For the best part of a year now, we’ve been working on a new project – and on Tuesday 30th September (which is incidentally the 49th anniversary of the first transmission of Thunderbirds in the UK) we’ll be launching it on crowdfunding website – Kickstarter.
The project itself is called Firestorm. A number of Gerry Anderson fans will be aware of the title – the show was originally produced by a Japanese company in an anime/CGI crossover style they titles “SuperAnime” (after the famous Supermarionation style of Dad’s 1960s series). But the niche interest in anime, combined with the fact that there was no English dub, meant the series never made it outside of Japan and South East Asia.
By the time the Japanese version of Firestorm made it to the screen it had undergone significant changes from the original Gerry Anderson concept. But we’re going back to the original outline, synopses and story ideas, and redeveloping the series from there.
Over the last year Anderson Entertainment has secured the rights to all future series/remakes of Firestorm, and have been developing the series. We decided very early on to use a combination of film-making methods and styles that are entwined with the Gerry Anderson universe.
We’re heading back to practical filming – with as many in-camera elements as possible. Physical sets and props, practical effects, miniatures and – perhaps surprisingly – puppets. The new combination of elements is something we’re calling Ultramarionation.
We want to get the series rolling with a pilot episode funded using Kickstarter. This will allow Anderson Entertainment to keep full creative control over the series, to make sure we can keep is as true and pure to the Gerry Anderson series that so many generations have enjoyed over the last 60 years.
More details about the puppetry method and other information about the cast and crew will be announced in the coming days.
The Firestorm Kickstarter campaign launches on 30th September at 9.30am (UK time), and runs until 2nd November.
