‘Thunderbirds Are Go!’ TV Teaser: A Distress Call Comes In [Updated With New Image]

new Thunderbirds teaser

The Thunderbirds TV series that captured imaginations in the ’60s is about to get a new revival. The 50th Anniversary of the original show will be celebrated in part with a new series from ITV called Thunderbirds Are Go!, with effects from WETA. A new Thunderbirds teaser is now available, and though it doesn’t show off very much, it might be enough for fans who have been excited about the new show.

Update: Previously, we had seen only an image of the backs of the new Thunderbirds team design. Now we’ve got the reverse of that shot, showing off the faces of the puppet-based CG designs. Check it out in full below.

This showed up just before Christmas, and features audio echoed in the new show’s official site, Thunderbirds.com.

No, there’s not a lot there, but it does indicate something about the show: Thunderbirds chronicled a family which also operated the International Rescue team. This isn’t a conventional action story, but something more like the Star Trek ideal, with the team committed to helping people and saving lives, rather than going off on military adventures.

While the original Thunderbirds show used so-called supermarionette puppetry — the same sort of puppetry seen in Team America: World Police — the new show will feature CG characters and live model sets. Here’s the first official image of the characters:

thunderbirds-are-go

Update: Here’s the reverse of that shot, via CartoonBrew.

The voice cast features Rasmus Hardiker as Scott and Alan Tracy, David Menkin as Virgil Tracy, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Gordon and John Tracy, Kayvan Novak as Brains, Rosamund Pike as Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, David Graham as Aloysius Parker, Sandra Dickinson as Grandma Tracy, Andres Williams as The Hood, Angel Coulby as Kayo, and Adjoa Andoh as Colonel Casey.

And despite the fact that the teaser is super-brief, there’s also this earlier teaser, which cropped up earlier this year.

And then there’s this video which features Richard Taylor from WETA talking about the new series:

Thanks to Gary Whitta for the heads-up.