Zero X - A tribute to Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, and Derek Meddings.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ต.ค. 2024
- An animated tribute to the Zero X spacecraft from the 1966 film "Thunderbirds are go". (Please note, films were edited at a more leisurely pace back then!)
Original film and spacecraft design by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, and Derek Meddings. All designs and audio remain the property of their respective owners.
![Zero-X: Century 21 Tech Talk [3.10] | Hosted by Jeff Tracy [Thunderbirds]](/img/n.gif)
When I was 8 I thought this sequence was fantastic. 50+ years later I can see as an adult how preposterous it all was. I still love it...
Didn't stop Elon Musk ripping it off! ;-)
yeah, moving a building and then still roll out the body ...
It's not as preposterous as you might think, plane based launching systems have genuinely been considered and tried on test vehicles, but technical issues have gotten in the way :)
@@David_J_B It's not necessarily that that I think preposterous, its the infratructure: huge doors sinking into the ground, concrete hangers sliding about when the vehicle is obviously mobile, seated crew being slid into place (I realise that's more a limitation of the puppetry), huge lifting mechanisms etc.
Richard Bransons Virgin Galatics first flight used a lift body.
I remember I was 10 (1968) and I wrote a letter to Werner von Braun as to whether this design would actually fly. I actually received a letter back ("go ask your science teacher" )along with a lot of cool NASA literature and photos.
Thats insane, absoloutly amazing. Looks like Thunderbirds in the G1 Transformers art style.
Thanks very much! Nice compliment!
Amazing piece of animation
I’ve been a fan of Thunderbirds since Sept 1991 (the BBC 2 generation) and this was easily the greatest Thunderbirds animation I have ever seen. Congratulations on all your hard work, this was F.A.B!
Thank you very much. It's always nice when a long-term Thunderbirds fan appreciates my work on this! (I've been a fan since the late 60's !!)
😁
I’m 34 years old and this still blows my mind goes to show how clever these people were
*Whenever I watch an Anderson Supermarionation production, I still see it through the eyes of my childhood days.* 👍👍👏️
As do I..64 years old and still going strong on Supermarionation
Life would be better and easier if we saw _everything_ through the eyes of our childhood ..
A fantastic re-animation for a fantastic craft with a fantastic theme, everything about it is just fantastic.
Thank you very much! So glad you liked it!
It's always funny to me how "future tech" in the 70s, 80s and even 90s involved combining several planes, vehicles, robots with parts retracting into spaces they would never have fit :) all the while ignoring the simple fact that even in the future you don't want unneeded extra points of failure in a craft of any kind. Still "rule of cool" rules :)) and for a young lad it was awesome to see.
If I remember properly it took Derek Meddings and his team over 6 weeks to build the Zero X craft for the movie (and only 2 days to destroy it). I'll chalk that up to how impressive Zero X was and still is. Zero X and the Fireflash - the two most impressive non Thunderbird crafts designed, built and seen.
Ahhhhh! Fireflash was my number one choice of factious vehicles! Grew up watching TB in the mid 60's. Good times!
THANK YOU - See there is a little memories in all of us remember Gerry Crew.... As I am 65
Glad you enjoyed it!
I was half-expecting Stirling Archer to make a cameo. That would make for a crazy cross-over production.
Now there's an idea! ;-)
yea!
The Zero X crew are heading to the DAAANNNGER ZONE!!!
That was beautifully done! Love the cel-shaded style!
Thanks very much!
The cartoon with never got
Gerry Anderson was a genius who, wrote, designed and produced tv shows using poppets and minitures years before CGI was even invented.
How did I not know about this for a year? This is a brilliant tribute to a British classic. I have no idea how long it took to create this, but you certainly get a standing ovation from me.
That's very kind. Thank you very much!
LOL! I thought the same thing + 4 weeks.
Genius - pure genius.... my favourite model sequence of all the Supermarionation shows.... Thank you! This when the future truly was fantastic!
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it!
I remember the Zero X model some 49 years ago! When the Co-op was in Fairfax Street in Bristol. This is a great reminder of that to me!
Good to hear!
I've wanted something like this for more than half my lifetime. Thank you so much for this.
I've actually wanted it so badly that I actually started working on remaking it about 1.5 years ago. However I've been starting from scratch on all levels so the progress is very slow.
As someone who's spent weeks staring at images and diagrams of Zero-X I wanna say your colorations are spectacular, and the nosecone shape are dead on (it's given me some trouble) and the extra scene where the wheels retract is awesome (I was planning to add one as well) The interior shots of the crew and the external shots of the landscape are probably entirely beyond my ability. The sound mixing is also fantastic and the animation sections are extremely smooth.
Three _extremely_ nitpicky details:
- The rear landing wheels on the Main Body stays retracted after it gets lifted up by the jacks (very subtle, easy to miss)
- The nose gear has different numbers of wheels on the first and second axels; 4 on the first and 6 on the second
- The rear section of the lifting body has 5 more nozzles (it has actually been extremely hard for me to model it, so I understand not doing it)
Thanks for your kind words, glad you liked it! Well spotted on the fine details. In my defense, the original has a few errors too. Rewatch the original and take a look at the vehicles parked on the nearside of the Sliding hangar - They change at least 3 times! ;-)
I started watching Thunderbirds when I was a kid back in the late 80's/early 90's and the Zero-X is still hands down my favourite craft of the series.
I've always loved the design and just the idea of a spacecraft like that. I still watch the movie sometimes and just watch the Zero-X bits.
Nice to see another rendition of this. Would like to have seen the mission be successful and see the Zero-X actually land.
Already considering that! :-)
I thought I was the only idiot doing that ;-) That scene has been run in the ground by most critics - and I could never figure out why. It's fascinating!
@@marcusanimation100 make it happen bro!! I LOVED this!
Zero-X was popular enough that it got it's own comic strip in Century 21. As indeed did Lady Penelope. It's a wonderful sequence, an absolute classic that combines the genius of Derek Medding's model work and the glorious triumphal sound of Barry Gray. "Zero X" is one of my all-time favourites of his, alongside "White As Snow" from Captain Scarlet.
I love that animation. A fitting tribute.
Though the Zero X wouldn't be feasible IRL, as a sci-fi vehicle, the cool factor is off the charts. Watching this and hearing the music gives me chills to this day.
Thanks very much!
@@marcusanimation100 you're quite welcome. Funny, the Zero X music has been stuck in my head all morning
Watching this now, made understand why I loved this so much - all those moving, retracting and sliding parts really hit my imaginary as a child, at a time when you got a miniature car with opening doors was something amazing :-)
Good job Morgan!
This is simply awesome work. I saw 'Thunderbirds Are Go!' at the cinema in 1966 - I was three. I went with my mum and gran, and loved it, although the 'Rock Snakes' scared the bejeezus out of me. I still have the TV21 book of the movie that gran bought me at the time.
Your animation brought me out in goosebumps. It's that beautiful. Thank you for this. Oh, and Barry Gray's 'Zero-X Theme' is still magnificent.
Thank you very much! It's fans like you that I made this for!
Barry Gray was a great composer. His scores for Gerry's films and TV shows were brilliant.
As a kid I always skipped the bit with the Rock Snakes on rewatches.
Really well done. I have never used the Toon shader in Blender, so it was interesting to see it in action, quite literally 😃. Brought back some good memories of seeing this in the cinema when the movie first came out in '66 and in glorious colour.
Thanks very much, and I'm glad it brought back good memories!
Love it, especially the landing gear retracting, brilliant.
Thanks!
That God Bless them my friends. That Names and that Iconic Titles/Classics. Is Impossible Not Recognize this Names and his Works. That R.I.P. Thanks.
That was really moving and well made,superb many thanks .
Glad you liked it! Thank you!
I'm sure someone could model just the main body of the Zero X.
But modeling the entire airfield and launch sequence in an animated style
is amazing!!
I was also impressed by the CGI recreation of the takeoff scene with the rotating belt.
Zero X号の機体だけなら、モデリングする人はいそうだけど、
飛行場と発進シークエンスのシーン全体をアニメ調でモデリングしているのは凄い！！
回転ベルトを使った離陸シーンも、CGIで再現されていて感動しました。
The Golden age of Television! A tribute to the Imagination of what if😮
Great video. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Space X has been one of my all time favourite Gerry Anderson vehicles. Bravo!
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it!
Superb video. Zero-X and Fireflash are my two favourites, with a Sidewinder lumbering ungainly in a close third. I wish there had been a little more Zero-X in Scarlet and Black's Mars mission, though.
Thank you, and yes, yes and yes! 🙂
Having seen all of this the first time round your work is a fine tribute to Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, and the majestic Zero X theme by Barry Gray, wonderful stuff.
The full film appears on the UK channel Film4 when the school holidays are on, still takes me back to my childhood, I'm 60 now.
I had a Zero X as a kid... Wish I still had it now, 50-odd years on.
La he vuelto a ver. Es magistral y hermoso tributo.
Y pensar que los Anderson con su equipo hacían todo en maquetas. Una maravilla.
👍👍🇨🇱
Preposterous the Zero-X launch may be, but looking back on it now it perfectly captures (for me) both the otherworldly wonder of an Apollo launch and the somewhat more mundane excitement of my first trip on a 747. And the carefully rotoscoped animation also brings back fond memories of Jonny Quest in his prime!
No rotoscoping. Just lots of source referencing!
@@marcusanimation100 Okay. Still looks like vintage Jonny Quest to me!
Like a lot of comments below! I went to the cinema to see it and it was then magical to a young lad! I loved every bit of that wonderful film and to think we are now close to that era ourselves! To say thank you to all involved doesn't do them justice as they all made it seem feasible to us young kids back then and I suspect a few adults too 😉 Sadly, like I suspect some others have also like me have lost there parents, but! I have magical memories of that time back in England watching Thunderbirds on TV in black and white and then! Getting Century 21 magazine each breakfast and reading it before going to school! I know Gerry and Derek cannot hear us all say thank you, but it is all we can do, is say thank you for the magical childhood you gave us all! R.I.P 😢
Beautiful tribute. The movie was wrongfully panned. It wasn't perfect, but it had all the action that GA was known for. My favourite bit from the movie ( apart from the gargantuan explosions at the end ) is when the sky turns to a star field [ 9:20 ] as seen from inside the cockpit and you've captured the essence beautifully.
Thank you very much! Next time you watch the movie, freeze frame the crash landing explosion and have a look at the building fragments! ;-)
I still watch these episodes 🙈
I've enjoyed this show and others like it as I was growing up 😃
I'm old enough to have seen the original film when it came out. Still enjoy it. I may have got older but I never really grew up.
Likewise!
Takes the absolute biscuit for the most elaborate launch sequence EVER! (And this is Gerry Anderson we’re talking about here..)
Absolutely BRILLIANT!
Musk EAT YOUR LIVER!
Excellent recreation of the film and they managed to edit out all the puppet scenes while keeping the music going,
Thankyou! And thanks for noticing the edits!
They must have loved that model. Everyone goes on about the Enterprise fly round in ST TMP but when I saw this in the cinema as a kid it seemed to go on forever.
this takes me back, still love the shows. great work on th eanimation
Thanks!
*Very well done indeed! Thanks for sharing with all of Anderson Addicts!* 👍👍&💯👏️
Thanks very much!
Wow! All I can say is... absolutely fab!
Thanks!
When I was a kid this was the coolest thing ever, but just imagine having a hanger move away from the air/spacecraft that has wheels and it ends up moving anyway...LOL the utter pointlessness of the whole thing now is just absurd, but it was for kids, and I ate it all up!
This should be made into a series for tv, brilliant.
That's very kind of you to say! Thank you!
Wow, it's the pinnacle of aeronautical engineering.
I loved Zero-X because it was so easy to build as a wooden model.
Pretty Great.
Outstanding stuff ! superbly choreographed with the the original with nicley thought out rediting ! well done a great sequence.👌👌👍👀
Thank you, and thanks for noticing the minor changes!
@@marcusanimation100 Your most welcome sir .👍
This is an Earth timeline where Man continued to explore Space after the moon landings.😎👌
Amazing animation.
Thank you!
This is amazing, stick at it.
Thanks, I intend too! ;-)
I've never seen this movie, but gosh I want to.
Very well done.Oh the memories!!👍👍👍👍
😁
I can't unsee the name of the photocopier brand name and it makes me wanna pronounce "Zero-X" differently, lol!
A very nice piece of work
Thanks very much!
Nicely done.
My favorie Thunderbird aicraft/rocket. Well done.
Mine too! Glad you like my tribute!
As ludicrous as that design is, it is still totally in keeping with the future that the Anderson's showed us back in the 50s through the early 1970s.
I love Thunderbirds . I love Battle of the planets . This was Great! 💥👍
Thanks!
I nver saw anything this beautiful in my life :,)
Thank you, but you should get out more! 😁
I wouldn't call it an animation, more of a remaster
Fabulous work dated makes it better
When it zoomed out I just saw the logo fly forwards and under it would be
‘Copyright MCMLXVII Century 21 Films’
It was just too perfect
ha ha , thanks!
A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!!! Please do more of these. The whole movie perhaps???
Thank you.
The whole movie? Maybe not!
Cell shading works really well for these…
This is a truly wonderful piece of work and looks to have been a real labour of love. My only feeling as to how it could be even better is that the shadow of Zero X that is visible at the point of take-off could have been shown throughout as there is clearly strong sunshine present. But this is only a minor point and doesn't diminish my admiration for your work.
Good point, though I was getting a bit blind to it all by the end of it! I'll contact you for QA next time around! :-)
even though my inner engineering side is saying everything is wrong... well... this shit gud
Beautiful!!!!!
This is quite good
I do like the animation style
Thanks
This fantastic!
Thanks!
This is great stuff!
Thank you!
The depth of field is great.
Thanks!
landing gear retract not shown in the actual movie this animation makes up for that
Well spotted! Thanks!
man, i remember seeing this episode as a kid, but sadly i don't remember all the details...
This was so amazing! Thank you for taking the time to do this :)
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it!
Very good!
Thanks!
The music was always just right
Great work Mate! NZ approves(yes, I did ask Everyone down here!)
Ha ha! Good to know, thanks!
That's so cool!! Thank you :-)
Luv it. Great memories :)
Awesome! Simply Awesome!
Thanks very much!
Genial. Qué recuerdo!!
👍👍🇨🇱
I'd LOVE to see the various Thunderbird Launch Sequences rendered in this style, and even the Female Moonbase Officers from UFO, just because it would make them look even HOTTER!
Trust me, my version of Gabrielle Drake would NOT be hotter than the real thing! 😁
@@marcusanimation100 True THAT! I met Gabrielle a few years back and she is a Lovely Lady! I guess i was thinking Stylized Hotness, sort of how the CGI Animated Angels of New Captain Scarlet are Hotter than the Marionette Angels of Captain Scarlet Classic. I'm pretty sure your Animation Style would make the Purple Wigs and Silver Uniforms Pop!
Classy!
As much as I loved Thunderbirds and these models and all, I always wondered why this scene was sooo drawn out?
just amazing
Thanks!
Retro Cool thxs again;)
I think this proved my inner child is long dead, this craft's design and take off procedure is beyond absurd. Nice job on the animation though, the edge marking created some odd surfaces such as the land gear hatches looking like a "L" shaped panel rather than a hinged hatch. The rotation of the 1st lift module also looked weird in relation to the overhead rail and module, plus the far rail support having nothing to spread the weight of the span.
I watched the Thunderbirds edition of this in the 60s there was a comic which featured zero x it's a pity they did not produce a series of this
The comic was called TV21
I have wondered how the crew of Zero X can see where they are going with the nose cone on. Great video.
Monitors? Like in the SPV?
Both the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft utilised nose cones during their respective launches - indeed, I believe SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule has one too - all jettisoned once they’re relatively clear of the atmosphere - just like Zero-X. Here’s a thought…..Elon Musk must be a fan of Thunderbirds. Zero-X……..SpaceX…….anybody seeing a pattern here? 😜
technical questions, if you watched the original...
1. What was the purpose of the upper and lower boosters? They just fired up for a moment, before the rocket began to move... then all that (no dead)weight was lofted???
2. What was the nose cone for?
Very well done sir
Thank you!
@@marcusanimation100 You are most welcome i hope you do more Thunderbirds.
Brilliant!
Thanks!
Splendid
Thank you!
Excellent work!
beautiful work! thanks......can you do the Dragonfly from JQ?
Just beautiful and very fantastic
Thanks very much!