THUNDERBIRDS UNSEEN: The Making of 'Sun Probe' (Behind the Scenes Documentary)

[@iandeeley9033]

"Sun Probe" is one of the BEST THUNDERBIRDS episodes EVER! FAB!

[@jackmessent3490]

Always great seeing Thunderbird 3 in action! Sun Probe is a thoroughly enjoyable episode, notable for being Tin Tin's first rescue mission. I also loved the shots of TB2 in the snow, the special effects shots are stunning!

[@johnclay7644]

Great documentary one of the best episodes, great FX work.

[@jajproductionsfruitcakefil8489]

'Sun Probe' has to be one of the best executed episode extensions. Flipping between the scenes of extreme heat and extreme cold creates a thematic contrast that keeps everything moving along at a decent pace. Also, I think Alan 'forgetting' the last part of the story in 'Security Hazard' makes sense. He's trying to impress and not embarrass himself in front of a six year old, so conveniently neglects to mention that his big rescue involved him needing to be rescued as well...

[@thoughtsonfitness3249]

I never thought I could still be surprised by a show I have loved since I was a very small boy in the 1960’s…

[@danielobrien4379]

The highlight of my week! It's absolutely fascinating how it's turned so much of what we thought we knew completely on it's head - makes me even more appreciative of the skill to recraft these into something even vaguely watchable, let alone the classics (most!) are, I just love that 60 years later, we're still finding out new things when some shows from that time haven't even survived - a full round of applause, keep going with these please for all us anoraks!

[@paulhayes5724]

The Captain Scarlet gag got a good laugh from me! Always superb videos, and highly enjoyable. I imagine I'm one of many who watches them and feels as if it's been made *specifically* for me, as it's *exactly* the kind of thing I very much enjoy.

[@BlackArroToons]

Very interesting to learn about the small changes and making of over time for the show.

[@moreheff]

Excellent!! 2 of my favourites episodes coming back to back. Sun Probe and next week Move & You're Dead. Top draw

[@class87fan54]

Sun Probe is one of those episodes that proves why making Thunderbirds an hour long was the right call. Sun Probe is a great episode to introduce newcomers to Thunderbirds with, as the story flows nicely and the stakes are high. Regarding the Thunderbird 2 at Mount Arkan subplot, that was definitely added material, as evidenced by the laser cutter vehicle from 30 Minutes After Noon appearing inside the pod, and the Transmitter Truck being revamped from the explosives tractor from End of the Road. That point about John Tate is interesting. He clearly joined the voice cast towards the end of series 1, as all of his other character voice roles come from the latter part of series 1 and the first two episodes of series 2.

[@century21films28]

Yes, we know it was definitely added material. Which is why we said it was during the video :)

[@class87fan54]

I did wonder if Braman was a 1965 addition, however this video seems to imply that Braman was always meant to appear. His cameo in Edge of Impact seems to support that.​@@century21films28

[@class87fan54]

@@century21films28 Regarding the two directors thing, I'm guessing that Alan Pattillo directed the original 25 minute cut of Sun Probe and David Lane directed the added material, though only Lane was credited in the end titles. A similar thing happens with the special effects 2nd director in Martian Invasion and Brink of Disaster. Brian Johnson was the special effects 2nd director in the original 25 minute cuts of those episodes, but by the time the added scenes were filmed, Johnson had left AP Films and Ian Scoones took his place, hence Scoones is credited in those episodes' end titles.

[@ianprescott4260]

Another fascinating peek into a complex puzzle. Great script as always. Well done again everyone

[@mickybister3868]

Stephen "Sherlock Holmes", your work is phenomenal! Thank you so much!

[@Heavy-Metal-Spike]

"Sitting there in your comfy armchairs" / "Spotters guide to Tracy island" / "To stop the demonic faces talking to you in the night" / "Camp puppet" / "Fools" / "A form later honed to perfection for Captain Scarlet" etc. etc. - so *_MANY_* lines in this one that made me laugh out loud! 🤣🤣🤣 And *_DAMN_* those shots of an icy TB2 are *_STILL_* so friggin' cool! (pun totally intended). Another great upload folks - THANK-YOU !

[@SpookyKitaro]

Detective work, speculative or otherwise, about the making of my favourite ever TV series means that ALL your documentaries are hugely enjoyable and interesting, giving me even more reasons to watch all the episodes all over again. Though I was going to do that anyway. Been rewatching Thunderbirds ever since they first aired. This is the ONLY KZbin channel that I watch.

[@lukegreen5341]

3:57 An Another Awesome Thunderbirds The Original Series Behind The Scenes Look Episode. Thanks Century 21 Films Buddy Amigo Dude Mate. XXxxx 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 🇺🇸

[@darylcheshire1618]

loved the sound effects of “Sun Probe”. I wondered about the practicality of turning a rocket ship remotely.

[@JohnSwindells-zm4sq]

Thanks for a a fantastic and enjoyable video 😮

[@borusa32]

A great episode and ,as usual, meticulous research for your video.

[@FIREBRAND38]

Excellent work on this video.

[@alanclarke4646]

Im sitting comfortably on my sofa, not in an armchair! And you're wrong: DEFINITELY educational, informative and entertaining.😁😁

[@Einherjar212]

Love the humor in this, so great to see supermarionation alive and kicking!

[@mbbarnes80]

These videos are a gem They really show how hard it was to make an episode of the show and pretty much reinforce how good it was that thunderbird was an hour long instead of 30mins Keep the great content coming

[@TheDunc1]

Great stuff. So interesting. One of my favorite episodes.

[@stuartdennis8506]

Up there as one of the best episodes 🙌🏻

[@curry1457-d5u]

Cant wait for the next Documentary.

[@cedarcam]

One of my favourite episodes. The wrong box makes me laugh now but really hyped the tension years ago, love the scene of TB2 going through the mountains covered in snow, it really has a cold feel to it. An all round good storyline too, more believable to me years ago than some of the others.

[@clivestuarteardley6049]

Absolutely fascinating information. Well impressed 👏

[@pascallefevre1148]

Fascinating stuff, as always. 👍

[@Fi-vo8zc]

Thank you for this :)

[@andywilliams7323]

Gerry said in a radio interview that he never liked Sun Probe. He said that it was a very difficult story to put together and that he'd personally found it a boring story and episode. He worried right up till its transmission that audiences wouldn't like it and was surprised to find that it had been very well received by audiences post-transmission. Sun Probe has always been regarded by the majority of fans as either the best or one of the best episodes of Thunderbirds, but Gerry always personally disliked it. However, Gerry finished the interview by saying quote, "Don't be put off by Sun Probe because I didn't like it. I didn't like Star Wars when it first came out either."

[@century21films28]

@@andywilliams7323 Oh really? We’ve heard Gerry say the same thing - but about Pit of Peril!

[@stephenmcavoy9925]

I remember that. Gerry said it as part of his introduction to the Sun Probe mini album when it was broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in the late eighties / early nineties.

[@johndonaldson3619]

Great stuff!!

[@stephenholmes1036]

I liked Thunderbird 5

[@leighdurrant9116]

Another informative if not brain taxing episode, good job I'm laying in bed watching it 😅

[@jameslong3509]

Production wise (episode 4), this episode is the first in the series showing obvious hints of the Alan and Tin-Tin romance. Touching, arm around the others shoulder, sitting together on the same seats/sofa etc. Trapped In The Sky gives a brief hint at the end. Broadcast wise, Perils of Penelope was the first when Alan cheers up in Paris when Tin-Tin arrives and thankful he doesn't have to dance with Parker and his "interesting rumba" 🤣. Terror In New York City (broadcast four) also has them sitting together watching the events on TV and in the audience at the Ned Cook Show. End Of The Road was the obvious episode and Move And You're Dead has both emotional and innuendo moments.

[@century21films28]

Except that (the whole point of this video) Sun Probe is not 4 because it was shot across a year. So those scenes were not from 1964.

[@sidewinder626]

One of my favourite episode so much so i made a recreation on youtube which was great fun to do. FAB

[@gshingles]

5:12 I must remember to use the phrase "Good girl" at work and see what happens... 🤔

[@dragondaveltd1992]

Perfect timing on my Birthday 🎂🥳🎉

[@buttonmoon1099]

One of my favourite episodes. And one of the first epiodes I watched when I first discovered Thunderbirds. I should also mention. I believe there was a scene from this episode, but was never used cam be seen in 'Security Hazard'. Bit strange that they could'nt use that clip for both episodes.

[@kerrygligorovic9758]

In this episode of the "Sun Probe" is Tin Tin very first rescue misson with the Scott and Alan in Thunderbird 3 while wearing her International Rescue uniform and she did wear it again in "The Uninvited" but only because Tin Tin wanted to accompany Virgil and Brains aboard Thunderbird 2 to travel to Sahara Desert to rescue Scott - after Thunderbird 1 had been shot down by three unidentified fighter planes. Now that I think about after many years of watching the original Thunderbirds series I really don't understand why the Tracy brother and their father never got Tin Tin involved more in any of their rescue operation just like Kayo (the version of Tin Tin) from Thunderbirds Are Go 2015.

[@brianartillery]

Something I noticed from the TV listings - 'Thunderbirds' was broadcast at seven o' clock in the evening, a time when a great many children will have already gone to bed. So was 'Thunderbirds' actually aimed at adults, originally?

[@DrWhom]

Eight year olds and up would certainly have been allowed to watch at that time, if only once a week as a treat. I saw some of it when I was younger and judging by the nightmares the show was probably too much excitement for a six year old...

[@andystopps]

It might have depended which ITV region you were watching - I remember it being about 5 pm and partly cutting across Dr Who (a piece of very unkind scheduling). That would have been Thames TV I think. The Avengers, which was the next listing, was at the same time, 8 pm, and yes, I was allowed to watch it.

[@kerrygligorovic9758]

Brains's robot Braman have made his full proper appearence in this episode of the Sun Probe but after that he was seen in the background like in "Edge Of Impact" and "The Cham-Cham" which is a shame but I would like to see more of Braman in the rest of the original Thunderbirds Series just like Max Brain's robot from Thunderbirds Are Go.

[@smorris12]

I've a mind that Operation Sun Probe (it was called this in one of the annuals and has always stuck with me) was the first episode I ever saw in about 1979/80, aged about 6 and probably why I think TB3 is best. Regarding the timeline inconsistencies, I wonder if the editing workload, particularly with the 25 minute remount, was such that they would juggle back and forth, doing small amounts to episodes as they could rather than nail them together in one go?

[@century21films28]

@@smorris12 That definitely seems to be the case for some episodes. Sometimes, a single episode can have Tracy Lounge changes from three periods.

[@smorris12]

@@century21films28 I wonder if they kept some stock setup/panning shots of the lounge. In my mind there's one I've seen in multiple episodes - or it's the same episode I've watched a dozen times!

[@highpath4776]

IF you do a degree - or come to that any exam - stating the obvious will often get you 20percent of the marks off the bat.

[@HappyDude1]

Oh, yes, it's very easy to see what they added to get one hour for each episode 😁 so yes, they also did it for this one

[@rob235ioa1]

Catching part of the sun is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE

[@explorer806]

Camp no doubt added for, or by, Des Saunders.

[@chartstuff000]

I wonder whether the switch from two man to three man crew on Sunprobe might have been inspired by Project Apollo. That was three man, the contemporaneous Gemini space program was two man. Apollo didn’t fly until after but I imagine it had been announced by then that three men were going the moon. Maybe an attempt to seem current with the quickly moving space race?

[@andylinton2798]

Don't forget the interesting change of timbre in the narrator's voice at 15:17 !

[@century21films28]

@@andylinton2798 There is a 1am bleary-eyed reason for that… but that’s for someone in 60 years to work out.

[@andylinton2798]

@@century21films28 The Making Of The Making Of...

[@andylinton2798]

Who is the v/o? Its very well done.

[@century21films28]

@@andylinton2798 Stephen La Rivière - author of Filmed in Supermarionation.

[@andylinton2798]

@@century21films28He’s excellent.

[@jameswhitaker12]

Never even occurred to me that the entire character of Camp (!) had been added in, or that the bulk of the episode had been reshot. Makes me wonder which episode was reworked the most heavily from initial shoot to broadcast.

[@jacobmoss1235]

So what purpose did Braman serve in the original? Without the Mount Arkan stuff, it seems like an odd bit of padding. Brains is distracted by his robot . . . but to what end?

[@DrWhom]

Maybe to have him be more than just the obligatory miracle nerd

[@petrossteadilious]

I always thought that the Perils of Penelope and Sun Probe could have been merged into one extra long episode

[@ihavenothingtosaynow]

This sort of happened with the 90s VHS tapes! But they merged Sun Probe with Ricochet for an “in outer space” theme instead

[@andrewthomasfinney752]

I just noticed Supercar badges on the astronauts arms.

[@scofair5551]

Nobody goes into the rudimentary aspects of Century 21 more than Steven LaRiviere.

[@blackasp001]

I just come here for the sarcasm 😁

[@jyvben1520]

Should have used (the forgotten) TB4 (in a modified form, base + snowtrack added) in the mountain snow scene, removing snow with lasers to make a path to the observatory/transmitter, dragging equipment ...

[@kristianolsson9446]

F.A.B. Thunderbirds T2🤩😃👑🎮

[@dogwalker666]

On a side note we have actually done this and sampled the suns corona.

[@century21films28]

That’s in the video…

[@dogwalker666]

@century21films28 Sorry missed that, Was probably when the dog jumped on my tablet 🤷‍♂️

[@ianhill3446]

Set the controls for the heart of the sun??

[@robertphilpot4939]

Could someone kindly tell me the name of the narrator on these films? Seems very familiar….

[@century21films28]

@@robertphilpot4939 Stephen La Rivière, who wrote the book Filmed in Supermarionation.

[@gbrading]

"Parker" Solar Probe... Lady Penelope and Parker! Coincidence?

[@TheGrumpyEnglishman]

Alan Fennell??

[@folginator]

Crikey, this is confusing 🫤

[@highpath4776]

Why does this narrator sound like Marvin the Paranoid Android has been requested to come up with the timeline answers to the vagueries of Thunderbirds production and broadcast orders !

[@Tardistravels-d5b]

Very good video. However sunprobe was not one of my favourite thunderbirds episodes. I don’t think Gerry liked this one either

[@pipcopur]

My favourite episode. Does anyone else think Sun Probe and it’s pad inspired Elon Musk’s Starship and OLM?

[@SamLowryDZ-015]

Move Alan move.

[@physicswithpark3r-x3x]

"...maar vlugger kon laten denken."

[@marcel_max]

very expensive school bus? sounds like the space shuttle that retired after billions of dollars spent and now another bus will continue the shuttling. and boeing? oops, in trouble.

[@jonathanmyers2867]

🚀🚀🚀🚀☀️☀️☀️☀️

[@dennish.7708]

How dumb is it to refer to the astronauts as ‘solarnauts’?

[@physicswithpark3r-x3x]

it should be _helionauts_ strictly speaking