Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

The new series uses CGI characters and vehicles mixed with live action model sets, and has already been commissioned for a second series/season already. Not a great deal about it has been revealed right now, other than a few videos and short character profiles:





Scot:

Virgil:

Alan:

Gordon:

John:

Kayo:

Kayo apparently has her own vehicle; the Thunderbird Shadow:



Live Action Sets:

Vehicle Animated GIFs:

The official website for the series is up here: http://www.thunderbirds.com/

Those sets are beautiful.

First trailer has been released:

I really quite liked this; the shortness of the episodes throws pacing off somewhat, and the countdown used for each vehicle launch might grate after 26 episodes, but a pretty solid start so far.

Thunderbirds episode intro:



Thunderbird 1 launch:



Thunderbird 2 launch:

I thought it was decent, but I was hoping for more sophisticated story-telling. Despite the primetime viewing slot, this was very much Saturday morning cartoon plotting, which is hardly surprising now that the rest of the show appears to be switching to an 8am slot on CITV. It's the same thing Disney did with Tron: Uprising--a prominent premiere on one channel followed by a sudden switch of channel and timeslot, practically shooting themselves in the face.

The CG was pretty good and the practical effects and sets were gorgeous. Voice acting was a mixed bag. The major weaknesses were the scattershot script and ADHD editing.

Yeah the switch to an 8am timeslot isn't going to help, and it isn't like there's anything competing for the 5pm slot to begin with. At least ITV have already commissioned another series of 26 episodes, beyond that though....

Just found out that Shoji Kawamori worked on this as a machine designer:

The Thunderbird Shadow did remind me of the YF-21 from Macross Plus.

I'm kinda interested in this. I enjoyed Thunderbirds when it aired on TechTV all those years ago, and I just ordered the Blu-Ray of the two movies when Twilight Time was having their annual sale.

... but when will this new series make the leap stateside? I know Netflix has recently got into the original content business when it comes to animated shows for youngsters. I think they'd be a better fit than any of the kid-oriented networks these days, which would likely hide foreign acquisitions in some ungodly timeslot.

Thunderbirds recently finished airing the second half of its first season/series here, and while I liked quite a lot of it the series had a few wonky episodes and elements, the biggest of which for me is that these need to be longer as 22 minutes isn't quite enough for proper pacing and tension building. Saying that, there were a few where they managed to make it work within the constraints of the allotted time.

Also, this launch from the final episode was awesome:

Saw this over on their twitter feed, Thunderbird 2 physical model being used in season 2:

Seems in the US this is going to be broadcast via Amazon Prime:

ITV has ordered a third series/season:

There's been some great shots this season, notably in the last episode aired "Fight or Flight".

We also got a slightly longer launch sequence for Thunderbird Shadow: