The first look at the new take on the Tracey brothers – pilots of the various craft that make up International Rescue for the new Thunderbirds Are Go! series – arrived in January and caused, shall we say, divided opinions. That trend seems sure to continue with images of Lady Penelope, faithful butler/chauffeur Parker and technical whizz Brains.
This new series, from the ITV Studios, Pukeko Pictures and the Weta team in New Zealand, blends regular model work with CG, anime-inflected versions of the characters in the hopes of smoothing out some of the weird transitions that used to occur between Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation – which had puppets for most of the shots, then used real hands for close-ups.
Gone Girl’s Rosamund Pike is providing the voice for Lady Penelope, taking over the job from Thunderbirds icon Sylvia Anderson, widow of Gerry. She hasn’t been forgotten though, as she’ll be playing Penelope’s Aunt Sylvia, a new character for the canon. But some traditions are sticking around, with David Graham back to voice Parker, a role he first played back in the original series. Brains, meanwhile, is given new vocal life by Fonejacker’s Kayvan Novak. ITV has already picked up a second set of 26 episodes for broadcast next year. The first batch is scheduled to arrive in the spring.