Thunderbirds are No!

Gerry Anderson, who made the future seem wooden, crappy and boring, has died at the age of 83. Using his supermarionation technique, he saved the world time and again with millionaire astronaut turned playboy adventurer Jeff Tracy, his boys and Lady Penelope at the end of strings attached to sticks in the 1960s classic Thunderbirds. Only slight less stiff and creaky was Space: 1999, starring Martin Landau and Barbara Bain as part of the crew of a base on the moon, which had been knocked out of orbit by an explosion. Anderson had been tapped to write and produce Moonraker, which managed to be cartoonish without his handiwork.