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The series ' title sequence , storyboarded by Gerry Anderson , is made up of two parts . It opens with a countdown of " 5 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 1 : Thunderbirds Are Go ! " , provided by Dyneley in character as Jeff Tracy . In a departure from the style of Stingray , the Thunderbirds title sequence varies with each episode : t... |
The second part , accompanied by composer Barry Gray 's " The Thunderbirds March " , features portraits of the main puppet cast superimposed on various vehicles and settings . Peel describes this as " ostensibly a return to the ' series stars ' concept long known in TV " , while Garland considers such imagery demonstr... |
According to Daniel O 'Brien , writer of SF : UK : How British Science Fiction Changed the World , the Thunderbirds title sequence encapsulates the reasons for the series ' enduring popularity . Dyneley 's countdown is particularly well remembered and has been widely quoted . Dean Newman of the Syfy channel website ra... |
= = = Music = = =
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The score was composed by Gray , who served as musical director for all of the Anderson productions up to the first series of Space : 1999 . In response to Gerry Anderson 's request that the main theme have a " military feel " , Gray produced a brass @-@ dominated piece titled " The Thunderbirds March " , which was re... |
Peel considers " The Thunderbirds March " to be " one of the best TV themes ever written – perfect for the show and catchy when heard alone " . Morag Reavley of BBC Online argues that the piece is " up there ... in the quintessential soundtrack of the Sixties " with the James Bond films and the songs of Frank Sinatra ... |
David Huckvale identifies Wagnerian homage in both the theme music and the series ' premise . Noting that the theme 's opening string ostinato is similar in effect to a recurring motif in Ride of the Valkyries , he also likens the Thunderbird machines to Valkyries themselves : " Their function is more benevolent than ... |
To celebrate the shows anniversary , " Thunderbirds Are Go - 50 Years On " at Colston Hall , Bristol was celebrated as the theme music is brought to life , led by Charles Hazlewood and his All Star Collective .
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= = Broadcast = =
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Thunderbirds premiered on British television on 30 September 1965 on the ITV franchises ATV Midlands , Westward and Channel . Other broadcasters , including ATV London and Granada , started transmissions the following month . The Christmas @-@ themed series finale , " Give or Take a Million " , was first broadcast on ... |
Granada transmitted Thunderbirds in its original , 50 @-@ minute format for the first time with the start of repeats in 1966 . In 1968 , the franchise briefly aired episodes in three parts due to timeslot restrictions . The availability of repeats during the 1960s and 1970s varied among regions . ATV Midlands screened... |
In 1990 , 8 of the 19 audio episodes released by APF Records were converted into radio dramas , which were transmitted on BBC Radio 5 . The success of the radio series encouraged the BBC to acquire the rights to the TV episodes , which it broadcast simultaneously in all regions from September 1991 on BBC 2 .
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Since the end of the first network run , which achieved average viewing figures of more than six million , the BBC has repeated the series six times : between 1992 and 1993 ( Series One only ) , 1994 and 1995 ( nine episodes only ) , and 2000 and 2001 ( in remastered form ) , as well as in 2003 , 2005 and 2006 . Other... |
Before its UK debut , Thunderbirds was distributed to 30 other countries including the US , Canada , Australia and Japan . Pre @-@ sales revenue totalled £ 350 @,@ 000 ( approximately £ 6 million today ) . In the year following the series ' first appearance , the number of countries increased to 66 . In Japan , where ... |
= = Reception = =
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Thunderbirds is generally considered the Andersons ' most popular series and their greatest critical and commercial success . In 1966 , the show received a Royal Television Society Silver Medal for Outstanding Artistic Achievement and Gerry Anderson received an honorary fellowship of the British Kinematograph , Sound ... |
For Peel , Thunderbirds is " without a doubt the peak of the Supermarionation achievement " . Suggesting that the series is pitched at a " more adult " level than its predecessors , he adds that its sense of adventure , effective humour and " gripping and convincing " episodes ensured that " everyone in the audience f... |
In his foreword to John Marriott 's book , Thunderbirds Are Go ! , Anderson put forward several explanations for the series ' enduring popularity : it " contains elements that appeal to most children – danger , jeopardy and destruction . But because International Rescue 's mission is to save life , there is no gratuit... |
Jeff Evans , author of The Penguin TV Companion , argues that the series ' 50 @-@ minute format allows for stronger character development and " tension @-@ building " . O 'Brien is less positive in his appraisal of the writing , asserting that the plots are often " formulaic " and are sometimes " stretched to snapping... |
Noting the attention to detail of the series ' launch sequences , Jonathan Bignell argues that part of the motivation for dedicating large amounts of screen time to the Thunderbird craft is the need to compensate for the limited mobility of the puppet cast . The focus on futuristic machines has also been explored by c... |
Thomas argues that the world of Thunderbirds is similar to the 1960s to the extent that contemporary capitalism and class structures appear to have survived mostly intact . He also observes , however , that wealth and high social status are often depicted as character flaws rather than strengths . According to Thomas ... |
Various commentators – including Bignell , Cull and O 'Brien – have also discussed Thunderbirds as a product of the Cold War era . Bignell comments that the Hood 's Oriental appearance and mysterious powers draw parallels with James Bond villains and fears of China operating as " a ' third force ' antagonistic to the ... |
The presentation of smoking in Thunderbirds was the subject of a study published in the medical journal Tobacco Control in 2002 . Despite identifying examples in 26 episodes , Kate Hunt of the University of Glasgow concluded that Thunderbirds does not actively promote smoking – a view opposed by the Roy Castle Lung Ca... |
= = Merchandise = =
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More than 3 @,@ 000 Thunderbirds @-@ themed products have been marketed since the series ' debut . To accommodate the high demand for tie @-@ ins , APF established three dedicated subsidiaries : AP Films Merchandising , AP Films Music and AP Films Toys . Some British commentators dubbed the 1966 end @-@ of @-@ year sh... |
A comic strip featuring the characters of Lady Penelope and Parker debuted in the early issues of APF Publishing 's children 's title TV Century 21 in 1965 . A full @-@ length Thunderbirds strip appeared a year later , at which point the Lady Penelope adventures were given their own comic . Thunderbirds , Lady Penelop... |
Between 1965 and 1967 , APF Records released 19 audio episodes in the form of vinyl EPs . Three are original stories ; the rest are adapted from TV episode soundtracks , with additional narration provided by a member of the voice cast . The series ' first video game tie @-@ in , developed for the Commodore 64 and ZX S... |
= = Later productions = =
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Thunderbirds has been followed by two film sequels , a live @-@ action film adaptation , two animated TV remakes and several re @-@ edited presentations for TV broadcast and home video . The second of the remakes , Thunderbirds Are Go , premiered on ITV in 2015 , the 50th anniversary year of the original .
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= = = Film = = =
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The feature @-@ length film sequels Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6 were released in 1966 and 1968 . The first was greenlit by Lew Grade before the TV series had started its broadcast run . Written and produced by the Andersons and directed by David Lane , both films were distributed by United Artists . Neither ... |
In the early 1980s , episodes of Thunderbirds and other Supermarionation series were re @-@ edited by ITC 's New York offices to create a series of compilation films . Branded " Super Space Theater " , this format was mostly intended for family viewing on American cable and syndicated TV . Three Thunderbirds features ... |
Plans for a live @-@ action film adaptation were first announced in 1993 . These eventually culminated in the 2004 film Thunderbirds , directed by Jonathan Frakes and produced by StudioCanal and Working Title Films . It was a critical and commercial failure and was poorly received by fans of the TV series .
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= = = TV = = =
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The Andersons sold their intellectual and profit participation rights to Thunderbirds and their other productions in the 1970s . As a result , they had no developmental control over subsequent adaptations of their works . Thunderbirds was first remade for TV in the early 1980s as Thunderbirds 2086 . In this anime re @... |
Two re @-@ edited series , based on condensed versions of 13 of the original episodes , aired in the US in 1994 . The first , Thunderbirds USA , was broadcast as part of the Fox Kids programming block ; the second , Turbocharged Thunderbirds , was syndicated by UPN . Developed as a comedy , Turbocharged Thunderbirds m... |
As well as Thunderhawks , Anderson developed other ideas for a remake . A 1976 concept , Inter @-@ Galactic Rescue 4 , was to have featured a variable @-@ configuration craft capable of performing rescues on land and sea , in air and in space ; Anderson pitched the idea to NBC , who rejected it . This was followed in ... |
In 2005 , Anderson re @-@ affirmed his wish to remake Thunderbirds but stated that he had been unable to secure the necessary rights from Granada Ventures . His negotiations with the company and its successor , ITV plc , continued for the next few years . In 2008 , he expressed his commitment to creating an " updated ... |
In July 2015 , to celebrate the series ' 50th anniversary , Filmed in Supermarionation documentary director Stephen La Rivière launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds necessary to produce three new puppet episodes based on the Thunderbirds mini @-@ albums of the 1960s . The project , titled " Thunderbirds 1... |
= = Influence = =
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Thunderbirds has influenced TV programmes , films and various other media . The puppet comedy of the film Team America : World Police was directly inspired by the idiosyncrasies of Thunderbirds @-@ era Supermarionation techniques . Allusion and homage are also evident in Wallace and Gromit : A Close Shave , Austin Pow... |
IR 's life @-@ saving mission inspired the founding of the volunteer International Rescue Corps , originally made up of a group of British firemen who contributed to the humanitarian effort following the 1980 Irpinia earthquake . Virgin Group has used the series in branding its services : Virgin Atlantic operates a Bo... |
A mimed stage show , Thunderbirds : F.A.B. , has toured internationally and popularised a staccato style of movement known colloquially as the " Thunderbirds walk " . The production has periodically been revived as Thunderbirds : F.A.B. – The Next Generation .
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Cover versions of " The Thunderbirds March " have been released by musicians and bands such as Billy Cotton , Joe Loss , Frank Sidebottom , The Rezillos and The Shadows . Groups who have written songs inspired by the series include Fuzzbox ( with " International Rescue " ) , TISM ( with " Thunderbirds Are Coming Out "... |
During the 1960s , APF produced themed TV advertisements for Lyons Maid and Kellogg 's . Aspects of Thunderbirds have since been used in advertising for Swinton Insurance , Nestlé Kit Kat , Specsavers and the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency .
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= T. Arthur Cottam =
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T. Arthur Cottam is a screenwriter , actor , producer and film director . A graduate of the Film and Television Production program at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University , Cottam resides in Los Angeles , California . He acted in theatre , and received an Artistic Director Achievement Award from the Val... |
His existential work Pornographic Apathetic deals with four people recounting pornographic film dialog in a state of apathy . Pornographic Apathetic was featured in numerous movie festivals , and received eight film awards as well as critical acclaim . Cottam 's film Carbuncle was featured in 2006 at the Milano Film F... |
= = Education = =
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Cottam graduated from the Film and Television Production program at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University . Cottam 's thesis work at NYU was titled Beer Goggles , the film received the Best Editing award at the First Run Film Festival and was featured at the Chicago and New York Underground Film Festival... |
= = Career = =
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T. Arthur Cottam is an actor , and film @-@ maker , based in Los Angeles , California . Cottam was a member of Zombie Joe 's Underground Theatre Group , and performed along with actors Denise Devin and Bernadette Larsen in 2000 in a series of productions titled " Sketches 7 : Bury the Hatchet " , directed by Zombie Jo... |
Pornographic Apathetic received positive reception from journalist Gary Dowell of The Dallas Morning News , who described it as " Especially notable ... an experimental work that strips the mystique from porn " . Pornographic Apathetic was selected for inclusion in the Puchon International Fantastic Festival ( PiFan )... |
In 2006 , Cottam 's film Carbuncle competed at the Milano Film Festival , alongside another U.S. film titled The Blood of my Brother by Andrei Berends . Carbuncle received a nomination in the category of " Best Feature Film " at the Milan Film Festival . Cottam 's 2006 film Filthy Food was featured in the San Francisc... |
= = Filmography = =
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= = = Film = = =
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= = = Theatre = = =
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= = Awards and nominations = =
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= Partington =
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Partington is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester , England , about ten miles ( 16 km ) to the south @-@ west of Manchester city centre . Historically part of Cheshire , it lies on the southern bank of the Manchester Ship Canal , opposite Cadishead on the northern ... |
A paper mill built in Partington more than 250 years ago was the first factory in Trafford . The completion of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 transformed Partington into a major coal @-@ exporting port and attracted a range of other industries . Until 2007 Shell Chemicals UK operated a major petrochemicals manufact... |
Shortly after the Second World War , local authorities made an effort to rehouse people away from Victorian slums in inner @-@ city Manchester . An area of Partington extended as an overspill estate is now one of the most deprived parts of the Greater Manchester conurbation . The Cheshire Lines Committee opened a rail... |
Partington and Carrington Youth Partnership was established to provide the town 's youth with activities and the town has seen investment in a new youth centre . Broadoak School , the only secondary school in the town , is used by Trafford College to provide further education .
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= = History = =
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