With it's ZERO-X - style C21 blue plastic this Japanese SKY SHIP 1 toy [Bandai?] would sit well in the Project Sword fleet! And like Zero -X, Sky Ship One was also the star of a Thunderbirds film, THUNDERBIRD 6, although the actual vehicle of the film's title was for me a complete dissapointment and a damp squib, the red and yellow striped bi-plane, which is partly visible on the above box art. Am I alone in this view?
But is Sky Ship One as popular as Zero-X? What do you think of the two films? Is Thunderbird 6 better than Thunderbirds Are Go? If anyone is lucky enough to own this Sky Ship One and the Century 21 Zero-X I'd dearly love to be able to post a family photo on the blog!
I'm assuming that this and the other fab Japanese Thunderbirds toys we see on the blog were only available in Japan during the Sixties and Seventies? I never knew any kids with toys in Japanese boxes when I was still 'playing out'! Wonder when they first started to flow out of Japan?
The toy is beautiful, the film and the ultimate Thunderbird 6 were a let down. Film concntrated too much on Lady P and the dull espionage side of things and watching Brains trash three perfectly good vehicle models (including the NOVA origin) and end up with a silly Gypsy Moth biplane, was really annoying. Almost as much as having to sit through the more real than reallife mannequin of Cliff Richard in the first film!
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with Wote 100%. The model work in the film was excellent, but the sight of those puppets laughing at the beginning is creepy!
ReplyDeleteDon't think Thunderbird 6 film could compare in any way with first film. I saw both as a kid; only Thunderbirds are Go left any impression.
ReplyDeleteGod, that new anti-robot system is a pain- this is my third try to read the wobbly text-not just difficult for machines!
Sadly, never got to see Thunderbirds are Go at the pictures. Did see Thunderbird 6 and my only memory of seeing it on the big screen was being amazed at the detail in the Thunderbird 2 launch which was lost in black & white on the telly.
ReplyDeleteI was completely unaware of the cinema outings until much later. Bought both on dvd and run TB Are Go, just to watch the Zero x launch sequence. Its one of the most inspired pieces of Anderson work ive ever seen. The way the buildings pull back from the ships as opposed to the other way around is amazing.
ReplyDeleteFast forward through Cliff, naturally.
Not the toys, but the Imai kits of Zero-X and Skyship 1 made it to the UK during the Thunderbirds revival on the BBC in the early 1990s. Sadly only the mini Imai Zero-X rather than the larger one which I believe was the same size as the Century 21 toy. I also seem to recall some specialist SF shops imported these kits during the mid 1980s when Thunderbirds was rerun on ITV during the school holiodays.
ReplyDeleteSkyship 1 box art-
http://oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=23140&page=2&newlist=1
Well, I'm forced to disagree with the consensus here. I have a tremendous sentimental attachment to Thunderbirds Are Go and can still vividly remember the day I went to see it all those years ago...but I think Thunderbird 6 is the superior film. The story is more elaborate, the pacing is tighter, and perhaps most importantly T6 showcases what we loved about Thunderbirds on tv. It's a tv episode on a larger scale and the Tracy family are always at the center of it. In Thunderbirds Are Go the Tracys are reduced to incidental supporting characters for a big stretch in the middle of the film and have nothing to do with the Zero-X plot during that time.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, I'm the guy who prefers Skyship One. There had to be one of us out there!
Oh no, Richard, that means you must be .... the Hood!
ReplyDeleteSilence, Kirano! We will not speak of this in front of the others!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about four or five years old, I acquired the export version of this from the toy department of a local Five & Dime shop in a strip mall by my Grandparents' house in San Jose (better known today as "Silicon Valley"), a town 50 miles south of San Francisco, California. The window box packaging was not only in English, but I also distinctly remember the Bandai logo (it was the first time I encountered said logo). Skyship One eventually was broken, and even though I kept it for many years afterwards, it was lost in a series of moves in the late '70s and early '80s.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely memory August. Did you ever see the film it was in called Thunderbird 6? It must have been unusual to have that toy in the states do you think? Then again I didn't know anyone with one here in England in the Sixties. Pity your toy went the way of many of our vintage toys.
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