e didn't have anything to do with the new live-action movie. That's the first thing Gerry Anderson will tell you. The creator of the 1964 supermarionation series Thunderbirds instead is focusing on the just-released fan-inspired Thunderbirds DVD set and his upcoming series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. This puppet master, who started breaking new ground with his early special-effects work, is mastering a new arena with CGI with Captain Scarlet, which is set to air in the United States in 2005.
Born in Hampstead, London, in 1929, Anderson began his film work in 1946 as an assistant director on the film Caravan. He has since gone on to do 17 movies and television series, including Supercar, Stingray, The Protectors, Space: 1999 and Terrahawks. Upcoming projects include the anime project Firestorm and a live-action sci-fi series, Eternity.
Anderson chatted with Science Fiction Weekly about the Thunderbirds movie, his new adventures in CGI, and why it took him a long time to respect his own work.
There's a lot going on with Thunderbirds, including the movie and the new DVD. I've heard you're not too happy with the new Thunderbirds film, starring Bill Paxton.
Anderson: The first thing I need to tell you is that the movie that has just come out has absolutely nothing to do with me at all. And the reason I'm anxious to make that clear to you, I mean I don't know what's happened in America, but over here the reviews are just awful. So I'm most anxious to tell you it's not my picture.
It seems like everything that made Thunderbirds special isn't in the new movie.
Anderson: I have to be honest to you, I don't want this to sound as if I'm terribly conceited, but had I made the picture myself, it would have been a very, very different picture. And live-action or not, I think it would have been outstanding.
The copyright situation is far too difficult to explain, but the fact is I didn't have the rights to it and they went to Working Title, which is a subsidiary of Universal. I haven't seen the picture myself, but having read all the reviews in the nationals over here, I can honestly say I've never seen any picture so badly reviewed as this one. So perhaps I can move on to more pleasant things.
Sure.
Anderson: There are two things that I think hopefully will interest you in the States. One is the original series, Thunderbirds. The DVDs are being released by A&E Entertainment, and they are making a special issue of what the fans of the program have chosen. So, in other words, they put a number of episodes onto a DVD as a result of feedback from the people that have bought DVDs previously.
It calls the fans Fandersons in the press release.
Anderson: I'm glad that amuses you. It amuses me, too. I mean, Fandersons, it's one of the most successful clubs in the world. It's been running for 20 years. They chose the name. I'm not coaching them. They've been very loyal to me, and they've been very helpful, so I've got nothing but praise for them.
It's been 40 years since you did the series. What does this fan DVD mean to you?
Anderson: Yeah, but it's never been off the air. Since it was first shown, it's always been showing in one country or another around the world. And it was relaunched over here in England in 1991. In terms of merchandising, it took $12 million net.
The quality of the DVD is amazing.
Anderson: It was originally shot in 35mm, you see, but it was shot in Eastman Color, which means that the negative tends to get washed out after a long time. So everything has been gone through. All the abrasions and scratches have been removed. The colors have been revitalized, and the soundtrack has stuff added to it. They've done a great job.
Do you think there will be more Thunderbird DVDs in our future?
Anderson: Oh, yes. There are 32 one-hours. So undoubtedly there will be.
How did you come up with the original idea for the Thunderbirds?
Anderson: Round about the time when I knew I was going to be asked by Lew Grade, my boss, "What are you going to do next, Gerry?" there was a terrible mining disaster in Germany. A mine ran under a lake, and the bottom of the lake fell out and the mine was flooded. Most of the miners were killed, but there were 20 trapped in one of the tunnels. They were standing in water up to their waist, freezing cold water. They had no light, no food.
And the engineers of the mine determined by looking at the plans that there could be an air pocket at this particular place, and they drilled down this small hole. And they did it so accurately that they did get into the tunnel where these guys were. They lowered a microphone and a loudspeaker so they could talk to the men. And the thing that set me on the course for Thunderbirds, this went on for two weeks, trying to save these men. And they finally said that they needed a drill which would drill a hole three feet in diameter down to this tunnel so that they could hoist them up to the surface. The only problem was that there was only one drill in Germany that could do this, and it was in Bremen, [which would] take eight hours to bring up by rail.
And I started to think, really, there should be rescue equipment all over the place so that it's ready for a disaster like this. That really was the trigger.
And that really is the idea behind the Thunderbird's International Rescue.
Anderson: Well, I know it never came about, but I just pray it will be a world one day where everybody lives in peace. Through my career I've made sure none of my films were anti-Russian. We've always treated blacks the same as we've treated whites. We don't have any religious conflict.
After Thunderbirds I made another program called Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Have you heard of it?
I have. I've never seen it, though.
Anderson: That's good enough for me [laughs]. Okay. The situation was, this show was made directly following Thunderbirds.
Where did the idea for Captain Scarlet come from?
Anderson: When it was first thought about, telescopes picked up some lines on the surface of Mars. It was thought that there might be life on Mars, because they looked like clouds. And so I decided I would make a show that was an invasion from Mars. While I was developing the show, some satellites proved, in fact, these were not clouds, but they were natural formations up on the surface. And then I thought, well, it will just be my luck after two years of sweat and blood, somebody is going to announce that there is no life on Mars. And so I made the Martians invisible. They're called Mysterons.
Now, with Captain Scarlet the puppet were different.
Anderson: That's right. The early puppets, we had to make the heads very large because I invented a gadget which fitted inside the puppet's head. And when we played back the prerecorded dialogue, it automatically made the puppet's mouth open and close in sync with the dialogue. And when we got to Captain Scarlet, electronics miniaturized and we were able to do it in a head that was the correct size for the body.
Tell me about the new Captain Scarlet television series.
Anderson: We've now been in production with it for some 18 months. It's a new television series of 26 half-hours. We are doing it in CGI. So we're shooting it in CGI, but we're also shooting it in high definition and Dolby 5.1 Cinema Sound. The whole idea is that my programs are rather like a good wine. They seem to improve with age [laughs]. So I'm making this show so that it will have a very, very long life. Of course, because it's being made in high definition it means, of course, it can't be screened straightaway. It also means that when high definition becomes meaningful in, say, about five years from now, the show will be as fresh as the day it was born, and there won't be high-definition shows of this quality around.
When you started working on the Thunderbirds, you created technology to do the show. Now to go to CGI and high definition, it's quite a journey you've had.
Anderson: I've always been very anxious to keep up with technology, particularly technology that enables you to get a better result than with conventional filming. In the case of Captain Scarlet, the characters are known in most of the world. Very, very strong in Japan and Australia and Canada and South America and, of course, the U.K. So the advantage of making the new show in CGI is that we've been able to keep the original characters as they were in the original program, but suddenly turn them into flesh and blood. I'm sure you've seen CGI.
Of course.
Anderson: Now I'm going to make a real statement. We are way, way, way ahead of anything that's been done. The reason I say that with such confidence is a huge American corporation is wanting to do worldwide distribution, excluding U.K. I can't name them for the moment. But we're well into negotiations with them. And Granada, which is probably the biggest TV company in Europe, they want to issue it worldwide. We've had many, many screenings. We've had top world toy companies. We've had top American companies, top British companies, top Japanese companies. We've shown it to hundreds of people, and we have just had the most startling reactions from everyone. You can call me back in a year's time and say, "You're a liar. The thing was a flop." [Laughs.]
I'm sure it won't be, not with your track record. You've done some amazing things.
Anderson: Yeah, but nothing as amazing as this. This will be really the greatest.
How have you approached the storytelling for this new series?
Anderson: We are using the key characters, but they're now flesh and blood. We have kept the title. We have kept the format. We have remade the opening sequence, which describes what the series is about. Of course, it's a hundred times better then the original series. And we have introduced all-new science fiction vehicles. We have updated the program in terms of changing attitudes. We've got more women in the show, women who are now doing what some years ago would have been deemed to be a man's job. And we are using all-new stories.
The thing is that all my pictures are set in the immediate future. A hundred years ahead. As a result of that we've always produced new designs and buildings, new types of vehicles, cars, spaceships, aircraft. They're all special. All different. So the show is brand-new. The easiest way to explain this is you have a movie star in one picture and it just happens to be the same movie star in another movie. Obviously that's acceptable. And in the same way it's acceptable that we are using our characters and putting them in an up-to-date version.
Why do you want to do this? Why go back to Captain Scarlet?
Anderson: I think the reason is not mine. It has to do with the film business, generally. Today it seems that companies who broadcast product put their cinemas at risk by taking on a movie, screening it. I think they feel comfortable if they have a known title. I've made 17 films and series up till now. I am always more than happy to create something new. But I think when it comes to finance and forecasts, it doesn't just apply to me. It applies to everybody today. They feel more comfortable using a known commodity in the title. Peter Jackson, for example, who did Lord of the Rings, is now doing King Kong. You could say to him, why you doing King Kong?
I think also people who are middle-aged can remember these shows as a kid. And I think there's an immediate recognition, the desire to see what can be done with that same subject today.
What's your biggest challenge with this new television series?
Anderson: I don't live in an asylum, I assure you, but I think maybe that's where I belong [laughs]. I was walking around with this vision of seeing the show with live actors and performances. But then, of course, I got to thinking if we hired a good cast, we would have to compromise on the settings and special effects. So CGI came to mind because we'd be able to use the same characters, who would be totally recognizable. We'd be able to use a basic format, and so I thought "We'll do it CGI." And then I said to myself, if we're going to do it in CGI, it's got to be photo-real. It's got to look like it is a live-action show. And so we have it set up as a studio within a studio.
I work at Pinewood Studios. I've got my offices here. We had to take the entire top floor of one of the new buildings in the studio, and we had to set up a CGI studio, which meant bringing in some 200 animators and all their computer gear. When we started to make the show it was a bit of a nightmare because we were trailblazing. We were trying to produce something that was very exciting given the schedule, which was not as long as we would have liked. We have a budget of 20 million pounds. We're talking $30 million for a kids' show. It's quite a lot of money. The first couple of months were very scary for me.
Is it the first time you've used CGI?
Anderson: I've directed commercials with CGI, but it's the first time I've attempted to produce a half-hour picture every two weeks in CGI.
I imagine it's a little different than making a 30-second commercial.
Anderson: One advantage of making commercials is it makes you realize how nice it is not to make commercials.
You've done a lot in your life. Movies, television, commercials and countless other projects you've been involved in. What's surprised you most about your career so far?
Anderson: I suppose, in all honesty, what surprised me most, I started off making puppet films not because I wanted to, but simply because I started my own company. And someone came along and said, "Would you make a little television series for kids?" I said yes because we needed the money. And then over the years I thought if I improve on these puppet films, made them look like the best puppet films in the world of this kind, then the broadcasters will say to me, "You're wasting your time making puppet films, Gerry. We're going to give you a live-action series." But it didn't work out that way. What they said was, "You sure make wonderful puppet films. We want you to make some more." So I got kind of typecast.
I haven't done much in my life that I decided. It seems that everybody else decides what I'm going to do. But I'm not complaining.
If you had just gone on to make live-action adventure shows early in your career, you might not have had the success you've had with the puppets.
Anderson: That is very, very true. Many people said to me, "Had you been a producer of live action, you would have just been another one of several hundred." But with the kind of shows I've made, I've been singled out.
And eventually you did do live action.
Anderson: That did happen. Eventually I did give up making puppet films and I made a series called UFO, and another called Space: 1999.
I used to watch Space: 1999. I was a fan of that show.
Anderson: You watched it all the way through?
Yes. I watched it all the way through, and saw most of the episodes.
Anderson: That's lovely to hear. And then I did another show with Robert Vaughn, The Protectors. I also made two puppet feature films.
You must be proud, though, of the work that you've done.
Anderson: Well, I am now.
You've accomplished things that nobody has before.
Anderson: That's true. They are unique. I wasn't proud of the puppet films when they first came out. But all these years later people have come up to me and said things like, "Thank you for what happiness you brought me as a child." And then, of course, I slowly learned to respect my own product. But it took a long time.
Back to the top.
