Firestorm: Watch the first episode of Gerry Anderson’s new puppet show
David Farnor | On 28, Oct 2018
Explosions! Space! Puppets! If you grew up with Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet as a kid, prepare to get a blast of miniature nostalgia, as Gerry Anderson’s new series, Firestorm, is officially a go.
Firestorm was originally conceived and developed by the Thunderbirds creator back in 2001 under the title Storm Force. Eventually bought by a Japanese production company, it was developed as an anime. Now, director Mark Woollard (who worked with Gerry from the early 1980s), Jamie Anderson and a team have made a true Gerry Anderson version of the concept, going back to the original concepts – and, yes, the puppets.
The series is filmed in “Ultramarionation”, a brand new method of filming based on the foundations of Anderson’s own Supermarionation techniques, combining the physical sets and model work with modern film-making.
It is set in 22nd century, a time when Earth has pulled itself up by its bootstraps and put the 21st century wars behind it. Environmental, social and humanitarian crises are a thing of the past, and things have been that way for nearly 50 years. But then, a new threat emerges, as terrorist activity surfaces, carried out by the group Black Orchid. Soon, the Continental senates decide to take action, and they invest vast amounts of resources into forming Storm Force – an organisation designed specifically to investigate and neutralise this new threat.
Supplied with the most advanced technology available, Storm Force begin operation Firestorm to bring down Black Orchid. But as the 9th division of Storm Force (SF9) begin to make progress, they discover that Black Orchid is only a very small part of the picture…
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising £88,931 versus a goal of £49,280, the pilot episode of the series premiered at MCM Comic-Con London this weekend. The first season is now in pre-production with Raydar Media, with 26 half-hour episodes expected to start production in early 2019. Watch the impressive, exciting and fun first episode below – including a theme tune worthy of Thunderbirds from composer Richard Harvey.