THUNDERBIRDS 1965: NEW EPISODES FROM 1960s RECORDINGS
Created by Thunderbirds 1965
Resurrecting Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Classic 'Thunderbirds' using original voice tracks and retro filmmaking techniques
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Nebula-75 - Launches Today!
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 01:30:01 AM
Hello everyone!
We hope you're all well during this strange time in our lives.
We had many plans for Supermarionation - the majority of which are now on hold. However, we decided to not let that stop us and so we thought we'd have a go at making a short Supermarionation film - entirely in a small flat under Lockdown conditions using only existing items we had to hand (made more difficult by the fact our entire prop collection is in storage elsewhere). Although various people helped from remote locations, the entire film was shot by just three of us who already live together.
The film is 10 minutes and will be followed by a trailer for episode 2 (which we'll only make if anyone likes the first one!) and a short making-of, revealing the secrets behind this 75 pence epic Filmed in SuperIsolation and LO-BUDGET production.
You can catch the first episode and read more about it here on our new website, Filmed in Supermarionation. The episode goes live at 17.00 on Facebook and then on the Filmed in Supermarionation website via YouTube at 17.30.
We hope that this will prove to be a 15 minute fun distraction from the difficulties we're all facing right now - and that you'll all forgive the limitations forced on us by budget and space.
The extensive studio space available.
We hope you enjoy the short adventure of Commander Neptune and his crew about the Nebula-75!
60 years ago, Supermarionation launched onto our screens in the form of a marionette western called 'Four Feather Falls'. Now, it wasn't called Supermarionation on screen - nor was the first series of 'Supercar'. However, it did feature a new form of electronic-marionette which in turn was labelled in press literature 'Super Marionation.' Soon, it was decided to put that caption on screen, and at the end of every episode of the second season of 'Supercar' an understated credit told us that this show had been 'Filmed in Supermarionation'. For 'Fireball XL5' it was decided to put this credit boldly up-front, and the rest is history. Over the last few years we've been very proud to become - with the aid of a few old hands - the current producers of Supermarionation, officially recognised by ITV.
To celebrate this important anniversary, we've launched a new website - www.filmedinsupermarionation.com which in time will, we hope, become the ultimate online Supermarionation resource. A place not for opinion polls and click-bait, but for solidly researched information about the shows based on the years of research we've collectively done as a team. Although we've tried to include as much as possible in our various books and documentaries, commercial products never allow everything you'd like to include and so it brings us great pleasure to be able to start sharing things that we didn't have an outlet for previously. To accompany the website launch, we produced the video at the start of this e-mail too.
Recently, the episode of 'Endeavour' that we filmed the fictional 'Moon Rangers' series extracts for has been shown around the world. Always great lovers of Supermarionation, here's 'Moon Rangers' in Japanese:
Our Supermarionation ventures continue with lots of work going on behind the scenes. It's a slow process, but we hope in time the wait will have been worth it.
Unfortunately, we still have many maintenance costs to meet in order to keep our Supermarionation collection a working one. Occasionally we reluctantly let items from our productions go in order to keep the overall collection functioning. Recently, we've had more costs than usual as we move towards our ultimate goal and so once again we're looking to raise some money. We don't have a list of items, but we have sold comparatively little in all, so if there's something that may be of interest that you've seen on screen please let us know.
One thing that has been made public is the opportunity to purchase copies of some of associate producer Andrew T. Smith's personal script pages from the production of the anniversary episodes. You can find information on those HERE.
Thunderbirds Live Stream - Final Day!
about 5 years ago
– Sun, Oct 06, 2019 at 02:28:06 AM
Dear All,
Just a very quick note to say that this is the last day of our Thunderbirds Live Stream, where we'll be screening not just much of what we've already released over the last five years, but brand new adaptations of three more Thunderbirds mini-albums.
We had previously announced this as taking place on YouTube - but another licensee erroneously put a copyright strike on our account (even though we are fully licensed by ITV) which means we cannot stream there. So we are now on Twitch and Periscope.
Just a brief update to remind everyone that our Thunderbirds Day live YouTube stream is fast approaching - and once again we've been privileged to produce new Thunderbirds in association with ITV. Filmed in Supermarionation, naturally.
The day will represent a chance not only to see the 50th anniversary episodes, but three brand new adaptations of the mini-albums for Trapped in the Sky, End of the Road and Vault of Death. Additionally, we'll be presenting interviews, archive footage and brand new idents to link the programmes together (such as the one at the header of this message).
The stream kicks off on the Century 21 Films YouTube Channel on September 30th at 9am UK time and runs on a loop until midnight. And, as the 30th is a Monday, we're rerunning the stream the following weekend on the 5th and 6th October (again 9am until midnight) - so hopefully everyone will get a chance to tune in.
Here's a clip of Lady Penelope, via newly filmed inserts, telling the story of The Vault of Death.
September 30th also marks our fifth anniversary! Filmed in Supermarionation was premiered at the BFI on September 30th 2014. And we're pleased to say that our Supermarionation work continues. Not only are we working on Thunderbirds Day, but we have new productions in the pipeline too. We can't say much yet, but here are two new characters designed by Stephen Mansfield (who sculpted Mr Charles, Dawkins and Gallup Din).
We hope to bring you more information on our new projects soon. After years of getting to this point, we hope that the next production will be the one we've been working towards all this time.
We've just received new stock of Century 21, Slough blu-rays. As they are so expensive to produce, we were rather conservative with the first order and got caught out by the fact more blu-rays than DVDs sold. Having decided we wouldn't go to a second run, the number of enquiries we received persuaded us to reconsider. These are now available from the Century 21 Films Store, along with other productions of ours (and some screen used props).
Unlike our other recent productions, such as Endeavour and the Halifax advert, the Century 21 Slough documentary was not a commercial production. We wanted to document the buildings forever before they were gone - but that came at a fairly significant price. So we're very grateful - once again - to everyone who bought a disc or supported us through other means. The money that comes in through all our sales is pushed back into production. This not only allows us to do non-commercial projects and displays, but helps build and maintain this working Supermarionation collection for the big projects that help push the art back into the public eye.
That's all for now. So we'll wrap up on this clip of Scott Tracy telling the story of one of International Rescue's most exciting operations.
We'll be streaming on our YouTube channel on September 30th with a repeat on 5th and 6th October. In addition to showing the 2015 anniversary episodes, we'll also be presenting 3 new mini-album adaptions of original classic tv episodes. Scott Tracy, Brains and Lady Penelope will recount the stories of Trapped in the Sky, End of the Road and Vault of Death in newly-filmed linking material.
The schedule will include the following content, on a loop starting from 9am:
Introducing Thunderbirds (50th anniversary special episode)
Gerry Anderson Interview (Gerry discusses how Thunderbirds was created) NEW: Trapped in the Sky (Scott Tracy narrates International Rescue's first operation) The Abominable Snowman (50th anniversary special episode)
Century 21 Slough (Documentary: Original crew members visit the old Thunderbirds studios on the eve of their demolition) NEW: End of the Road (Brains narrates the story of another International Rescue operation) Doug Luke Interview (Century 21 stills photographer Doug Luke discusses his time working on the Supermarionation productions)
Mike Trim Interview (Mike Trim discusses his time working at Century 21 and on Thunderbirds)
The Stately Homes Robberies (50th anniversary special episode)
Thunderbirds 1965 (Documentary: The crew of the 50th anniversary specials discuss the behind the scenes process) NEW: Vault of Death (Lady Penelope tells of the time International Rescue was called to rescue a man trapped in the vault of the Bank of England)
PLUS: newly produced interstitials and idents featuring the craft and characters from Thunderbirds and rare archive footage.
Our Supermarionation work continues apace - nearly five years after the premiere of Filmed in Supermarionation in September 2014. We have a few things currently in the pipeline, which we hope to bring you more information on soon.
Amongst those projects, we're working on a private puppet venture for which we're looking to raise some additional funds. As a result, we're selling some of Jeff Tracy's (wooden) book collection. You can find out more here: Century 21 Films Store
As always, our thanks for your part in helping to Kickstart this Supermarionation revival. We hope we can continue to repay your initial support with more Supermarionation adventures soon.
