Gerry Anderson

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Crash
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Gerry Anderson

Post by Crash »

After the setbacks with Captain Scarlet no investors will want to get their fingers burned in future by investing in a % stake as they did with that show.That is the most disappointing thing. The problem with Captain Scarlet was that it simply wasn't broadcast properly at the right time.In terms of being a TV show it was perfectly good to my mind.18:00 Friday or GTFO.
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Vanessa
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Gerry Anderson

Post by Vanessa »

Bring back Terrahawks?Yes Please! In my mind it needs a proper ending, rather than just stopping like it did (just like with "Roughnecks STC") Although, would it be as good without the original "voices"?For me, the voices were what made it so enjoyable to watch."Flaming Thunderbolts!".
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Crash
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Post by Crash »

Well, at the same time Terrahawks was a flawed series. They didn't seem to really know what they were doing when they made it from what I can see.It had its merits but I can understand why Gerry felt it not to be his favourite show.With a proper budget and less childish weirdness. Kids don't even like that. I know I didn't watch Thunderbirds at the age of 4 cos it felt like a childrens' show to me.
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Vanessa
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Post by Vanessa »

Actually Crash, I do agree with you really.It was all rather silly and disjointed.I was about 12 when it was shown, and I thought it was childish at the time. It's only weirdly much later on that I watched it again and found it quite hilarious and enjoyable.But it was certainly not one of Gerry's best shows that's for sure.I guess my fave's were Stingray and Thunderbirds.But for pure hilarity it's Terrahawks every time
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Crash
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Post by Crash »

For definite, if you made a modern, maybe-CGI, straighter version of Terrahawks with a fair budget (which it never had) without the irritating bits and kept the monsters scary rather than supposedly comic, it would be spectacular. You could just do it again exactly the same; practically no changes to hardware, characters or setup; just higher production values, and it would be totally brilliant as a western 21st century sci-fi.Some of the scenes looked great but most of them really didn't look like a 10-15-year-after successor to Thunderbirds.I mean there were really funny bits in Terrahawks that were well worth keeping like the agro between that fellow in charge and his robots. (Did you notice how he was just like Captain Archer from Star Trek Enterprise; like the worst leader or Captain ever?). Zero was a brilliant character because he wasn't played entirely straight and the same was true for Zelda as well when she described the humans or dressed-down the other aliens.You could really tone-down the rest and be left with a really spectacular show.The ideas were great after all; the vortex with the plane launching up through it, (that plane itself was one of the best and most undervalued designs in an Anderson show).The Zeroids and the huge space gunship that they manned were well deserving of a second outing and the battletank is probably my favourite ground vehicle ever - for some reason.The Treehawk (apart from its name) was a great little ship too. It was as though, if they'd changed little things, it would have been awesome.And then in later series they were going to introduce new ships like a supercharged Battlehawk to replace the original and they also had great concept ships that never made it to the show proper but the unforced errors closed the show down early.... Actually, I got the Stingray DVDs last year and watched the whole lot - a few episodes a day - and it had aged really well.People said "oh, don't get it because it'll not meet up to your memories of it". BS.It was absolutely superb, I really[/] enjoyed it - another underrated show because it was after XL5 and like a pathfinder for Thunderbirds.



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Vanessa
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Post by Vanessa »

Yup, I think the Terrahawks series could be good for a modern re-make, if they kept the cool tech and characters, but made it more sensible as you say.Dr. Tiger Ninestein certainly had a lot of agro from the Zeroids. But he wasn't the best leader for recognising their talents was he?I also thought that it was quite a brave move to have a gay character in a kids show at that time, in Space Sergeant 101.I did love Yung-Star and his silliness, but I guess it wouldn't translate well into a serious re-make.Some of the Terrahawks kit, and indeed Zelda's ships were really cool, and could be used again to good effect.The Battletank does have an air of indestructability to it doesn't it.Stingray is great isn't it!I think I like it over Thunderbirds, especially Phones, he was so funny and his voice was played so well.I remember when I was young, wishing Aqua Marina would speak.I wasn't a huge FB XL5 fan, and I've little knowledge of Joe 90 or Supercar, but Stingray will always bring back the fondest of memories. I must get the DVD boxset myself.
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Crash
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Post by Crash »

I'm not sure if they're gonna do a full colour conversion of XL5 or not.I know they did it with the pilot episode. The conversion process is actually fairly simple because the colour info is stored in the film material but not visible to the human eye, or it can just be extrapolated from the overall image. It's just a question of scanning the masters digitally and running a fairly straightforward process on those individual frames. Any old PC could run the numbers on that if you gave it enough time.It's quite a shame that there's no good site that shows all the Terrahawks vehicles all in one place. You really have to watch the series. If I had all the time in the world and an original copy of the DVDs I would enjoy doing that.Joe 90 seemed to be quite well produced but it was almost like they'd run out of good, wacky ideas by that point. The whole premise was odd and the episodes seemed a bit dull from the couple I saw.If you make it to the end of Level 08 in X-Bomber, the EDF Mobile Fortress Boss is ... somewhat reminiscent of the Battletank. It's like a giant, evolved version.I had the idea of the overall vehicle and then I needed to fill-in a few details so I put in the two metal domes and those VLS missile launchers. It seemed really right.It strikes me that Terrahawks won where Star Trek Voyager failed. In Terrahawks there was some entertaining agro between some characters' whereas in Voyager everyone hated everyone else and it made it almost unwatchable because in real life, such a level of animosity would have permanently ruined any working relationship or command structure.The stuff between the two leading Zeroids was great.
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Gerry Anderson

Post by Rachel »


(Vanessa @ Feb. 26 2011,03:21)QUOTEI also thought that it was quite a brave move to have a gay character in a kids show at that time, in Space Sergeant 101.Ha ha, my mate thought 101 sounded gay, as soon as she heard him speak. Poor 101! I can't really detect any gayness, myself; a way to find out would be, to get the zeroid nurse to ask him on a date, and see if he would turn her down...
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Gerry Anderson

Post by felice »

Why poor?
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Gerry Anderson

Post by Rachel »

He might not like rumours being bandied around, when he hasn't actually said or done anything to prove he's gay. But if it is true, there are plenty of zeroid "lads" for him to choose from. My aforementioned friend is attracted to Captain Scarlett (I think he was her first love). She once said she couldn't bear it if CS was gay. I said it was very unlikely, as it was a children's programme from the 1960s.
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