Aerial City 008 (空中都市008 Kūchū toshi 008) was a Japanese TV Series created by Japanese sci-fi writer Sakyo Komatsu, and produced by Japanese puppeteer Kinosuke Takeda, who also produced Galaxy Troop Boy and Spaceship Silica.[1] The show utilized techniques similar to Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation techniques, very much influenced by Thunderbirds. The show aired on NHK from April 7, 1969 to April 3, 1970 with 230 episodes.[2]
Aerial City 008
Aerial City 008 "Arctic SOS", the lone surviving episode
Set in the early 21st Century, the show is set in a futuristic city propelled over 70-80 feet above the ground, without any pollution, an ideal city in the near future with hovercraft car and supersonic aircraft fly around. With the collective effort of science, trouble often occurs, however. The show mainly focuses on the Ohara family, drawing their prospective of a variety of events that occur in the futuristic city. [3] Aerial City 008 seems to neatly present the flipsides of human endeavor in much the same manner as Thunderbirds, with the technological wonders of the future being employed to clean up the messes left behind by some of the race's more ill-advised stabs at progress. [4]
With NHK's extremely poor record of show conservation, as shown previously with Galaxy Troop Boy, the only existing episode of Aerial City 008 is the Episode "Arctic SOS". No further episodes are likely to be in existence due to the tapes being wiped after syndication ended, and VHS recordings are highly unlikely to exist.
A DVD consisting of the lone episode of Aerial City 008 along with the surviving episodes of Galaxy Boy Troop and Spaceship Silica does exist, though is seemingly out of print.[5]
References[]
- ↑ Supermarionation Wikipedia Entry Retrieved 04 Jan '15.
- ↑ Japanese Wikipedia Entry Retrieved 04 Jan '15.
- ↑ Aerial City 008 on NHK Archive Retrieved 04 Jan '15.
- ↑ Aerial City 008 (Japan, 1969). Retrieved 04 Jan '15.
- ↑ NHK人形劇クロニクルシリーズ 空中都市008 竹田人形座の世界 Retrieved 04 Jan '15.