Anime legend Hideaki Anno is the mind behind classics like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Shin Godzilla, and many other beloved movies and series. And now, one of his earliest works, Thunderbirds Complete, is getting an updated re-release. While this particular title is generally forgotten, it is weirdly prophetic of Anno's later career trajectory.
If you asked anime fans to name the Hideaki Anno show that followed a group of young people who work for a mysterious organization owned by their father that uses powerful futuristic sci-fi machines to save the world from dangerous threats, most would naturally say Evangelion. And while they would be right, this description also fits Thunderbirds, the British puppet show created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson that made its television debut in 1965.
Thunderbirds follows Jeff Tracy and his five sons, all of whom run International Rescue. This organization aims to save human lives and avert disasters during times of crisis. They do this with five Thunderbird machines, each of which is an advanced vehicle, from the hypersonic rocket plane of Thunderbird 1 to the space station of Thunderbird 5. All the while, they must contend with various threats, many of whom want to steal the secrets of the Thunderbird machines for their own ends. This includes the recurring villain The Hood, who would often cause disasters to draw out International Rescue.
The show was filmed using the Supermarionation techniques the Andersons had perfected while working on their previous shows, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. So rather than actors, everything was performed with marionette puppets and miniature sets that allowed the crew to create visually impressive set-pieces on a tight budget.
Thunderbirds was later distributed in Japan and broadcast on the NHK network, where it was very popular with audiences. Its use of miniature sets also influenced a whole generation of tokusatsu shows, which would use techniques seen in Thunderbirds to create stunning and groundbreaking visual effects. In 1985, Bandai Visual made a VHS tape called Thunderbirds Complete, a highlights compilation that combined several Thunderbirds episodes into one movie. Hideaki Anno worked as an editor on this project, and it was his first major professional work.
Recently, the original 16mm film used to make Thunderbirds Complete was found in a Tohokushinsha Film Corporation warehouse, and this has allowed the movie to be remastered in HD under Anno's supervision. This new version will be shown on the Japanese TV network BS10 Star Channel in 2022 to celebrate the show's 55th anniversary. Like many modern Anno works, it will be broadcast under the title Shin Complete Thunderbirds.
It is fascinating to look at Thunderbirds Complete through a modern lens as many of its themes (or subversions of them) can be found in Anno's later works. The relationship between pilot and craft is heavily explored in Evangelion, as is the fusion of man and technology -- and how tech can both help and hinder us. The latter theme will also be the focus of Anno's upcoming Shin Kamen Rider movie. In addition, humanity's reaction to disasters and how governmental forces react to them -- or attempt to prevent them -- is something Anno explored during Shin Godzilla.
Shin Thunderbirds Complete is the perfect tribute to Thunderbirds, giving viewers old and new a chance to enjoy how groundbreaking the series was. While Anno's involvement in the franchise is often overlooked, it is fascinating to see how themes reappear in his work over the years. In many ways, all of Anno's Shin works show that while time has passed, many older shows can still speak about our modern world. And these classic series can show the philosophical struggles that still exist within us and our society at large.