Toonhound
Hypermarionation (09.03.05)
"Broadcast" recently ran a very interesting interview with Gerry Anderson.
The big man is currently flushed with the critical success of his new CGI
"Captain Scarlet", and in the course of his chat with the trade, he set out
his stall regarding his career, the ill-fated "Thunderbirds" movie ("Everybody
hated it, not just me"), and his plans for the future. And it's this latter piece
that's most intriguing...
According to the interviewer (Emily Booth), Gerry wants to follow the
Scarlet reworking with another tv series - quote - "either another remake...
or something entirely new".
Now that's news to get fandom frothing. What series could realistacally
be next? "Thunderbirds" has been and seemingly gone and "Joe 90" is
currently tied up in a developing feature film. Then there's "Stingray", a
top series but somewhat mired to its Sixties trappings, with all those
underwater races and machines - though it is still very popular and would
look fab in CGI. "Supercar" too, is a tricky one to upgrade. "Torchy" and
"Twizzle" are quite dated now, "The Secret Service" is probably just too
eccentric, and away from the puppets, "U.F.O." must be a contender,
but it shares so many themes with "Captain Scarlet".
Oh, and let's not think about "Terrahawks".
So what does that leave? Well Fireball XL5 could be a doozey, if one
can ensure it stands apart from the recent "Dan Dare" revamp. And an
all-new take on "Space 1999" could be better still - scientific faults
aside. Indeed I'd hedge my money on the latter. It's screaming out for
a CGI upgrade. "Space 2099" - Why hasn't it been made yet?
