Tuesday 5 February 2013

Thunderbirds Are (having another) Go!

Yes, just weeks after creator Gerry Anderson died, as if from nowhere the idea of a re-make of Thunderbirds has popped into being. Coincidence? Maybe.

Inevitably, it is going to computer-generated imagery (CGI) as was Anderson's own re-make of Captain Scarlet just a few years ago; though this time with the inclusion of live-action model sets as well.

It might be okay – though the new Scarlet failed to make a real mark – but comments suggest a strong anti feeling toward the project. Admittedly, it is hard to credibly criticise something that doesn't yet exist, and this might be just a kind of nostalgia for the original, but it isn't a good omen.

Also, without Anderson, it cannot be the same anyway, though even his own style had mutated quite significantly over the intervening years. Whether that loss, in either sense, will matter overmuch in today's world remains to be seen, but I do have my concerns.

The new Scarlet was actually very good in many ways (though I have a few dislikes with it) and no doubt deserved a better audience reception than it had – though as it was a significantly less well-known series than Thunderbirds perhaps it wasn't the ideal choice for the first new venture with modern techniques after all.

Indeed, it is my guess that those commissioning this new series might have been thinking the same and, by extension, that it should therefore do much better. I don't think the logic holds water, personally, but we shall have wait to find out how it goes in practice. It will be a good two years before this venture reaches our TV screens...

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