769. 7 Song Video Friday 01-30-2025!

                      Except for Russia and Belurus, everyone can see this video!  Had enough or do you want some more, ya fascists!

608. 7 Song Friday: 08-22-25 swords and shooting stars!

                    Another classic Seven Song Friday, this time all rock and roll!  

S02 238 Fireball XL5

  

Thunderbirds (TV Series)

 From Wiki- Set in the 2060s, Thunderbirds is a follow-up to the earlier Supermarionation productions Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. It follows the exploits of International Rescue, a life-saving organisation equipped with technologically advanced land, sea, air and space rescue craft; these are headed by a fleet of five vehicles named the Thunderbirds and launched from the organisation's secret base of operations in the Pacific Ocean. The main characters are ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, leader of International Rescue, and his five adult sons, who pilot the Thunderbird machines.  Back to me!

Thunderbirds are Go (1966)

 Mankind is headed to Mars!  The crew of the Zero X is taking off, but they have spy aboard.  The Hood is taking pictures of the wing mechanics, and messes up both the mechanism and his foot.  The Hood gets away, but the crew is forced to eject and the Zero X crashes.  IR is called in for the final take off two years later, and the foil the Hood's next plan.  The crew gets to Mars, blows up a rock snake and is forced to take off earlier than planned.  The ship experiences problems and International Rescue is deployed to save the crew.

Thunderbirds Are Go 2015

When I first heard about this series I was rather skeptical about the whole thing.  Thunderbirds is a classic series, really well done with amazing models and puppetry.  The cast was excellent with great scripts.  It was also very much a product of it's time, which is an integral part of the charm of the show.  The unwatchable movie version in 2004 didn't help matters at all.  However, once I started watching it I was pleasantly surprised.  It's a fun show, and worthy of the name Thunderbirds.

The Rezillos - Thunderbirds Are Go! live

                                       Here's a great song by the very underrated and hardly heard of in the US Rezillos.  This incarnation of the band didn't last long, but they made a lot of rockin' songs.  They had a bunch of sci-fi and genre themed songs, and most were written by Jo Callis, later of the Human League.  He is the guitarist for the Rezillos.

The Complete book of Thunderbirds (2000)

 

I can't believe I have had this book for 20 years now.  I've told the story several times already- I only ever had one coloring book about The Thunderbirds and didn't know the characters were portrayed by puppets. When I saw saw Thunderbirds are Go! in theater I was a bit let down at first by seeing said puppets.  Fortunately, the movie is very good and I got over it in a hurry.  Plus, Martian rock snakes!  Since then I have learned a lot more about Gerry Anderson and his works, and generally enjoy all of them to some degree.  It was also my introduction to Cliff Richard and the Shadows, something I appreciated much more later.

Supermarionation

The shows are all great, but while watching Captain Scarlet the people look more like dolls, because they look too good.  I never saw any of these shows growing up, but I did see the movie Thunderbirds are Go! in the theater.  I never knew they were puppets!

RIP Sylvia Anderson

I learned late last night, or perhaps early this morning that Sylvia Anderson, co-creator of many Supermarionation teleseries had passed away. While I never saw her acting ability in anything other that Thunderbirds Are Go! growing up, I have to come to enjoy all of her performances that I've ever heard. Her commentary on the aforementioned DVD is wonderful as well.

Xenorama #19 cover

The talented and ever amazing Dan Ross has just sent me this incredible cover for the next issue of Xenorama!  I love it, it's got just about everything that's going to be in the issue, but there's some cool stuff that isn't mentioned on the cover.  In fact, I've gotten two new articles that are causing me to change some of the issue around (I'm thinking Equinox may get moved to the next issue now).  I mean, look! ROCK SNAKES!

Xenorama #19 on the move

So far I've only got two pages of the next issue done, but I'm expecting the Prince Planet episode guide to take up quite a few pages.  So if anyone is so inclined to contribute, get your articles in now!  I've also got articles on Thunderbirds Are Go! (the movie) and La Mujer Murcielago (1968) which you can read a bit about here. 

Thunderbirds Are Go - TRAILER

Since there's all this talk of a new Thunderbirds show (it's gotten good reviews, despite the always weird looking CGI people) I recently watched the original movie. I'm in more awe than ever at how they did it. It took a while to find the best looking trailer on youtube.

Coloring books from beyond beyond

When I was quite young I had a lot of coloring books.  Some of these have been documented in issues of Xenorama, such as Space Ghost,  Moby Dick,  Samson and Goliath and even The Valley of Gwangi.  Some of these were essentially film books or extended episodes of the cartoons, though I barely remember the "plots" that were in Samson or Space Ghost.  A lot of times pictures got torn out to be stuck on fridges or somewhere else, and at that young age I rarely finished a page I had started.

Shooting Star

this month's theme will be music videos. probably "vintage" as they were just more fun back then. heck, I don't even know if they make promo vids any more. some will be serious, and some will be of a humorous bent. just whatever strikes my fancy.