Steve
Hero Protagonist
Posts: 3,633
|
Post by Steve on May 2, 2024 22:53:00 GMT
Yes and it really predated the main Gerry Anderson series. It was lower on production quality but higher on quality of plots
|
|
|
|
Post by Zany on May 3, 2024 7:34:14 GMT
I can just about remember episodes of fireball xl5.
I was a Thunderbirds child.
I thought the Thunderbirds characters were real people.
|
|
|
|
Post by Orac on May 3, 2024 9:06:45 GMT
Thunderbirds was FAB
|
|
|
|
Post by Zany on May 3, 2024 15:55:57 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by walterpaisley on May 3, 2024 18:32:00 GMT
I can just about remember episodes of fireball xl5. I was a Thunderbirds child. I thought the Thunderbirds characters were real people. Chatting with a CITV programmer, years ago - she was bemoaning the predicament that ITV still owned the UK broadcast rights to Thunderbirds, and had constant requests to screen it, but were unable to schedule it during children's viewing slots. Violence? Racism? Sexuality? No. SMOKING. The Tracy family spend much of their downtime chuffing away like French dockers. About as likely to be broadcast for today's kids as an Uzbek snuff movie. And it always struck me that Mr Anderson must've REALLY wanted the cigarette scenes: just imagine the amount of extra work involved (to say nothing of lighting, continuity, FX, etc) to make it happen. (We've managed to persuade one of the original Century 21 model crew out of retirement for "Untitled Historical Project". He had nothing to do with puppetry on the shows, but I must ask him if he can shed any light on that one, weird, aspect..) |
|
|
|
Post by Zany on May 3, 2024 18:53:30 GMT
I can just about remember episodes of fireball xl5. I was a Thunderbirds child. I thought the Thunderbirds characters were real people. Chatting with a CITV programmer, years ago - she was bemoaning the predicament that ITV still owned the UK broadcast rights to Thunderbirds, and had constant requests to screen it, but were unable to schedule it during children's viewing slots. Violence? Racism? Sexuality? No. SMOKING. The Tracy family spend much of their downtime chuffing away like French dockers. About as likely to be broadcast for today's kids as an Uzbek snuff movie. And it always struck me that Mr Anderson must've REALLY wanted the cigarette scenes: just imagine the amount of extra work involved (to say nothing of lighting, continuity, FX, etc) to make it happen. (We've managed to persuade one of the original Century 21 model crew out of retirement for "Untitled Historical Project". He had nothing to do with puppetry on the shows, but I must ask him if he can shed any light on that one, weird, aspect..) That would be interesting. I have to say as a child I never noticed the smoking |
|
|
|
Post by walterpaisley on May 3, 2024 19:19:54 GMT
I'm not sure mine ever did - and they went through the Box Set endlessly (or so it seemed..).
|
|
|
|
Post by montegriffo on May 4, 2024 12:17:35 GMT
May the Fourth be with you.
|
|
Steve
Hero Protagonist
Posts: 3,633
|
Post by Steve on May 4, 2024 13:06:39 GMT
May the Fourth be with you. Star Wars fan you are |
|
|
|
Post by happyhornet on May 5, 2024 17:02:46 GMT
Every since the first reboot I read of, twenty+ years ago ("Will Smith IS The Six Billion Dollar Man!" - inflation..), I'd bet four or five producers have announced it. File under "believe in when you see it". It was always a bit limited and formulaic IMO. See something a long way off with bionic eye. Run there fast or jump a long distance/height with bionic legs to get to said thing. Bash said thing with bionic arm. Rinse and repeat. RoboCop did it so much better. "RoboCop did it so much better." I'd buy that for a dollar. |
|
|
|
Post by vinny on May 24, 2024 10:53:14 GMT
Used to love Star Wars as a kid. The Disney sequel trilogy however, urgh.
|
|
Steve
Hero Protagonist
Posts: 3,633
|
Post by Steve on May 24, 2024 11:08:21 GMT
They were OK just not as brilliant as the first two films (Return of the Jedi is IMHO worse than the Phantom Menace) and the Mandalorian and Boba Fett spinoffs were excellent
|
|
|
|
Post by Orac on May 24, 2024 11:37:44 GMT
They were OK just not as brilliant as the first two films (Return of the Jedi is IMHO worse than the Phantom Menace) and the Mandalorian and Boba Fett spinoffs were excellent That's incorrect. The first two films (a new hope and empire) were the purest. By the end of Return, the self absorbed daftness of Lucas had clearly taken full control and his tedious nonsense continued in the prequels - which were all even worse. The sad thing is that Lucas has butchered the first two films, so you can't see the originals now unless you have an old vhs copy |
|
Steve
Hero Protagonist
Posts: 3,633
|
Post by Steve on May 24, 2024 20:31:09 GMT
Which I do and two VHS players but IMGO the later cuts still work well.
Why you say I'm incorrect and then agree with me is somewhat bizarre. In release order:
The first film: a New Hope (episode 4) is a groundbreaking film.
Empire strikes back is actually a better plot and better characterisations. One of those few sequels that's better than the original
Return of the Jedi is mostly aimed at kids.
Phantom Menace (episode 1) has the idiocy of Jar Jar Bings but is actually a very clever plot
Attack of the Clones Ep 2 is OK but nothing to write home about
Revenge of the Sith Ep 3 is similarly mostly OK but the ending is very well constructed
The Force Awakens (Ep 7) and the first Disney iteration is very good, possibly the third best of the lot
The Last Jedi (Ep 8) is OK to good, critics rated it v good.
The Rise of Skywalker (Ep 9) is IMHO just about OK. The writers were losing it but the filming is excellent)
|
|
|
|
Post by Orac on May 25, 2024 8:46:04 GMT
Which I do and two VHS players but IMGO the later cuts still work well. Why you say I'm incorrect and then agree with me is somewhat bizarre. In release order: The first film: a New Hope (episode 4) is a groundbreaking film. Empire strikes back is actually a better plot and better characterisations. One of those few sequels that's better than the original Return of the Jedi is mostly aimed at kids. Phantom Menace (episode 1) has the idiocy of Jar Jar Bings but is actually a very clever plot Attack of the Clones Ep 2 is OK but nothing to write home about Revenge of the Sith Ep 3 is similarly mostly OK but the ending is very well constructed The Force Awakens (Ep 7) and the first Disney iteration is very good, possibly the third best of the lot The Last Jedi (Ep 8) is OK to good, critics rated it v good. The Rise of Skywalker (Ep 9) is IMHO just about OK. The writers were losing it but the filming is excellent) Steve - btw labeling your opinion on a subjective matter as 'incorrect' was just a little self deprecating humour. However, our opinions diverge wildly here, I will adjust my first statement about the originals slightly. - The first two films and the first 2/3rds of Return of the Jedi were excellent - Return of Jedi actually contains some of the best scenes and situations in star wars - Luke's confrontation with the emperor is superb.. However the atmos / tone of palpable, evil threat is totally ruined by the last part of the film. It just becomes silly We agree on much, and importantly, we agree that Empire was the best of the three. I recall having a dispute about this with a friend. She had some familiarity with the films (ie had watched all three once) and was of the strong opinion.the Empire was the 'most boring'. I made her re-watch Empire, but this time pay attention - because, Empire isn't really about snow walkers or light sabers, it's about trying your best and failing (the biggest lesson). In the later scene in which Solo is captured and leia shouts 'i love you' and solo glances up and says evenly 'i know' before taking a step backward to accept his icy fate, a tear fell down my friend's cheek. "Okay - i'm convinced - you are correct" she said.. That is how a love story should be. 'A new Hope' is brilliant - there is a you-tube video that contains early cuts of the film before competent editors turned it into something watchable. This early cut has all the problems of the prequels - overly complex and the attention of the audience being wasted. My view now is that Lucas wasn't actually very good at making watchable films, but he had an incredibly competent team around him, so his incompetence didn't matter. Here is where our opinions really diverge - The Phantom menace was not a good film - it was a very, very bad film. A complex plot involving the gyrations of power is fine, so long as it has pace and characters the audience can relate to. The phantom menace has no relatable characters. It needed a real 'han solo' to blow things up from the side. Compare and contrast the scene between Han Solo and Leia with the Patme love thing in the prequels - the prequels are damp, unexciting, un-inspired and tedious drudges by comparison to the originals.. I will try to dig that 'A new hope early cut' YouTube video out - you might find it quite interesting. |
|
