LONDON – For anyone who remembers the original Thunderbirds – or even if you just remember playing with the childhood-improvingly brilliant toys as a kid – we've got some splendid news for you.
To commemorate the show's 50th anniversary, the original Thunderbirds is set to make a return with at least two brand new episodes.
The new episodes will be made using a combination of classic filming techniques and original recordings from old Thunderbirds mini-albums – three of which contain stories that have only ever existed until now in an audio format.
The project has been set up by Stephen La Rivière, who has previously produced a documentary – Filmed in Supermarionation – that explored the puppet filming techniques used by Thunderbirds creators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
"For the documentary, we resurrected old techniques to film new puppet sequences with classic Thunderbirds characters," explained La Rivière. "While doing so, members of our production team seemed to have a collective thought: Wouldn't it be amazing to create a brand new episode of Thunderbirds using these classic techniques?"
The project, named Thunderbirds 1965, is being funded by a kickstarter campaign which, with 9 days still to go, has already charged past its initial £75,000 goal and is well on its way to making the final stretch goal of £195,00 (which would be enough to turn all three of the classic audio stories into new episodes).
People backing the campaign receive a variety of incentives, ranging from DVD copies of the finished production for a £15 pledge all the way up to a "screen-used Thunderbird 1 miniature" for a £5000 pledge (which one deeply dedicated Thunderbirds fan has already snapped up).
The new episodes have the blessing of co-creator Sylvia Anderson, the Gerry Anderson estate and ITV.
As Jeff Tracy would say, "Thunderbirds are go!"