Thunderbirds Are Go (TV series)

Thunderbirds Are Go
Genre	Science fiction Action Adventure
Created by	Gerry & Sylvia Anderson
Based on	Thunderbirds  by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson
Written by	Rob Hoegee
Directed by	David Scott Theo Baynton
Voices of	Rosamund Pike Thomas Sangster Rasmus Hardiker David Menkin Kayvan Novak David Graham Angel Coulby
Composer(s)	Ben Foster Nick Foster
Country of origin	United Kingdom New Zealand
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2 (1 aired)
No. of episodes	52 (5 aired) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Estelle Hughes Giles Ridge Richard Taylor Andrew Smith
Editor(s)	Anthony Cox
Cinematography	Simon Godsiff
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	ITV Studios Pukeko Pictures
Distributor	ITV Studios Global Entertainment
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV (Pilot) CITV
Picture format	16:9
Original run	4 April 2015 (2015-04-04) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Thunderbirds
External links
Official Site
Pukeko Pictures

Thunderbirds Are Go is a CGI TV series made by ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures, with effects by Weta Workshop. It is an adaptation of the original Thunderbirds series.^[1] It premiered on 4 April 2015.^[2] The majority of the main characters from the 1960s series have returned, including the five Tracy brothers (Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, and Alan), Brains, Lady Penelope and Parker, Grandma Tracy, and The Hood, as well as new additions to the franchise with Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano (the new name for original series character Tin Tin) and a female character named Colonel Casey (Jeff's friend, Colonel Tim Casey appears in original series episode "Edge of Impact"). However, Tintin/Tanusha's father Kyrano Sr is absent from this cast, with no further explanation.^[3] Jeff, the father of the Tracy brothers, is mentioned only by name and references by the others, and revealed to be missing following a plane crash suspected to be engineered by the Hood; his status is yet to be revealed. The late Peter Dyneley, Jeff's voice actor in the original series, is heard in the show's introduction, which reuses his opening countdown from the original series. The main cast includes Rosamund Pike, Thomas Sangster, Rasmus Hardiker, David Menkin, Kayvan Novak, Angel Coulby and David Graham,^[4] with Graham returning to reprise his original role as Aloysius Parker, Penelope's chauffeur.^[5]

The series director is David Scott, while the episode director is Theo Baynton.^[6] It is written by Rob Hoegee and executive produced by Estelle Hughes, Giles Ridge, Richard Taylor, and Andrew Smith.^[7] The music is composed by Ben and Nick Foster.^[8] The editor is Anthony Cox.^[9][10] Instead of puppets, the whole show uses a mixture of both CGI for the characters and vehicles, and live action model sets, with both the characters and Thunderbirds being given crisp, revamped looks to them, including Tracy Island, while retaining notable aspects from the original series.^[11] The premiere revealed a new Thunderbird craft; Thunderbird 'Shadow' (aka Thunderbird 'S') to be piloted by Kayo.^[12]

The first series will comprise 26 episodes.^[13] On 18 December 2014, it was announced that the show had been picked up for a second series of 26 episodes that would air "over 2016 and 2017".^[14]

Cast

Prior to the premiere, ITV announced the following cast for the show:^[15]

Main

• David Graham as Aloysius Parker
• Sandra Dickinson as Grandma Tracy^[16]
• Andres Williams as The Hood
• Adjoa Andoh as Colonel Casey
• Peter Dyneley as Jeff Tracy (Countdown voice) (Archived audio, uncredited)

Guest stars

• Sylvia Anderson as Great Aunt Sylvia^[17]
• Reggie Yates as Ellis the Security Guard
• Teresa Gallagher as Various

Episodes

Series 1

The premiere episode of the show was broadcast on ITV, during the Easter Weekend, on 4 April at 5pm, with it repeated on CITV on April 5 at 3pm, and a further repeat the following week, in two parts. After that, beginning with the episode called "Space Race", the show would be broadcast from 11 April at 8am on the ITV and CITV channels every Saturday.(Also on Sundays afternoon at 3pm on CITV.)

Series 2

A second series will be broadcast across Autumn 2016 and Spring 2017.

Comparisons with the original series

• Given the fact that the characters are animated, they do not have the physical limitations of the original puppets. The characters are obviously able to be shown walking and in similar activities with considerable ease. Including walking, running, jumping and Gymnastics.
• The characters of Kyrano and Jeff Tracy are no longer in the series, with Jeff missing presumed dead and Kyrano's shared role of housekeeper having been taken over entirely by Grandma Tracy.
• The original series character of Tin-Tin Kyrano has had her name changed to Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano, due to copyright problems with the popular character Tintin from Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin.
• John Tracy and Gordon Tracy have had their hair colours swapped. John had blonde hair in the original series and is now ginger; Gordon was ginger and is now blonde.
• The suits worn by the five Tracy brothers are now specially-tailored for each brother; for example, Gordon Tracy's suit has a built-in respirator as he is an aquanaut.
• The Tracy brothers no longer carry weapons and there is no death or violence depicted (especially from guns) due to a higher level of restrictions in children's programming, and since the show is considered by its production team to be based on saving lives and not taking them (see Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet).
• The character of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward now has a pet dog called Sherbet, who did not appear in the original series.
• Unlike the old series where nuclear power was used to power everything from vehicles, such as the FireFlash Airliner, to cooking appliances, the new series shows that in its vision of the future, nuclear energy is classified as dangerous and illegal with uranium mines being shut down several years prior to the start of the series.
• Brains' stutter is less pronounced than in the original series. He also has a darker complexion and speaks with an Indian accent. He has a robot called Max.
• Lady Penelope appears as a younger, less mature character with a normal speaking voice, rather than the slowly spoken clipped English of the original character.
• The Hood no longer has psychic powers and does not live in a temple in the jungle any more. His costume has also changed to a suit, although he will still use his disguises throughout the series.
• There is a sixth Thunderbird, Thunderbird Shadow, whose pilot is Tanusha Kyrano. This marks the first female Thunderbird pilot in the history of the franchise, as well as the first Thunderbird pilot outside the immediate Tracy family. Thunderbird S was specially created by Japanese mecha designer and anime director Shoji Kawamori, who cites the various Gerry Anderson shows he saw as influences on his career.
• In "Ring of Fire (Part 1)" Virgil states that the current year is 2060. The original series was set in 2065. That may not seem like much of a difference at first, but when you take the production years into account, the original show was set 100 years in the future, whereas this series is set only 45 years from the present day.

Broadcast

The series premiered in New Zealand on 10 April 2015 on TV2, with the episodes "Ring of Fire: Part 1" and "Ring of Fire: Part 2". It airs each Sunday at 7 pm.

Reception

Fans and critics reacted very positively to the new series, despite some negative reactions from older fans or some fans of the original version ^{[18][19][20][21][22]} claiming the show was clearly made to attract a new generation of fans instead of appealing to nostalgia; however, ITV's decision to air episodes at 8am BST (other than the pilot, which aired at 5pm) sparked a negative fan reaction and was criticised by journalists too, claiming that moving it from the original episode's 5pm slot would alienate the adult viewership it gained from the first episode, with many also feeling the series could match the success of the BBC revival of Doctor Who in 2005 if kept at its 5pm slot.^[23]

App

There will be an official Thunderbirds app launching in October 2015 to accompany the second series of the show.^[24]

Home media

Volume 1 will be released on Region 2 on June 22, 2015.^[25]

References

External links

• Thunderbirds Are Go at the Internet Movie Database
• Official YouTube channel