Thunderbirds Are GO (1968)

You won't be disappointed!

Wonderful Movie

Redundant and unnecessary.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

But it had big shoes to fill.Gerry Anderson plainly wanted to make something supplying more bang for his buck for the big screen, but in the process seems to have forgotten that 'Thunderbirds' is about International Rescue. Remarkably less time is actually devoted to the much-loved craft every kid in the sixties wanted to own than in any random episode of the TV series. (We don't even see Thunderbird Four.)Also sorely lacking from the series is Barry Gray's terrific music; which unchanged could have really ramped up the tension. But we instead get a rather light-hearted original score from Gray which often falls unsuitably silent at the most dramatic moments.Since so little time is devoted to International Rescue themselves, the crazy dream sequence seems even more overextended than it already is; and just seems to be there because Anderson wanted something different to the TV series. (Which I was perfectly happy with as it was!)The Mars mission is an interesting idea, but the hiccups that require the intervention of the Tracy boys are disposed of surprisingly perfunctorily, and receive insufficient screen time to wrack up the tension the TV series would deliver every week in under an hour. The sequence actually set on Mars - after a journey taking just six weeks! - seems to belong in a different film. (It also looks more like the Moon than Mars, as the pictures sent back by Viking 1 ten years later confirmed.) Nobody - including the Tracys - seems bothered that our first blundering act on encountering Martians seems tantamount to an unintentional declaration of war on Mars and its inhabitants.

For a very long time I have been trying to watch the tv series and could never finish an episode. I don't know why I thought this would be any better. I guess 60 years ago this was visually stimulating and that would make up for the complete lack of action or anything interesting happening. I was zoning out before the opening credits finished. If you can watch this entire movie you can watch anything.

I was a fan of the Anderson's work as a kid but I never got around to watching Thunderbirds - until today when I watched Thunderbirds Are GO for the very first time. I can't believe I was actually biting my nails over a puppet movie! The explosions easily out-do anything Michael Bay has ever done! Now I want to seek out episodes of the Thunderbirds series to see if they live up to the movie. I'm also curious about a more recent live-action effort of Gerry Anderson's that just came out on DVD: Space Precinct.And I definitely need to watch Thunderbirds Are GO a few more times to see if it lives up to my first impression! (It's now a few days later & Barry Gray's music has been stuck in my head the whole time!)

The space race continues with the first manned mission to Mars in the shape of the Zero-X. However things are put back when the Zero-X is sabotaged during take-off and crashes. Two years later the team are ready to try again but fears over security give them pause. With the Thunderbird team on standby, the mission goes ahead but can the Tracey family help make the perilous mission a success.With the live-action remake hitting the cinemas, I decided to avoid the kids in the cinema by watching this original feature instead. Those complaining about how the remake is not any good because of the fact that Anderson was not hands-on involved should perhaps check this out as it is proof that a feature-length version of the series was not any easier for the creator himself! I sat to this just content to see those great ships used well in a reasonable story but, I'm sad to say, that I didn't even get that. The film leaves it for about 20 minutes before the Thunderbirds even get involved and then they only really do anything of merit in the final 10 minutes. In terms of actual good content, I reckon you could have got an episode out of this easily enough but no more than that – and that's the problem. The plot is padded at the start with a very slow take off of Zero-X, in the middle with a terrible dream sequence and towards the end with a laughable mission on Mars!The Andersons' are entirely to blame because they wrote the script themselves and produced a padding piece of nonsense that lacks any sense of excitement, pace or, god help us, fun! The dream sequence is a good example – a silly, overlong section that only pads the film and exposes us to Cliff Richard and the Shadows; however the actual mission to Mars is equally as bad with aliens being settled on for the reason a rescue is needed at the end (however the aspect of flame-throwing aliens on Mars is not even mentioned after this scene!). This is the film's great failing, it just cannot sustain the running time at all and most of the time it is very apparent padding that only frustrates – personally I think anyone else could have come up with a better plot for the film that would have seen more rescues and use of the Thunderbird ships. It is annoying because, as a child, I used to watch the show and I think the ships and the models were all cool however they were all very poorly used and most of the screen time seemed to be given over to the anonymous crew of the Zero-X and Lady Penelope.The cast do reasonable voice work but never manage to bring emotion to their delivery – something that could really have helped the poor story get a bit of tension into it. Although the song is awful, it is at least momentarily amusing to see puppets of Cliff Richard and the Shadows but, let me stress, it's only momentarily amusing. The only other voice of note is that of the late Bob Monkhouse, but he has little to do and it's one you have to listen for to catch it.Overall, even fans of the series will feel let down by this film. It is full of ineffective padding and essentially relegates the all-action thunderbirds into third place in their own movie! The writing is awful and will send fans rushing back to their boxsets and will leave the rest of the viewers reaching for the remote control. A very poor film in the place of what should have been a cool, breezy and fun big screen outing for fans.