Editing Supermarionation (section)

==Definition==
{{Quotebox|quote=When we got to making this better class of puppet film, I was looking for a more fitting way to explain how our productions differed from those of our predecessors. I wanted to invent a word that promoted the quality of our work, so we combined the words "super", "marionette" and "animation". It didn't mean anything other than that, and it certainly didn't refer to any specific process. It was our trademark, if you like.|source=—&nbsp;[[Gerry Anderson]] on the origin of the term (2002)<ref name="ArcherHearn">{{Cite book | last1 = Archer | first1 = Simon | author1-link = Simon Archer (author) | last2 = Hearn | first2 = Marcus | title = What Made ''Thunderbirds'' Go! The Authorised Biography of Gerry Anderson | year = 2002 | publisher = [[BBC Books]] | location = London, UK | isbn = 978-0-563-53481-5 | page = 69}}</ref>|salign=right|width=25%}}

The term was coined in 1960 by Gerry Anderson.<ref>Hearn, p.&nbsp;20.</ref> Sources describe Supermarionation as a style of puppetry,<ref name="Evans"/><ref name="Lewis&Stempel"/><ref>Sangster and Condon, pp.&nbsp;726-727.</ref> a production technique or process,<ref name="Thom"/><ref name="Cohen"/><ref name="Thomson"/><ref name="Mohan"/><ref name="O'Neill,4">O'Neill, p.&nbsp;4.</ref> or a promotional term.<ref name="Ceffer"/> Emma Thom of the [[National Science and Media Museum]] defines it as APF's use of electronics to synchronise puppets' lip movements with pre-recorded dialogue.<ref name="Thom"/> According to [[Jeff Evans]], it "express[es] the elaborate style of puppetry" used in APF's productions.<ref name="Evans">{{Cite book|last1=Evans|first1=Jeff|author1-link=Jeff Evans|title=The Penguin TV Companion|series=Penguin Reference|year=2006|orig-year=2001|edition=3rd|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|location=London, UK|isbn=978-0-141-02424-0|pages=794–795}}</ref> Anderson denied that the term referred to a process, stating that he coined it as a promotional tool to separate APF's output from other children's puppet series like ''[[Muffin the Mule]]'' and ''[[Flower Pot Men]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Archer|first1=Simon|last2=Nicholls|first2=Stan|author2-link=Stan Nicholls|title=Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Biography|year=1996|publisher=[[Legend Books]]|location=London, UK|isbn=9780099781417|page=50}}</ref> This was motivated by his embarrassment in working with puppets as opposed to live actors, and his wish to dispel the notion that APF's marionettes were "the sort of puppets that were used in pre-school programmes".<ref>Hearn, p.&nbsp;32.</ref> He also likened Supermarionation to a "trademark".<ref name="ArcherHearn"/> According to Sylvia Anderson, the term was used to "distinguish the pure puppetry of the stage from our more sophisticated filmed-television version".<ref name="Garland,65"/> Lou Ceffer of the website Spy Hollywood calls Supermarionation a "marketing term".<ref name="Ceffer">{{Cite web|url=https://spyhollywood.com/remembering-gerry-anderson-known-as-the-british-walt-disney/|title=Remembering Gerry Anderson, Known as the British Walt Disney|last1=Ceffer|first1=Lou|date=2 February 2013|work=spyhollywood.com|publisher=SPY World Media|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618210929/http://spyhollywood.com/remembering-gerry-anderson-known-as-the-british-walt-disney/|archive-date=18 June 2019|url-status=live|access-date=22 September 2019}}</ref>

A 1960s supplement of the British trade newspaper ''Television Mail'' described Supermarionation as a "technical process" whose main features, besides electronic puppet control, were use of [[35 mm movie film|35&nbsp;mm]] colour photography, {{Fraction|1|5}}-scale filming stages, [[back projection]], live-action [[Insert (filmmaking)|inserts]] and live action-style special effects, and [[video assist]] to guide the crew.<ref name="O'Neill,4"/> According to Chris Bentley, the term encompasses "all of the sophisticated puppetry techniques" used by APF – the foremost being the automatic mouth movement – "combined with the full range of film production facilities normally employed in live-action filming" (such as [[Front projection effect|front]] and back projection, location shooting and [[visual effects]]).<ref name="Bentley48">Bentley, p.&nbsp;48.</ref> Other commentators have cited the complexity and detail of the puppets, models and sets as aspects of Supermarionation.<ref name="Mohan">{{Cite web|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2015/02/supermarionation_is_back_gerry.html|title=Supermarionation Returns with DVD Release of Gerry Anderson's Beloved 1960s TV Series: The Week in Geek|first1=Marc|last1=Mohan|date=9 January 2019|work=[[oregonlive.com]]|publisher=[[Advance Publications]]|access-date=18 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=RetroFan|issue=4|date=Spring 2019|publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]]|location=Raleigh, North Carolina|editor1-last=Eury|editor1-first=Michael|editor1-link=Michael Eury|issn=2576-7224|page=41|title=Retro Television: ''Thunderbirds'' Are Still Go!|last1=Spangler|first1=Bill}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Into the Future with No Strings Attached: While Others Make the Profits, Gerry Anderson Makes the Commercials. But as Kevin Jackson Discovers, The Creator of ''Thunderbirds'' Won't Make the Mistake Again|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=15 May 1993|last1=Jackson|first1=Kevin|author1-link=Kevin Jackson (writer)|publisher=Independent Print|location=London, UK|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-into-the-future-with-no-strings-attached-while-others-make-the-profits-gerry-anderson-makes-the-2323026.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702004536/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-into-the-future-with-no-strings-attached-while-others-make-the-profits-gerry-anderson-makes-the-2323026.html|archive-date=2 July 2019|url-status=live|access-date=22 September 2019}}</ref> Marcus Hearn states that the term reflected Gerry Anderson's desire to "promote his company's collective ingenuity as a proprietary process" and "[ally] his productions with Hollywood photographic techniques such as [[CinemaScope]] and [[VistaVision]]." He adds that it "encompassed the full panoply of APF's expertise – production values in model-making, photography, special effects, editing and orchestral music that had never been so consistently applied to any type of children's programme, let alone those featuring puppets."<ref>Hearn, pp.&nbsp;20; 33.</ref>