THUNDERBIRDS

   UK animated-puppet tv series (1965-6). An AP Films Production for ATV/ITC. Created Sylvia and Gerry Anderson. Prod Gerry Anderson (season 1), Reg Hill (season 2). Writers included Dennis Spooner, Alan Fennell, Alan Pattillo. Dirs included David Lane, David Elliott, Desmond Saunders, Pattillo. Model effects supervised by Derek Meddings. 2 seasons, 32 50min episodes (re-edited in the USA so that each episode occupied two half-hour timeslots). Colour.

   This animated puppet series for children was one of the most elaborate (and perhaps the best-loved) of all such Gerry and Sylvia ANDERSON productions, and the first designed for a 1hr timeslot. The 4thof their SuperMarionation shows to be sf, it involved International Rescue: based on a secret Pacific Island, this was a future air-, space-and undersea-rescue service which utilized a variety of spectacular vehicles (a spaceship, a submersible and a heavily armed pink Rolls Royce among them) and was run by the Tracy family with the help of Lady Penelope, their glamorous London assistant, Parker, her Cockney chauffeur,and Brains, a stuttering bespectacled genius. 2 feature-film spin-offs, also with animated puppets, were Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird Six (1968).

   PN/JB