Thunderbirds

The series concerns upon a family whose objectives are guard the world of the perils and risks originated by nefarious baddies who desire dominate it and rule over and avoid natural forces that create destructive catastrophes . It's an all time work for the astronaut Jeff Tracy , a courageous dad who orders rightly to his sons , some braves and young heroes who utilize extraordinary machines called ¨Thunderbirds¨ and the world depends of them . Thus, Thunderbird 1 (pilot Scott Tracy) , Thunderbird 2 (pilot Virgil) , Thunderbird 3 (Pilot Alan) , Aquanat 4 (pilot Gordon) , space monitor control (John). Besides , they are helped by engineer Brains , a stuttering nutty wise man and an attractive London agent , lady Penelope , and of course the chauffeur of her spectacular car .

Their missions are denominated ¨international rescue¨ carried out by the Thunderbirds , for example , in the episode ¨sun probe¨ they are saving a craft crew who lead to sun or confronting nasty enemies as the chapter titled ¨the uninvited¨ . ¨ Thunderbirds¨ emerge as an exciting and stimulating marionettes/action and with extraordinary airplanes and rockets controlled by the family members , intervening anywhere being necessary . This splendid series shot in Videcolor and Supermarionaton . The puppets are magnificent although are observed the wires that create the movement . The television series obtained a lot of success and today are considered a classic cult television . The episodes will appeal to nostalgics and children.

When I was a kid I used to get up at 5am to watch this show (pre-video recorder days) with with the volume turned down low so I wouldn't wake my family. Recently, I came across one of the videos in the library and have been slowly rewatching them since. It ain't just nostalgia for my youth motivating me - I still love the models of the planes, spaceships, satelittes, sea ships, nuclear power stations, etc, which are brillantly done. The convincing explosions are still so exciting. The colours are phenomenal - you know that 60's TV colour - pastels and grey and stuff. Plus the jet engine soundtrack and the crazy fashions (those Tracy boys wearing their button down shirts and jackets even though they live on a private island and they complain about it being a warm day). Those jaunty little (impractical) caps. So cool (well the 60s have come back in fashion several times since).

Hell, the characters took second fiddle to the machines and the accidents, but there was just enough given away so the audience could extrapolate whatever they liked (like Garbo's face). If you actually watch them all, you're never actually told, say, that John is frustrated that he doesn't go on enough missions, but it is stated as fact in all the books and the websites. Or that Scott is a light sleeper. And sure it is riddled with errors as well - like that they must protect their identities and keep the island base top secret, but Jeff Tracy gives out his name in one episode to the US navy. Well, d'oh! And there is some really stupid technical stuff (same episode where the Empire State building collapses - but it topples over rather than collapses down on itself as we now know skyscrapers do). But aren't all TV shows stupid and simplitic (think Buffy, think Star Trek, think Soapies!).

It is so quaint - hey, these days the idea of five men in the early 20s sharing an island with one young woman (Tin Tin), and constantly being involved in dangerous rescues - well, there would be fighting and drugs, nervous breakdowns, sex and rebellion.

There is a movie slated for 2004. Hopefully it will update this little pearler of a show, and avoid being the next Lost in Space debacle.

An ancient kids T.V. show featuring string puppets and models suspended on wires. Nobody's gonna watch this, right? Wrong.

From the superb intro sequence on you'll be hooked! It wins in every department: music, production, direction; even the model sequences, dated though the techniques now are, work brilliantly (and so they should - the guy who supervised them was Derek Meddings, who went on to do the effects for several of the Bond films, as well as Batman and Superman).

Find this series on tape or scan your T.V. listings. You won't regret it. There were 32 fifty-minute episodes and each was a little gem. There were also two cinematic feature films!

Thunderbirds Are Go!

Thunderbirds was a top Gerry Anderson show right up there with Captain Scarlet and Stingray.

Thunderbirds is one of those shows which is enjoyable for so many reasons-the storylines, the action, the characters, the adventures.

Thunderbirds was longer than most other Gerry Anderson shows which allowed for better stories and better character development. The show was set around the Tracy Brothers who were behind International Rescue. They had 5 vehicles. Thunderbird 1 was a reconnaissance craft. Thunderbird 2 was a huge plane which could carry all types of equipment. Thunderbird 3 was a space rocket. Thunderbird 4 was a submarine and Thunderbird 5 was a space station. The head of International Rescue was Jeff Tracey. Throughout the series the Tracy boys were aided by Brains who always came up with a solution to problems they encountered. And they also received help from Lady Penelope and Parker as well. The Hood was the evil villain who attempted to steal their secrets but always failed.

The puppetry was amazing in this series and the adventures were great. International rescue got involved in all types of situations. My favourite episodes were Cry Wolf where a young lad makes a hoax call to International Rescue and Attack of the Alligators where International Rescue have to rescue some people from giant alligators.

This is a timeless classic and if there are any youngsters out there who have not watched it then I urge you to-it really is that good!

This is perfect entertainment.

Everyone can appreciate a good puppet show, and everyone can appreciate a good model; but this show took puppet shows and models to a bold new level of detailing and production complexity. I imagine that on paper it might have looked crazy to some, but believe me, it works. It is indeed, as mentioned in another viewer's comment, like a world of toys come to vibrant life.

The making of this show necessitated a fabricated miniature universe. For the premise to work, that world had to be obsessively detailed, with every doorknob, switch, coat button and lock of hair. If the show went to the mountains, they created the mountains. When the ships were in flight, they created the sky. Whatever was needed to pull the story off was built; there was no limit. That these people created a world as believably as they did deserves real praise.

"Thunderbirds" represented a budgetary step up and a refinement of technique for Gerry Anderson, who for years had worked to perfect an all-puppet TV show that could be taken as serious drama. It was always targeted at kids, but the stories seldom featured child characters, and being a "rescue show," the characters were routinely placed in very threatening predicaments. The effects used to depict scenes of destruction (supervised by Derek Meddings) were often frighteningly realistic. When I saw it as a kid, actually, I had no interest in it, because it seemed dry and "too adult." Seeing it many years later, my reaction was "Wow! How adult!"

The show is the source of many amusing chuckles today, mainly because its seriousness is absolutely unflinching, despite the fact that the puppets obviously aren't real people. The action was played straight, with appropriate dramatic music cues, and conventional film camera angles and cutting. This all conspired to create a very convincing puppet universe--one that no one would dare attempt today.

The recent DVD releases (from A&E) have gone through a digital cleanup process, which has brightened the colors and sharpened the images considerably. The original monaural audio has also been incorporated into a new surround-stereo "remix" featuring additional sound effects tracks. The augmented explosions are deafeningly loud at times--which is perhaps as it should be!

In a word: Amazing.