THUNDERBIRDS 1965: NEW EPISODES FROM 1960s RECORDINGS

Postage
over 8 years ago – Sat, May 14, 2016 at 11:03:22 PM

100 updates seemed like such a nice figure to go out on. But we have a couple of things to update you all on and so it'll have to be 101 at least!

Postage has been going on for 9 days now and is, unfortunately, an arduous and complex task - especially considering that the remaining team is just two. Many of the packages are bespoke and require individual attention to make sure that we're not sending out defective or incorrect items. We're extremely grateful to those of you who have been so patient - and in some cases even offered us assistance. One of our backers, who helped the project to a five-figure sum, has even been popping in to help us with the packing! To him we are incredibly grateful!

We must request again that people stop sending us messages asking where their packages are. There are 4000 orders to despatch and it's inevitably going to take some time. We have now completed 2/3rds of the initial Kickstarter and Backerkit orders - in just over a week. Our work is being slowed down though by a deluge of (sometimes hysterical) correspondence worrying about packages lost in transit. In some instances, people are writing to members of the crew who have nothing to do with this part of the process - occassionally leaving extremely aggressive messages. 

As we would hope would be clear through the whole of this project we are totally committed to ensuring everyone gets the best we can provide. It's not in our interest to bring the project and our careers into disrepute by not supplying the rewards - especially as we made these episodes to be seen and enjoyed. We know that recently there's been an unfortunate spate of Kickstarter film projects that have run into trouble - notably the fan film Star Trek: Axanar, and the documentary Elstree 1976, but the fact rewards are landing on door mats daily should be enough to reassure backers that nothing untoward is happening.

On a more positive note, we've been receiving lots of lovely feedback from backers who have got their rewards which means a lot to us. The Thunderbirds project was kept running by a lot of love (certainly not by the remuneration!) and it's lovely for our team that so many people are enjoying seeing the puppets back in action once again. 

Here's a very nice review from Entertainment Focus about the blu-ray: http://www.entertainment-focus.com/film-section/film-reviews/dvd-blu-ray/thunderbirds-1965-blu-ray-review/

Thank you again to everyone who has supported us. We apologise to those who haven't got their discs yet, but be assured we're working as fast as we can. Not only do we want you to see the fruits of our labours, but we'd also quite like our living room to be free to boxes and DVDs!

Thunderbirds 1965

P.S. We thought you might be interested to see this. One year ago this week we submitted this proposal to ITV! It's been quite a ride since then...

Thank you... and good bye
over 8 years ago – Wed, May 04, 2016 at 12:51:46 AM

So here we are - the end of Thunderbirds 1965. Also, fittingly enough, our 100th update! It all began last July when we released the above video asking for your help to bring back Classic Thunderbirds to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Now, the last few crew members find themselves surrounded by boxes and envelopes - which are starting to make their way into the world. 

It's been an amazing time. The Tracy family, Lady Penelope, Parker and The Hood have all lived again in their original forms with their original voices. The classic Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 have seen action again. But it's also been a dramatic time. In fact, our little studio has probably seen just about every emotion over the course of this project! Several thousand people provided the funds - then a tiny team (which varied in size between 3 to 20 people) got together to try and celebrate the 50th anniversary of a much-loved series in style. Some elements were easier than we expected - some elements were a lot, lot tougher!

We really hit the ground running with this. We received our final approval on July 8th, launched the Kickstarter on July 9th, moved into the studio on August 22nd and received the funds shortly afterwards. We had done no real pre-production prior to the launch of the Kickstarter and so everything was stacked against us. Yet, in spite of that, we screened The Abominable Snowman (albeit with an unfortunate technical glitch that affected the sound) to an audience during the first week of October. It was knackering! - but never less than amazing to see the puppets hanging from the bridge ready to act, rather than sitting locked away in glass cases as has been their fate for many years now. Each day provided new challenges and, no matter how stressful and deeply frustrating it was, there was always something very cool about trying to rediscover the lost art of Supermarionation.

It was always our intention to try and get the rewards to everyone for Christmas. Before you can launch a Kickstarter project you have to give an estimated date of completion. We had hoped that Thunderbirds 1965 would be a special treat for the festive season. If we had stopped at The Abominable Snowman then it would definitely have been possible. Following the raising of the funds - and our agreement to die trying to make 3 episodes for the money! - we thought that we could, with extremely careful co-ordination, still deliver on our Christmas estimate. However, this proved to be a little too ambitious even for us. By the end of The Abominable Snowman (which was made whilst the sun was still shining) the crew were shattered. After a short break everyone picked themselves back up and carried on, but soon winter illnesses started to hit - exacerbated by our studio not being very warm! As December arrived we realised that it would take an enormous push to finish so soon and that it would be at the expense of the crew's health - which itself would have a knock on effect on the final rewards. Two serious illnesses among the crew, including one hospitalisation (not caused by the work, but certainly not helped by it) led us to take the decision to focus on finishing the episodes and sort the rewards out later. 

Post the end of filming we resumed work on the rewards, but now had a much smaller team. Additionally, one or two of the rewards had manufacturing errors which we didn't deem acceptable and asked for them to be redone. The delay lasts only a few weeks, but these rewards will be around for a long, long time.

We know that for some of you the delays were disappointing, but ultimately we felt that getting everything as right as we could (without killing the crew!) was paramount. And with such limited resources that sometimes slowed things down. We hope though that you'll be pleased with the finished items. Where possible, we've tried to deliver more than initially promised. 

Pretty much everything has been done in-house - from the making of the episodes, through to the authoring of the blu-rays and design of the magazines. In a few months, we have produced a feature film's worth of material including all the ancillary stuff (documentary, magazines, records etc). In between that, we also found time to share the experience with over a 1000 visitors to the studio.

And that's the most important thing for us - sharing. We knew from the beginning that this would be more than just making three episodes - it was also about the experience of resurrecting a Supermarionation studio. Some of us on the crew have a deep love for the original series and we wanted to bring this one-off experience to as many of you as possible. Of course, not everyone was able to make it to the studio, but we hope that you enjoyed the experience through the many updates.

The first items to leave the building are the rewards for the original Kickstarter backers and Backerkit supporters. Following that, we will process the Weebly orders taken over the last week. Generally we will try and supply complete orders, but it may be occasionally necessary to split orders for ease of sending. Where you are in the world will affect how quickly you will receive your items, so please wait a bit before panicking! Although this will be our final project update (unless some very exciting news comes along...) we will still be checking the messages to deal with any problems. We hope that all orders will be present, correct and perfect - but mistakes do happen and we're here to help however we can. Please do bear in mind though that we are a very, very small team and we do get a lot of correspondence! 

Sylvia Anderson once said that Thunderbirds is bigger than any one person. And that's true. Like any great creation it's gone on to live its own life in various forms - whether that be through reimaginings and revivals, or through fiction written by the fans. It's been fantastic to bring the original version back though - and that the whole project has been such a collaborative one between thousands of people is perhaps the biggest testament of all to the enduring love felt for the original series. We're very proud of our team, but we didn't do it alone. We did it with your help. 

We can now all say that we are a part of the continuing Thunderbirds story.

Thank you.

Over and out.

Stephen, Andrew and Justin

Thunderbirds 1965

Look what just arrived...
over 8 years ago – Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 12:41:26 AM

We've received a handful of advance copies of the final NTSC DVDs for checking! Still a few more days until the full consignment of DVDs and blu-rays come in, but once they're all here packaging and despatch will be carried out as swiftly as we can humanly manage. 

These last few days feel like the longest, as nearly a year's work comes to completion - but we're so nearly there. We hope the wait will be worth it.

Thunderbirds 1965

Blu-rays are GO!
over 8 years ago – Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 12:12:09 AM

Hello Kickstarter backers!

A brief update today to let you know that the blu-rays have also been approved and are now in the process of manufacturing. You can see a little sneak preview below:

We are expecting the DVDs to arrive this coming Thursday with the blu-rays following a few days after. So long as there are no accidents or issues, that means we anticipate sending the first packages on Tuesday 3rd May.

It is our aim to try and make sure that most of the packages hit the post within a few days of each other - though, obviously, between so few of us this will be quite an undertaking. We do appreciate though that most of you will not want to have to wait for your packages when others have got them so we will work as hard as possible to make sure that the rewards are despatched ASAP. Where possible we will send international discs first as these will take slightly longer to arrive.

Backers of the original Kickstarter project (not people who backed subsequently though Backerkit) were sent a link in the last update giving them the opportunity to buy up the last of our stock. Given how limited some of these items were in the first place (the overrun being single units in certain cases) we are close to selling out permanently of quite a few of the rewards. There will never be a second run of these items so if you want one now is your last chance (well, until someone sells this stuff on eBay).

We will be back in touch next week. We are planning to issue our final Thunderbirds 1965 update on Thursday.

It's very nearly over!

Thunderbirds 1965

Discs are GO!
over 8 years ago – Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 10:17:59 PM

Hello everyone!

The image above is of the DVD check disc which shows how near to the finishing line we are! For those who don't know, after submitting the DVD and Blu-ray files to Sony they send us a disc to check before they push the button on replication. That ensures that we don't produce a few thousand discs that don't work!

Some people have asked if will we be supplying DVD-Rs. As this image shows all our discs will be professionally pressed discs. In spite of our limited budget we want to make sure that every reward we put out is of the best quality possible. Distributing DVD-Rs of a project like this wouldn't be acceptable in our eyes.

The checks have now happened and we've given the go-ahead for full scale replication. That means we now have to wait - we hope the discs will be delivered in around 10 days or so from now. In the mean time, here's a teaser video of what the DVD looks like:

We have now vacated our unit on Stirling Road, Slough. Once again we'd like to thank SEGRO for affording us the opportunity to bring Classic Thunderbirds back home for the 50th anniversary. It was a very special time for many people. We welcomed over a 1000 visitors to the studio during the six months we were there; through the buildings, puppets and models people were reconnected to times and individuals long since departed. We saw many smiles, but also many tears. Thunderbirds 1965 wasn't just about the destination of three new episodes, but about the experience of resurrecting a long dead art. We really enjoyed sharing our time there with so many people - either in person, or through our updates.

We know we've ended up running behind our original projected date, but the end really is in sight. It's been an enormous job - for a team that at its biggest comprised of just 20 people - and we hope that when you receive your rewards you'll feel it was worth the wait.

We'll be back in touch again soon...

Best wishes,

Thunderbirds 1965