R Soul on 26/12/2012 at 20:49

---

Gerry Anderson has died aged 83
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-20845407)

I'm not old enough to have seen his shows when they were first broadcast, but a lot of them were repeated in the early 90s, and I loved Thunderbirds. I also liked the others like Captain Scarlett and Stingray.

I'm sure there are many of you who have fond memories of those shows.

Gryzemuis on 27/12/2012 at 13:24

---

I was a young toddler when the series were originally broadcasted in the Netherlands. I could hardly understand it, but it made great impact on me. Later, between 6-12y old, during the 70s, our national TV broadcasted a few episodes during summer holidays, over the years. Those were epic to me.

The amazing thing was how little was necessary to keep me interested. Except those 4-5 shows in the 70s, the shows were never broadcasted again. When we got VCRs, the series was not released on tape (because it was too old, I guess). I knew there were TB toys, but they were not for sale in shops anymore. The Thunder Birds were some kind of mythic enigmatic thing from the past. All I had were my vague memories. And some "key fobs" in the shape of ThunderBird characters. (Is that the correct word ? In the 60s you used to get these little useless plastic thingies you could attach to your keyring. They came with lots of products. They were in all kinds of shapes. Kids collected them). I think I had Brains and one of the sons. I think Brains was my favorite character. But not having any physical things related to the TB didn't stop me. I built all the Thunder Birds with Lego. I built the Tracy Island with Lego. I would never forget the Thunder Birds.

Many many years later, the series was rebroadcasted. I was in university. Or maybe it was even later. I never watched those shows on TV. A couple of years ago I bought a DVD with some episodes. But to be honest, the show couldn't keep my interest. It had aged too much.

But boy, when I was a kid, the Thunder Birds were awesome !
Floris (a Dutch medieval tv-series, which starred Rutger Hauer in his first leading role), the original Star Trek, and the Thunder Birds. I think that sums up my early youth.