News of the day is that Gerry Anderson puppet show Thunderbirds is going to be remade. For those not in the know (who are you?), this saw a team of brothers go into action as part of International Rescue to save people from usually very explosive danger, sometimes with the assistance of their London agent Lady Penelope.
This isn’t the first time the show will have been remade, of course, since there was a live-action movie version a few years ago (with none other than Sophia Myles playing Lady Penelope)…
…and there was an animated series, Thunderbirds 2086, more than a few years before that.
This time, not only does it have the blessing of Gerry Anderson, it’s going to combine models with CGI thanks to those nice people who did the effects work for Lord of the Rings.
So today’s quick question is:
Are you (or perhaps your children or even your children’s children) going to watch the new series when it comes out?
As always, leave your answers below or on your own blog.
The gods alone know how I missed this one when I was doing my recap of ITC’s 1970s shows, but I did, so let’s rectify that mistake ASAP.
A close inspection of ITC’s early 1970s shows, including The Persuaders!, The Protectors and The Adventurer will reveal a very subtle trend: a move away from casting bright young unknowns who might become stars to casting stars who were – trying not to be harsh – perhaps very slightly over the hill. Roger Moore obviously still had a career as James Bond ahead of him, but he’d already been The Saint and Ivanhoe, so who knew if there was a future for him in 1971. Ditto Tony Curtis, Robert Vaughn and Gene Barry who had been big… once.
The Zoo Gang married that trend with ITC’s new dedication to overseas filming, casting Brian Keith (The Westerner, The Parent Trap, Nevada Smith, Family Affair and eventually Hardcastle & McCormick), Barry Morse (The Fugitive, The Adventurer and afterwards Space: 1999), Lilli Palmer (an award-winning German actress) and Sir John Mills as a group of World War 2 resistance members who reunite 30 years later to wreak vengeance on the compatriot who betrayed them to the Gestapo during the War. Their job done, the elderly group decide to stay together to use their skills to scam con artists and criminals out of their money so as to build a hospital in memory of Palmer’s deceased husband.
Based on a book by Paul Gallico and set on the French Riviera in Nice, the show ran for six episodes and took its name from the fact that ‘the Zoo Gang’ all had animal codenames: the Elephant, the Tiger, The Leopard and The Fox. And while the scripts were nothing special, it did have a great title sequence – that’s rather a lot like The Persuaders!‘s in style – and, in a first for ITC, a theme tune by Paul and Linda McCartney.
Here’s the title sequence and if that’s not enough for you, the entire first episode is after the jump. Yes, you can get it on DVD, you lucky people. No, you can’t get Barry Morse’s hat – why would you want to?
All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.
Ironically, it was only a matter of time until I got round to Sapphire and Steel. Now I have the time, so let’s delve into one of the coolest, scariest TV shows there’s ever been on UK TV.
I say ironically, because Sapphire and Steel is a show about time – specifically, Time going wrong, usually as the result of things that live in the ‘corridor of Time’ but sometimes of its own volition. In the world of Sapphire and Steel – which is also our modern world or at least the modern world of the 1970s and 80s – Time is everywhere and it is the enemy. It wants to break in. It wants to trap you. It wants to steal your parents. It wants to eat your soul. And then it wants to do the same to everything and everyone you know.
And to stop the world as we know it being destroyed when this happens, mysterious entities, apparently named after the elements*, perhaps even the incarnations of the elements themselves, intercede using all kinds of weird, unexplainable powers.
However, if you think they’re here to help us, you’re sorely mistaken, because Sapphire and Steel, played by Joanna Lumley and David McCallum, are not like you and me. Even when they pretend to be on our side, to empathise with the predicaments of the mortal and human, they’re not. And they’re ever-so-willing to sacrifice every single one of us if necessary if they have to stop time. They have their own morality, their own rules and they don’t care about us. But they’re the only thing stopping history making us history, so do what they say.
Allow Sapphire to explain to the nature of Time to these annoying children and then follow me after the ever so scary title sequence to explain a little more about this most engrossing of shows:
Alternatively, there’s this rather lovely documentary about the show.
Last time in Weird Old Title Sequences, we looked at some of the ITC shows of the 1950s. This week, we’re going to move forward a decade to the 60s.
Now ITC produced some of the most iconic TV shows – and title sequences – of the 60s. It was in this decade that ITC really flourished as a company and where the genre of show known as the ‘ITC show’ crystallised. I’ve already covered quite a few of those shows in some depth: The Avengers, The Prisoner, The Champions and The Baron. But that’s just the tip of the ITC iceberg. So after the jump, we’re going to run through some of the most popular ITC shows’ title sequences, as well as the sequences of some shows that are perhaps not as well remembered.
So brace yourself for the fabulous, iconic title sequences (with equally fabulous title themes) of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Department S, Man in a Suitcase, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), The Saint, Danger Man, The Strange Report, and Jason King. There are probably more I could add to that list: what others would you include?
Incidentally, for a good(ish) overview of ITC shows, you could try Cult TV: The Golden Age of ITC, which I reviewed all of half a decade ago. Sigh.
ITC – Lew Grade’s production company – dominated ITV schedules for the best part of two decades. Starting out in the 1950s, it wasn’t until the late 70s that ITC eventually closed its production business.
To list every single ITC show would take forever (or a quick link to Wikipedia and even that’s incomplete), so instead, I thought I’d give you a few of the best title sequences from the best shows that ITC came up with in the 1950s, including the iconic The Adventures of Robin Hood,The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (with William Russell from Doctor Who), The Buccaneers with Robert Shaw, Ivanhoe with Sir Roger Moore and The Invisible Man with… well, they never gave his name…
Now, in a lot of cases, ‘best’ ain’t saying much. They’re all of a muchness, quite brief and don’t have proper themes (since in most cases those used to run over the end credits). You’ll have to wait until I hit the 1960s before they start to get good. But they’re a little bit of history and just watching a sponsors logo will give you an idea of how much TV has changed in 60 years.
