Now here's a really interesting project that should please Gerry Anderson fans from all over the world.
Some of you may have heard of, or indeed seen, the 2003 Japanese anime series Firestorm. It was originally conceived and developed by Gerry Anderson in 2001 under the title 'Storm Force'. The series was eventually bought by a Japanese production company and developed into the anime series. But by the time it reached the screen it was quite different to the original series Gerry Anderson had put together.
Well the original concept has been redeveloped by Anderson Entertainment from Gerry’s original synopsis and story outline documents. But the really good news is that the intention is to produce the show in a technique called 'Ultramarionation', which is essentially the next stage in evolution from the famous 'Supermarionation' technique which was used on many of Andersons's classic shows, including Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. So we'll have is a combination of practical effects, physical props and sets, model miniatures, and puppetry.
Sculpting the characters.
Which is absolutely the way to go. After all, as impressive as CGI can be, when you think of Gerry Anderson, you think of the marionettes.
Jamie Anderson, Managing Director of Anderson Entertainment and son of Gerry Anderson, MBE, said,
"Developing Firestorm ready to be filmed in Ultramarionation has been an absolute joy. Film-making methods like practical effects, the expert use of miniatures and puppetry were pioneered by the incredibly talented teams at AP Films and Century 21 on shows like Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Space: 1999 and Thunderbirds and it will be my pleasure to bring them back to the screen for a 21 st century audience."
So what is Firestorm about? Well:
By the end of the 22nd century mankind has pulled itself up by its bootstraps. The wars and political disputes that were so common throughout the 21st century are long behind us, and man has finally taken responsibility for his own actions. The Earth in 2200 is very different from the one we worried about in 2014 - environmental, social and humanitarian crises are a thing of the past, and things have been that way for nearly 50 years. But in 2202 a new threat emerges.Today Anderson Entertainment launched Firestorm on the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter. So if you're a fan of the iconic Gerry Anderson shows like Space: 1999, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, UFO and Thunderbirds you will be able to back the project to help fund the pilot episode in return for special limited edition rewards from props and collector edition DVDs, to set visits and film credits.
Terrorist activity surfaces on several continents. At first the world governments deal with them quietly, without any real public awareness but the activity becomes better and better co-ordinated and more widespread. 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 the terrorist group known as 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, and that they themselves have had to make an impossible choice...
Concept art
The campaign is aiming to raise a minimum of £49,000 to produce a 5-8 minute minisode introducing some of the characters and storyline elements of the series. It also features various ‘stretch goals’, so if more money is raised, it will allow for further development of characters and storyline, introducing further scenes and explosions up to a 22 minute pilot episode if £135,000 is raised and a full 45 minute feature episode if £342,000 is raised.
As Mr Anderson sums it up,
"It's my hope that generations of Gerry Anderson fans from all over the world will join us for this project on Kickstarter and help us bring the UK’s own Walt Disney’s next project - Firestorm - to TV screens in the very near future!"You can support the project and find out more about Firestorm on the Kickstarter page here or visit the Firestorm page at http://www.gerryanderson.co.uk/firestorm
