Thunderbird 6

Thunderbird 6 (1968)

THUNDERING INTO YOUR SIGHTS, STAGGERING THE IMAGINATION, 'BRAINS' GREATEST INSPIRATION

The International Rescue team is faced with one of its toughest challenges yet, as the revolutionary lighter-than-air craft Skyship One is hijacked while on her maiden voyage around the world. Against backdrops including the Statue of Liberty and the Sphinx, Lady Penelope, Parker, Alan and Tin-Tin fight the hijackers from on-board, while the rest of the team tries to stop the airship crashing.

Date of release
1968-08-03
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (47)
Runtime
1h 29m
Genres
Adventure, Family, Science Fiction, Animation
Director
David Lane
Collection
Thunderbirds (Animation) Collection

Casting

Interesting facts

Thunderbird 6 is a 1968 British science fiction puppet film based on Thunderbirds, a Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by the Andersons and directed by David Lane, it is the sequel to Thunderbirds Are Go (1966).

Production

Despite the critical and commercial failure of Thunderbirds Are Go, distributors United Artists (UA) ordered a sequel. Filmed on a budget of £300,000 (approximately £4.78 million in 2025), Thunderbird 6 had largely the same production credits as the first film; Gerry and Sylvia Anderson returned as writers and producers, while David Lane reprised the role of director.

The Andersons wrote the script in three months, originally intending the film to be about a "Russo-American space project". The focus was changed to an airship when their associate Desmond Saunders suggested basing the film on the destruction of the R101. In preparation, Gerry read books on the R101 and other airships, including the R100 and the Graf Zeppelin. The plot was intended to be more light-hearted than that of Thunderbirds Are Go.

Principal photography began on 1 May 1967 and was completed in four months.

The film's dialogue was recorded in six days at the Anvil Films Recording Studio. Except for John Tracy and Black Phantom/the Hood, all the returning characters were voiced by the actors who had played them in the first film. The new additions to the voice cast were:

Keith Alexander as John Tracy and the Narrator. Ray Barrett, the original voice of John, had returned to his native Australia. Alexander also provides a brief opening narration explaining the secrecy of International Rescue. He later voiced Sam Loover in Joe 90 and Agent Blake in The Secret Service before starring as Lieutenant Ford in UFO.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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