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Geeks and nerds of a certain age, and Brit's of almost any will fondly remember Gerry Anderson's classic "Supermarionation" puppet based shows. More modern viewers may recognize the technique as that same one used by the South Park boys Matt Stone and Trey Parker to make Team America World Police a few years back. Well Thunderbirds is unquestionably the best known and in many ways the best of Gerry's offerings. The show wa sthe stuff of dreams for teh late 60's. A retired American Astronaut, now a Billionaire builds a fleet of 4 super vehicles. Flown by his sons, to act as a sort of secret Coast Guard. International Rescue. Monitoring the earth from an orbital satellite the team can swiftly respond to any global crisis big or small. They can go where others cannot, do what others cannot.
While the puppets, are both creepy and yet oddly engaging, the real star of teh series is those amazing vehicles. Thunderbirds 1 through 4 and the Sattelite Thunderbird 5. We atched breathlessly each week to see them. If ever you wonder what the evolutionary step that got us from old school Flash Gordon and Captain Video type SciFi to 2001 and Star Wars effects and design work. This show is it. The late Derrick Medding's masterful designs were cutting edge yet incredibly grounded back in the 60's. And they still hold up well today. Everything about the show is grounded and oddly believable. Thunderbird 1 is a fast responding atomic powered Ballistic Ramjet. A true hypersonic transport designed to launch and arrive first and act as forward command and control. Much the way a Fire Chief does in his Chief's car for real emergencies. Thunderbird 2 is the heavy lifter. A massive VTOL cargo craft with a host of swappable cargo pods that can be loaded and equipped with a broad range of specialized ground or water vehicles. From high tech fire fighters to specialized digging or collapse rescue craft. You never know what will come out and watch breathlessly each week. Thunderbird 3 is the atomic orbital space shuttle. Mainly used to service the space station or to perform orbital rescues of astronauts. Thunderbird 4 is the least seen and arguably weakest of the lot, the small submarine. Carried in Thunderbird 2 it is a DSRV with robot arms. (Of all the vehicles Thunderbird 4 stands out as something of a holdover design wise from earlier shows. It feels more Stingray than Thunderbirds. The other three main vehicles actually not only look believable, but have been proven to actually be not simply viable, but outstanding aircraft designs by several major universities. T 4, not so much.)
Perhaps the greatest charm os Thunderbirds is that while it was a kids show, it never talked down to kids or sought to dumb it down. The show was largely a straight up problem solving procedural. Think Apollo 13 or The Martian as a half hour weekly show. The cast and crew were steely eyed missile men out to save people by solving problems using their amazing technology. All while taking great lengths to avoid having that same tech fall into the wrong hands. While targeted at kids, it treats the kids as adults. It doesn't shy away from the fact that it was a cold war era show. Rather it quietly and subtly factors it in, in real and truthful ways. (Heck in one episode T1 gets shot down over a surprisingly Libya like Middle Eastern nation.)
This show ran for several seasons and spawned two follow up movies Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6. The concept has also been revisited several times. There was a Japanese Anime in the 80's (hard to find), the rather awful Nikolodean Jonathan Frakes directed Hollywood movie from a few years back. And the new reasonably decent CGI offering. While the new one isn't bad... it is still unquestionably a silly kids show. Something that the original managed to never be. All of the new ones pale before the pure genius and fun that was the 60's puppets.
If you like SciFi, and in particular of you have a fondness for special effects and really good model work, Thunderbirds is a must see.
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