Having shaken off what he considered to be the curse of making puppet shows, Gerry Anderson was keen to make UFO as appealing to adults as he possibly could while also appealing to children so that the show could generate some money through merchandising. The result is a series full of cool machinery, aliens, and action but also very ‘grown-up’ themes like violence, sex, adultery, broken families, the death of family members, drug-use and even rape.
Author Archives: Jack Knoll
Thunderbirds – 8. Operation Crash-Dive
A sequel to Trapped in the Sky has to be good, right? Operation Crash-Dive is certainly an unusual episode but it’s packed with some epic Fireflash and Thunderbird 4 action!
The Toys Are Back In Town: A Twizzle and Torchy Cosplay
Those of you that attended Andercon 2015 may recall too nutty people walking around looking very perculiar indeed.
Thunderbirds – 7. Vault of Death
It looks like we’re in for a Parker-heavy episode. If you think about it, we’ve barely seen Parker in the episodes he’s previously appeared, so this ought to be something a bit different.
My Hopes for the Captain Scarlet 50th Anniversary
Last Thursday, September 29th, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons celebrated the 49th anniversary of the first episode being broadcast back in 1967. That means we’re exactly one year away from the 50th anniversary of the show. With this in mind, I have had a bit of a think about what I would and wouldn’t like to see from the 50th anniversary celebrations of Captain Scarlet.
Thunderbirds – 6. The Mighty Atom
Ever wanted to see a television show that combines a major nuclear disaster with a comedy robot mouse? Me neither, but The Mighty Atom has both anyway!
Who IS the best-looking Tracy brother?
We truly are living in the future. The internet is now able to tell you exactly how pretty or ugly your face is. Using “complex mathematical calculations” the website prettyscale.com can tell you your exact percentage of prettiness. So in a follow up to our article which told us conclusively which celebrities our favourite Supermarionation characters resembled, we can now use the marvels of the internet to answer the age-old question: which Tracy brother is the best-looking, and who is the ugliest?
Thunderbirds – 5. The Uninvited
If you like sand, this is the Thunderbirds episode for you. There’s tons of it.
How Not To Do Supermarionation: Roberta Leigh’s ‘Paul Starr’
Many of you will know the name Roberta Leigh for her role in giving Gerry Anderson and AP Films their first television series – The Adventures of Twizzle. This followed into a series of Torchy The Battery Boy. By the end of 26 episodes of Torchy, AP Films had just about enough money saved up to produce a pilot episode for their own series, Four Feather Falls. The formula of a charming idea and great writing along more sophisticated puppetry proved to be a tremendous success for the team who went on to find success with Lew Grade and the creation of Supermarionation.
Thunderbirds – 4. Sun Probe
Flying a manned rocket into space to collect a piece of the Sun may sound crazy, but Thunderbirds proved it could be done… with disastrous results…
Security Hazard 