Gerry Anderson had made quite a name for himself in the science fiction arena with his early hits including Thunderbirds (1965), Stingray (1964), and Captain Scarlet (1967). When Terrahawks debuted in 1983, it had been 10 years since he had produced a 100% puppetry show. His previous specialty of Supermarionation was out of budget for this new production and so he dubbed his new process of using latex puppets instead of marionettes, Supermacromation. While originally thought of as a step backward in the Anderson technique, the latex puppets with no strings allowed for much smoother motions. The storyline of Terrahawks is a typical adventure of a specialized Earth force fighting an encroaching menace. In this case it is the alien android Zelda and her hoards of invaders from the planet Guk. The Terrahawks are a team of five Earth pilots (and an array of R2D2-type robots) that pilot various bird-themed ships. This series was also known for including a lot more humor than previous Anderson properties. Let's check out these figures below!
Captain Mary Falconer
Here's a short bio from Wikipedia
Battlehawk's pilot. She acts as Ninestein's second-in-command, weighing his offensive tendencies with her own regard for the value of life...whether in regards to one of Zelda's henchmen, or to the Zeroids. She was voiced by Denise Bryer; unusually, Bryer used her normal voice for the role, unlike many of her other famous roles where she normally tended to use a "clucking" tone more typical of the voice of the character Zelda from Terrahawks, whom Bryer also voiced.
Captain Kate Kestrel
Here's a short bio from Wikipedia
The pilot of the Hawkwing fighter aircraft, Kate is also an internationally famous pop singer. Her record company is "Anderburr Records" - a portmanteau of "Anderson" and "Burr." She was voiced by Anne Ridler when speaking; Moya Griffiths provided her singing voice. (real name: Katherine Westley)
Zelda
Here's a short bio from Wikipedia
The main villain of the series, Zelda is the wicked and scheming would-be conqueror of Earth. She has power over matter, mainly used to teleport her servants to and from Earth and to manipulate the size of any of her ships or aliens. "Zelda reclaims her own," Dr. Ninestein frequently says whenever Zelda teleports a defeated minion back to the Mars base. She was created to be the bodyguard of the prince of Guk, but was programmed with ambition, leading to the revolt of her and the others.
And here are a ton of images from the show and DVD covers.
Time for a Comparison Pic!
Cheers!
I wasn't sure if I remembered this TV show until I saw those villains. You can't forget those faces!! lol
ReplyDeleteHad to rush over to Youtube & watch the first couple of episodes. Always loved Thunderbirds & anything done with any form of puppetry really.
Jumped over to eBay to see if I could find a Kate Kestrel, but she is the only figure I can't see! Such an awesome looking character. Even if I don't buy the rest, I will track her down.
Quite a lot of detail in Zelda's sculpt.
Puppetry shows are amazing. They're so bizarre and fun. Have you seen Lavender Castle? I just discovered it when writing this review and I'm totally weirded out by it (in a good way).
DeleteFunny thing, I thought all the Zelda toys were dirty on ebay. Turns out she's just very detailed and has a dark wash.
I got the group of them for around $10 loose on ebay. Just be patient and you'll find them eventually. MOCs are pricey and most other auctions are for the complete set, which also fetch a pretty penny.