Last year saw the production of three brand new classic episodes of Thunderbirds, using the same techniques that were pioneered by the team on the Slough Trading Estate 50 years prior. From puppets to models, explosions to sets, everything was recreated faithfully to the look and feel of the original series and fans have praised the quality of the production as being indistinguishable from the classic episodes.
Recreating the level of intricacy and detail and reviving the lost arts used in producing Thunderbirds was of course no small task, and required a phenomenal amount of painstaking research and effort to perfect.
The finished episodes were so impressive that the Thunderbirds 1965 crew were invited by Lego to present one of their Design Talks – presentations given by outside companies to inspire the designers who work for Lego. The crew didn’t travel alone, several of the iconic models and puppets that were created from Thunderbirds 1965 accompanied the team to Lego HQ in Billund, Denmark. Just as Thunderbirds is an iconic television series, Lego is a fantastically iconic product, with millions of fans of all ages around the world.
Arriving at the famous Lego HQ, the crew of Thunderbirds 1965 presented a talk on producing the three new episodes of Thunderbirds – covering the challenges of recreating the techniques, as well as individual challenges that they encountered along the way. At the end of the presentation Lego presented the crew with a special custom made Thunderbird 1 model.
Here at Official Gerry Anderson, we would absolutely love to see Thunderbirds and other Anderson series as Lego sets, but in order for that to happen, Lego need to know that people will actually buy the products, so why not get in touch with Lego and let them know on their Lego Ideas site or Twitter Page!
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