Thunderbirds are 60

[FrankCrank]

Virgil kicked ass. Those dark good looks, he smoked, he played then piano, he kicked ass laughing in the face of danger in the biggest and baddest Thunderbird.

Any kid worth their shorts would have cheerfully given their left nut to do all that, and then along comes some killjoy who ruins it all for everyone. That report wasn't published until 2003 because if he'd done so any sooner hed have got his teeth kicked in.

Having a nerdy moment here - one of them was modeled on Sean Connery, thought it was Virgil.
No, was in fact Scott, according to Wicki anyways.
T2 was my favourite craft, and the unleashing of the Mole was eagerly awaited.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Enjoy:

 

[tom73]

ITV is 70 this year as part of it ITV x have collections of programs from each decade which are free to watch. It includes thunderbirds and all the rest of Andersons shows.

 

[captain nemo1701]

ITV is 70 this year as part of it ITV x have collections of programs from each decade which are free to watch. It includes thunderbirds and all the rest of Andersons shows.

That old footage/movie channel 445 (on Virgin) is showing the HD version Saturdays 10.30am

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Nothing exists in isolation. Thunderbirds, like everything else, was a product of its time. In the 60s everyone smoked. Offering someone a light or one of your ciggies was seen as an an acceptable way of breaking the ice, as much as asking what team you supported. It was a social skill back then.

My parents smoked, most adults I knew smoked. Ashtrays were common things found in most households. Having the technology to make their characters smoke must have seemed a good way for the Thunderbirds production team to make them seem more natural and human at that time. They might have had the imagination to devise future technology for the 2060s but they couldn't have forecast the way social trends such as smoking would go. I don't recall any specific product placement of brands in the programmes.

Us kids must have been passive smokers for years before we got to make a choice about it. I never took up smoking beyond some experimentation as a young adult -I just didn't like it. Come to think of it, I wasn't too fussed about football either. No wonder I'm such an unsociable git. I did like Thunderbirds though, Fireball XL5, Supercar, Four Feather Falls. Joe 90, not so much. I suppose that I was at just the right age to appreciate them when they appeared on TV.

Cars had ashtrays and you had the little triangular windows to flick ash out of.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Nothing exists in isolation. Thunderbirds, like everything else, was a product of its time. In the 60s everyone smoked. Offering someone a light or one of your ciggies was seen as an an acceptable way of breaking the ice, as much as asking what team you supported. It was a social skill back then.

What you say is true, but I still find casual smoking in Thunderbirds - a kids program - a bit weird.

Lady Penelope with her cigarette holder I can understand, it's a part of her posh character, a bit like Captain Haddock smoking a pipe in Tintin, or the Penguin in Batman. But the Tracy brothers? That's odd.

I'm struggling to think of any comparable kids programs where characters smoked. Lazy Luke the driver of the Arkansas Chugabug in Wacky Races smoked a corn cob pipe.

Nobody smoked in Star Trek, but that was set in the distant future. I don't think anyone smoked in Camberwick green, not even that raging alky Windy Miller (or was that Trumpton?)

 

[glasgowcyclist]

you had the little triangular windows to flick ash out of

Quarterlights!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Nobody smoked in Star Trek, but that was set in the distant future. I don't think anyone smoked in Camberwick green, not even that raging alky Windy Miller (or was that Trumpton?)

They smoked between takes

 

[Dogtrousers]

They smoked between takes

Camberwick Green, I can believe. Star Trek, surely not?

 

[captain nemo1701]

They smoked between takes

Leonard Nimoy was apparently fond of a ciggy or two for 37 years and quit in 1985. He did attribute it to the condition which ultimately killed him off.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Camberwick Green, I can believe. Star Trek, surely not?

The number of times the Trumpton lot were called out to Camberwick…