Terrahawks - A blast from the past

Considering how often it was reported that Gerry Anderson supposedly hated working with puppets, he worked with them an awful lot. Having made his name in the 1960s with shows such as Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds, creating a new art form along the way, he made a successful move into live action science fiction with the classic television series UFO and Space: 1999. Somehow he was persuaded to go back to puppets to produce a brand-new children’s television show in 1983: Terrahawks. It ran for three series and was very popular, enabling a new generation of children (this writer included) to discover Gerry Anderson’s incredible work for the first time.

Terrahawks tells the story of an elite force defending 21^st century Earth from a host of alien invaders, most notoriously the android clone Zelda, who with her idiotic son Yung-star is constantly attempting to either take over or destroy the planet. Thankfully amongst the Terrahawks crew are Tiger Ninestein, Mary Falconer, former pop star Kate Kestrel, Lt. Hawkeye and many spherical robots known as the Zeroids. It was a situation which ensured that every week some sort of world-threatening plot would require heroic deeds from Ninestein and his crew, accompanied by some spectacular special effects from Gerry Anderson’s team. Zelda was an odd choice for a principle villain in a children’s television series, as she is essentially a cackling old woman who looked like a cross between Tina Turner and Great Expectations’ Miss Haversham. The Zeroids were often a source of comedy in the show, particularly as their leader, Sergeant Major Zero, was voiced by Windsor Davies, whose distinctive booming Welsh tone was familiar to British audiences from popular sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.

Network are releasing Terrahawks on DVD and, for the first time, on blu ray. They do not appear to have had access to original negatives, the picture quality on the blu ray looking more like a TV broadcast than their incredibly well remastered blu ray releases of Space: 1999. Despite this it is still a fun show to see again, and one that children will still enjoy discovering. Network are putting this out in volumes of thirteen episodes each. Volume 1 was released in July, and Volume 2 is out now. The blu ray and DVD editions feature a selection of bonus features, looking at the special effects, the music and some of the early computer graphics used on the show. The documentary Terrahawks: Making the Unexpected, features behind the scenes footage shot at the legendary Bray Studios, which had once been home to Hammer Films.

Gerry Anderson was such an important figure in both television and film, and the legacy he left behind is still being enjoyed by fans. With episodes of the new show Thunderbirds Are Go bringing yet another generation of fans to his work, these new releases of Terrahawks will enable both young and old to enjoy yet more of Gerry Anderson’s intricate and entertaining creations.

You can find more details, and even buy yourself copies, here.