Talk:Thunderbirds (TV series)
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Please consider joining the project! HowardBerry 19:22, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
Jeff Tracy didn't have a daughter. I assume that you're thinking of Tin-Tin who was the daughter of Jeff's manservant, Kyrano. -- Derek Ross
Please see the discussion at talk:Thunderbird_(disambiguation). - UtherSRG 20:18, 10 Jan 2004 (UTC)
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[edit] Uniform Question
On the Thunderbirds IR uniforms they had the sash and belt that held a sidearm and two tube thingys (One yellow, one blue) Does anyone know what these tubes were for? I think one might be a radio/microphone (of the silver cylinder on a handle type) as Scott always seemed to produce one from somewhere (like in "The Uninvited"). Des anyone know for sure?
[edit] NPOV
"Turbo-charged Thunderbirds" is very bad, yes, but Wikipedia is not a place for voicing such opinions except as part of an NPOV description.
- That's as may be, but Gerry Anderson still wanted every episode burnt! Lee M 23:42, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Well, that's good information, and in fact if anyone has actual quotes from him on the matter I'd like to see those replace the description that he was "reportedly furious". ISTR that previously, instead of saying "many fans were disgusted by TCTB and Gerry was reportedly furious" the description went further and directly declared the show to be a piece of ****. Which, y'know, I can't argue with the sentiment, cause it was, but it shouldn't be asserted as fact in the article. -- Antaeus Feldspar 16:41, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Homages/Parodies?
I'd like to see if the information on "Team America: World Police" could be folded into a more general section on homages to and parodies of Thunderbirds. Other examples would include MTV's "Super Adventure Team" and the "Power Kings" segments of Joel Hodgson's HBO special "The TV Wheel". -- Antaeus Feldspar 00:14, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Wallace and Gromit's A Close Shave also featured a brief homage to the Thunderbird launch sequences. Lee M 23:42, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
"David Holliday (the original voice of Virgil in Series I) was the only real American cast in any voice role in the series; all the others were British or Australian."
- This is directly contradicted by the statement that Shane Rimmer is Canadian. (Now corrected.) And I thought Matt Zimmerman was American, but IMDB doesn't confirm this. Anyone? Lee M 23:47, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
International Rescue aka International Rescue Committee does exist by the way... disambiguation may help
[edit] Reorganization
The "special effects" section actually included stuff about music, the 2004 movie, Team America, and a bunch of other stuff, so I've added some new chapter headings. I rewrote the Team America paragraph because the older version made no sense (and it's irrelevant where Stone and Parker watched the show so I took that out). I also removed a paragraph about the books which duplicated the section on the books later in the article. I agree that a "parodies" section might be a good place to put Team America and even make reference to Turbocharged Thunderbirds. The original Thunderbirds marionettes also appeared in a Dire Straits video awhile back, as well as a couple of TV commercials, too. 23skidoo 23:10, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Sci-fi is not a proper word
I have removed two instances of the word "sci-fi" from the article on the grounds that it is a slang term and not a real word at all. Lee M 02:23, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- Good luck convincing others of that. Slang terms are "real words" and one such as "sci-fi" has come into popular usage, albeit against the wishes of Isaac Asimov. The only difference here is whether the term is properly applied. It's used all over the place in Wikipedia so if you want to see it eradicated, I suggest you visit the Village Pump and plead your case. 23skidoo 03:43, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Time setting
To my understanding, originally Thunderbirds was supposed to take place in "the near future", but a decision was made late in production to place the year as 2064 (one hundred years from the then-present) instead. Where in the series is it stated to be 2026, as SpaceCaptain claims? -- Antaeus Feldspar 14:30, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I don't recall an actual year mentioned at any point, including 2064. Which episode mentions this? The only year I recall hearing is in one episode Parker gets drunk of a bottle of wine of 1998 vintage. If my memory serves, the Century 21 timeline that established Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Fireball XL5 as all occurring in the same universe placed Captain Scarlet somewhere in the 2060s with Thunderbirds listed as taking place some decades earlier. Maybe that's the source for the 2026 date? Even though it was "official" I've never heard a definitive call as to whether the Century 21 timeline is canon or not. 23skidoo 15:22, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I don't remember them mentioning years at all in the canon, though I could easily have missed that. However, when TechTV ran the series, they ran it with a informational band at the bottom of the screen where they'd tell tidbits about the special effects, the behind-the-scenes -- sort of a commentary track. On the very first episode, they mentioned that the setting was intended to be the near future until quite close to production and then was changed to production + 100 years. It's not impossible that they could have been misinformed, but I think I put more trust in them than in the Century 21 timeline, which had to try and fit four different series that had each been produced as their own series into a single coherent timeline. -- Antaeus Feldspar 20:51, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Watch the final episode, Give or Take a Million (the Christmas special). A calendar is seen (close-up) that reads DECEMBER 24 2026. SpaceCaptain 00:32, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Oh, yeah... there is one place where the 2026 date survived the retcon. Thunderbirds Are Go (the behind-the-scenes book from the early 90s, not the old movie novelization) uses 2026. Gerry Anderson has stated this was an error and denies that it was ever intended differently. I think the move for the redating came from TV Century 21, so they could do crossovers between Thunderbirds, Stingray, Fireball XL5 and Captain Scarlet. Unlike Star Wars or Star Trek, the Supermarionation universe (if, indeed, the shows are all in the same universe - I don't think Fireball XL5 is, at least) doesn't have a canon policy. SpaceCaptain 00:42, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Ah, that explains it -- I still haven't gotten a chance to watch that episode (my VCR blew up shortly before it would have shown up on TechTV's schedule...) -- Antaeus Feldspar 00:52, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Meaning of FAB
An anonymous editor just added an apparent meaning for the phrase FAB. While it makes sense, I have no recollection of it ever actually being spelled out like this. Can anyone verify the new information or at least provide a source? Sounds like something that might have originated with one of the Century 21 publications. 23skidoo 16:49, 5 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Production credits
Do we need such an extensive list of production credits? (referring to the recent edit) 23skidoo 03:06, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
- No, I don't think we do. I think it's probably an anonymous editor excited that they have something to contribute and not realizing that it's overdetailed. Since a lot of the same people worked on multiple Anderson shows, however, maybe it could be usefully transferred to Supermarionation or the like. -- Antaeus Feldspar 14:17, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
- That's a good idea. Maybe a list of "regular contributors" to not just the Supermarionation shows, but Anderson productions in general, such as Barry Gray, David Lane, Shane Rimmer, etc. I was going to revert the credit list that was added, but I'll wait and see if anyone else chimes in first. Cheers. 23skidoo 16:27, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Imitations
I have expanded the Parodies section to include a reference to the South African series Interster, made using supermarionation techniques in the late 1970s. Humansdorpie 17:02, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
This article seems to repeat itself over and over about Team America World Police. —User:ACupOfCoffee@ 05:17, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Stingray
How do you do it so that the Stingray link will connect directly to the TV show entry, and not to the fish? 70.50.53.38 20:26, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
- Like this '[[Stingray (TV series)|Stingray]]' Ben 20:59, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
