Shin Complete Thunderbirds Announced

Hideaki Anno, director of Shin Godzilla and Shin Kamen Rider, will oversee the production of a remaster of the Thunderbirds series.

Hideaki Anno, the director behind Shin Godzilla and Shin Kamen Rider, is overseeing production of the remaster of The Complete Thunderbirds, a digest video of the 1965 Thunderbirds series which Anno originally edited and composed in 1985. Hideaki Anno himself came up with the title of the remaster and commented saying he will “do his best to create a work that Thunderbird fans can enjoy.”

Anno also released a statement in regards to his involvement in the project:

When I composited and edited The Complete Thunderbirds in 1985, it took an enormous amount of time. It was a time of analog editing where we could only assemble and insert footage, and we caused a lot of trouble for everyone around us.

The original plan was to use mecha graffiti for the mecha action and such with matching music. However, I heard while I was working that the vital original soundtrack was nowhere to be found. We had no choice but to take usable portions of a music-and-effects tape and stick it in.

I wasn’t available for the multi-audio work because of my schedule, so the video was released with the acoustics in a state I was unwilling to accept.

Furthermore, the project was then shelved for over 30 years because of various circumstances.

If there are any good memories to speak of, it’s that I met (manga artist) Yoshitoo Asari at a bookstore, and he told me that Thunderbirds 1 and 2’s landings were interesting.

So now, I’m grateful to be able to work on The Complete Thunderbirds once again. I’m grateful to take the 16 mm cinematic images and revive it in an HD remaster. With present day digital editing, I’m grateful for the chance to work on the audio with present-day digital editing using the found original soundtrack and the TBS rebroadcasted theme song.

It’s still in the early stages, but I plan to take what we made then, which we had done all we could for the time, and improve it even further.

I am grateful to once again work with the staff I had troubled then as well as with TFC (Tohokushinsha Film Corporation) for granting this opportunity to reshape this production.

Thank you very much.

I will work very hard to realize a production that all Thunderbirds fans may enjoy.

Thank you for your support.

– A Thunderbirds Fan, Hideaki Anno

Shin Complete Thunderbirds will air exclusively on BS10 Star Channel. The broadcasting schedule will be announced via TFC as soon as it is decided. Star Channel Movies will also be screening the Japanese movie version of Thunderbird 55/GOGO on January 7th, 2022. This airing is in conjunction with the 55th anniversary of Thunderbirds. Following the theatrical airing on January 8th, Thunderbird 55/GOGO will be made available online.

Thunderbirds is a British science fiction series used live action special effects and the work supermarionation, a type of puppetry, in lieu of real actors. Set in the distant future, the story follows the Tracy family who are a part of a secret organization built upon saving lives. Assisting them in their tasks are multiple vehicles designed for various means of travel (land, sea, air, space, etc.). Each of the brothers are also assigned one of five machines called “The Thunderbird Machines.”

Source: Cinematoday

EDIT: This article originally gave the incorrect title of the 1965 series and has been corrected.