![]() ![]() We do learn about the friendly rivalry between the puppeteers, who moved the marionettes, and the special-effects crew, who would often blow them up (the puppets, that is). Perhaps most glaring, the troubled relationship between Gerry and Sylvia is entirely glossed over. The focus is squarely on the puppets, the programmes and the filming techniques and innovations, stopping before Anderson moved into live action with "UFO" and "Space: 1999", offering only tantalising hints at the antics of the people pulling the strings. ![]() The film is packed with great details - like the fact that the cool moving chairs bearing characters to their ships in "Thunderbirds", a signature part of the series, were borne out of necessity - because the one thing the puppeteers couldn't portray realistically was walking. 14-disc 'Sherlock' set packs in lots of extras.'Star Wars' without music is downright disturbing.Tiny Canadian town crowdfunding full-size USS Enterprise.Lego bow ties are cool: Best 'Doctor Who' Lego.Watching the puppets go wrong is as much fun as watching them go right, and the documentary provides fascinating insight into the way the shows were made.Īnything can happen in the next half hour! The use of puppets to narrate the story also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the process of filming puppets - or rather, the problems of filming puppets. Mike Mercury of "Supercar", Brains of "Thunderbirds" and Lieutenant Green of "Captain Scarlet" return to the original garage where Anderson and co. The whole film is a delight, in fact, thanks to a mixture of cheeky reminiscences and craftily chosen clips. The narration scenes are genuinely funny - the film opens with Parker wondering existentially where he came from. And it was all achieved, in wonderfully British fashion, in the ballroom of a stately home and in a shed in Slough.ĭirected by Stephen La Rivière, the documentary's vibrant storytelling captures the vitality, innocence and sense of joy of the series themselves, especially with the inspired choice to cast Parker and Lady Penelope as the narrators - with technical explanations of filming techniques supplied by Brains, naturally. "Joe 90" and "Captain Scarlet" followed, but ignominious big-screen outings for International Rescue (the top-secret organization from "Thunderbirds") and the failure of "The Secret Service" - bizarrely padded with live-action footage of a stuntman in drag - spelled the end of supermarionation.Īlong the way, the Andersons and their team were responsible for many innovations, not just in the art of puppetry, but also in television production generally. He had international success in the 1960s with "Supercar", "Fireball XL5" and "Stingray", before his biggest success with the adventures of Lady Penelope, Parker and the Tracy family in "Thunderbirds". Gerry Anderson was a British film and TV writer, director, and producer best known for his pioneering childrens' TV shows, beginning in 1957 with "The Adventures of Twizzle". ![]()
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