Supermarionation puppet characters from Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Fireball XL5 on display at the National Media Museum in Bradford, UK
Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and "animation")[1] is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet TV series and feature films of the 1960s. These productions were created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed at APF's studios on the Slough Trading Estate. The characters were played by electronic marionettes with a moveable lower lip, which opened and closed in time with pre-recorded dialogue by means of a solenoid in the puppet's head or chest. The productions were mostly science fiction with the puppetry supervised by Christine Glanville, art direction by either Bob Bell or Keith Wilson, and music composed by Barry Gray. They also made extensive use of scale model special effects, directed by Derek Meddings.
The term "Supermarionation" was first used during the production of Supercar, whose final 13 episodes were the first to be credited as being "filmed in Supermarionation". Some sources consider its precursor, Four Feather Falls, to be the first Supermarionation series because it saw the introduction of the electronic lip-syncing mechanism that featured in all of APF's later puppet productions.
The term was coined by Gerry Anderson, who regarded it as APF's trademark. In later life, he said that he invented the term to increase the "respectability" of puppetry, a medium that he had not originally intended to work with. According to Sylvia, the productions were described as "Supermarionation" to distinguish them from traditional puppet theatre. Noting that a major disadvantage of APF's marionettes was their inability to walk convincingly, commentators have argued that the term expressed Gerry's preference for artistic realism and his wish to make the company's puppet techniques more lifelike.[2][3]
^La Rivière 2009, p. 67.
^Garland, p. 65.
^Thom, Emma (27 December 2012). "Supermarionation: Gerry Anderson, A Life in Puppetry". blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk. Bradford, UK: National Science and Media Museum. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
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