Supermarionation on tv commercials?
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: Supermarionation: The Kitchen Sink: Supermarionation on tv commercials?
By CR on Saturday, June 28, 2003 - 11:20 am:

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but supermarionation was the first thing I thought of when I saw the tv ad, so here I am...

I recently saw an ad in the US for (if I recall correctly) an insurance company, using Thunderbirds-style marionettes (complete with just-visible strings), nice sets & models, and dramtic narration and screen wipes for scene changes. I've seen the ad twice, though I've missed the beginning both times, and I never thought to write down which company it was advertising for.
It's obviously an homage to Supermarionation, though I don't know if it's produced by anyone affiliated with the genre.
Can anyone help me out here?

By DogNotSpicy on Saturday, June 28, 2003 - 1:15 pm:

Are you sure it's an insurance company, because Orbitz has a whole set of marionette commercials which have been running for quite some time... ;-)

By Richard Davies on Saturday, June 28, 2003 - 3:02 pm:

In the UK The Swinton Insurance company had an Ad in the early 1990s with Lady Penelope & Parker. It was popular enough to run for a few years.

By CR on Saturday, June 28, 2003 - 10:37 pm:

Thank you! I was wrong about the insurance thing; it was indeed Orbitz! Didn't know there was a whole series of 'em, though. (I'd not seen nor heard of the Swinton ads... strange coincidence that I'd think of insurance!)
So, any info on the Orbitz ads, anyone?

By DogNotSpicy on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 10:39 am:

Here's a link to the "Destination Orbitz" ad: http://www.otherwiseinc.com/port_html/interactive/destinationorbitz_landing.html
I googled Orbitz to find it-- I don't know if it will help you CR, but you might be able to look into it a bit further.

By CR on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 9:27 am:

Thanks again. I didn't get to examine the Orbitz site too much, but it's creative like the tv ads (though relying more on stills and simple animation). I'll do some more digging as time allows.
I think I'll see if I can find anything on the Swinton stuff, too, just to see what turns up.

By Kinggodzillak on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 3:37 pm:

The Swinton ads are online at :

http://people.freenet.de/TAF-PH/Movies.html

By NGEN on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 1:04 pm:

Is the "Alien Attack" Jif Dessert topping ad from 1977, shown before Star Wars in theatres available on DVD anywhere? The commercial was a combination of puppets and effects (including some models used for Moonbase Alpha in Space:1999).

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