When we mourned the death of Thunderbirds co-creator Gerry Anderson back in December, our thoughts turned to whether anyone would now try to bring his most famous series back to screen. Well, someone has decided to give it a shot, with ITV Studios and New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures collaborating on Thunderbirds Are Go!
Keeping the basic concept intact – the five Tracy brothers overseen by dad Jeff pilot their various rescue vehicles around the world to sort out disasters and other problems – the new show will (naturally) blend CG and live-action model sets to create an initial 26-episode order in 2015.
No casting has been announced for the show yet, but Teen Titans veteran Rob Hoegee has been named as the head writer. Encouragingly, the co-owner of Pukeko Pictures is Richard Taylor, who will be bringing the might of Weta Workshops to bear creating the various Thunderbirds and their pilots. He’s clearly a fan of the original, so we’re hopeful he’ll do it justice.
"Thunderbirds was a hugely influential television series in my childhood,” says Taylor in a statement picked up by the Hollywood Reporter. “I personally, together with the teams here at Pukeko Pictures and Weta Workshop, look forward to designing and creating an inspirational world that will engage the imagination of a whole new generation as it did for us nearly half a century ago."
However it turns out, it’s got to be better than the 2004 movie.