure, electrical systems failure etc etc what was I thinking of as a 9 year old boy when they talked about that stuff. Still I ended up being an engineer too and this TV series was a major reason why that happened.
@@derekfrederick2180 Same! That and project Apollo 👍❤️❤️
I named my 4-month-old Virgil. Can't wait until he's old enough to watch Thunderbirds!
This comment is now 3 years old. I hope Virgil is enjoying the episodes as much as we do.
Thunderbirds wasn’t just a pinnacle of Gerry Anderson’s career; it was, and still is, a pinnacle of television history.
Wonderful and quite shocking to think that this was a TV series made for CHILDREN, even if grown-ups loved it too. In a completely analogue world, it was fantastic. Look at the care, skill and imagination that went into it. No computers, no digital image manipulation, no slick editing software, no CGI...
I remember being thrilled by the music, too. It was all done for kids, but it's just as stirring and evocative now as it was then. And no messing about with weedy little guitars and plinky-plonk piano backing - we got huge meaty compositions and full orchestration, no expense spared.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. 😁
See Doctor Who. See Quatermass. The Brits assumed that their audience was intelligent. US usually produces for the least common denominator, the barbarian deep south.
As a kid, I always thought Thunderbirds had the same feel of comradery and family as a futuristic Bonanza series.
This was marvelous!
I watched that first episode in 1965, absolutely enthralled as a 6 year old.
It planted a seed in my young mind and resulted in a 40 year career in aerospace and defence. Listening to Anderson describe the project management of the series squared the circle for me. It's no surprise that's my speciality. The miniatures of each vehicle sit on my windowsill.
All by God's grace with a little help from Thunderbirds.
Respect Sir
My SO and I grew up watching in the 60s. Our children used to watch on Saturday mornings in the late 80s early 90s. Now our grandchildren watch this and Captain Scarlet.
Me too.
The experience of watching and sharing "Thunderbirds" is one is one of the treasures of my childhood. The Bank of England robbery by Lady Penelope was my favourite
Gerry and Sylvia, with Reg and Bob were the "Brains", The voice cast were the life and Derek Meddings 's team made it happen.. This was, and still is, some of the best quality work ever done for TV..
Thanks to everyone involved ..........
Favourite episodes start with " End of the road ", "Path of destruction, Brink of disaster, The Cham-cham and all of the rest.. Astounding work (If you don't agree, try making something better. No one has yet.)?
For me, apart from the model technology (wondrous for boys of all ages), one of the best elements of the show was the music written by Barry Gray. His work was mercilessly plundered by John Williams in Star Wars. Gray's Thunderbirds Overture was played by military bands all over the world. Brilliant stuff.
I was thinking about the music and sound effects too.
Would love to know what synthesizers they used, and who played them.
How did they record the sound effects and voice overs, and mix everything down?
@@TheScreamingFrog916 Synthesizers? How very dare you! 😆 It's a proper brass band playing the music. It was recorded in the middle 60s, after all. Way before electronic music was a thing.
But electronic/synth sounds were around and used in many movies, before that.
Are you sure there were no synthesizers used in the production of Thunderbirds?
@@TheScreamingFrog916 Only if you had the time and resources to build and program the synthesizer yourself. Like Walter/Wendy Carlos, who released "Switched On Bach" at about the same time. Jerry Anderson did not have the luxury of being able to develop new technology from scratch, and he had to work to a fixed budget. The BBC, y'know.
@@davidfawcett3144 Gerry Anderson*
Can't believe it's 55 years, and I can remember them when they weren't repeats! Feeling old now, thanks..! 😁
Favourite episode, "Trapped in the Sky".
Favourite Thunderbird, 2 (has to be!)
Favourite character, Parker.
It's seems incredible, but after all this years ago, The Thunderbirds still being a TVshow that many of us enjoy more than many of the actual series.
A salute from Mexico.
I was a little boy when this was on, man I love ❤ this show.
I've just started watching Thunderbirds again after a 45 year hiatus and it is amazing how much I remember from all that time ago! Such an exciting and dynamic TV show, really quite extraordinary and genuine edge of your seat stuff! So much of it is iconic, from the music to the characters to the Thunderbirds (we all know 2 is the best!). I used to have all the Dinky Thunderbird toys, sadly long gone..
Thank You Dad for showing Thunderbirds to me when I was younger! Thank you to Gerry Anderson and his fantastic production team that have made Thunderbirds GO!
I loved Thunderbirds as a kid, my dad worked for a fabrication company just round the corner from Stirling Rd and did structural metalwork for the water tanks they filmed in.😁👍
Thunderbirds was my favourite TV show as a kid. I was 4 in 1965 and when the show was first broadcast it was an instant hit with me and my friends. We were in competition to see who could collect all the Thunderbird themed toys. I had T1, 2 & 3. I was taken to see the movie at the local cinema- a major event for all the kids at school! Of course it was great many years later to see my own sin's generation fall in love with the same shows when it was rerun on UK TV during the 80s and 90s.
Another example of a project landing in the perfect time, with the perfect tech, perfect international relations, perfect team, etc... amazing show
Thunderbirds was my official introduction to the Worlds Of Gerry Anderson back in November 1991 when I was 5 years old, so it is hard to pick a favourite episode as all of them are great and very entertaining. However, my favourite character is Virgil Tracy, simply because he's the pilot of Thunderbird 2 - my favourite Thunderbird craft. :)
Same here, although it was 25 years earlier for me.
Had a discussion over 20 years ago at work. Scott was useless, Virgil did all the work
Same I was the exact age and remember seeing the repeats in 1991. I was hooked for the next year and remember Blue Peter telling you how to make your own Tracy Island.
What a childhood I had. Stingray, Thunderbirds, etc then the whole space-race, Russian and Apollo missions! Certainly made me a space-nerd
Really good documentary here - I'm glad more light was shown on the mining disaster that was "Thunderbirds' Genesis". After listening to those news reels, it honestly DOES feel like an International Rescue situation! And listening to Gerry Anderson recall the details of every production choice and explaining his decisions was F.A.B!
I remember watching that first episode and how freakin awesome the Fireflash landing was back then……and still is! The fact that it aired at 7pm in the evening, suggests that Thunderbirds wasn’t ever entirely aimed at children. The fact that old fogies like me still enjoy it, Is testament to that.
One of my childhood memories. Love the series, fascinated by its effects.
A wonderful program for its time, with beautifully crafted sets that are still remarkable today.
Nothing today could top the production of this great show.
My favourite character was, of course, Jeff Tracy.
My favourite episode was Trapped in the... no wait, Sun Pro... no wait, Operation Crash... no wait, Terror in New... no wait, The Uninvi... this question has no answer.
You have the same favourite episode as me (!)
Lady P “ are you going to tie me up- oh I don’t mind really” Fav line
Lady P was played by Sylvia. Gerry ended up hating her after the divorce. He was a bitter son of a bitch.
Lady P and Brain from International Rescue had a love affair. Lady P dug smart men.
The had a son, Joe 90...
I’m still mesmerised by Thunderbirds.
I was a kid back in ‘65 and Thunderbirds was just the most exciting and amazing program - we all used to do impressions in school playground of the craft flying around, bought the Dinky models, had a badge and a hat! I’ve never lost my love of it and what has been so wonderful in later years, especially with the Gerry Anderson podcast is to find out about all the amazing people, including Gerry himself, that worked so hard with love to make so many programs So important to me, but especially Thunderbirds. They were responsible for most of my best TV memories. Thank you all.
Stephen Watson Me too Stephen! Thunderbird 1 pilot was my career goal! Once sat next the Sean Rimmer (Scott Tracey voice) at a dinner and it was great!
the 60 mins of Thunderbirds episodes was unique for a kids show. i loved it.
I think this show, which I was watching in 1998 in french, launched my appetite and carrer in model making, and many interests I have now, from science-fiction and cinema to piloting and electronics.
Thanks Gerry Anderson.
Yet another presentation that took me back to my happy childhood of RTV (Rhodesian TV) black and white TV.
It's impossible to pick a favourite. I loved Thunderbirds when I was a wee boy. But I enjoyed even more watching Thunderbirds and Stingray, Captain Scarlett, UFO and Space 1999 with my own sons when they were little. I'm sure they'll do the same with their own kids when they come along.
I hope Gerry and Sylvia realise the impact they've had and continue to have on kids of all ages.
FAB!
I knew how intricate the puppetry was, but to see it from behind the scenes as shown here is fascinating.
I remember 'Supercar', 'Fireball XL5' & 'Thundrrbirds' when I was a kid. Even then I was amazed at the sets, costumes, and models used to make those episodes.
Incredible difficult work!
Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Captain Scarlet oh man these were so cool. The attention to detail was incredible and more than fed the imagination. Bless the Andersons for some very fond memories 🤍
Barry Gray never really got the recognition he truly deserved for his stirring music for Gerry Andersons shows.
These folks were fabulous. I loved all of their stories and series. The sets were very well done as well. Thank you for bringing these heroes to us as youngsters and giving us something to look forward to in a difficult time growing up.
What gets me most is how, not one of the reboots has been able to improve on the iconic designs of Thunderbirds and the overall direction. I still watch the Fireflash landing every now and then, it’s just so freakin’ cool……the directing, the music. Wonderful!
I absolutely adore Thunderbirds. Brings back good memories watching it with my dad in the afternoons on the BBC, we had a book which described all the episodes and things to look out for and we used to look for all the gaffs and laugh when we could point out continuity errors.
I miss him.
When I was a kid I loved Supercar. I was thrilled to see that UA-cam has this series. I watched every show and thought, "How could I have loved this show so much?" 60 or so years later, it doesn't have the same thrill. But I still love the Supercar theme song 😀
I recently watched every Supercar,i think it still stands up but it was aimed at our age group and i loved the nostalgia element,but our ages meant we got to watch AP films develop into shows like Stingray and Thunderbirds,for me Captain Scarlet was the pinnacle of Supermarionation and storytelling,we were spoiled back in the day.
My favourite episodes are :
'Trapped In The Sky' - when we first met the FireFlash
'Pit Of Peril' - we first met The Mole.
'Ricochet' - very funny meeting with one "Rick (gunshot sound) O'Shea'
My all-time favourite Thunderbird - has to be Thunderbird 2 & always wanted to be Virgil !
I remembered Thunderbirds, I've watched the series back in the 90 when I was a kid and at the time I wasn't aware the series was from the 60's.
My favourite episodes are: "City of Fire", "Sun Probe", "The Mighty Atom", "Vault of Death", "The Perils of Penelope", "Terror in New York City", "Edge of Impact", "30 Minutes After Noon", "The Man From MI.5", "Cry Wolf", "Danger at Ocean Deep", "Move - And You're Dead", "The Duchess Assignment", "Brink of Disaster", "Attack of the Alligators!", "Martian Invasion", "The Cham-Cham", "Path of Destruction" and "Atlantic Inferno".
Fantastic,
this has taken me away from the real world for half an hour.
Just what I needed,
thank you.
Almost 60 years later and better than anything currently on TV.
I don't know if it is possible for anyone brought up with CGI to really appreciate what Gerry and Sylvia Anderson achieved.
The Best memories growing up was watching all these excellent episodes of Thunderbirds! Thanks 😊 for the show, Cheers.
I used to wake up at 5 am in the 80's to watch this show.
My favourite episode of THUNDERBIRDS has always been "Terror in New York City", the crash sequence of TB2 is so iconic!
"Too fast for a plane, too slow for a missile. Let's shoot it down!"
Impossible to convey just how important all of Mr and Mrs Anderson's wonderful shows were to my generation. A deeply-beloved part of our childhood.
The inspiration for FAB1 must have been the DB5 of James Bond's Goldfinger?
I think the two pieces I remember best are when Brains is buried in the sand and when Scott rides in that cart made by the Australian kids, when he says, " The things I do for International Rescue." Oh! and Brains, "Those eyes! Those staring eyes!"
Happy Anniversary of Thunderbirds.
I love how much technology was in Thunderbirds which we see in use today video calling, mobile phone, mobile computing, tree Harvester, road paving machine , monorail, stacking carparks tunnel boring machine, etc
I was born in 1962 and remember this show well, loved it.
In Australia, we either got it a bit later, or it was reruns as I
was older than three when watching it.
No CGI just a hint of strings, but to a sixties kid,
it was the "bomb" as they say these days.
I had models and tried to make others out of Bricko (poor mans lego)
I remember the "Dinky" model catalogue with the Thunderbirds in it.
Those high quality English made Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox models,
were excellent, compared to the cheap rubbish these days.
My brother who is now 66 years old, still has some of his in their boxes.
Mine sadly ended up having a date with an air rifle or fireworks!
Thanks for the flashback, I don't really want to grow up........yet.
Thunderbirds are go!👍
Favourite moment:
LIL (Lady P's cook): Now listen 'ere, Nosey!
PARKER: 'ey! Manners, manners! Mister *Parker,* if you don't mind!
LIL: All right then, Mister _Nosey_ Parker.
Nosey was a real character. I admired his devotion to Lady Penelope Creighton Browne. And she clearly had a soft spot for Nosey.
The amount of imagination,creativity and art that went into these is astounding.Loved both Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.They where simply unique and a great spectacle to watch all the models and sets blown up.There was no one else like the Andersons
Scott Tracy ! Thunderbird One. Favorite episode : The Sun Probe.
I liked it too. What happened to Braman?
Thunderbird 2 was always my favorite and thank you for making my childhood worth it coming from a American
FAB! Thanks for putting this up. Never knew what the inspiration was for the creation of Thunderbirds, so this has been an education. Great to hear Gerry Anderson talking about the background to the making of the episodes as well. It was groundbreaking in so many ways and led to many careers in the film and special effects industry. It also fired the imaginations of so many children and the stories are so well told they withstand repeated viewing. Thank you Gerry, Sylvia and everyone else involved for all the years of pleasure and joy you have given me and many others over the last 50 odd years!!
The music is a part of what made Thunderbirds great. To this day, the opening titles of Stingray still gives me goosebumps. Nothing matches the originality of Captain Scarlet's opening. Nothing like the closing titles of UFO.
I listen to the Fireball XL5 theme on my playlist,and a few of the other versions too,but they have nothing on the original.
The music was brilliant
The music and sound effects were outstanding!
I wish we knew more about Derek Meddings. He was the true genius of thunderbirds, as he brought Gerry’s ideas to life. Him being fully responsible for Thunderbird 2 as we now know it based on a basic concept by Gerry is total genius. Interchangeable pods!!! WOW!
I understand Derek Meddings had a hand in the special effects for Star Wars as well?
Favourite craft is Thunderbirds 2 with all its rescue vehicles. Favourite pilot is Scott voiced by Shane Rimmer. His vocals was so recognisable in dramas & films. R.I.P.
For some reason Stingray aired in California in '64-'65 when I was 4 yrs old. It didn't air anywhere else in the U.S. Even at only 4 yrs old I was enthralled by the Troy/Marina love affair and that incredible closing credits song about Aqua Marina.
For those interested, the narrator on the German mine rescue segment was the BBC's Charles Wheeler. Towards the end of World War 2, he was part of a unit scouring Germany for Nazis scientists.
Wonderful to hear Gerry’s own words describing the beginnings of Thunderbirds and the behind the scenes of AP and his relationship with Lee Grade. Brilliant stuff 😎😎👍👍
The “special behind the scenes touches” making it as an American picture, pure genius and some so subtle that Id never even have thought of. Gerry really was ahead of his time.
Lord (Lew) Grade was a master showman, and he should be recognized for his financial support of Gerry's shows.
Impossible to pick a favourite episode but I do love Trapped in the Sky and The Cham-Cham, especially the part where Thunderbird 2 is trying to slow down the cable car.
The Cham Cham episode is brilliant. Probably based on the Enigma machine story.
My favourite was Scott (T1), but I also admired Alan for his duration in space on T5. What a wonderful British icon.
I can't think of a favourite episode, 'cause they're all so good, but I love the launch sequences, particularly Thunderbird 2.
An absolute stunning team, both creative & character.......
Brilliant absolutely Brilliant !!! 👏
What a wonderful show. Spent many an hour watching Thunderbirds with my brother while visiting Nan and Pop in Kilburn London UK in the early 70s. Great memories!
The twin steering wheels/controls of the elevator cars just shows Derek Meddings genius. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before or since.
The bombastic theme song was a big factor too, I believe.
And those cryptic words at the end of the intro, after the refinery had been blown up, "Filmed in videcolor.. and supermarionation".
As a kid, it seemed to me like a magical incantation.
Exactly! I didn’t know what they meant but they were exciting and just added more to an already brilliant title sequence.
You have to remember Lord Grade (Sir Lew at that time) never did things by halves. The show cost a lot of money to make but it has held up well even though the effects are a bit tired
I was there, in front of the goggle box, on 30/9/1965 to watch that first airing. Back in those days kids used to have scrap books full of clippings from magazines and papers, for whatever was popular or of personal interest. I had been collecting said clippings in advance of the first show and was dead keen to watch. I even had E.P.s (long playing 7 inch vinyl) of some episodes, including the Fireflash story.
loved Thunderbirds, I watched the repeats in the 80`s
Virgil Tracy was my favorite. The renascence man of the Tracys. Also Thunderbird 2 was my favorite.
There is something pleasant about how the gentle giant of the brothers playing piano during his downtime
Awesome video guys, I never tire of Thunderbirds, even the music gets me going. Gimme gimme gimme way more of this. 😎👍👍👍
I loved this series as a kid in the 60's, one thing I seem to remember which seemed perfectly normal then but would be frowned upon now is I seem to remember in some of the scenes certain characters were actually smoking.
Thank you for posting this video and bringing back good memories.
Virgil in particular was pretty much a chain smoker. Any scene on Tracy Island would feature Virgil, puffing away. But in the 60s, it was perfectly normal.
Lady P used a long cigarette holder so as not to stain the fingers. Anyone who was "a bit rough" would have a cigarette super-glued to one corner of the mouth.
Being a Gerry Anderson lover from New Zealand as a Kid, I actually ask my mates lately, I think now in 2023 we do need a international rescue in real life.
I started with Twizzle and Torchie, skipped 4FF and came back to Supercar, XL5. Stingray and Thunderbirds. Wonderful stuff. I just watched the CGI 2015 version of the Fireflash episode today on ITV. FAB Mr Anderson.
some of the most exciting moments of my childhood!
Ray Barrett and Bud Tingwell - both brilliant actors. I'm glad that Australia had some input into this superb series.
Ray did a great job as Sam on STINGRAY.
The thumbs down are from people who thought Gerry Anderson stole from Team America =^)
The guys who made Team America watched Thunderbirds on tv and thought it was hilariously bad.
Sorry creators of South Park and Team America you were wrong Thunderbirds was great and inspired 60s kids to go on to careers in aviation
My favourite is fireflash, sky thrust and zero x
6:49 Gerry Anderson's Stingray And Thunderbirds The Original Series Between 1964 And 1965 Are A Masterpieces Of The 20th Century Unlike It's Predecessors Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends The Original Series In 1984 And Rosie And Jim In 1990 And Star Trek The Next Generation In 1987. Thanks Mate. X
My favourite character was John Tracy. Favourite episode was probably 'Trapped in the Sky'. There were never enough Thunderbird 3 stories for me, as that was my favourite TB craft. The sets for Tracy Island were pretty amazing to me as a kid - just so stylish. In the end it was well written and well thought out stories that made it work so well, and that though designed for children it was really quite adult, in many ways.
Interesting sidenote that many of the Thunderbirds model and set designers went on to do things like 2001- ASO, and other sci-fi stuff like Star Wars. In the days before CGI, that's all there was, and it had to be done well. A lot of that still looks very good 50 years on.
Favourite episode is "Give or Take a Million"
...said no-one ever!
😁
Yea, that is the Christmas episode 😊
Is that the one with Parker singing The Man Who Broke the Bank in Monte Carlo?
@@colinp2238 No, that's from "The Man from MI.5".
@@quizmaster85 Thanks,
I remember running home from the school bus to my home to be able to watch Thunderbirds on Good Old Westward Television. Oh How did I love the programme. At school the next day my pals and I would talk for hours about the previous nights episode. My favourite was Thunderbird 3, especially when operating the crew change with Thunderbird 5. Thunderbird 4 bored me silly. Gordon was always a wuss! I was so excited by the new CGI version that came out a few years back. Oh dear what a disappointment. Way too fast. That was it about the original version. The elements of time and danger was so much better scripted and directed. And the music. The music made it wonderfully exciting. I'm sure to return to this vid. Many thanks.
The models were the best part. FAB!
Happy Thunderbird Day!!
Ah the memories of the early 2000s as a young kid waking up at 6am to watch an episode of Thunderbirds and being cheesed off if I slept in.
September 30th 1965?. Damn, I was three days old. No wonder I missed the first episode 😅
So much more interesting and captivatng than tacky, modern CGI.
Thunderbirds is still hot.
My nephew of 4 years loves to play with my old toys.
It brings back the child inside of me :D
And to think, most of the sets, puppets and the amazing Thunderbirds craft, ended up in skip bins when the studio in Slough shut down.
If all of this was still available today, it would be making millions traveling the world.
I didn't know any of that about the mining disaster, so thanks for teaching me a new thing! Those guys are FAB irl