THUNDERBIRDS 50 ANS - CARTE vendu CROQUIS UNIQUE - par artiste gallois, DAVID DAY - 2015

Voice-recordingsessions were supervised by Pattillo and the Andersons, with SylviaAnderson in charge of casting. Dialogue was recorded once per monthat a rate of two scripts per session. Supporting parts were notpre-assigned, but negotiated by the cast among themselves. Tworecordings would be made at each session: one to be converted intoelectronic pulses for the puppet filming, the other to be added tothe soundtrack during post-production. The tapes were edited at GateRecording Theatre in Birmingham.

In theinterest of transatlantic appeal, it was decided that the maincharacters would be mostly American and therefore actors capable ofproducing an appropriate accent were used. British, Canadian andAustralian actors formed most of the voice cast; the only Americaninvolved was stage actor David Holliday, who was noticed in LondonsWest End and given the part of Virgil Tracy. Following the completionof the first series, Holliday returned to the US. The character wasvoiced by English-Canadian actor Jeremy Wilkin for ThunderbirdsAre Go, Series Two and Thunderbird6.

Britishactor David Graham was among the first to be cast. He had previouslyvoiced characters in Four Feather Falls,Supercar,Fireball XL5and Stingray.Beyond the APF productions, he had supplied one of the original Dalekvoices on Doctor Who.Cast alongside Graham was Australian actor Ray Barrett. Like Graham,he had worked for the Andersons before, having voiced Titan andCommander Shore in Stingray.A veteran of radio drama, Barrett was skilled at performing a rangeof voices and accents in quick succession. Villains of the week wouldtypically be voiced by either Barrett or Graham. Aware of thesensitive political climate of the Cold War and not wishing to"perpetuate the idea that Russia was the enemy with a wholegeneration of children watching", Gerry Anderson decided theHood (voiced by Barrett) should be Oriental and placed his templehideout in Malaysia to defy the viewers expectations.

AlthoughLady Penelope and Parker (the latter voiced by Graham) were among thefirst characters developed, neither was conceived as a major role.Parkers Cockney manner was based on a waiter at a pub in Cookhamthat was sometimes visited by the crew. On Gerry Andersonsrecommendation, Graham dined there regularly to study the accent.Andersons first choice for the role of Penelope had been FenellaFielding, but Sylvia insisted she take the part herself. Her Penelopevoice was intended to emulate Fielding and Joan Greenwood. OnPenelope and Parkers secondary role as comic relief, Gerryexplained, "We British can laugh at ourselves, so therefore wehad Penelope and Parker as this comedy team. And in America they lovethe British aristocracy too."

As wellas Jeff Tracy, English-Canadian actor Peter Dyneley voiced therecurring character of Commander Norman, chief of air traffic controlat London International Airport. His supporting character voices weretypically those of upper-class Englishmen. Shane Rimmer, the voice ofScott, was cast on the strength of his performance on the BBC soapopera Compact.Meanwhile, fellow Canadian Matt Zimmerman was selected at a latestage in the process. The expatriate West End actor was given therole of Alan on the recommendation of his friend, Holliday: "Theywere having great difficulty casting the part of Alan as they wanteda certain sound for him, being the youngest brother. David, who [was]a bit older than I am, told them that he had this friend, me, whowould be great."

ChristineFinn, known for her role in the TV serial Quatermassand the Pit, provided the voices ofTin-Tin Kyrano and Grandma Tracy. With Sylvia Anderson, she was alsoresponsible for voicing most of the female and child supportingcharacters. Supporting parts were occasionally voiced by John Tate(the father of Space: 1999actor Nick Tate), Bud Tingwell and Paul Maxwell; the latter twojoined the cast in Series Two following their contributions toThunderbirds Are Go.None of these three actors were credited for their performances.

Designand effects

Thepuppet stages used for the filming of Thunderbirdswere only one-fifth the size of those used for a standard live-actionproduction, typically measuring 12 by 14 by 3 metres (39.4 by 45.9 by9.8 ft) in length, width and height. Bob Bell, assisted by KeithWilson and Grenville Nott, headed the art department for Series One.During the simultaneous filming of Series Two and ThunderbirdsAre Go in 1966, Bell attended mainly tothe film, entrusting set design for the TV series to Wilson.

Since itwas necessary for the art departments interior sets to conform tothe effects departments exterior plans, each team closely monitoredthe others work. According to Sylvia Anderson, Bells challenge wasto produce complex interiors on a limited budget while resisting theeffects departments push for "more extravagant" design.This task was complicated by the unnatural proportions of thepuppets: Bell struggled to decide whether the sets should be built toa scale proportionate to their bodies or their oversized heads andhands. He used the example of FAB 1 to illustrate the problem: "Assoon as we positioned [the puppets] standing alongside [the model],they looked ridiculous, as the car towered over them." Heultimately adopted a "mix-and-match" approach, in whichsmaller items, such as tableware, were scaled to their hands andfurniture to their bodies.

Whiledesigning the Creighton-Ward Mansion sets, Bell and his staff strovefor authenticity, ordering miniature Tudor paintings, 1⁄3-scaleGeorgian- and Regency-style furniture and carpeting in the shape of apolar bear skin. This realism was enhanced by adding scrap itemsacquired from household waste and electronics shops. For example, avacuum cleaner pipe serves as Virgil Tracys launch chute.

Puppets

The headpuppet sculptor was Christine Glanville, who also served as the leadpuppeteer. Glanvilles four-person team built the 13 members of themain cast in six months at a cost of between £250 and £300 perpuppet (approximately £4,569 and £5,483 today). Since pairs ofepisodes were being filmed simultaneously on separate stages, thecharacters needed to be sculpted in duplicate. Facial expressionswere diversified by means of replaceable heads: as well as a headwith a neutral expression, each main character was given a "smiler",a "frowner" and a "blinker". The finished puppetswere approximately 22 inches (56 cm) tall, or 1⁄3adult human height.

Thepuppets were made up of more than 30 individual components, the mostimportant of which was the solenoid that synchronised lip movementswith the characters pre-recorded dialogue. This device waspositioned inside the head unit; consequently, torsos and limbsappeared relatively small. The puppets likenesses and mechanics areremembered favourably by puppeteer Wanda Brown, who preferred theThunderbirdsmarionettes over the accurately-proportioned ones that first appearedin Captain Scarlet:"The puppets were easier to operate and more enjoyable becausethey had more character to them ... Even some of the morenormal-looking faces, such as Scott and Jeff, for me had morecharacter than the puppets in the series that came afterwards."Rimmer speaks positively of the puppets still being "very muchcaricatures", since it made them "more lovable andappealing ... There was a naive quality about them and nothing toocomplex."

Theappearances of the main characters were inspired by those of actorsand other entertainers, who were typically selected from the showbusiness directory Spotlight.According to Glanville, as part of a trend away from the strongcaricature of previous series, APF was seeking "more naturalfaces" for the puppets. The face of Jeff Tracy was based on thatof Lorne Greene, Scott on Sean Connery, Alan on Robert Reed, John onAdam Faith and Charlton Heston, Brains on Anthony Perkins and Parkeron Ben Warriss. Sylvia Anderson brought the character of Penelope tolife in likeness as well as voice: after her test moulds wererejected, sculptor Mary Turner decided to use Anderson herself as atemplate.

Maincharacter heads were initially sculpted in either Plasticine or clay.Once the general aspect had been finalised, this served as thetemplate for a silicone rubber mould. This was coated with Bondaglass(fibreglass mixed with resin) and enhanced with Bondapaste, aputty-like substance, to accentuate contours. The Bondaglass shellwas then fitted with a solenoid, leather mouth parts and plasticeyes, as well as incisor teeth – a first for a Supermarionationproduction. Puppets known as "revamps", which had plasticheads, portrayed the supporting characters. These marionettes startedtheir working lives with only a mouth and eyes; their faces wereremoulded from one episode to the next. Particularly striking revampmoulds were retained and, as their numbers increased, photographed tocompile an internal casting directory.

Wigswere made of mohair or, in the case of the Penelope puppet, humanhair. Puppet bodies were built in three sizes: "large male"(specifically for the Tracys and the Hood), "small male"and "small female". Sylvia Anderson, the head costumedesigner, devised the main characters attire. To give the puppetsincreased mobility, the costume department generally avoided stiffsynthetic materials, instead working with cotton, silk and wool.Between 1964 and 1966, the departments stock numbered more than 700costumes.

Eachpuppets head was fitted with about 10 thin tungsten steel wires.During the filming, dialogue was played into the studio usingmodified tape recorders that converted the feed into electronicpulses. Two of the wires relayed these pulses to the internalsolenoid, completing the Supermarionation process. The wires, whichwere sprayed black to reduce their visibility, were made even lessnoticeable through the application of powder paint that matched thebackground colours of the set. Glanville explained the time-consumingnature of this process: "[The puppeteers] used to spend overhalf an hour on each shot getting rid of these wires, looking throughthe camera, puffing a bit more [paint] here, anti-flare there; and, Imean, its very depressing when somebody will say to us, Of coursethe wires showed." Positioned on an overhead gantry with ahand-held cruciform, the puppeteers co-ordinated movements with thehelp of a viewfinder-powered CCTV feedback system. As filmingprogressed, the crew started to dispense with wires and insteadmanipulate the puppets from the studio floor using rods.

Since we always tried tominimise walking, wed show the puppets taking one step only, thenpromptly cut. Through interspersing the programmes with "meanwhile"scenes – that is, showing what else was going on in the story atthe same time – we would then cut back to the puppet who was nowalready in his craft.

— Alan Pattilloon puppet movement

Specialeffects

Theeffects for all the APF series from Supercarto UFOwere directed by Derek Meddings, who later worked on the JamesBond and Supermanfilms. Knowing that Thunderbirdswould be the "biggest project [APF] had worked on",Meddings found himself struggling to manage his workload with thesingle filming unit that had produced all the effects for Stingray.He therefore established a second unit under technician BrianJohncock, and a third exclusively for filming airborne sequences.This expansion increased the number of APF crews and stages to fiveeach. A typical episode contained around 100 effects shots; Meddingsteam completed up to 18 per day.

Anaddition to the effects department was Mike Trim, who served asMeddings assistant in designing vehicles and buildings. Meddings andTrim jointly pioneered an "organic" design technique inwhich the exteriors of models and sets were customised with partsfrom model kits and childrens toys. Models and sets were also"dirtied down" with powder paint or pencil lead to create aused look. Toy cars and vans were used in long shot, while scalevehicles were equipped with basic steering and suspension for addedrealism. Miniature fans and Jetex pellets, which are capable ofissuing air jets or chemical exhaust, were attached to the undersidesto simulate dust trails. Another of Meddings inventions was aclosed, cyclical effects stage nicknamed the "rolling road":consisting of two or more loops of canvas running at differentspeeds, this device allowed shots of moving vehicles to be filmed ona static set to make more efficient use of the limited studio space.Airborne aircraft sequences were mounted against a "rollingsky", with smoke fanned across to simulate passing clouds.

One ofMeddings first tasks was to shoot stock footage of the Thunderbirdmachines and the series main locations, Tracy Island andCreighton-Ward Mansion. The finished island model was a composite ofmore than a dozen smaller sets that could be detached from the wholeand filmed separately. The architecture of the mansion was based onthat of Stourhead House, located on the Stourhead Estate inWiltshire. In the absence of head designer Reg Hill, who was servingas associate producer, Meddings was further tasked with designing theThunderbirdfleet and FAB 1. Scale models for the six main vehicles were built bya contractor, Master Models of Middlesex. Models and puppet setscombined, more than 200 versions of the Thunderbirdmachines were created for the series.

Duringthe designing and filming process, Meddings first priorities wererealism and credibility. With the exception of Thunderbird5, each vehicle was built in three orfour scales. Meddings swing-wing concept for Thunderbird1 was inspired by his wish to createsomething "more dynamic" than a fixed-wing aircraft. Heremained unsatisfied with the prototype of Thunderbird2 until he inverted the wings, latercommenting, "... at the time, all aircraft had swept-back wings.I only did it to be different." This decision was made out ofpersonal preference and was not informed by any expert knowledge onMeddings part. He described the Thunderbird2 launch as "probably the mostmemorable" sequence that his team devised for an APF production.

Thelargest model of Thunderbird 3,whose design was based on the Soviet Soyuzrocket, was six feet (1.8 m) tall. Thunderbird4 was particularly difficult to film:as the scale of the model did not correspond to the water inside theshooting tank, creative camera angles and rapid editing were used toproduce a sense of realistic perspective. Thunderbird5, the most difficult vehicle forMeddings to visualise, was based on the Tracy Island Round House.Since most of the space stations appearances were provided by stockfootage, the model was rarely filmed. Pod Vehicles were designed onan episode-by-episode basis and built from balsa wood, Jelutong woodor fibreglass. To save time and costs, other minor vehicles werebuilt in-house from radio-controlled model kits.

As thepuppets of Lady Penelope and Parker needed to fit inside, the largestof all the models was the seven-foot FAB 1, which cost £2,500(approximately £46,000 today) to build. The Rolls-Royces name andcolour were both chosen by Sylvia Anderson. Rolls-Royce Ltd.supervised the construction of the plywood model and supplied APFwith an authentic radiator grille for close-up shots of the front ofthe car. In exchange for its cooperation, the company requested thata Spirit of Ecstasy be fixed to the chassis and that the charactersavoid referring to the brand with abbreviations such as "Rolls".

Scaleexplosions were created using substances such as fullers earth,petrol gel, magnesium strips and Cordtex explosive. Originallyfilmed at up to 120 frames per second (f.p.s.), they were slowed downto 24 f.p.s. during post-production to increase their apparentmagnitude and length. Gunpowder canisters were ignited to createrocket jets. The wires that electronically fired the rockets alsoallowed a member of the crew, holding a cruciform and positioned onan overhead gantry, to "fly" the model over the set. By farthe most unwieldy model was Thunderbird2, which Meddings remembered as being"awful" to fly. A combination of unreliable rockets andweak wiring frequently caused problems: should the former be slow toignite, the current quickly caused the latter to overheat and snap,potentially damaging the model and even setting fire to the set.Conditions above the studio floor were often dangerous due to theheat and smoke. Although many of the exhaust sound effects used inthe series were drawn from an audio library, some were speciallyrecorded during a Red Arrows display at RAF Little Rissington inGloucestershire.

By 1966,Meddings commitments were split between Series Two and ThunderbirdsAre While Meddings worked on the film, camera operator JimmyElliott assumed the responsibility of directing the TV effects. Bythis stage, the basic frame of Thunderbird 2 had been damagedso many times that the model had needed to be rebuilt from scratch.Meddings was displeased with the result, reflecting that thereplacement was "not only the wrong colour, it was a completelydifferent shape ... I never felt our model-makers managed torecapture the look of the original."

CriticDavid Garland suggests that the challenge facing the Thunderbirdseffects department was to strike a balance between the "conventionalscience-fiction imperative of the futuristic" and the "seepinghyper-realist concerns mandated by the Andersons approach to thepuppets". Thunderbirdshas been praised for the quality of its effects. Jim Sangster andPaul Condon, writers of Collins TellyGuide, consider the model work"uniformly impressive". To Paul Cornell, Martin Day andKeith Topping, writers of The GuinnessBook of Classic British TV, the effectsare "way beyond anything seen on TV previously". Impressedby their work on Thunderbirds,film director Stanley Kubrick hired several members of Meddingsstaff to supervise the effects shooting for 2001:A Space Odyssey.

Titlesequence

Theseries title sequence, storyboarded by Gerry Anderson, is made up oftwo parts. It opens with a countdown of "5, 4, 3, 2, 1:ThunderbirdsAre Go!", provided by Dyneley in character as Jeff Tracy. In adeparture from the style of Stingray,the Thunderbirdstitle sequence varies with each episode: the first part consists ofan action montage that serves as a preview of the plot. Simon Archerand Marcus Hearn, biographers of Gerry Anderson, compare this devicefavourably to a film trailer.

Thesecond part, accompanied by composer Barry Grays "TheThunderbirds March", features portraits of the main puppet castsuperimposed on various vehicles and settings. Peel describes this as"ostensibly a return to the series stars concept long known inTV", while Garland considers such imagery demonstrative ofAndersons commitment to "incremental realism" through aconvergence of human and puppet characteristics. Essayist JonathanBignell suggests that the use of portraits conveys Andersonspartiality to "visual revelation of machines and physicalaction".

Accordingto Daniel OBrien, writer of SF:UK: HowBritish Science Fiction Changed the World,the Thunderbirdstitle sequence encapsulates the reasons for the series enduringpopularity Dyneleys countdown is particularly well remembered andhas been widely quoted. Dean Newman of the Syfy channel website ranksThunderbirdseighth in a list of "Top 10 TV title sequences", while Denof Geeks Martin Anderson considers the sequence the best of any TVseries.

Music

Thescore was composed by Gray, who served as musical director for all ofthe Anderson productions up to the first series of Space:1999. In response to Gerry Andersonsrequest that the main theme have a "military feel", Grayproduced a brass-dominated piece titled "The ThunderbirdsMarch", which was recorded in December 1964 at Olympic Studiosin London. The end titles were originally to have been accompanied by"Flying High", a lyrical track sung by Gary Miller withbacking by Ken Barrie. Ultimately, a variation of the march was usedinstead] I.cidental music was recorded over nine months between Marchand December 1965. As most of the music budget was spent on theseries earlier episodes, later instalments drew heavily on APFsever-expanding music library.

Peelconsiders "The Thunderbirds March" to be "one of thebest TV themes ever written – perfect for the show and catchy whenheard alone". Morag Reavley of BBC Online argues that the pieceis "up there ... in the quintessential soundtrack of theSixties" with the James Bondfilms and the songs of Frank Sinatra, Elvis and The Beatles. Moregenerally, he praises the series "catchy, pulse-quickeningtunes", as well as Grays aptitude for "musical nuance"and the mixing of genres. Heather Phares of Allmusic considers"Thunderbirds Are Go!" – the track accompanying thelaunch sequences of Thunderbirds 1,2 and 3– to be a reflection of the mod aspect of 1960s British spyfiction. She also highlights Grays homage to – and divergence from– musical norms, commenting that his score "sends up the spyand action/adventure conventions of the 60s very stylishly andsubtly".

DavidHuckvale identifies Wagnerian homage in both the theme music and theseries premise. Noting that the themes opening string ostinato issimilar in effect to a recurring motif in Rideof the Valkyries, he also likens theThunderbirdmachines to Valkyries themselves: "Their function is morebenevolent than those warrior maidens, but they dohover over danger, death and destruction." Kevin J. Donnelly ofthe University of Southampton acknowledges the series "big-soundingorchestral score", which he compares to that of a live-actionfilm. He also suggests that the music serves partly to draw attentionaway from the physical imperfections of the puppets.

Tocelebrate the shows anniversary, "Thunderbirds Are Go - 50Years On" at Colston Hall, Bristol was celebrated as the thememusic is brought to life, led by Charles Hazlewood and his All StarCollective.

Broadcast

Thunderbirdspremiered on British television on 30 September 1965 on the ITVfranchises ATV Midlands, Westward and Channel. Other broadcasters,including ATV London and Granada, started transmissions the followingmonth. The Christmas-themed series finale, "Give or Take aMillion", was first broadcast on 25 December 1966. DespiteGrades decision to extend the running time, Midlands and Granadabroadcast each episode in two parts. In these areas, both 25-minuteinstalments aired on the same day, separated by the ITN Evening News.The conclusion opened with a narration by Shane Rimmer summarisingthe first parts action.

Granadatransmitted Thunderbirdsin its original, 50-minute format for the first time with the startof repeats in 1966. In 1968, the franchise briefly aired episodes inthree parts due to timeslot restrictions. The availability of repeatsduring the 1960s and 1970s varied among regions. ATV Midlandsscreened the series regularly into the early 1970s; by contrast,Thunderbirdswas entirely absent from Yorkshire Television between 1968 and 1976.The series was last transmitted on the ITV franchises in 1981.

In 1990,8 of the 19 audio episodes released by APF Records were convertedinto radio dramas, which were transmitted on BBC Radio 5. The successof the radio series encouraged the BBC to acquire the rights to theTV episodes, which it broadcast simultaneously in all regions fromSeptember 1991 on BBC 2.

Sincethe end of the first network run, which achieved average viewingfigures of more than six million, the BBC has repeated the series sixtimes: between 1992 and 1993 (Series One only), 1994 and 1995 (nineepisodes only), and 2000 and 2001 (in remastered form), as well as in2003, 2005 and 2006. Other channels that have shown repeats includeUK Gold (1994–95), Bravo (1996–97), Cartoon Network (2001–02),Boomerang (2001–03) and Syfy (2009). In Scotland, the BBC screeneda Gaelic dub, Tairnearan Tar As("Thunderbirds Are Go")in the early 1990s.

Beforeits UK debut, Thunderbirdswas distributed to 30 other countries including the US, Canada,Australia and Japan. Pre-sales revenue totalled £350,000(approximately £6 million today). In the year following the seriesfirst appearance, the number of countries increased to 66. In Japan,where it was first broadcast by NHK, Thunderbirdsattracted a sizeable fan following and influenced series such asUltraman,Mighty Jack,Himitsu Sentai Gorenger,Super Rescue Solbrainand Neon Genesis Evangelion.In the US, the two-part format entered first-run syndication, tomodest success, in 1968. Other overseas broadcasters have includedTechTV and Family Room HD (US), BBC Kids and YTV (Canada), NineNetwork and Foxtel (Australia), TVNZ (in the 1980s) and later TV3(New Zealand), MediaCorp TV12 Kids Central (Singapore) and RTÉ Two(Republic of Ireland).

Reception

Thunderbirdsis generally considered the Andersons most popular series and theirgreatest critical and commercial success. In 1966, the show receiveda Royal Television Society Silver Medal for Outstanding ArtisticAchievement and Gerry Anderson received an honorary fellowship of theBritish Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society. In 2007,Thunderbirdsachieved 19th place in a Radio Timesmagazine reader poll to determine the best science-fiction TVprogramme of all time. It is ranked fourth by the 2013 Channel 5 listshow 50 Greatest Kids TV Shows.

ForPeel, Thunderbirdsis "without a doubt the peak of the Supermarionationachievement". Suggesting that the series is pitched at a "moreadult" level than its predecessors, he adds that its sense ofadventure, effective humour and "gripping and convincing"episodes ensured that "everyone in the audience found somethingto love about it." Simon Heffer, a fan of Thunderbirdsin childhood, commented positively on the series for TheDaily Telegraph in 2011: "All theelements we children discerned in whatever grown-up television we hadbeen allowed to watch were present in Thunderbirds:dramatic theme and incidental music; well-developed plots; goodiesand baddies; swaggering Americans, at a time when the whole ofBritain was in a cultural cringe to them; and, of course, glamorouslocations ... Then, of course, there was the nail-biting tension ofthe rescues themselves ..." Film critic Kim Newman describes theseries as a "television perennial".

In hisforeword to John Marriotts book, ThunderbirdsAre Go!, Anderson put forward severalexplanations for the series enduring popularity: it "containselements that appeal to most children – danger, jeopardy anddestruction. But because International Rescues mission is to savelife, there is no gratuitous violence." According to Anderson,Thunderbirdsincorporates a "strong family atmosphere, where Dad reignssupreme". Both OBrien and script editor Alan Pattillo havepraised the series positive "family values". In addition,Heffer and others have written of its cross-generational appeal. In2000, shortly before the series BBC revival, Brian Viner remarked inRadio Timesthat Thunderbirdswas on the point of "captivating yet another generation ofviewers". Stuart Hood, writing for TheSpectator in 1965, praised Thunderbirdsas a "modern fairy tale"; adding that it "cansometimes be frightening", he recommended that children watch itaccompanied by their parents. Writing for Dreamwatchin 1994, Andrew Thomas described Thunderbirdsas only "nominally" a childrens programme: "Itsthemes are universal and speak as much to the adult in the child asthe child in the adult."

JeffEvans, author of The Penguin TVCompanion, argues that the series50-minute format allows for stronger character development and"tension-building". OBrien is less positive in hisappraisal of the writing, asserting that the plots are often"formulaic" and are sometimes "stretched to snappingpoint" by the extended running time. Cornell, Day and Toppingare critical: they consider the writing at times "woefully poor"and argue that Thunderbirdsas a whole is "often as clichéd as previous Anderson series".Peel, despite praising the storylines and characterisation, suggeststhat the "tongue-in-cheek" humour of Stingrayis less evident. Where Thunderbirdsimproves on its predecessor, Peel believes, is in its rejection offantasy plot devices, child and animal characters, comical andstereotyped villains and what he terms the "standard Andersonsexism": female characters, marginalised in earlier series, aremore commonly seen to play active and sometimes heroic roles.

Notingthe attention to detail of the series launch sequences, JonathanBignell argues that part of the motivation for dedicating largeamounts of screen time to the Thunderbirdcraft is the need to compensate for the limited mobility of thepuppet cast. The focus on futuristic machines has also been exploredby cultural historian Nicholas J. Cull, who comments that of all theAndersons series, Thunderbirdsis the most evocative of a recurring theme: the "necessity ofthe human component of the machine", whereby the failures of newtechnology are overcome by "brave human beings and technologyworking together". This makes the series vision of the 2060s"wonderfully humanistic and reassuring". OBrien similarlypraises this optimism, comparing the Tracy family to guardianÜbermensch. Writing for Wired UKmagazine, Warren Ellis asserts that the series scientific visioncould inspire the next generation of "mad and frighteningengineers", adding that Thunderbirds"trades in vast, demented concepts ... immense and verybeautiful ideas as solutions to problems."

Thomasargues that the world of Thunderbirdsis similar to the 1960s to the extent that contemporary capitalismand class structures appear to have survived mostly intact. He alsoobserves, however, that wealth and high social status are oftendepicted as character flaws rather than strengths. According toThomas, a contributing factor to the series lasting popularity isthe realism of IRs machines. Newman, for his part, suggests that"the point isnt realism. The 21st century of Thunderbirdsis detailed ... but also de-populated, a high-tech toyland". Heis more negative in his comparisons of contemporary and futurevalues, noting the "square, almost 50s" attitudes to race,gender and class. With regard to stereotyping, Hood comments that he"would be happier if [villains] didnt seem to be recognisableby their pigmentation". Cull, by contrast, considers the serieslargely progressive on the subject of race, arguing that it reje.