I was in a secondhand bookstore the other day and came across a couple of DVDs of the Thunderbirds. Thunderbird DVDs and other merchandise isn’t rare. A quick search on Amazon.com will confirm that. I must say I’ve been very pleased with the purchase and find the episodes very inspiring.

The Thunderbirds had a relatively short run. It originally aired in 1965, but was set around the year 2026. That part is interesting in itself, but there were a couple of things I thought were noteworthy especially for puppeteers and puppet builders today.

First, the attention span of a kid in the 60s must have been 10 or more times longer than the attention span of a kid in the twenty-first century. It’s really a sad reality. Puppeteers have a tough time these days keeping the attention of their young audiences. After all, how can one compete with a television flashing 29.97 frames per second (on American T.V.) bombarding the human eye with more information than it can process. The resulting backward head tilt, mouth hanging open, and a glazed look in the eyes, is so familiar to many parents who watch their children watching T.V. Read a book! For puppetry’s sake!

Second, the detail of the puppets and sets of the Thunderbirds are truly inspiring and, dare I say, magical. With all the green screens and 3-D modeled, computer-generated sets and backdrops used today, the “magic” has a most difficult, many times impossible, time shining through. What is “magic”? That’s a subject for another post.

If you’ve never seen an episode of the Thunderbirds, check it out -
Thunderbirds episode - Trapped In The Sky