ZERO X TV SERIES

Watching the feature film ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’, I thought what if there had been a Zero X TV series.

I've never read anywhere that a series was ever seriously considered, but I'm sure a lot of you will have contemplated on this too, and I wonder what it would have turned out like.

We do have the TV21 adventures to fall back on of course, and they were fine, but by and large they were just Fireball XL5 stories without Venus. The Zero X ship even made cameos in other related TV21  and TV Tornado strips, as it made it's unique cross over from Thunderbirds Are Go to the first episode of Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons.

But , ultimately   I think a Zero X series would have to strive to be different.

Considering its place in the Anderson series packing order, I’d imagine it would probably have a slightly darker tone to Thunderbirds, more in line with Captain Scarlet.  The puppet shows stories were getting more and more complex and the juvenile aspects were being dropped in favour of a slightly more serious edge.

Considering the Solar System Exploration Commission did as the name suggested, explored the Solar System, the premise of the series, like the film and the comic strip would more than likely have  followed that, but there would have had to have been some gimmick, maybe an antagonist, human or otherwise to spoil things for our heroes.

Apart from a brief bio on the three crewmen in the TV 21 Spring Extra we know little about the characters, so they would naturally have to be fleshed out, and there would have to be the introduction of female characters, and possibly, when you consider Lieutenant Green, characters from ethnic backgrounds.

Personally, I’d have loved a series, and considering a lot of props and puppets already existed at the time it could easily have been a goer. Ultimately, I suspect the film’s poor showing at the box office would have scuppered any chance of a Zero X TV series, and just as in the film, things just didn't work out  for a Zero X show.