By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 25 seconds ago

Science fiction is a way for creatives to consider how today’s problems will examine the objective of the future. Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek: the original series In 1966, to be a Western in the space where humanity was united in a utopian vision of the future, but a few years earlier, through the Atlantic in England, the married couple Gerry and Sylvia Anderson worked a futuristic series in the fact of making the earth a better place. Although the resulting series, OmbragèresTalked about a family to reduce rescue missions around the world using advanced technology, it is better known because each character was a puppet.

The Thunderbirds left

That’s right, Ombragères had no human performers on the screen, with everyone, from the heroic tracy family to the nasty hood, played by skilled puppeteers and voice actors. Each puppet had several heads to transmit different facial expressions, several interchangeable pieces and could weigh up to 300 pounds when it is fully costumed and assembled. The most impressive feat was the way the puppets were synchronized with the voice actors by using magnetic ribbon and an electromagnetic switch in the head which converted sound waves into electrical pulses, which would then move a lever in the lower jaw to simulate speech.

As impressive as the puppet, and is still in fact, the other part of Ombragères What lingered with a generation was the impressive Thunderbirds themselves: five advanced vehicles mentioned by the number, controlled by one of the threads of the inventor Jeff Tracy, which include a submarine (4), a surveillance system of the space station (5), a hypersonic plan (1), a massive aircraft carrier (20) and a spatpass (3). Long and persistent plans on detailed impressive vehicles have taken a good part of the execution time of each episode, but not only has no one complained, he helped establish a tradition of reuse of impressive launch sequences used in subsequent emissions, especially Voltron,, Power Rangers, And Patrol.

A science fiction show on life rescue

Ombragères is not only a technique wonderThe plots pushed the limits by allowing International Rescue, the organization of Tracy, to be up to its name, and each episode was focused on a rescue mission. Admittedly, many of these rescues are the result of the machinations of the evil hood while he was trying to manipulate the markets and to make himself rich, and the ally of the Tracy family, Lady Penelope, was a rich super-spy mystery next to his Butler Aloysius, but the light of the spotlight has always been found on one of the mysteries with their Thunder rescue vehicle. The only modern equivalent is, of all things, PatrolWho also leaves aside violence and most of the crime (although you know that the chicken is not good), to focus on the use of advanced technology to save lives, not take them.

Almost all science fiction The series of last 30 years includes violence and conflicts, which makes the Thunderbirds’ Success, as a mainly non -violent, even more impressive show. Defying expectations, the series has become a success in its native England and in the rest of the Commonwealth, but also in the United States and surprisingly, in Japan, where the international rescue organization would influence the scientific patrol of Ultraman And the vehicles themselves helped plant the seeds of the last Boom of anime Macha, including Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gundam. In fact, the show is so loved that even modern remake has become a success.

The remake was a success

The Thunderbirds leftThe CGI / Live-Action 2015 hybrid remake, updated the series for the modern era, for three seasons and 78 episodes that he managed to relate to modern children and kept the spirit of the original series alive. Before dying in 2012, Gerry Anderson gave the remake his blessing, and once again, the emphasis was put on the use of Thunderbirds to carry out daring and high -tech rescues, including, in the last season, a rescue developed in deep space that pushed the machines and the Boys Tracy above, further and faster than ever.

Between the original and the modern remake, Ombragères was kept alive as a reference of pop culture thanks to Matt Parker and Trey Stone’s Team America: World PoliceWho parodied the puppet on the big screen, but the series was published on VHS, DVD and Alter, Blu-Ray, the keeping accessible for each generation. Well, that, and the remake of live action forgettable in 2004, directed by Jonathan Frakes and with Bill Paxton As Jeff Tracy, Ben Kingsley like the hood and Vanessa Hudgens like Tin-Tin, the team mechanic. In an interview with The Guardian, Gerry Anderson described the film “in fact, it was the biggest shit that I have ever seen in my life”.

Thunderbirds is still incredible today

The live film failed, and rightly so, because it abandoned the work of revolutionary puppet of the original and was a generic action film, but again, with more concentration on non-violence than even other science fiction films adapted to children. Even today, Ombragères stands out due to the quantity of mileage that the production team has obtained a distribution of puppets and developed and real models. It is a testimony of creativity and, unlike most modern science fiction sciences, he also dares to imagine a future in which technology is used to save lives, and surprisingly, there are people who will do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.

Each episode of OmbragèresIncluding the emblematic and award -winning theme song, is streaming on Peacock.