5 4 3 2 1 Thunderbirds Are Go

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:59:34 +0800

Well it’s spring and the boys from International Rescue have been called into duty for a couple of nights now. I’ve been watching the original episodes (remastered) from the mid 60s. There are re-cuts out there and a pretty crappy animated version but the original, complete with strings, is just perfect. I’m glad the restoration didn’t go too far; there were rumours that the stings were going to be digitally removed.

Thunderbirds by today’s standards seems slow, ponderous and a little naive. It started it’s production run in 1964, before Star Trek and the first moon landing. In fact Doctor Who had only been on air on the UK for a few months when Gerry Anderson came up with his signature show. The idea that fantasy/sci fi could be made to work to television seemed as far fetched as the ideas in the shows themselves. Thunderbirds drew on some well accepted and already established TV norms; most obviously the family being front and centre.

It appealed to the ‘boy-within’ thanks to all the fab machines. Thunderbird1 was always my favourite ship and Fab1, Lady Penelope’s car was brilliant, mind you I’d have had it in another colour. The launch sequences are a highlight of any episode. Even as a kid watching I marvelled at how they made this stuff. Imagination and love was what I thought then and what I still think now. It’s so easy to tell when a TV show is made with a real love for the work in and of itself. Dr Who was made that way and so was Thunderbirds (and all Gerry Anderson’s other shows).

Gerry Anderson made a number of marionette series throughout the 60s, Fireball XL9, Secret Service, Joe 90 & Stingray but Thunderbirds is the standout. Captain Scarlet comes after Thunderbirds and although a lot more refined technically it seems a big step back dramatically. It’s interesting that the major themes of Captain Scarlet would re-emerge in the first Century 21 live action series UFO (one of the best TV shows ever!). But Thunderbirds remains an all-time childhood classic.

Gerry Anderson is a genius. His imagination and skills as producer are so unrecognised. He did things on TV and in film that lead the way and made possible films like 2001 and Star Wars. His production house trained some of the best of the SFX world. In spite of how he was treated at ITV, what various TV Executives (boo hiss) did to him, Gerry Anderson maintained a dignity and produced brilliant and fantastic TV (see UFO, Space 1999).

I first got into Thunderbirds by reading about it. The kids magazines Countdown and Century 21 Comics introduced me to it. Living in Kambalda (WA mining town in the middle of nowhere) in 1973 meant we only got the ABC TV, no commercial station. But on weekend trips to the big city we stayed in a hotel called the Westos and at 6am on Saturday morning in Perth Channel 7 showed Thunderbirds on TV. That was always the highlight of going to Perth as a kid. I was 7. Over the next few years we moved and my access to TV got better so I saw more episodes and bought the toys. I still have those toys.

Most of the characters in Thunderbirds smoke.

Cliff Richard & The Shadows appear as marionettes in the film Thunderbirds Are Go.

The chap that played Reiker on Star Trek TNG directed an atrocious cinema-film (live-action) version of Thunderbirds, which I secretly adore.

Are You Being Served?

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:59:50 +0800

I grabbed the Series #1 DVD of Are You Being Served? last night and for the first time noticed that the pilot episode of the series was included. Why is that noteworthy? Well it hasn’t been seen, apart from this DVD release, since it originally went to air in 1972 following the Munich Olympic Terrorist Attack. When the BBC, who had been screening Olympic events, needed to fill their schedule at short notice a number of pilot episodes were screened with little or no fan fair. Are You Being Served? was one such programme.

The response from an unsuspecting British audience was rather good, good enough for a further 5 episodes to be called for which screened in 1973. Are You Being Served? was produced up until 1985. A cinema-film version was produced in 1977 based on a Blackpool stage version from 1976. One of it’s lead characters, Mr Humphries, was transported to Australia for a spin-off series and in 1992 (most of) the cast were reunited for two series of Grace & Favour (known in the USA as Are You Being Served Again?).

The basic premise is a simple one; to a class ridden department store add every sexual stereotype possible and dose with a healthy serving of double-entendre. Jokes about Mrs Slocombe’s pussy abound. Mr Humphries gets camper with every subsequent series. It’s fair to say the best episodes are the early ones, from the first four series. As the years went on and the series’ success grew the cast dealt with the increasingly bizarre plot-situations by playing caricatures of their original characters. It’s not that the show becomes less enjoyable but it does begin to get tired. What ranks it as a classic however is that same cast’s commitment to their characters. The show never goes too far, it never truly offends, it’s all winks and titters.

The show was created and written (on the whole) by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft and produced as an in-house BBC production during its glory-days of television production.

As a child in Australia the early years of Are You Being Served? were screened relentlessly during the 1970s on ABC TV. Anyone in Gladstone in 1979 would have had the pleasure of seeing me perform a character recital of Mr Humphries at the local Eisteddfod. I created the script from the novelisation of the first series. It was in the Town Hall, capacity crowd. I used the catch-phrase “I’m Free!”. I was 13. (Lord what hope had I, eh?). I didn’t win, I got ‘Highly Commended’. The year before I did Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. I got a ‘Second Prize’ that time. I was also in a dance troupe at the 1981 Gulgong (home of Henry Lawson) Eisteddfod, but that’s another story.

The pilot episode of Are You Being Served? only survives now as a black & white video master. There is little hope of seeing it in colour ever again. But the birth of this classic 1970s comedy was a nice surprise tonight.

The DVDs are available everywhere.

Many of the original cast members are dead now.
Vale John Inman, Vale Mollie Sugden, Vale Wendy Richard.

A Late Night TV Journal

5 4 3 2 1 Thunderbirds Are Go

Are You Being Served?