Thunderbirds has a large, appreciative and critical audience, as these two fan letters from AP Films' huge collection will show.
Dear Gerry and Sylvia,
After watching Thunderbirds for the very first time just over five minutes ago, I just can't wait to express my feelings. The most up-to-date, fantastic, supernatural (Supermarionation) suspense, unbelievable... No more words to explain it. Well, I would just like to say (on behalf of all my friends) thanks, thanks a million for all the hard, but worthwhile work you (and the APF team) have put into this weekly one-hour-26-series-programme!
Also while I am on the subject thank you for Supercar, also Fireball XL5, also the remarkable Stingray, not forgetting a series which I thought was very good, called 'Four Feather Falls'!
All I am waiting for now is for next Thursday's episode or should I say programme of the Tracy family and Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds, also for Walton Films to bring out a Thunderbirds series of 8mm home movies (in Videocolour) for I have collected most of the Stingray and Fireball films, they are wonderful!!!
Well, I would just like to say good luck with Thunderbirds and keep up the good work!
Dear Sir,
I was very surprised after viewing a certain episode of the new puppet series 'Thunderbirds.' The episode I am writing about was screened last Wednesday November 3 and it was entitled 'Perils of Penelope.' The character I wish to write about is Lady Penelope's escort, Parker. I wondered if Parker had ever heard of how to drive or the Highway Code. You will have the same doubts as I have if you take the trouble to run the film again and when it reaches the part where Parker is driving through the country on his own and he goes to make a certain bend, then stop the film. I think you will see that when Parker took the bend half of the car was on one side of the road and the other half was on the other side of the road, and also you will notice that there are bushes all around Parker' and he would have had no chance at all of seeing what was coming the other way. If there did happen to be a real Parker and he took a real bend like that in a real car and there happened to be a real lorry coming the opposite way, I think you would find that Parker would no longer be with us.
I hope you don't take this letter as an insult, it's just that I am very interested in this kind of puppet series. I was always a regular viewer of 'Stingray,' 'Fireball XL5,' 'Supercar.' I don't know whether it was your company that made 'Space Patrol' but I thought that was terrible. I have great interest in how you make the cars move and how explosions are set, and in the first episode those fire-engines really had me baffled. I would like to know every secret of these puppet films but I am sure I will never find even one of them. Apart from Parker's little mistake I think AP Films have scored another hit.
P.S. Sorry about my writing but we all have our problems and mine is writing.
