Thunderbirds ARE GO – Gerry Anderson Dies
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Thunderbirds – Memories from the Past
We heard on the news today that Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson died aged 83 – our condolences to his family and friends. He will be sadly missed.
Thunderbirds played such a big part of our childhood … (and for many of you – you may never have seen his best work)- he was just like Dave Wood actually – an inspired innovator wanting to bring something new and unique into the world [of TV].
When we saw the old film clips on the news it bought back many memories and we just look at what is possible now with animation yet back then Thunderbirds was hugely popular and the latest craze. There was just nothing like it before Gerry Anderson stepped in and created the series.
[A bit like Dave Wood really – nothing like Empower Network until he created it]
He used a technique known as “Supermarionation” (the use of modified puppets) – what a fantastic word that is and not one we use a lot day to day but at the time it was the latest greatest technique and he was the mad who led the field.
Thunderbirds was filmed in the UK not a million miles away from where we live in a place called Slough Berkshire and first broadcast in 1965 . The famous catchphrase was “Thunderbirds Are Go!”. The Thunderbirds programme revolved around International Rescue, a secret emergency service run by the Tracy family aided by London agent Lady Penelope and her butler, Parker.
Thunderbirds Video Archive
Here’s a video we discovered from the archives – it’s very funny to see how animation has advanced and to think all this was done with puppets …. this was the latest advance …. seriously!
This got us thinking about what characters the Empower Network family could play in the Thunderbird sagas …..
Here are the characters:-
- Jeff Tracy – head of the Tracy family
- Scott – Thunderbird 1
- Virgil – Thunderbird 2
- Alan – Thunderbird 3
- Gordon- Thunderbird 4
- John – Thunderbird 5
- Grandma Tracy
- Brains – the scientific genius
- Lady Penelope – London Agent
- Parker – Lady Penelope’s Butler
Will work on this but Dave Wood definitely has to be the Jeff Tracy of the Empower Network family ….. leading the fight against evil of course.
Television presenter Jonathan Ross praised his work, tweeting: “Sad news. Gerry Anderson RIP. For men of my age his work made childhood an incredible place to be.” We couldn’t agree more – great memories.
What more can we say other than FAB …… It’s the Thunderbirds’ radio code “F-A-B”, meaning “message received and understood”
Great for Empower Network too!
Empower Network – Vision for the Future
We all have to look to the future now and one day people we will look back at what Dave Wood and Dave Sharpe created in Empower Network
Wonder what they will say?
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