Thunderbirds Gerry Anderson Movies Reviews

Thunderbirds Are Go! (1966)

Directed by David Lane

DVD Review by Olivia Sutton

 

I have had Thunderbirds Are Go! and Thunderbird 6 on VHS videotape for awhile, and I finally bought them on DVD, on-sale.  I knew going in that the movies are a bit of a disappointment compared to the TV show, but here it goes.  Thunderbirds are Go! is, in many ways, a re-working of two episodes of the series - the pilot, "Trapped in the Sky", and "Operation:  Crash-Dive", both of which feature the super-sonic airliner, Fireflash, in trouble.  In the film, it's a space-ship on a mission to Mars called the Zero X, but the plot and rescue are remarkably similar.

But the biggest fault of the movie is that it is incredibly slow.  Like glacial slow.  The movie opens with the crash of the Zero X (pilots OK) due to sabotage.  International Rescue is called in to provide security for the second attempt, three months later.  Lady Penelope and Parker foil a sabotage attempt, apparently killing the Hood in the process, and Scott, Vigil and Alan escort the Zero X safely into space.  What follows next is an dream sequence with Alan and Lady Penelope at the Swinging Star, a nightclub in space, featuring Cliff Richards and the Shadows.  It's long, boring, and makes no sense in the context of the film.  The Zero X, then meets with trouble on Mars, awaking the Space Snake monsters by shooting at weird rock formations ("It's life, Jim, but not as we know it!").  We finally get an real rescue at the end of the film, though, as Scott, Virgil, Alan, and Gordon, must rescue the Zero X, which can't land or maneuver due damage sustained.  The rescue, similar to the one in "Operation: Crash Dive", has Scott flying close to one side of the spaceship, Virgil flying underneath it, and Alan climbing a grappling rope into the ship to fix the escape pod so the astronauts, scientists, and pilot can eject, (With Gordon watching out for Alan, and controlling the grapple and rope).

The biggest problem with Thunderbirds Are Go! is that it is slow.  Very slow.  Thunderbirds as a TV show had two great parts to it -- the characters, and the rip-roaring adventures and fantastic rescues.  This movie waits to two-thirds of the way through to give the audience a rescue.  And what it does give us is remarkably familiar if you've seen the series (the shots even look recycled, however, they are not, as the movie was completely done in Techniscope, a super-widescreen format, similar to Cinemascope).  The dream sequence is silly and completely unnecessary.  The film could have focused more in depth on the characters, but other than the dream sequence hinting that Alan has a thing for Lady Penelope (something which makes no sense since (a) Alan's always been interested in Tin Tin, (b) It's Jeff  who's been shown to be interested in Lady Penelope, and (c) Lady Penelope is far too old for Alan!), we see about the same level of characterization as the show. (Mind you one thing about the show - good characterization).  The film really missed the boat.  They could have done two or three good-sized rescues, instead we get one - which we've seen before.  Also, the film is a bit violent, with Lady Penelope and Parker coldly shooting down and killing the saboteurs, including the Hood.

DVD Notes:  The film does look gorgeous!  Meticulously restored with beautiful color, and presented in widescreen -- which preserves the Cinemascope-look for the first time ever.  Also, several well put-together extras.

DVD Extras:  Featurettes:  History and Appeal; Factory of  Dolls and Rockets; Epics in Miniature.  Audio Commentary.  Animated photo gallery.  "Who said that?" Quiz.  Original theatrical trailer.

Thunderbird 6 (1968)

Directed by David Lane

DVD Review by Olivia Sutton

 

I've also had this movie on VHS for awhile - so it's nice to finally complete my DVD collection with the last of the Supermarionation movies.  In Thunderbird 6, Jeff Tracy insists to Brains, his engineer, that International Rescue needs a Thunderbird 6, but proceeds to say no to every one of Brains ideas.  Meanwhile, Alan and Tin Tin fly Jeff's antique Tiger Moth biplane to England, meet up with Lady Penelope and Parker, and then take the Skyship One, a new airship for a world-wide tour.  However, all is not well - hijackers have replaced the original crew and are bugging Lady Penelope.  They have a list of phrases they want her to say (Hum, Sneakers, anyone?), so they can transmit a false message to Jeff, and thus set-up IR for an ambush.  The film lazily moves through the world-wide tour of Skyship One, and eventually Lady Penelope discovers one of the bugs by accident, and she, Alan, Tin Tin, and Parker, then discover the bugging plot.  Just in time, Penelope calls Jeff to tell him a false message has been sent.  Jeff calls Scott and Virgil who are already at the false rendezvous / ambush site.  Thunderbirds One and Two both use machine guns to blow up the entire abandoned airfield, buildings and all, then proceed to London to see if Skyship One is in danger.  Meanwhile, Alan, Lady Penelope, Parker, and Tin Tin have confronted the hijackers.  There's a gunfight, and Alan has the upper hand, until one of the hijackers shows up with Tin Tin in tow.  Also, during the gunfight, the ships' gravity compensators are knocked out.  The hijackers take our heroes to the flight deck.  Skyship One is now a runaway, on a collision-course for automatic warning towers on the British coastline and missile silos below.  Although Scott and Virgil try to stabilize the ship when it crashes into the warning tower, the jets of the Thunderbirds are too much for the relatively light-weight airship.  Brains then lands the Tiger Moth on the airship to co-ordinate a rescue.  However, the hijackers take over the Tiger Moth, but everyone is able to cling to the wings and wheels of the biplane.  A fantastic flying sequence follows, Lady Penelope tries to fly the plane, Alan eventually is able to get in the back, and the plane crashes to a landing.  Brains then tells Jeff  he's developed and even built Thunderbird 6, Thunderbird Two's hanger opens and out rolls... the Tiger Moth.

Overall, again the plot of the movie is slow, with no rescue until the last half hour.  The plot, at least, is more original - if anything it resembles Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, but at least they're not stealing from themselves.  The characterization is better too.  However, I didn't like the violence -- machine guns on the Thunderbirds?  Shooting first and not even trying to find out what's going on at the ambush site?  On the other hand, Alan and Lady Penelope using guns is something we have seen before (all the Tracys carry them) but it's a bit unbelievable that on a recreational trip Alan and Penelope would be able to carry weapons.  Not to mention the stupidity of firing them in an airship (a form of blimp, dirigible, or Hindenburg.  Hum, gunfire and hydrogen - bad combination!).  Also, it makes no sense that everybody seems to know that Lady Penelope, Tin Tin, Alan, and Parker are with the International Rescue organization - when IR had always been secret before.

DVD notes:  Again the movie looks great, especially in wide screen - the color, everything, is beautiful.  And there are some nice extras.

DVD Extras:  Featurettes:  Lady Penelope, Building Better Puppets, Tiger Moth.  Audio Commentary. Animated Photo Gallery.  Craft Mission Match-Up Quiz.  Original Theatrical Trailer.