Unseen Thunderbirds film reels found in garden shed

Not actually true. The title sequence was hand drawn, and the series didn’t even start filming until after Tron had come out.

Never knew this series but little me (from the Netherlands, from 1982) would have loved this show, I certainly loved Thunderbirds (even though 50% of the show was the same TB launch sequence ;) ). I feel sad that I seem to have lost the capacity to experience the epicness of such series/films.

Anyway, very cool that that Mars base is from 2020... It seemed so far way back then. The SciFi future with Mars bases and flying cars that never happened. We did get Smartphones though... What will humanity look like in 40 years? Unrecognizable probably.

Wow ... big part of my childhood ... those robot ball things! Weird how this seems largely forgotten

I actually loved the new series

https://www.amazon.com/Thunderbirds-Are-Go-Season-1/dp/B086H...

As well as being a huge fan of the originals

This was my show as a kid, the one my parents had to get us back home in time to watch or else much stroppiness would occur. I haven't heard it for many years, but the opening notes of the theme tune made me grin ear to ear.

How was CGI output with enough scaling to look good on film, when the Spectrum only had composite output?

Similarly, with early CGI like Tron, what was the render/target resolution for film?

This is not true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrahawks#Title_sequence_and_...

Wow #1, I don't think I ever expected to read "cluster of prototype ZX Spectrums", even on Zombo.com where anything is possible.

Wow #2, Terrahawks was in a box in the back of my mind for a long time. Don't think I ever actually watched, I just saw it, if you know what I mean. But I was about 7 when it came out so that makes sense. I remember the Zeroids more than I remember any of the characters.

The ZX Spectrum bit seems unlikely, considering that was a Z80 box and the quality of those graphics is pretty good.

See the Terrahawks game on the Spectrum:

https://youtu.be/diLez1bM3jo

Is there a source for this, that would actually be interesting.

People aren't getting the joke because nobody here realizes how essentially crappy the ZX Spectrum was. You'd do better to render it on a four-function calculator or, perhaps, an abacus.

This was in the early 90s when thunderbirds was being reshown on tv, comics reprinted and in the shops, toys available at all good toy shops etc

Howver the toy Tracy island was out of stock - demand exceeded the supply. With Christmas rapidly approaching and a lot of kids about to be unhappy, the “build your own” program lodged in the national conscious - everyone knew Blue Peter, it had been running for decades with its sticky back plastic and one they made earlier.

I never _quite_ got that thing built. I came close, but then never painted it maybe?

This sounds so much like something my youngest would do, haha. I always wonder if the creators realize when they come up with this stuff that a ton of rogue kids are going to flush entire rolls to get the tube.

Is it worth watching though?

I wouldn't mind if a documentary was an interview with just 1 person if it's good. The problem with those Netflix ones is they have a handful of people repeat the same thing over and over and over. Then they pad it out even further in between those repetitions with pan and zoom of a couple of barely relevant photos or newspaper clippings or illustrations, perhaps a clip of a news anchor reporting from the relevant time etc. What would be 30 seconds in a good documentary ends up being 5 minutes and 1 episode becomes 6.

I now usually give up and read the Wikipedia page once I spot these techniques.

From wikipedia: ” In the early 1990s, Matchbox launched a new range of toys to coincide with the BBC2 repeats. Sales figures for Christmas 1992 surpassed those achieved by Star Wars merchandise in the 1970s and 1980s.”

Yep, here's Peter Cook and Dudley Moore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oMi_Hv3Sws

full version https://www.facebook.com/WeirdHollywood/videos/2021-march-pe...

There were a lot of repeats when I was a kid (80-90s). Shows like Thunderbirds and the like were mainstays of my TV watching.

They were really good for their time, and hadn't really aged too badly by the 80s and 90s, so it made good financial sense to repeat them. Combine that with the money to be made from toys and it was a much better deal than forking out for new programmes.

There was also an episode of the popular kids TV show Blue Peter, where they showed you how to make Tracy Island. I believe that helped boost it's popularity.

I still have that island fortress thing somewhere in a closet, or maybe my parents. With the pool that could swivel out the way, the trees that fold down and some sound effects IIRC. Was all the rage in my class when I was a kid (in the 90s).

Because it was really well produced, and brilliantly written and directed! Even now it looks great.

Yes. Probably because Terrahawks (80s) was such a flop, and so there was scope to repeat Thunderbirds.

Not that the others: Joe 90, Supercar, etc got much in the way of repeats. That said I did enjoy Captain Scarlet and Stingray as a kid.

I also had the toys in the 90s and possibly attempted the blue Peter make of the fortress. I even had a duvet cover and lunchbox. These things were of course bought by my parents who watched the show in their childhoods. In turn my kid loves sonic and I have bought him hats and jumpers etc.

I think these revivals intentionally capitalise on nostalgia.

There was an even a (quite crappy) Amiga game! Coincided with re-runs on Turkish (newly formed) cable TV - such good (or not) memories.

https://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=1056

Maybe there was a revival around that time? Otherwise I'd guess nostalgia from parents?

But in Britain all things end up in the garden shed eventually…

> please do not store film in your garden shed.

Under no circumstances should you store nitrate film (or film you even think might be nitrate) in your home. It is more flammable than petrol.

There is a damn good reason people store old film in garden sheds and not in the house. It isn't a 'trope'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_base

Speaking of dodgy things in sheds, as a heads-up Hexamine fuel tablets are now illegal to possess in the UK - so campers and model steam engine enthusiasts beware.