Review of Thunderbirds Are Go / Thunderbird Six (Box Set)

Introduction

With the all live-action `Thunderbirds` movie about to hit the silver-screens around the UK, MGM have shrewdly decided to re-market two previously available movies in a superb double-disc box set edition, with some reasonable extras. It`s a timely reminder of what all the fuss was about in the first place and I`ve got to say, it`s rather good!

In truth, having seen the trailer for the new movie (Ben Kingsley as `The Hood`? Surely not!), I find myself in a reactionary frame of mind, re-enforced by a re-viewing of these wonderful movies. Surely Thunderbirds is all about `SuperMarionation`, inventive miniaturisation, gentle-paced editing and dialogue, saturated colours and …well, the 1960`s? All the stuff that made it so magical in the first place. In fact the magic was so utterly compelling that in 1966 media mogul Lew Grade offered up £250,000 to Gerry Anderson`s production company to start work on what was to be a spectacular feature film version of the popular TV Series; Thunderbirds are Go!

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO

The film itself is set 100 years into the future at the time of filming, 2065, and in a way it`s a kind of `4 episodes for the price of one` affair, though each new part of the story is linked. (The narrative is a little strained if truth be told but that`s not what this movie is all about so we won`t dwell on that here!) The first bit of excitement occurs when `The Hood` sabotages Zero X on its first manned mission to Mars causing it to crash into the sea. Two years on, a second mission is launched, though this time with International Rescue in charge of security. Lady Penelope goes undercover as a reporter and she and Scott unmask The Hood (it`s a scary moment as the rubber mask is ripped from his face) as he attempts to stow away aboard the all new Zero X, which looks remarkably identical to it`s predecessor.

That clears the way for a successful mission but the crew are attacked by some pretty scary Martian Rock Snakes and almost don`t make it back to Zero-X. And as if that wasn`t enough adventure for one movie, on their return to Earth, Zero X`s locking gear is damaged trapping the crew aboard a vehicle destined for a crash-landing. Thunderbirds are Go!

According to those involved in production of the movie, the budget opened up all sorts of possibilities hitherto not possible and visual effects Director Derek Meddings (known also for his work on James Bond movies until he passed away in 1995) was quick to commandeer a healthy chunk of what was available, setting up a 28 strong team and using no less than three stages at Pinewood. The team then spent nearly 6 months completing the special fx and miniature model sequences that make the film a reference for pre-production teams looking at spacecraft miniaturisation to this day. (The team responsible for `Aliens` for example quote the movie as an important reference point) .As a consequence of this painstaking effort, the film is packed with crashes, bangs and explosions that continue to look impressive almost 40 years on.




The original Zero-X model was 7 feet long, weighing in at over 50 Lbs, and cost the princely sum (for the day) of £2,500 to build. Perhaps this level of investment, along with the pride of the unit in work well done, could account for why the opening scene to the movie (essentially Zero-X taxiing along a run-way and preparing for take-off) lasts for an astonishing 5 or 6 minutes. Possibly the slowest start to any children`s adventure movie ever! But don`t be put off - because once it lifts off, the remainder of the movie is all action! (Even Director David Lane concedes in the audio-commentary that the pace of editing, whilst sympathetic to the gentle movement of puppetry, is incredibly slow compared to contemporary fast-cut editing).

The marionettes are pure magic of course. Here we still have the disproportionately large heads (required for the inner circuitry that works the eyes and mouth) that were also a feature of Stingray, Supercar and Fireball Xl5 - but these simply add to the charm. There is a greater detail to features and so on here, with all the major puppets getting a full makeover to make them suitable for closer scrutiny on the big screen. And they look FAB! Attention has also be paid to disguising the strings, almost invisible here, with crew literally painting each line in background colours on occasion in an attempt to lose them completely. It`s easy to forget that this is a huge block-busting movie whose principal cast are all wooden puppets. There`s even a scene where the Tracy boys are playing pool - almost deliberately challenging!

Highlights for me include Lady Penelope taking afternoon tea, receiving a message from Jeff Tracy via the teapot, which doubles as a phone, asking: "Can you pull a few strings for me Jeff?". Irresistible!

Another highlight worth a mention is the fantastic dream-sequence visit to the `Swinging Star` nightclub, with (puppet versions of) Cliff Richard and The Shadows providing the entertainment. A neighbour of the Andersons at their holiday home in Portugal, Richard was a great fan of the show and jumped at the chance to get involved, cutting an exclusive track for the movie (`Shooting Star`). Like many folk, I find the little wooden version of him far preferable to the real thing - pure magic!

Amazingly, despite a glittering premiere, the movie didn`t do the predicted business at the Box Office, though at Christmas 1966 it faced some stiff competition with Batman, Born-Free, The Sound of Music, The Lady and the Tramp and The Wizard of Oz all doing cinema runs at the same time.


THUNDERBIRD 6

Despite the lack of success of the first movie, £300,000 was found to invest in a second attempt, `Thunderbird 6`, first screened in July 1968. This was a very different affair. Set in 2068, it has a completely irresistible plot, altogether less to do with explosions and spacecraft, and much more to do with espionage and subterfuge, increasingly a major ingredient in popular television of the time. The tease here is the reveal of a `new` Thunderbirds vehicle, which Brains has been tasked to create. Having also designed a revolutionary new automated airship, Skyship One, Brain`s colleagues Penelope, Alan and Tin-Tin have been invited aboard the craft on its maiden voyage around the world.

Alan and Tin-Tin travel by Tiger Moth bi-plane to rendezvous with Lady Penelope and Parker in England and all four board the airship, unaware that the entire crew have been `terminated` and replaced by agents of The Hood. (No - not Ben Kingsley. The real Hood!!)

This sinister crew bug lady Penelope, recording her (lovely) voice in order to re-edit it to create false orders and messages to fox the Thunderbirds crew, luring them to a sticky end at a disused airfield. It`s full of fun, charm and humour - and there`s a healthy dose of Lady Penelope, another star of the piece here, which deserves extra points in my book! Overall, the script is very much better than the first movie`s though there is less in the way of special effects, explosions and rescues. This is really a film where the peripheral characters from Thunderbirds step forward and take starring roles. Parker and Brains are simply magnificent and we see Brains in a new light as idea after idea is rejected and he becomes increasingly frustrated and sarcastic.

(David Graham`s voice work on these two characters is the stuff of legend, and I was lucky enough to have worked with him on occasion. A charming, un-assuming gent of the `old school` he was more than prepared to adapt the part I`d written for him to take it a little closer to `Parker` without any hesitation or embarrassment! He wasn`t slow to recognise an old fan!)

I won`t spoil the `Thunderbird 6` reveal - except to say that it won`t be quite as spectacular as you might imagine. But in the context, it`s fine. (Cryptic enough?).

It`s perhaps worth noting that if the heads look slightly smaller, it has nothing to do with aspect ratios, transfers or imagination. They were! Technical advances in the puppet workshops in Slough meant that it was now possible to reduce the size of the puppets` heads to correct human proportions. With Captain Scarlet now in production, these new style puppet heads gave a more realistic effect. This was really a reflection of the never-ending determination of Anderson to get his puppets as close to `real-life` as possible. In my view, they lost their charm at this point, with `Captain Scarlet`, `Joe 90` and the hardly viewed `The Secret Service` falling short of earlier series in terms of pure charm and magic. For `Thunderbird 6` Anderson`s team reached a compromise and new puppets were created where the heads and hands were still a little on the large side, but less so than in the Thunderbirds television series and Thunderbirds Are Go.

The movie was another box-office flop, probably because release was delayed by 6 months following completion and by then the second series of Thunderbirds had been aborted 6 episodes in (with no US takers) and the publicity machine had already moved on to `Captain Scarlet`. By 1968, Thunderbirds was feeling like old news.

Nonetheless, it remains a movie full of fun and MGM`s costs must have been recouped many times over through video exploitation of the film during the series surprise revival in the early 1990`s. The timing of this two-film box set could be very good indeed with all the publicity surrounding the live action movie. The hijacking (and murderous disposal of the crew) on the airship may also have a sinister contemporary resonance too - though I truly hope that this will get lost amongst the sheer fun of the whole affair.

Video

I saw `Thunderbirds are Go!` at the cinema in 1967 but can remember very little about it, other than turning up in a PVC Thunderbirds outfit for a Saturday morning showing that meant the last thing on most attendees minds was sitting down and watching the movie.

I then took a pilgrimage in 1987 from my home in South-West London to a cinema in North-East London to see the movie but was disappointed to view a very scratched print that even had missing frames where the print had snapped on previous screenings.

So (until now) I had only seen the movie on a VHS release which was, not only 4:3, but also all the things I hate about that format. This smart transfer is a real treat - perhaps the best viewing yet. It`s worth noting that both movies were shot in `Techniscope` rather than `Panavison` due to depth of field issues with some of the moving models. `Techniscope` is technically half of a 35 mm frame. The footage was then cut and transferred to 35mm prints for viewing and distribution. But they both look absolutely wonderful here! Framing wise, the original movie was shot at 2:74:1, so there is some marginal cropping on both movies - but nothing like the hatchet job done on the 4:3 video version.

Audio

Some splendid re-mastering here from the original mono masters to Dolby Stereo 5.1. It sounds great - which is more than can be said for the decidedly quirky transfers on the TV series sets. The music is terrific with Barry Gray penning some new and impressive scores for both movies. Particularly impressive is the Zero-X theme on `Thunderbirds are Go!`. Fans of the main theme may enjoy the rousing rendition by the Royal Marines included in the closing credits of `Thunderbirds are Go!`. There are a variety of language versions too though some are in Mono only. Dialogue and Effects are crisp, full and utterly contemporary sounding.

Features

Where are all those `Making of featurette`s` that I`d heard so much about? They weren`t on the review discs, so it may be worth checking before you buy as they`re certainly on the R1 versions.

The menus for both are CGI animations (pretty primitive, a little bit cheesy and out of character with the period pieces on offer) and are simple to navigate. Sub-titles are available for both movies (usual EFIGS type selection) - and more impressively, also available on the audio commentaries.

The audio commentaries are actually very good here. Sylvia Anderson is on fine form, and Director David Lane has much of interest to add. (I worked with Audio Engineer Nick Watts last week who has been responsible for most the commentaries on Anderson releases, including the sessions with Sylvia Anderson. He had this to say: "Generally we play back a DV tape version and just let them speak. Sometimes the Producer (of the DVD) will prompt them with questions and so on if the commentary dries up. If they`re really reminiscing we stop the tape and let them finish. Sometimes that`s the best material, and we add it onto the commentary track at the most relevant points. Sylvia Anderson pretty much talks to the tape as it happens. It`s then taken away as a composite WAV file for final tweaking and alignment with the movie. 50% spontaneity, 50% prompted, recorded and positioned in post." So now you know…). Perhaps the reason they work so well here is that there`s so much trickery, so much technical accomplishment in not using real people, that the `how we did it` is genuinely interesting. So frequently, in my opinion, Director`s commentaries are dull and superfluous. It would have been nice to have heard from Gerry, but from what I hear it`s unlikely that you`d get both he and Sylvia on the same disc. There just wouldn`t be adequate space!

`Thunderbirds are Go` has an amusing matching game where you decide the correct order to build up Zero-X. You`re rewarded for getting it right with a small clip of a Sylvia Anderson. Having tried every permutation, it didn`t take long to get it right. One strictly for the kids! Similarly, on `Thunderbird 6` there is a matching game that challenges you to match the right pilot to the right vehicle. I think it`s a testament to my life-times dedication to all things Anderson that I got it right first time!

Additionally there are theatrical trailers which are a little sparkly and scratched, but they certainly get you in the mood for a re-run!

Finally, there`s a Photo gallery on each disc which feature production stills from the movie. Interestingly, these play automatically like full-screen video along with audio accompaniment and are actually quite fun.

Conclusion

It`s difficult to remain objective when reviewing personal favourites. I`ve been a long-time fan of these charming wooden heroes, and these re-mastered editions of their two motion-picture outings are nothing short of fabulous!

My only grumble is that I didn`t get the limited edition cards and stickers, and no sign of the much vaunted `6 Making of Featurettes` which may have been excluded from these review copies, or possibly confined to the R1 releases only. (Damn! I`ll have to buy a copy!) But what I did get was mightily impressive. Wonderful digital transfers that present these two magical and engaging movies at their best. The audio commentaries will be a real-treat for hardened fans too. Price indicators seem to vary wildly, but it`s available on-line for around £15:00 and for a priceless double-pack like this, worth every penny! This could well be the perfect anti-dote to the block-busting live action version which, if the trailers are anything to go by, could be disappointing. Save your money and invest in these two classics instead. The pleasure increases with every viewing!