Thunderbirds

Jusenkyo no Pikachu · Post by **Jusenkyo no Pikachu** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 1:16 am

As most everyone should know, Thunderbirds are go at the end of the month (Friday in Britain, next week in the US).

With the movie looming on the horizon, what are your thoughts?

I for one am not looking forward to it. It looks to be a painful retread of classic material done in order to cash in on the Spy Kids craze. Hardly true Thunderbirds at all.

For those that don't know, Thunderbirds is a classic 1960s puppet show about a group called International Rescue. the group consisted almost entirely of the all-male Tracy family, who piloted the rescue ships known as the Thunderbirds. They are aided by Brains (the resident mechanic, alias Hiram Hackenbacker), Tin-Tin (daughter of Jeff Tracy's old friend Kyrano), and Lady Penelope (International Rescue's London agent).

Thunderbird 1, piloted by Scott Tracy, is a single-passenger jet that is used to investigate scenes of emergency. It takes off from under a swimming pool.

Thunderbird 2, piloted by Virgil, is a carrier jet. It has all the rescue essentials, and can carry Thunderbird 4 if need be.

Thunderbird 3, piloted by Alan or John (usually Alan), is aspace ship. This ship usually transfers the pilot between Earth and Thunderbird 5, but has also been used to rescue space ships.

Thunderbird 4, piloted by Gordon, is a submarine (which, incidentally, is yellow). When not piloting TB4, Gordon has been known to pilot some of the other vehicles.

Thunderbird 5 is the space station where John is usually stuck. His job is to monitor all emergency frequencies.

Thunderbird 6 is a Tiger Moth.

Lady Penelope's servant, Aloysius Parker, drives her around in FAB1, a pink Rolls-Royce that has survived infinitely more battles than Bond's cars.

The series ran for 39 episodes and two movies (Thunderbirds are Go and Thunderbird 6). The first movie is a tad on the boring side, but the second is fairly engrossing fare which showcases some nice overhead shots (which were hard to do at the time).

As for the new movie? First the pluses:

I like the ship designs, Tracy Island looks like the original and Penny and Parker seem well-cast.

And the minuses?

Well, for starters, from the trailer, it appears that International Rescue isn't going to be as secretive as it once was. Thunderbird 1 was entered through a hatstand, 2 was entered through a picture on the wall, and three was entered through a couch. The reason for this was so they could keep the operation secret if someone came over to visit.

Is it just me, or is Tin-Tin now black and speaking with an American accent? Tin-Tin is supposed to be Malaysian and speak with a Malaysian accent.

And really, why are the Tracys so damn stupid as to get themselves all trapped aboard TB5?

And finally, The Hood (the bald guy) is Kyrano's brother. He's not supposed to have a British accent (but this I'm willing to forgive if Ben is otherwise good in the role).

So all in all...I'm not getting my hopes too high.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:41 am

>_< What is the point of taking a show where the characters are marionets (sp?) and making them live-action? CGI would have been better. I like Thunderbirds (not as much as I love Fireball XL5 though), but I don't know if I can bare to see this. And from what I've seen from the few trailers I've watched, it looks like they've changed Brain a bit (he was my favorite character T_T) He looks like a little kid in the movie (unless those trailers I saw were screwed).

Jusenkyo no Pikachu, slightly off topic, but in original show, is it me, or did Lady Penelope smoke and drink a lot. @___@ just something I noticed.

Jusenkyo no Pikachu · Post by **Jusenkyo no Pikachu** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 3:26 am

She had a cigarette holder but there wasn't too much alcohol. Lady P, being British, used to have more tea than alcohol/

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 7:04 am

I've heard of the original Thunderbirds, but never actually seen an episode, so I can't call myself a fan.

But from what I've seen of the trailer, it looks like another movie that won't have anything you haven't seen before. A few pretty FX, some explosions, sacchirine teenage semi-love story. Instead of the cliche of the parents not trusting the young child and having him prove them wrong, how about one where they do trust him with their secret stuff, and he screws up?

Lady of the Light · Post by **Lady of the Light** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 1:24 pm

Yeah, my Dad has been saying a lot of these things too. He's not very impressed that a show he used to watch as a kid being remade as a Spy Kids like movie. Since the original Thunderbirds were made a long time ago, they should be appealing to adults as well as kids, ne?
And like Peachvampiress said, it would have been better with CGI, because Thunderbirds as live action..well...ruins it. It's supposed to be marrionets (God, I can't spell that either), not people!
One thing that does look impressive, though, is the vehicles. True to the original, and they look very cool.
But my Dad and I have been waiting to see this (He's been waiting for years, he always said that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and make a movie out of the concept), so we're going to watch it...And wait to see what the results are.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 1:33 pm

Jusenkyo no Pikachu

She had a cigarette holder but there wasn't too much alcohol. Lady P, being British, used to have more tea than alcohol

@___@ that was tea? Well, it's been a long time since I've seen the show, but I seem to remember it as alcohol for some reason. That and I remember like five times an episode she was asking her man servant to light her cigarette. Oh well.

I was reading some reviews from people who got to see it early and it seems that everyone agrees that it sucked. T_T no justice for a classic.

Parallax · Post by **Parallax** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:14 pm

I saw the originals as a kid. Liked the originals stuff, but I'll wait til after I've seen Spider-Man 2 to give you guys my review of the remake of Thunderbirds Are Go.

Sailor Wind · Post by **Sailor Wind** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 11:32 pm

I haven't actually seen any of the thunderbirds episodes but that might be because i'm not into those sorts of T.V shows (puppet shows). I might see the movie, not for definate though since I don't know much about it.

Jusenkyo no Pikachu · Post by **Jusenkyo no Pikachu** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:43 am

peachvampiress wrote:Jusenkyo no Pikachu
She had a cigarette holder but there wasn't too much alcohol. Lady P, being British, used to have more tea than alcohol
@___@ that was tea? Well, it's been a long time since I've seen the show, but I seem to remember it as alcohol for some reason. That and I remember like five times an episode she was asking her man servant to light her cigarette. Oh well.

I was reading some reviews from people who got to see it early and it seems that everyone agrees that it sucked. T_T no justice for a classic.

You remember wrong. It would have been physically impossible for Parker to light a cigarette without a closeup. And yes, it was tea--she had a communicator in her teapot.

And Parallax, I haven't the foggiest what you're on about. This new one isn't a remake at all--Thunderbirds Are Go was about an expedition to Mars getting sabotaged by The Hood.

crazydiamond · Post by **crazydiamond** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 9:01 pm

I think this movie looks horrible, IMO. I never saw the show, but the name sounded vaguely familiar. I think it looks...very cheesy. I'm not gonna see it. I'm not into that genre of movie, anyway (Spy Kids, Catch that Kid, etc).

Jusenkyo no Pikachu · Post by **Jusenkyo no Pikachu** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:16 pm

okay, I now have a couple of reviews up:

Thunderbirds Are Go
Thunderbird 6