Those of us old enough will have fond memories of the puppet action television series “Thunderbirds” which was devised and filmed by the late Gerry Anderson and his team in the 1960s. It was so popular that it was continually shown right up until the 2000s.
The plot of Thunderbirds involved a fabulously rich family living on their volcanic island in the middle of nowhere. In their spare time they used fantastic rocket ships and other machines to rescue people in trouble. The good news for Thunderbirds’ many fans is that “International Rescue” is now able to do its business again in ITV’s new show: “Thunderbirds are Go”. And this time there are no strings attached.
Purists will be sad that there is no miniature model work. However technology has moved on and instead of string puppets and models, computer animation is now used to move the characters and machines around. And kids (of all ages) will still be thrilled at the visuals.
In fact, it would be fair to say that Thunderbirds, along with its Gerry Anderson stable-mates, Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlett and Stingray, have inspired many of the aerospace engineers currently working today and this show promises to do the same.
Of the characters, poor old Jeff Tracy, the father figure of the original series, has got the bullet from this new series (surely there is a little ageism is at work here?), but his boys, still named after the original Mercury 7 astronauts, remain. And yes, it is always nice to hear that a character is called Virgil – so named after the late Virgil “Gus” Grissom.
As for the flying machines, well the hypersonic ramjet-like Thunderbird 1 looks pretty much the same (albeit with slightly narrowed wings). The lumbering Thunderbird 2 now sports much larger engine intakes and cowlings but remains more or less faithful to the original. That schoolboy favourite, the red Thunderbird 3 single-stage-to-orbit space rocket, is unchanged, however, the Thunderbird 4 diving submarine has had some cosmetic work.
On that note, it is the Thunderbird 5 space station that has been the most radically altered of the “craft”, though not as much as the Brains’ character. Brains’ previous Woody Allen-like stuttering brainy-boy has morphed into a techie-type character with a pronounced Indian subcontinent vibe. This was probably done for well meaning laudable diversity and “inclusivity” reasons, but appears to have fallen into a racial/employment stereotyping trap.
As a derivative of the live-action film, the new series is aimed squarely at 5 to 10-year-old-boys plus a few like-minded girls out there. Yes – again for reasons of post-feminist modernity and to increase its fan-base – there are more action-orientated female characters. It should be remembered here that the upmarket but tough Lady Penelope was well ahead of this trend in this respect in the 1960s. She remains – ably served by her down-at-heal butler/driver Parker – voiced by the same actor of the original series.
With respect to the plots, the adventures are gripping, having wisely borrowed some from the inventive original series.
Parents will be pleased to know there is little horror or gun violence (the original harder-edged 1960s series did have a bit more – the episode involving giant alligators was a particular favourite), though the new series does still have a menacing baldy villain dubbed “the Hood” (adding to its other discriminations, surely this is baldy-ist against the follically-challenged? 🙂 ), who tries his best to do down International Rescue.
Aerospace-centric fans will be relieved that the flying sequences are truly spectacular. And while there are a few qualms about the technical reality, in truth there always were.
For example, who knows how the massive Thunderbird 2 ever manages to take off? But it always does – and the rescued are always grateful after it has delivered the necessary rescue machinery. “Thunderbirds are Go” is still one of the children’s television series that adults will find worth watching – though you have to get up early to see it as it is currently shown on British TV (ITV) at 8am on Saturday mornings. Ah well – at least it will keep the ankle-biters quiet for a while.
Seradata’s rating: 7/10 with flying sequences that are F.A.B. Virgil.
