Pictures of all five of the new Thunderbirds vehicles from ITV Studios new Thunderbirds Are Go! have appeared online, revealing most have, in the main, retained the iconic design of the originals, apart from Thunderbird 5.
ITV previously released images of Thunderbird 1 from the new show, which debuts next year, and showed off a giant model of the craft at the Licensing Expo in June (from which images of Tracy Island and the Thunderbird 1 hangar also emerged), and the San Diego Comic Con.
The new 26 x 30 minute series – aimed at 5-11s with a sweet spot of 6-9s and which has already been sold to Australia’s Nine Network – will be a mix of CGI animation and live-action backgrounds. ITV Studios is working with New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures on the project and it’s expected a full episode will be ready in time to be screened at MIPCOM and MIPCOM Junior in October.
ITV has already begun rolling out plenty of Classic Thunderbirds merchandise, including new badges (which we’ll report on this weekend) and although we still don’t know who’s publishing the tie-in comic we’re pretty sure it’s in the works.
As well as this image of Thunderbird 2, two “variant” images of the craft have appeared with slightly amended colours on this Japanese blog, although the differences might just be the work of the blogger – I’m afraid I don’t speak Japanese and Google Translate is a bit hit and miss with some of the text.
Thunderbirds 3 and 4 have a similar ‘blocky’ update to their look seen in the new TB2 design
It’s Thunderbird 5 that’s had the biggest makeover, a design more in keeping with modern space technology rather than the peculiar “mash up” of the original.
A new image of Tracy Island has also appeared online, with the home of the Tracy family clearly in view. No, we don’t think that’s a giant shark in the sea to the left.
Tracy Island from Thunderbirds are Go.
These latest images help raise interest in the remake, but who’s doing the comic…?
All images © ITV Studios
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Featured News, Other Worlds, Television
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Let’s hope the story line is better than the last load of rubbish that came to the cinema.
SO EXCITED!!!
TB1: Love!
TB2: Bit too wide but i do like!
TB3: Love!
TB4: Love!
TB5: WTF!??
I’m glad to see Thunderbirds returning. I hope it is successful as it’s an inspiring series in a time when we all neeed some positive inspiration.
Requested comments:
TB1: Looks Good.
TB2: Not sure what the cylinder on the side will do, Needs to be smoothed out somewhat. I would look at what was in the original, and the remake, and find a happy medium. If it’s meant to be more utilitarian, then perhaps have aerodynamic panels move or retract detailing mechanism for desired new functions.
TB3: Kind of blocky at the back end. If you’re going to show endings, maybe an aerospike type?
TB4: Nice.
TB5: Too conventional. Remove solar panels, add some futuristic means of power generation.
– Tracy island needs a beach.
– I would have some type of hidden cloaking visual devices, such as the type the military is just developing for armored vehicles.
– Need some means to shelter the bungalow from the blast if that’s where TB1 is launched from.
No No No, they should have stuck with the original looking machines and original uniforms, I knew they would ruin it………i think a lot of us ‘old thunderbirdies’ were getting our hope up to much. I will stick with watching the original 60s shows