daftandbarmy
Army.ca Fossil
- Reaction score
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- Points
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FAB Virgil...
A decade before George Lucas flew off to a galaxy far, far away, International Rescue introduced a generation to the coolest toys on the planet.
"5… 4… 3… 2… 1. Thunderbirds are go!"
John Williams fanfares, opening crawls, and Star Destroyers chasing blockade runners are all very well, but Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's puppet classic still has the edge when it comes to bombastic opening sequences. The first 30 seconds of every "Thunderbirds" instalment treat us to sightings of all five International Rescue craft, an action-heavy montage of clips from the episode to come, and a blast of (quite possibly) the most exciting soundtrack music ever recorded. And that's before the actual opening credits — accompanied by Barry Gray's famous theme tune — have even started in earnest. Dr Tiger Ninestein implored everyone watching "Terrahawks" (Anderson's 1980s offering) to "Stay on this channel". If he'd been fronting "Thunderbirds", he wouldn't have had to.
Although the show debuted 60 years ago, at the very height of the Space Race, "Thunderbirds" was unconcerned by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The show (a major hit for UK commercial channel ITV) didn't even bother with the usual skirmishes between good and evil — Anderson would explore those themes in his next show, "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" — as its heroes had rather more altruistic aspirations.
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'Thunderbirds' are 60! Looking back at the British puppet classic that was the 'Star Wars' of its day
A decade before George Lucas flew off to a galaxy far, far away, International Rescue introduced a generation to the coolest toys on the planet.
"5… 4… 3… 2… 1. Thunderbirds are go!"
John Williams fanfares, opening crawls, and Star Destroyers chasing blockade runners are all very well, but Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's puppet classic still has the edge when it comes to bombastic opening sequences. The first 30 seconds of every "Thunderbirds" instalment treat us to sightings of all five International Rescue craft, an action-heavy montage of clips from the episode to come, and a blast of (quite possibly) the most exciting soundtrack music ever recorded. And that's before the actual opening credits — accompanied by Barry Gray's famous theme tune — have even started in earnest. Dr Tiger Ninestein implored everyone watching "Terrahawks" (Anderson's 1980s offering) to "Stay on this channel". If he'd been fronting "Thunderbirds", he wouldn't have had to.
Although the show debuted 60 years ago, at the very height of the Space Race, "Thunderbirds" was unconcerned by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The show (a major hit for UK commercial channel ITV) didn't even bother with the usual skirmishes between good and evil — Anderson would explore those themes in his next show, "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" — as its heroes had rather more altruistic aspirations.
'Thunderbirds' are 60! Looking back at the British puppet classic that was the 'Star Wars' of its day
A decade before George Lucas flew off to a galaxy far, far away, International Rescue introduced a generation to the coolest toys on the planet.
