Adult Swim revives Gerry Anderson's puppetry with Hit Squad
Overview & Key Takeaways
The new puppet and CGI-animated show incorporates modern technology into the style that inspired Team America
Gerry Anderson was a television pioneer, using marionettes with electric moving parts to make several British shows in the '60s including the science fiction adventures Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds. South Parkcreators Trey Parker and Matt Stone paid tribute to his unique style in their 2004 film Team America: World Police, and now Adult Swim is returning Anderson’s version of puppetry to TV with Hit Squad, which was announced at Annecy Festival.
The show is based on a 1983 pitch document Anderson produced for “a puppet-based television format with merchandising potential.” Warner Bros. Animation executive vice president Peter Girardi told an Annecy panel he’d been trying to license Anderson’s previous work, but when the rights proved too complicated, he reached out to Anderson’s son to see if he could find any archived ideas.
Russell McLean and Darren Walsh, who previously teamed up on the puppet-focused Black Mirrorepisode “The Waldo Moment,” are working on updating Anderson’s style to incorporate modern technology. All the effects are practical, though CGI is used for the mouth movements.
A preview screened at the panel focused on a new agent being debriefed on her first day on Hit Squad. A flashback shows she had been carrying a briefcase when a man tried to snatch it. They got into a fight in a train station bathroom, where she shoved a urinal cake in his mouth. The battle ends with her detonating the briefcase, blowing up her attacker with it.
Her new boss at first seemed skeptical of aggressive tactics, but then concludes her violence makes her perfect to be part of Hit Squad. He shows off their collection of cars and rockets, leading to a montage of the arsenal in action that ends with all of London exploding. It feels a lot like a British version of Team America.
No release date has been announced for Hit Squad,but it joins a slate of new Adult Swim series including President Curtis, My Adventures with Green Lantern, and My Two Cars.
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