Thunderbirds (TV series) by ITV, Sylvia Anderson and the estate of Gerry Anderson. "Thunderbirds" has influenced TV programmes, films and various other media. The puppet comedy of the film "" was directly inspired by the idiosyncrasies of "Thunderbirds"-era Supermarionation techniques. Allusion and homage are also evident in "Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave", "" and "Spaced", as well as the character design of "". The BBC sketch comedy "Not Only... But Also" included a segment titled "Superthunderstingcar" – a parody of "Thunderbirds", "Supercar" and "Stingray". IR's life-saving mission inspired the founding of the volunteer International Rescue Corps, originally made up of a group
Stingray (1964 TV series) Robert Sellers described "Stingray" as the "first truly classic Anderson show", whose special effects "have stood the test of time remarkably well." Daniel O'Brien, author of "SF:UK: How British Science Fiction Changed the World", considers it to be "perhaps the archetypal Gerry Anderson series". Reviewing the DVD box set in 2001, Mike Fillis of "TV Zone" magazine conceded that "Stingray" was less "ambitious" than its immediate follow-up, "Thunderbirds", but compared its "self-awareness" and "looseness" favourably to the "po-faced rigidity" of "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons". He also praised the series' "well-drawn" characters and described its water-based special effects sequences as