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First Look at the Thunderbird Brothers

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Thunderbirds fans have been standing by for action ever since a reboot of the show was announced back in 2013. Well today the first glossy glimpse of the all new Tracy brothers has been reveal and as you can see Thunderbirds are go…ing CGI.

Thunderbirds-are-Go

The picture features the bulked up brothers, [L-R] Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John in front of the exotic Tracy Island. Many critics are already commenting that the chaps have a chiseled boyband look reminicent of One Direction. Of course the animated characters look more life like.

The new version of the 1960s show, will be called Thunderbirds Are Go, and has been produced using a mix of CGI animation and live-action model sets. It will be broadcast in 26 half-hour episodes and is a co-production between ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures in association with world-famous Weta Workshop (The Lord of the Rings, Avatar).

The re-invention of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s iconic series stars Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike as Lady Penelope and original cast member David Graham who reprises his role as chauffeur Parker.  Other star voices will include Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker) as Brains and Thomas Brodie-Sangster voicing John Tracy.

The new series will be broadcast this spring, exactly 50 years after the adventures of the Tracy clan and International Rescue first aired on our screens.

I appreciate budgets are much smaller on tv series than in the movies but it looks to me like they have gone for a very predictable style of CGI, where everyone looks like a shiny plastic action figure. It doesn’t really stand apart from the look of any other animation you might see on daytime adverts or push the envelope in any exciting new directions.

To be fair, we are yet to see the new characters in action but currently my expectations have sunk lower than Thunderbird 4 (you know… the submarine one).

So do you think the new design is FAB or do you think it just looks a bit like a cheap 1D in CG?  Please let us know you thoughts.

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