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"Thunderbirds" (1965) More at IMDbPro »

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30 comments in total

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14 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Immortal Sci-Fi Marionette Series, 19 November 2002
Author: Michael Daly (fanstp43@aol.com) from United States

Thunderbirds is justly remembered as Gerry Anderson's best series, and its mixture of memorable characters, superb production values, strong scripts, and tense action remains enticing. The concept of a "free-lance" rescue organization using highly advanced machinery for rescues in exceptionally dangerous situations hits home immediately, and the characterization (enhanced by the show's one-hour format) adds enormously to the tension and sympathy within the show's 32 episodes.

Anderson recruited a superior voice cast in Peter Dyneley, Shane Rimmer, David Holliday (who regrettably left the show after its first season), Matt Zimmerman, veteran AP Film voices David Graham and Ray Barrett, Christine Finn, Gerry's then-wife Sylvia, and John Tate. Though some of the dialogue can be a bit cheesy, it still works, imbuing each character with sympathy and draw. It all enhances the enjoyably lavish sets, props, and special effects that create the intriuguing mixture of future with circa-1964 present. Adding a sweep and majesty to the procedings is the score of Barry Gray, using a large orchestra and displaying an often clever grasp of its strength, from the opening teaser and main march openings to each episode through the many incidental cues used, employing multiple instruments down to a solo by banjo or guitar to create the proper atmosphere.

When it all comes to conclusion, the show wins on almost every level, making for an immortal series.

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
What was it like to be a kid back in the 60's went this came on, 14 February 2003
Author: raysond from Chapel Hill, North Carolina

5......4.......3.........2.........1......

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!!!!!

And what youngster who didn't recognized the start of the show's theme during the 1960's where the era of James Bond, mini-skirts, and just about every spy show there is to boot?

First off,I am a HUGE fan of this show. My parents didn't understand it. My brother didn't care about it. As for me and my cousin who would thumb through the TV section in the local newspaper to see what time it came on....DEFINITELY YES!!!! WE WOULD NEVER MISS IT!!!!

During my childhood in the late-1960's and early 1970's,this show would come on every weekday afternoon and mostly Saturday mornings and afternoons as well as me and my cousin would be hooked to the TV set to catch what the Thunderbirds would get into next cause with this show you can expect the unexpected. For some,they may say that this show consisted of models and puppets and geared toward children as it target audience.....and in my book.....THEY WERE WRONG! THIS SHOW ROCKS!!!!

For the 32 episodes that ran during its two seasons(which was showed first in Britain and then on American television on NBC-TV which after it went off the air in 1966,its repeats continue way into 1970 and from there into syndication until for the remainder of the decade until it disappear in oblivion during the 1980's and 1990's)this show was not just your typical kiddie fare material but it was so more much. Where else can you see gorgeous ladies in distress,spectacular machinary that was out of this world and was the best part of the show,amazing spy gadgets and outlandish sets of wonder and magical beyond belief,and not to even mention evil villains set out to take over the world and also spellbinding cliffhanging excitement that left you in total amazement.

All presented in brilliant color and Supermarionation!!!!

It was no wonder that when the show went off the air in 1966,the crew made their first ever feature length motion picture of the same title which was an international hit. However,the Thunderbird producers Garry and Sylvia Anderson went on to create not just other animated shows,but produced the live-action feature length film "Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun"(ITC/Universal,1969)and the series "Space:1999"(Syndication, 1975-1978)with former Mission:Impossible stars Barbara Bain and Martin Landau.

However after a lengthly absence,The Technology Channel or Tech-TV has brought back all those wonderful memories from the essence of my childhood which are showed Thursday nights. Great series. Don't miss one breathtaking episode!

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
PURE FUN, 2 May 2002
Author: Big Movie Fan from England

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!

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Wonderful wonderful Thunderbirds, 10 February 2006
Author: Les (lesjc@lineone.net) from Brighton England

Thunderbirds was a major part of my childhood. EVERYTHING stopped for Thunderbirds. It did not matter how many times we watched the episodes they remained as fresh as the first viewing. There is a lot of camp humour about the puppets dangling around on their strings but I never noticed that much due to the brilliant idea of never making the characters actually walk. Seriously you watch the TV episodes again you never see anyone put one foot in front of the other. Even the lithe brave Tracys scoot around on little hoverbikes that defy all the laws of physics.

All this did not matter I simply adored EVERYthing about the Thunderbirds series. If I was not watching it I was building Thunderbird craft out of LEGO or sawing the crude wheels of the few Thunderbird toys that were available. Then Captain Scarlet came along and shot down the Thunderbirds. That was quite a good series but it never gripped me as much. Then the years rolled by with only TV21 to keep my appetite for the show nourished until even that with its full colour photos from the show came to an end. Reluctantly I had to leave the Tracy's world and return to my own. AND THEN! The entire series was released on DVD. I had to own it! With trepidation I inserted the first disk . Would the show seem childish and crude against my current diet of StarTrek, Starwars and all the others. Not a bit, as soon as that countdown began once again and the screen was rocked by those explosions I had seen so many times before I was hooked ! Again I was amazed at how fresh and alive the episodes are even after all these years. Even the special effects hold their own in our CGI world. Thunderbirds is an absolute classic. If you have never watched it then I envy you.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Find it, watch it, love it., 11 September 1999
Author: RayB from Guisborough, U.K.

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!

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Wild action drama fantasy for TV., 22 February 2004

Author: roddmatsui from los angeles

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.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic 60's TV show, 6 October 2003

Author: moysant from Australia

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.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
To re-live the magic of toys, 25 February 2004
Author: ogonzalez from Santiago, Chile

You know what I like about this show: it takes me back in time to the days when I loved to play with toys, the days when I used to spend the whole afternoon in the bedroom of a friend of mine playing on the floor with our toys, late into the night, imitating the sound of jet engines with our mouths, crashing our plastic planes into one another, mimicking gunfights, battles, explosions. A few weeks ago I was surprised to find that Chilean TV is replaying the show on Sundays. Last time I had seen one episode must have been fifteen years ago or more, I don't know. I watched and I found myself transported through time back to those days. I can't play with toys anymore, I have lost that childhood thing for toys. But watching the show I re-live the magic of toys, I feel again the beauty and the spell of toy trains, toy cars, toy trucks, toy soldiers, toy planes, etc. And I didn't remember the show looking so gorgeously great on TV (perhaps the reason for that is that back then I watched the show in black and white). Big fun from past!

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
England's answer to Japanese anime, 2 July 2001
Author: doctardis from New York, New York

The Thunderbirds used be one of my favorite shows as a child. The other day my son pulled a tape out of our video collection and asked to see it. It warmed my heart to see that he liked it for the same reasons I did. The Thunderbirds is one of several shows done by Gary and Sylvia Anderson. All their shows are the stuff of science fiction legend. These include Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Super car and the Thunderbirds are all puppets shows. The live action shows include the movie "Journey to the Farside of the Sun," the TV shows "UFO" and "Space: 1999" The style of super cool models for cars, planes, ships and spacecraft are common to all the shows. All the shows had a futuristic late 1960's style. Does any one remember the women with the purple hair in mini-skirts from UFO?

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Another British Innovation, 13 May 2003
Author: Brian Washington (Sargebri@att.net) from Los Angeles, California

This is one of the most innovative shows to ever come out of Britain. I really loved the idea of marionettes being the main characters and all the cool ships (Thunderbird 2 will always be my favorite). The only flaw I could see with the show is that you never actually saw the puppets move, as in walking. They were either sitting down or standing still. Too bad that the Sci-Fi Channel isn't showing this wonderful series. Not all of us have Tech T.V..

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