Seeya later!

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Hey, guys.

So we're leaving for our trip tonight. In about an hour actually (7am Thursday Eastern over there). But I'll be seeing all of you again Monday evening (or about 9am Monday Eastern over there). Therefore no stories until Monday.

I'll still be logging on from time to time within that period, so I won't be completely out of contact with you guys here in the Bigcloset. Feel free to comment or PM or whatever, and I'll respond as soon as I see 'em.

This is Bobbie C., with Momo, Gia and Hanah, signing off for now. Byeeee!

Comments

Jeez. If you read this

Jeez. If you read this while you're out, _put the device down_. Take the break.

Most of us will still be here - the odds are good.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

My hopes

Andrea Lena's picture

That you and your precious family have a wonderful time!

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Hello, Troy and Aunt Andrea!

bobbie-c's picture

Hey, guys. It's Friday, about 7am here, and we're checked in at a resort called Thunderbird Resorts. Hanah has just finished giving Gia her bah-bah, and they went back to sleep. Mo's snoring so that means she's sleeping soundly indeed.

Anyway, Just checking in and gonna have a bite. Later, we'll check out the private beach and then maybe check the sights around here. Haven't been to San Fernando before.
Cool name, btw, huh? bday-face.png Don't know much about native-american mythology, but I'm a biiig Gerry Anderson fan, so "Thunderbirds" mean something to me, aside from it sounding cool. bday-face.png

My latest favorite animated show is Thunderbirds Are Go - a current British animated TV show, and it's an adaptation of Gerry Anderson's legendary sci-fi show from the 60s that used marionettes instead of actors. (It's real old, but if you're a sci-fi fan, you most probably know about it) Someone from the office downloads episodes for me (shhh! that's just between us, okay? lol)

Anyway, I'll check back in again before we start for Baguio.

Long time no see, Aunt Andrea. Hope you're doing better.

 

So, Thunderbird 1,

So, Thunderbird 1, Thunderbird 2, or Thunderbird 3?


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Thunderbird 2

tmf's picture

I got a penchant for Thunderbird 2, the Swiss knife of the Thunderbirds.

Peace and Hugs tmf

check out the new TV show

bobbie-c's picture

You should check out the new TV show, "Thunderbirds Are Go." Yep, they used the title of the first Thunderbirds movie as the name of their remake series. bday-face.png. How cool is that!

I'm not sure, but I think they're on their fourth season already. I've only seen series 1 & 2, and a couple of the eps from series 3 myself. It's on ITV, and the effects are made by Weta Workshops - you know? The guys behind LOTR et cetera? And I think the effects are out of this world, actually.

They use a lot of miniature work supplemented by CG. Check out the Youtube behind-the-scenes videos of the show and you'll practically drool over the incredible miniatures.

Thank goodness no hokey marionette stuff, but they deliberately made their CG characters to the original puppets, but in a classy way - not campy at all. Check it out when you can. Here's a trailer:

https://youtu.be/6y2hFqgtjLk

I like TB2 as well, though I think of her as more as a kind of truck or van. And the pods are its best feature. And the new TB2 is so much better. Check this out:

https://youtu.be/ydsB8fVphto

The new show has a lot of new stuff, but they're remaining true to the original's timelines and plotlines. I think you'll like it a lot.

And the theme music is awesome!! Just a touch of the old music but lots of exciting new pieces.

Anyway, back to my strawberry shortcake and Baguio Tea, and watching Gia gum a strawberry to death. bday-face.png

 

I didn't find the marionettes

I didn't find the marionettes hokey at all. It was a BBC program, which means it was produced on a very tight budget, and like Dr. Who, they did a fantastic job with what they had. It was aimed at children, after all, and imagination is wonderful - you never paid attention to the strings after the first few minutes.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Not that I'm being pedantic...

bobbie-c's picture

Well, actually, not that I am being pedantic...

But it wasn't a BBC production - it was an AP Films production, and backed by Sir Lew Grade, I believe, and aired on ITV and not on BBC. And since it was being produced by Lew Grade, it meant it had a lot of money compared to BBC-produced shows, which are all publicly-funded.

I believe the reason it was a marionette show was not because of budget - in fact, it boasted higher production values than other shows at the time, and used a lot of cutting edge (and expensive) special effects and miniature effects (designed and executed by the legendary Derek Meddings). It was a marionette show because it was their "gimmick" as a children's show, and was never really meant for adults. And because it was marionettes, it was intentionally meant to be hokey (okay, let's not say "hokey" but "campy" lol). I totally agree that they did a fine job, but not in spite of what they had to work with, but because they had that much to work with. In fact, the reason it didn't get a third season was because Lew Grade couldn't sell the show to America so that he could keep to the high production values that he and Gerry Anderson wanted.

And, hey, I'm not arguing - just sayin'. And the reason I'm sayin' this is, maybe this could spark a nice chat about Gerry Anderson shows like UFO, Space 1999 and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, and maybe even talk about Sylvia Anderson's Century 21 fashions. (as you can see, I'm a fan. lol). Believe me, I ain't trying to be one of those "excitable" folks, 'k?
K. Back to the regularly scheduled program. bday-face.png

 

Sorry - I was introduced to

Sorry - I was introduced to it through CBC, so I took it as a BBC production.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

And...

Andrea Lena's picture

Captain Scarlet, Supercar, and Stingray!

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Though I've heard of them...

bobbie-c's picture

Actually, though I've heard of them, I haven't seen them. The only marionette series of Gerry Anderson that I've seen is Thunderbirds, and the only reason I know Thunderbirds is because of a Japanese sci-fi series called "X Bomber" (or "Starfleet," as it is known in the States), which I first saw waaaaay back in the late eighties when I was nine or ten - I saw the series from a bootleg copy of the son of my dad's adjutant on betamax (remember betamax? lol).

Anyway, my little-kid sensibilities were caught by this show (the show looks very hokey to my adult eyes now, of course lol) and I wanted to find out more about it.

I found out that X Bomber was the Japanese' attempt to duplicate the "magic" of Thunderbirds (apparently, Thunderbirds was a big deal in Japan - as big as Space Battle Cruiser Yamato was, in fact), so they made their own version of a marionette series by marrying Gerry Anderson's supermarionation epic with their own Giant Robot genre. And so that's how the giant robot puppet extravaganza, X Bomber, came about.

Unlike "Team America: World Police," which was also inspired by the Thunderbirds, X Bomber wasn't a comedic parody of Thunderbirds, but was an actual straight sci-fi action/drama.

The English-dubbed version even featured a soundtrack by Brian May, the legendary co-creator and lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. X Bomber's theme song, as schlock as it was, still holds a lot of good memories for me, and its trite and tacky melodic themes and lyrics appealed to the 9/10-year old version of Bobbie C. (I am very sure that if Brian May would see himself singing the theme song, "Starfleet," in the MTV of the series now, he would cringe in shame. heehee)

If you're interested, here it is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7GFU5ncKhU

(The singing head is Brian May, of course. lol)

So, because of X Bomber, I looked up Thunderbirds, and that's how I found out about it, as well as UFO and Space 1999 and et cetera, et cetera... lol.

Btw, the voice of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward was the voice of Gerry Anderson's wife, Sylvia Anderson, and the super-sexy 60's-style costumes in the UFO series were designed by Sylvia Anderson and Century 21 Fashions. The current voice of Lady Penelope in the new series, "Thunderbirds Are Go" is the voice of Rosamund Pike, just in case you were wondering. lol.

See if you can watch X Bomber, too, and while you're at it, check out Gerry Anderson's UFO and Space 1999 as well. bday-face.png

 

Thunderbirds ARE Go!

Andrea Lena's picture
PFC1725-THUNDERBIRDS-penelope.jpg
Oh, Well done!

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Pony Ride!

bobbie-c's picture

We just spent the morning riding ponies at Wright Park here in Baguio, and are having coffee and snacks atm in Starbucks here in Session Road, and thank goodness for free wifi (Session Road is sort of like Baguio City's high street), and then we're going to trawl the vegetable market and and look at some other sights after. Manny, our driver, has recommended strawberry picking later at La Trinidad Valley, and then early dinner at Le Chef, the best fine dining here according to the guys at the office that live here, and it's convenient since it's just in Camp John Hay.

If the girls feel like going home, then we'll be leaving tonight, after dinner, or if we're feeling lazy, we'll leave tomorrow morning.

Anything happening? (I've been peeking in the site from time to time)

 

All good things...

bobbie-c's picture

As Q said to Captain Piccard in the final episode of Star Trek, The Next Generation, "all good things must come to an end." (Yeah, yeah, I know it was first said by Chaucer, but I like Star Trek lol)

Our summer "mini vacation" has come to an end, and we're leaving for Metro Manila in 30 minutes. Manny says the drive shouldn't take more than four or five hours, so if things go our way, we should be back by 1AM.

So see you all later!