FAB Facts: When Real Hands were used in Supermarionation

[@nobody_special]

In the live-action Thunderbirds movie with Bill Paxton, there's a scene where they do a close-up of a hand on a throttle and it's a puppet hand with wires visible.

[@Sillimant_]

when I was young that freaked me out. and then I learned the history of thunderbirds and thought it was really cool if memory serves it was when Fermat and Alan were taking off in TB1

[@matt0044]

Say what you will of the movie... that was a good homage.

[@jasond4086]

Best bit of the movie.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

That's REALLY dumb, but it's so dumb that it starts being cool again.

[@jeffskillman9275]

I agree. There have been many occasions where close ups of puppet hands have been used where the action has been a simple task. From memory the hand was always moulded in a generic pose with a slightly clenched grip and a half extended index finger allowing the puppet to undertake multiple tasks from pressing buttons or holding an object. I have also felt uncomfortable seeing real hands but then as small models are used of vehicles that puppets could never fit in, your brain accepts it even at the young age I first watched them at!

[@Lumibear.]

I’m afraid I don’t recall the episode (or possibly movie) this was from but I’m reasonably certain it was Thunderbirds: there was a scene where some ne’erdowells were chatting and one plays with a pen, and the real hand and pen is in the foreground, the puppets in the background, and that one always stays with me.

[@DwarferAimi]

I think that sounds like 30 Minutes Afternoon, the one with all the robots.

[@MorristheMinor]

I remember when the team behind 'Absolutely' did a one-off comedy special called 'The Preventors' which spoofed pretty much everything made by ITC. As a little tribute to Gerry Anderson they used a dummy hand in a couple of close ups.

[@brianartillery]

I never really had a problem with the human hands in the Supermarionation shows - I did, though, wonder if the costume department made a rather surreal collection of single sleeves, and maybe even half sleeves, to facilitate the 'hand artiste's' scenes? If so, do any of these sleeves still exist?

[@robinvanags912]

An interesting question - is my off-the-cuff reply.

[@markleslie6091]

Besides hands, (I could be wrong here?) but I can only recall only two instances where real feet were seen! Both being of Lady Penelope - at the beginning of The Vault of Death episode, and in The Imposters.

[@rawyld]

Love it how they did that trick again in Thunderbirds are go 2015 hand button in the episode “Designated driver.” The episode where we see for the last time Lady Sylvia Anderson.

[@RailRocketRicky]

Yes, in the scene when Lady Penelope presses the emergency button on a wall in the lounge, which informed Parker in FAB 0 that she was in danger - and yes, it was a real hand they used in that shot. A great homage to this 'handy' technique. :)

[@ScreenBlaster13]

I definitely remember a lot of human hand scenes from these shows. One in particular was Captain Brown unzipping the pocket of his tunic and taking out a metal cigarette case at the security check.

[@Renegade2786]

The eyes of the hulk spying on the conference via the painting in *The Trap*

[@ViewpointProd]

I remember the eye shot very vividly as a kid, nice to see it being brought up, i think you also see a human hand in that same episode. TYhey also homage'd that kind of shot for the recreated audio stories for the 50th anv

[@JinKee]

1:41 Eyes Wide Shutt

[@FIREBRAND38]

I was kind of hoping that you would have addressed the story I once heard that with the live-action UFO series there was a half joking proposal to use a puppet hand pressing a switch in a closeup.

[@jameslong3509]

In “The Man From MI.5”, Carl kills Captain Blacker and you can see a real human hand in the shot, firing. I’m certain the technique (human hand in the same shot as the puppet) appeared at least two further times in the series. I remember it in Stingray when a weird man has a watch that hypnotises Marineville personnel (Bar Marina). It happens a few times in that episode. In the final episode of Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue escapes “Cloudbase” choosing death over revealing the Spectrum cipher codes and you can see a technician’s hand push the puppet through the glass. Fortunately, Blue lands only a few metres lower down on a rolling sky in a factory of a fake Cloudbase.

[@DwarferAimi]

I found the use of the human hands on close ups to be quite artisticly effective.

[@pdworld3421]

I was so small. I liked the hands. I never even realized they were real hands into until I get older. Thanks for the video

[@ianfleetwood8804]

I never had a problem with the human hand bring inserted. To me it gave me as a child a bit more realism. The one I do remember best is vault of death not jydt because of the eye bring that of Lady p looking through the keyword, but also of a female black leather gloved hand clinking it's finger's as Parker try to break into the safe.

[@johnclay7644]

alot of micro detail from the great hardworking crew at AP / Century 21

[@geoffburrows6988]

I wonder who supplied Lady Penelope ,s hands in Thunderbirds.Not only hands were used.In an episode ofCaptain Scarlett some ladies legs were shown while operating the pedals in a car whilst dressed like the puppet.

[@menkomonty]

You could say that working with puppets requires a hands-on approach

[@stormwulf117]

Aren't the eyes on all the Captain Scarlet puppets photographs of real human eyeballs inserted in the head holes?

[@RailRocketRicky]

That is an interesting FAB Fact that requires investigating. :)

[@hgwells1899]

Got to love those digital effects

[@imfsresidentotaku9699]

But those aren't digital effects.

[@hgwells1899]

@@imfsresidentotaku9699 "digit"al... nm, clearly no one got that pun in the last 10 months

[@DJDarkDarsi]

The Gloves really helped, sometimes I did have to rewatch a scene just to make sure I was correct and it wasn't a puppet hand doing a flex

[@JagoHazzard]

Orrin's Finger would be a good name for a folk trio.

[@darthdmc]

Bloopers in Captain Scarlet. The blatantly obvious hand throwing Capt. Blue through a window in The Inquisition, while in Seek and Destroy, Melody has white hands in the close up of her firing on the Mysteron angel interceptor.

[@ivanrodrigues9528]

good and cool

[@stevendunn264]

I love seeing the human hands. Great drinking game. Followed by spot the lego piece!

[@SiVlog1989]

Not really what's intended, but if you look carefully at the bridge collapse sequence in the Captain Scarlet episode Noose of Ice, there is a human hand pushing it over at the bottom of the shot

[@diddymuck]

not quite on topic, but ep of T-birts, Tintin was seated and a hand obviously behind her grabbed and lifted her into a standing position. We the audience were supposed to be sports and pretend we didn't see it.

[@tidmouthmilk12]

My favourite hand parts are when a puppeteer holding a puppet whilst lying on the floor accidentally has their hand in shot

[@ryanstephenkristoferkearns1319]

A lot of human hands were used in those shows, I remember when Captain Black was knocking at the hunting lodge in Spectrum Strikes Back before he killed Captain Indigo.

[@samanthastevens2925]

I love the human hands! Funny.

[@iandeeley9033]

This technique was made redundant when ITV made THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO in 2015! #FabFacts

[@RailRocketRicky]

Actually, in only one episode ("Designated Driver"), this technique was used when Lady Penelope presses the emergency button on a wall in the lounge - and it was a real hand in the close-up shot.

[@athcnv]

Hmm? What about the feet insert shots? 😶 Since it was the only way to do walking?

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

I know it's an odd thing, but I always assumed the Tracy brothers were well manicured, Scott and Alan especially, though that's just because they could both be "Ladies' Men" at times. I doubt John ever bothered though!

[@donm5354]

Back then I guess everyone was willing to lend a HAND as puppet HANDS were not very HANDY for picking up things.

[@masterpainter72]

They didn't use human hand inserts when Terrahawks came along...

[@ufoclips1]

I think they missed a trick to save time and money,i would have invented voice activated tech as needed,well,they invented the video phone in Stingray among many other things we`re just getting round to inventing,flying cars etc,that would make an interesting primer...what modern inventions,or very similar were first seen in Anderson series.?

[@jyvben1520]

Can't believe Lady Penelope did not shave her hands ... well did her manicurist forget or the laser hair removal specialist ?

[@dogwalker666]

They should have used prosthetic hands.

[@misolgit69]

surely it would have been cheaper/less aggro to sign up the crew to Equity

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

FWIW, I would think AP trying to build an animatronic hand during the 1960s would have been too expensive and too time consuming, even if it could be done convincingly.

[@MadMatt13]

Yeah the sudden change to humans did used to confuse and creep me out slightly as a kid Also can we have an entire fab fact done in Sean Connery's voice please? 😅👍

[@puppyflight8303]

Steve Zodiac getting a power capsule from his ray gun

[@JinKee]

The real hands always bugged me. They should have glued a puppet hand to the dial, and then turn the dial from underneath the console.

[@imfsresidentotaku9699]

No, they shouldn't have. Then the hand wouldn't have been making the movement necessary to perform the action and they'd have to go through the trouble of removing the glue, which might damage the puppet. The use of human hands is seamless as is.

[@alicehodges9964]

Ok real hands in a Puppet Series? weird 😂😂😂

[@mikesilva3868]

😊hated the Thunderbirds remake from 2004

[@Gwestytears]

I thought they were neat

[@michaelconnors7668]

F-A-B!!!

[@KennethPorter]

Today we see the same problem with AI-generated art! They can't make realistic hands!

[@deliusmyth5063]

The inverse of this is the creepy fake arm that Rod Hull used to hold his Emu with. Ugh!