Thunderbirds Cult Series Dvd : Thunderbirds Are Go - The Movie [1966]

Thunderbirds Are Go - The Movie [1966]

£29.96


Thunderbirds Are Go followed the remarkable success of the Thunderbirds television series, bringing the three-dimensional puppet animation adventures of International Rescue to the big screen. Set in the 21st century, there is no attempt to explain the background story: as in the TV show International Rescue is a private family organisation who use hi-tech craft to rescue anyone in peril. Here it is the first manned flight to Mars which is in danger, as International Rescue foils a sabotage attempt at the launch, then race to avert disaster when the spaceship returns to earth. What could have made a 50-minute TV episode is expanded to feature length with Martian rock monsters and a surreal dream-sequence involving Alan Tracy, Lady Penelope and Cliff Richard Jnr & the Shadows, with a new song performed by the real Cliff and the Shadows. In the cinemas this was competing against another British children s TV SF spin-off, the equally colourful Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD, and would be followed by Thunderbird 6 (1968). Yet apart from more complex model work, a bigger orchestra and even bigger explosions, on TV this plays like a widescreen double-length episode. On the DVD: The mono sound is powerful, with Barry Gray s stirring music suffering intermittent distortion. Presented in anamorphic widescreen the picture is very good, with strong colours and only minimal grain, though the print does show occasional damage. Unfortunately the original extremely wide 2.74:1 Techniscope image is cropped to more conventional 2.35:1, to the extent that the careful compositions are noticeably damaged, which director David Lane refers to in his joint commentary with producer Sylvia Anderson (who also played Lady Penelope). 35 years after the event their commentary is packed with details of the filming process and full of information about the many problems of and solutions to making an animated feature. Both Anderson fans and budding animators will find this a real education. The original, rather battered, trailer is included, as are galleries of behind the scenes photos, promotional artwork and posters. Altogether it s rather FABulous. --Gary S Dalkin

old skool! - Anyone who grew up loving thunderbirds like me will love this film. It s so quaint and I think it s great. Each character is completely different and I love the idea and the quirkiness of the film!!Awesome!

Awesome - I am of the age where I have to watch this in secret and make sure nobody can find out.Its brilliant.Made an old man very happy.Its probably ok for kids as well.

Still the best - Anybody who grew up watching Thunderbirds, as I did, will welcome the chance to see this movie version, which runs to 89 mins. The start is as we all remember, the marvellous music by Barry Gray, with slightly amended opening credits. The picture quality is pretty good and of course this being a Cinema release its in full widescreen 2.35:1 ratio (although originally even wider apparently), which is much better than the 4:3 of the TV series.The story is typical Thunderbirds material stretched out to make it into a movie length film. This its one failing. The elaborate launch of the zero-x occurs twice in the film, the first time is interesting as the models and ingenuity are fabulous, but the second time through I just felt this was filler and could have been cut considerably. However this is a minor quibble.I did not notice the music distortion mentioned by the Amazon reviewer, but the commentary is very good, making this an essential purchase for anybody interested Thunderbirds or Gerry Anderson in general.

THUNDERBIRDS - THUNDERBIRDS

Thunderbirds really are Go! - Now this is much much more than just an extended episode of the great Thunderbirds TV series...yes there are rescues and intrigues galore but there are two touches of genius present...1) the superb Zero-X with its lifing bodies, Martian Exploration Vehicle and even the sleek nose cone showed the model making skiils of the team at their best ( the coming together of the sections before launch and the Martian surface sequences are just brilliant )2) Putting Cliff Richard (Junior!) and The Shadows into this film was the icing on the cake with the haunting Lady Penelope track by The Shadows being one of my all-time favourite tracks.Yes I did watch this as a child in the cinema but it still works for me now.




Thunderbirds Are Go - The Movie [1966]