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Film & Television
Lot 76

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO: AN ORIGINAL CAPTAIN PAUL TRAVERS PUPPET HEAD,

17 November 2021, 11:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £12,750 inc. premium

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THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO: AN ORIGINAL CAPTAIN PAUL TRAVERS PUPPET HEAD,

mounted on an original 'Jeff Tracy Stage 1' body, with original hands, the puppet fully working, the composition head featuring original hair and ears, with restoration replacement eyes, dressed in modern replica blue Zero X space pilot's uniform and orange polo neck,
including stand 19 1/2in (50cm) high

Footnotes

Provenance:
This puppet is from the collection of Terry Curtis. It was originally made by him for the 1966 film.

Captain Paul Travers is the Zero X captain appearing in the feature-length film Thunderbirds Are Go (1966), which released after the original Thunderbirds television series had ended. Zero X was the spaceship designed to explore the known solar system, and is not seen outside of this film. The present puppet head was based on Sean Connery. The head is lined with real hair, and with rubber ears so that the puppet could wear a headset without damaging the composition.

"The men's hair was always mohair, which we simply stuck on with glue. The only exception was for the puppet head of Captain Paul Travers for the feature film, who was based on Sean Connery, when I just happen to have a hank of some real hair laying around the workshop, so I used it on him"
- Terry Curtis in A. Shubrook, Century 21 FX, 2015

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