Logo

Cool News

Can THUNDERBIRDS be super-cool without super-marionation'

Published at:  Jun 07, 2003 4:15:52 PM CDT

Hey folks, Harry here... The more I see of Frakes' THUNDERBIRDS, the more excited I get. All good geeks love or at least get a smirk on their face when they think about THUNDERBIRDS and it definitely holds a rather special place for those that watched it and the other super-marionation shows of the era... or even caught the film in theaters. So far, Riker seems to be vibrantly translating the wood puppets into reality with color-soaked images and richness... I likey thus far. Check out what "the bad scanner" brought us from England!



















Hey, Harry;
                  

Don't know if this is of use, but the UK Daily Mail has a couple of pictures of the Thunderbirds team and Lady Penelope. Just sent them in because I wanted to be told that this isn't news or of any use by the talkbackers! Couldn't fit the pic at the bottom onto the scan but it's only the original wooden stars, rather than the new ones, so you're missing nothing!
                 
      

If'n you print this, call me....The Bad Scanner!















    + Expand All

    Readers Talkback

  • Man, should I feel guilty about her chilling in the bubble bath sipping tea? Hormones....clashing....can't...maintain...sense of morality.....

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 4:29:46 PM CDT

    it's just you

    by vincent gecko

    she's hot, she def. looks legal enough.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 4:37:48 PM CDT

    THIRD!

    by 30daywarranty

    like a bird!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 4:39:41 PM CDT

    penelope looks just perfect for...

    by 30daywarranty

    ...growing some fangs and going pasty white. yes. and that dude with the hair...need i say more?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 4:41:25 PM CDT

    Penelope

    by thestooge

    Lady Penelope is played by 23 yr old British actress, Sophia Myles. Here is the url to a better imdb.com picture of her from the movie, "Out of Bounds."
    http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0276053/louise.jpg

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 4:42:51 PM CDT

    Give me Fireball XL-5

    by manos

    Ready Venus? Ready Steve!
    God, do I feel old.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 5:00:14 PM CDT

    Missing the point.....

    by robinp

    .....the whole selling point of Gerry Anderson series in the sixties was the Supermarionation. That was the whole point. It was one long special effect show, basically with toys as the stars. That's what made them different from any other show of the era. Keeping this in mind, the whole idea of "re-imagining" the concept with actors is totally redundant. Snubbing Gerry Anderson himself only reinforces the redundancy. Add to that a so-so actor/director (come on, we all know it's true) who had never even seen the original series (it's called research Frakes - look it up) So far, this looks to me like a total waste of perfectly good celluloid that could have been put to better use somewhere else.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 5:31:22 PM CDT

    ya think Riker ever says "Make it so" on the set?

    by tall_boy

    just wonderin'... I saw the last half of clockstoppers, nothing really jumped out at me. But I really like the way the cinematography looks in "First Contact". "Insurrection" is nothing special, but he made some nice-looking Trek episodes...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 5:37:39 PM CDT

    RobinP

    by st.buggering

    Nicholas Meyer had never seen an episode of Star Trek before he was hired. The result was "The Wrath of Khan", the best Trek film ever made. Talent is more important than familiarity with the source material. Frakes did good work on "First Contact" (even when the screenplay failed him), so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And speaking of Gerry Anderson, I wonder if anyone is considering a "Space: 1999" project? They'd have to change the year, of course, but it would be nice to see it done while Landau can still make a guest appearance as the President or something.

    Reply to Talkback

  • My army of fish will rule the world, BROTHER!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 7:06:44 PM CDT

    They should make 'SPACE 1999' with puppets

    by workshed

    Go on do it. NOW!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 8:25:47 PM CDT

    the hulk escapes form the vault and he rules!!!!

    by kash_less

    it had to happen hulk movie goes online. picture is pretty good pity its not quite the finished article. aint seen it all yet got 40mins left but i cant wait to see it on the big screen the effects kick matrix ass!!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 8:29:27 PM CDT

    Grillskill

    by st.buggering

    Well, that's all true, but it was equally true in the TV series. Personally, since I'm little more than a minor science buff, I don't know what would really happen. I actually thought that the most ludicrous thing about the show was not that, but the fact that a body in uncontrolled flight at sublight speeds could just happen to run into that many inhabited worlds, have time to hang out, and then move on again. Let's just say that logic was not Gerry Anderson's strong suit.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 8:37:21 PM CDT

    They should had made this movie with Final Fantasy movie CGI

    by steal_dragon

    with the writers of Shrek. Even the creater of Thunderbirds believes that the movie should be CGI and to be continued from the last episode of Thunderbirds. Harry, if you think this movie is going to be great then you can keep it.

    Reply to Talkback

  • This bunch appears to be wearing exactly the same outfits that the lame heroes of Disney's the Black Hole, had on!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 10:57:48 PM CDT

    Bill Paxton has gone from Frailty to THIS?

    by osmosis jones

    Game over, man!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 07, 2003 11:24:44 PM CDT

    What about Nemesis?

    by shuttrbug2k1

    RobinP said: Nicholas Meyer had never seen an episode of Star Trek before he was hired. The result was "The Wrath of Khan", the best Trek film ever made. Talent is more important than familiarity with the source material. Frakes did good work on "First Contact" (even when the screenplay failed him), so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And speaking of Gerry Anderson, I wonder if anyone is considering a "Space: 1999" project? They'd have to change the year, of course, but it would be nice to see it done while Landau can still make a guest appearance as the President or something."

    What about Stuart Baird? He said the same thing and made that dreck that was Nemesis. You need good direction, a good script and great talent.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 1:02:52 AM CDT

    The hardware's the thing.

    by christopher3

    Puppets v. humans v. CGI? Who gives a shit? Let's see them ships.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 1:51:48 AM CDT

    Chris Cooper is really hot!

    by brimacombe

    Hmmm, He is total babe stud hunk hottie rugged hunky stud muffin of a man. Disagree, I dare you.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 2:10:57 AM CDT

    WHAT??? Who Cres, Harry Tell us About HULIK!!!

    by pencil-man

  • Jun 08, 2003 2:11:56 AM CDT

    Hah Hah I'm Drunk

    by pencil-man

    h ah a druken bastard i am.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 2:22:16 AM CDT

    I Disagree

    by pencil-man

    Chris Cooper is a choad, i Dare yoiu To Say , Uhhu.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 2:26:37 AM CDT

    Supercar. Bruce Campbell.

    by tbrosz

  • Jun 08, 2003 2:43:35 AM CDT

    BTW, Nemesis ownz Star Trek 9 - 7

    by tall_boy

    that flick rules and it gets no props whatsoever. goddamn shame.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 4:30:24 AM CDT

    Commander Riker's wooden puppet

    by andy travis

  • Jun 08, 2003 4:39:30 AM CDT

    Hmmmmmm, good point St Buggering....

    by robinp

    and one I wasn't aware of...The only thing I can throw in my defence is that "Wrath of Khan" also drew heavily on Melville's "Moby Dick" which Meyer MAY have read. (Yeah, I know it's pretty fucking feeble...)

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 4:41:58 AM CDT

    Oy.......Shuttrbug2k1......

    by robinp

    RobinP said no such thing...it was him (points at St Buggering).

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 7:20:33 AM CDT

    No to Space 1999

    by 2leggedfreak

    That was just such po-faced shit , I used to get a headache watching it...took itself far too seriously. ====================================== Also you can keep Captain Scarlet...all he does is er die every episode=====Thunderbirds could really work so I think its a good choice. However my own personal choice would be Stingray...altogether now...Marina, Aqua Marina, what is this strange enchantment I feel whenever you're near.============================================= Loved the luurv triangle with the Admirals daughter, Troy and Marina but always wondered if Marina wouldn't smelt a bit fishy, like shagging a tuna. AND...doesn't Marina look a lot like Lara Croft (the CGI character) ...facially I mean...not the ...er..other things as she wouldn't move too fast under water with them things dragging her back.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 7:36:59 AM CDT

    This isn't news or of any use.

    by grando

    C'mon, somebody had to say it! ;)

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 9:29:55 AM CDT

    Captain Scarlet

    by wyrdy the gerbil

    I saw the same picture and read the article that goes with it and part of it was about Gerry Anderson making a feature lenght Captain Scarlet film using puppetry(supermarionation..or whatever the heck its called) strange he would leave that out as lots of people here have said one of the reasons they liked the original shows was the naff puppets etc..(yeah i liked too..my bad)

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 9:34:53 AM CDT

    My bad

    by shuttrbug2k1

    Sorry about that RobinP, I cut/pasted the wrong name! My point was that StBuggering said Nick Meyers made a great trek film (which he did) and never had seen Trek before.
    Stuart Baird said the same thing on the featurettes on the Nemesis DVD (I'm a completist so that is why I have it). Baird comes from an editing background and has edited some big dollar action films. SO that is probably why Paramount picked him for this movie b/c they wanted a big action movie. The easier way to get the B4 positronic body parts would have been to beam down to each spot and pick them up and beam back. But it was more 'actiony' to have the crew members in a dune buggy tooling around. Not very efficient or Trekish.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 11:09:44 AM CDT

    TerraHawks: The Movie

    by mondoz2

    When? For the love of God, WHEN!??!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 11:33:28 AM CDT

    Everybody involved in this movie seems to be phoning it in for t

    by idfuckavril

    ...Can't say I blame them either. Times are tough now. Fraility, while it may have satisfied some creative needs for Paxton, probably didn't pay the bills for him. Frakes seems to be making a name for himself as a specialty director of family-friendly, low-budget high-concept movies -- crap for the boys whose parents will only allow them to watch Nickelodeon. Good for him, though. In this tough business, it helps to specialize in a particular genre, especially if it's a profitable one. I'm not gonna watch this, however, unless Lady P gets down in a Lolita-ish pink bikini and thong ensemble.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 12:37:17 PM CDT

    daily mail

    by o.l.jesus

    - you read the daily mail. thus you are a cunt.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 1:08:15 PM CDT

    O.L. Jesus....

    by king rhythm

    ..I am the Bad Scanner [Bad in that it was a shit scan, not in the "bad muthafucka" sense] and I'm here to inform you that you are half-right. My girlfriend's mum reads the Mail, and I flicked through the rich-git-arselicking rag and found that. I don't read it. However, I am indeed a cunt.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 2:48:45 PM CDT

    Hey Horus!

    by manos

    THANK YOU Thats been driving me crazy. I knew I had seen something like those uniforms before. Matter of fact, if you squint, it even looks like the original cast of Black Hole.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 4:24:19 PM CDT

    Wanna see the new Thunderbirds?

    by thebionicbassboy

    I was trolling the web the other day looking for more info on Thunderbirds, and came across this little documentary thingy featuring Frakes, some assorted CGI bods and some kick-arse new Thunderbirds! Slightly shite RealVideo quality though... http://www.users.bigpond.com/BASE_KOALA/GA.Memorabilia/TBMovie.rm

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 5:51:39 PM CDT

    Frakes

    by dyslexicheart

    I am optimistic about this project. I've enjoyed the show when i've seen it but don't have some iron clad attachment to it and I like Frakes as a director. Hope one day he gets the chance to revive Roswell on the big screen or take over as the director of Superman instead of McG.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 5:53:30 PM CDT

    HULK....

    by angels-egg

    Saw a screener of hulk today...WTF hasnt harry even got a review of it yet? I will tell you....IT IS A BAD MOVIE....I mean REALLY bad!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 6:20:40 PM CDT

    ....My hulk review #no spoilers#

    by angels-egg

    ....Heh! only kidding!I saw a largely unfinished print though. its actually pretty good BUT many of you hulk comic book fans are going to hate it period!Its plot is very little resemblence to the comic...Its rooted in 'filmland'.its a drama and nothing happens for 45 minutes but when banner changes for the 1st time I felt the hairs stand on the back of my hair! It kicked ass!
    The hulk dogs scrap was extremely brutal (is this film going to be R-rated?)I was really taken back by that.
    The chicago sequence....holy cow! pretty jaw dropping stuff. Hulk does not speak which is a shame.But boy does he run!And SMASH!
    The split screen & comic art fx works quite well but can get annoying. The film aint perfect the peformances by all are very stilted and dry (like CTHD) it sometimes didnt gel well together...It kinda goes like this:- serious,serious,silly,serious,very silly,serious,extremely silly!
    You see in one end its a deep drama (like angs other works ice storm & sense & sensibilty) through in bombastic ideas (comic panels) and at the other end of the spectrum its like independence day(uh oh!)and the conclusion of the movie?....well ahem!. Its a little like crouching tiger in that it really expects you to buy into it...if you dont (and its a real challenge in places...he IS green after all!)then it wont work for you. The fx are pretty damn smart and the hulk itself although not the best FX ever seen does the job well enough.
    I will go on to see the finished product at the theatre cos when its good its REALLY GOOD!Sadly I think it may bomb though as ang lee's dry & stiff direction in the drama elements may lose punters hankering for action!action! action!.But for Angs sake people keep expectation low! ITS ONLY A MOVIE!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 6:34:10 PM CDT

    They should have used sock puppets

    by bong

  • Jun 08, 2003 6:37:04 PM CDT

    Frakes IS a wooden puppet...

    by neverbob

    Hopefully the actors/story/everything else will be better than his previous outings. Insurrection sucked, First Contact was barely consumable, and I won't comment on Clockstoppers (there are people on these boards sporting the mental age that movie was aimed at - I'll leave it to the adolescent experts).

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 6:47:11 PM CDT

    San Francisco....not CHICAGO!

    by angels-egg

    ....Duh!Silly me! Sooooo tired!
    Thunderbirds the movie looks like it will suck.Miss penelope looks waaay to young for a start! And has frakes made a good film?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 08, 2003 7:01:55 PM CDT

    Frakes did an excellent job with CLOCKSTOPPERS. Let's hope he wi

    by monkey_king

    The first of three films, the script for THE UNCHOSEN ONE rocks. Too bad Harry won't review it. He's had it for a year now.

    Reply to Talkback

  • PUPPET PAL CLEM, YOUR BEING SODOMIZED BY....OF ALL THINGS....MONKEY!! (BONK!)

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 09, 2003 12:30:06 AM CDT

    They shoulda used Barbie dolls like in "Superstar: the Karen Car

    by truthseekr1488

  • Jun 09, 2003 12:31:29 AM CDT

    PS I wanna see a big-screen version of Lancelot Link: Secret Chi

    by truthseekr1488

  • Jun 09, 2003 1:11:58 AM CDT

    Chris Cooper in Adaptation

    by brimacombe

    Okay, you gotta admit there is something very hunky about him in that movie. Actually he is a full blown hunk in the scene where he talks about finding your flower. Do you really believe that Meryl Streep is acting in that scene? FUCK NO! Oh yeah, and when his nursary blows away and he is squatting and looks like he is about to cry. Very hunky!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 09, 2003 1:30:08 AM CDT

    Terry_1978

    by kdoc13

    Terry, good eye! The reason Lady P looks so young is because that photo is actually from the movie "Pretty Baby" starring an 8 year old Brook Shields. Frakes decided to digitaly edit her hair to look blonde. You have a good eye, I totally agree. She does look very young in that shot. At least it is not underage wooden marionette porn. Besides being sick and twisted, it just aint right.

    Reply to Talkback

  • I mean live action Thunderbirds, just say it with me one time...Live...Action...Thunderbirds. Forget the semi-cool cast and the not too bad fan favourite director and instead remember Sean Connery and Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman and how none of them helped dull the pain even a jot. You could cast God itself (or Bruce Campbell, take your pick) in this and it's still gonna turn out like shit stained ass. Hope I'm wrong to be honest, but just don't get your hopes up fanboys, because this one is going to cause physical pain...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 10, 2003 7:26:18 AM CDT

    Virgil Tracy

    by kumochisonan

    I'm a bit disappointed that Billy Zane wasn't cast as Virgil.

    Well before the news of this film broke, I noticed the strange resemblence Mr. Zane bears to the original Supermarionette of Virgil. Check if you don't believe me.

    I suppose they couldn't afford Billy Zane's fee, after spending so much money on Bill Paxton and Ben Kingsley :).

    I await with curiousity the results of Mr. Frakes' labours.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jun 10, 2003 4:29:59 PM CDT

    I wanna see this so bad that...

    by numberface

    ..oh, wait, I DON'T wanna see this shit.

    Reply to Talkback

User Login

Forgot password? Retrieve it here

or register as new user

Quick Talkback Form

Please login to post talkback