FIRESTORM REVISITED

With regards to Woodsy mentioning Firestorm, I did cover a little about the 2003 cartoon and what at the time I knew about the yet-to-be-made proof of concept film made by Anderson Entertainment using Kickstarter, on the blog way back in 2015.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2015/06/firestorm-tornado-model-at-andercon.html

It did get made into a very slick production directed by Steve Begg, who was also VFX supervisor. 

The miniature effects were done by The Model Unit, featuring a certain 'Rocky' Marshall and Mike Tucker.

This is what I thought when I watched the 'pilot'.

The title sequence is reminiscent of Terrahawks titles, which itself was obviously inspired by Thunderbirds.

The upbeat theme is certainly a foot tapper, but I didn't think it suited what I was watching.

In amongst the CGI are proper models which, given the budget look pretty good.

The rod operated puppets , which I'm bound to say are a vast improvement over the old Terrahawks ones,  do  move quite slowly and with their disproportioned heads look unsurprisingly like toy dolls. I know that's an obvious thing to say, but  I don't get that with the original Supermarionation puppets. Technically, they are very slick, but for me, even though they are actual puppets, built and operated very well, like most computer created imagery I struggle to get that willing suspension of disbelief. Something I never had a problem with when it came to the original 'Supermarionation' puppets.

I also wonder who the potential audience might be. Fans like me of a certain age who watched Gerry & Sylvia's series as we grew up in the sixties don't rate Terrahawks much, and while it might appeal to very young kids, there's hardly any interest in the CGI Thunderbirds are Go series in my age group. Why should there be? I'd hazard a guess like any new series it's looking for a new group of fans, not the oldies!

Bearing in mind this was only a proof of concept, it still looked very good technically, but with respect nothing really stood out for me. The whole thing seemed to owe more to the look of Star Wars, than what we saw in the original Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's series.  But to be fair, I guess that's what's popular now.

Obviously times change, and as Steve Begg says in one of the extras the aim is to make the show look like a 21st Century version of the original 20th Century shows.

I heard that a series was apparently commissioned , but on the proviso that the budget was slashed, and I'd imagine who ever takes it on will probably want a few changes to fit in with current broadcast rules for children.