Supermarionation

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Supermarionation (short for Super Marionette Animation ) is a special technique for guiding marionettes as used in the films and TV series by the British Sylvia and Gerry Anderson .

Supermarionation dolls at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford (2016)

technology

The puppets used in this system are provided with particularly thin threads that can hardly be seen (unlike, for example, the Augsburger Puppenkiste ). They also have movable eyes and mouths that enable movement that is synchronized with speech.

The mouth movements are caused by an electromagnet . Due to the installation of the magnet and the associated mechanics for the eyes, the heads of the dolls had to be slightly oversized in the initial phase. Since the series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons , the magnetic coil has been relocated into the doll's body so that the heads can be correctly proportioned again.

Since the further movements of the marionettes could not also be controlled electrically, their actions mostly take place within rooms or vehicles, where little walking movement is necessary. In the films, the hands and arms of the puppets are "doubled" by real human hands and arms during various close-ups.

history

The term was coined by Gerry Anderson, probably based on Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion technique Super Dynamation , used in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) , among others . The technique was later used in an improved form for Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons .

Outstanding from the series produced with it is Thunderbirds (1965), which used miniature effects that still surprise 40 years after their first presentation. Responsible for the realization of these effects was Derek Meddings , who also worked on effects in the later James Bond - and Superman cooperated films.

TV Shows

  • Four Feather Falls
    ITV Network, 1959/1960, 39 episodes of 15 minutes each
  • Supercar
    ATV and ITV Network, 1961/1962, 39 episodes of 30 minutes each
  • Fireball XL5
    ITC Network, 1962, 39 episodes of 30 minutes each
  • Stingray (German title: Kommando Stingray )
    ATV and ITV Network, 1964/1965, 39 episodes of 30 minutes each (first Supermarionation series in color)
  • Thunderbirds
    ITV Network, 1964/1966, 32 episodes of 50 minutes each (but often further subdivided).
  • Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (German title: Captain Scarlet und die Rache der Mysterons )
    ITV Network, 1967/1968, 32 episodes of 25 minutes each.
  • Joe 90
    ITV Network, 1968, 30 episodes of 30 minutes each.
  • The Secret Service
    ITV Network, 1969, 13 episodes of 30 minutes each.
  • The Investigator
    1973, non-aired pilot, 25 minutes.

The later series Terrahawks (39 episodes of 30 minutes each) used differently constructed puppets that were operated from below. The process was then called supermacromation .

cinemamovies

  • Thunderbirds Are GO (1966), 93 minutes, German title: Feuervögel ready to start (1971)
  • Thunderbird Six (1968), 89 minutes
  • Thunderbirds (2004), real film, 95 minutes, with Ben Kingsley as the villain The Hood .

Supermarionation in non-Gerry Anderson productions

literature

  • Stephen La Riviere: Filmed in Supermarionation. A history of the future . Hermes Press, Neshannock, Pa. 2009, ISBN 1-932563-23-7 .

Web links