Thunderbirds Are GO (1966) User Reviews

F*A*B, my lady.

[mstomaso · 6/10 · 27 April 2005]

WOWZERS!!! What a classic of sixties cinema silliness! TV's Thunderbirds are brought to the screen for a feature-length outing complete with goofy anonymous foreign perpetrators, bizarre dialog and lots of flying animated toys! This is a film that really should be seen at least once by everybody interested in film-making. Before I discuss the plot, let's talk about what the film is really about. Because the plot is just a distraction. This film is about making a film with marionettes and toys in the place of actors and special effects. Now, before you close your browser and head to Blockbuster to NOT RENT Thunderbirds, think about this - the film-makers, improbably, ACTUALLY PULL IT OFF! This film is entertaining and watchable, but more for its inventiveness and experimentalism than anything else.

The plot is honestly not worth discussing, and would have made for a truly awful film had it not been done with puppets and toys. It is a purely fantasy vision of the 21st century, though some of the technology used in it is no less ridiculous than - say - that which appeared in Star Trek Voyager. If you've seen the Thunderbirds TV show you already know exactly what to expect, and this film really amounts to two or three episodes stitched together with a very fine thread. Basically, the Thuderbirds are a family (all boys, of course, one has to wonder how they reproduced), and a couple of mystery women (one is an elegant but unpretty female James Bond type, and the other seems to serve no real purpose) who live in and run an International security base, and have incredible technical and piloting skills, allowing them to carry out very dangerous aerial missions at very high speed (it helps that they are made of wood, I guess). The central plot, if there is one, involves NASA's first manned space flight to Mars and two attempts (one sabotaged by a very unpleasant looking spy) and the second ... well... I won't spoil it. Of course, it's the Thunderbirds to the rescue in both cases.

As a rule, I do not like masks, elaborate costumes and puppets. In fact, I remember despising the Thunderbirds TV show when I was a very young hardcore sci fi fan, because of the scary bobbleheaded characters and the poor use of the sci-fi genre. I was too young to understand what was really going on. What saves this film for me today is its very good sense of aesthetics. The sets are interesting and detailed. Even the monsters (occupying a very short segment about 2/3rds of the way through) are innovative and interesting. Despite the fact that the special effects are ridiculous, you keep watching because its fascinating to see how the film-makers accomplish each effect. You also keep watching because even though the voice talent is unrelentingly average the animated marionettes manage to do better body language than many contemporary flesh and blood actors.

I am not sure Thunderbirds is a film I will see again, but I am glad I saw it once.

Big screen version of a Britains most successful sci-fi series

[michduncg-1 · 6/10 · 6 August 2006]

OK - here's the deal with the Thunderbirds phenomenon: Gerry Anderson & his then wife Sylvia had been producing puppet shows since the late 1950s for the British ITC worldwide distribution company. Progressing from Supercar, thru Fireball XL5 & Stingray (the 1st British TV show filmed in colour), they hit pay-dirt with Thunderbirds. The formula was simple - a worldwide organisation, with good looking heroes (made of plastic of course!), some pretty women for glamour, and lots of hi-tech craft, gadgets and gizmo's. To appeal to the important US market, the characters were often American, although this changed with Captain Scarlet when the cast was made up of a variety of international personnel. The shows were set in near future (about 100 years hence), and were designed to excite kids. And thats just what they did. But as a by-product, they excited adults as well! Thunnderbirds Are Go! gave Anderson and his huge team based in Slough (on the same industrial estate that David Brent occupied 40 odd years later to be exact!) a chance to deliver a colour show to the UK market. Unlike the US (with their inferior NSTC TV system), European TV wasn't available in colour, so all the UK kiddies watching TV only saw B&W. So, the big attraction in the UK for this film was the fact that you could see Thunderbirds in full colour and in cinema sound.

So the biggest adventure was launched, with the awesome Zero-X craft crashing not once, but twice, on its way to Mars. A huge opening scene, new characters, a dream sequence, alien encounters, a space battle. Having said all that, the basic plot is a rewrite of 'trapped in the sky', the Thunderbirds pilot episode, with extra padding. The Cliff Richard sequence is very surreal, but I am surprised that none of the Brits have picked up on Bob Monkhouse being the night club compere! The sets were fantastic and were in fact redesigned from those used on the TV programme, so that they looked better on the big screen. Also they looked a lot more hi-tech, with lots of stainless steel and primary colours - very James Bond in fact. Not surprising when you consider that the man doing the special effects was none other than Derek Meddings himself. And it was this attention to detail, the bangs, the noise, the jets, the rockets, the explosions, the splashes, the gadgets (the video telephone and electronic conference voting systems to name but two that have now come to frutition!) Thats what we watched Gerry Anderson for, and why we still love his programmes.

In all of Gerry productions, the values have been very much on hardware, although he has employed some of the best scriptwriters. I don't think anyone could claim that his stories have pushed the frontiers of sci-fi, but I don't think he ever meant to. He just meant to entertain, and this film should certainly do that!

"Thunderbirds Are GO"...ing in the wrong direction.

[Victor Field · 6/10 · 7 November 2002]

When it premiered in 1964, "Thunderbirds" became Gerry Anderson's most successful series (and remains the jewel in the Anderson crown to this day); its popularity was such that after the second shorter series - 26 episodes were produced in 1964, followed by a further six episodes in 1966 - a pair of feature films were made for the big screen. Unlike a lot of movies to come from TV shows (like "Mission Impossible Vs. The Mob," which was the two-part story "The Council" given a theatrical release), they were real movies, but they were never as popular as the source.

"Thunderbirds Are GO," the first of the two, deals with a manned mission to Mars which the Hood (International Rescue's recurring nemesis) tries to sabotage, but our heroes give the astronauts help both going there and on the return journey. The model work and special effects remain impressive, but Scott, Gordon, Alan, Gordon and John never defeat their real foes this time around:

1. With or without his wife Sylvia, Gerry Anderson's strengths were never in the writing department, and to his credit he knew it, which was why apart from the pilot episodes of his shows (and a few exceptions, such as the entire second season of "Supercar" and a couple of episodes of "Stingray") he left the actual writing to the likes of Dennis Spooner, Tony Barwick, Donald James et al. But he and the missus wrote the movie, and the weak pacing and terrible dialogue hobble the tale.

2. The movie's second act is an endless dream sequence (a staple of most Anderson shows - though tellingly, never of "Thunderbirds") featuring Alan Tracy, the most whiny and least appealing of the brothers. This is a three-time loser: it serves no real purpose outside of padding the running time, it stops the movie dead in its tracks in a manner not seen again until the Michael Jackson song in "Free Willy 2," and it provides the movie's official low point - an awful song from Cliff Richard (er, "Cliff Richard Jr.") and the Shadows, with a music video to boot!

All Gerry Anderson/"Thunderbirds" fans should see this movie once, and then go back to the previous 32 stories. (But the live-action military band performing the theme music at the end is a nice touch.)

International Rescue..Calling International Rescue

[redbeard_nv · 7 February 2002]

In the 1960's, British TV producer Gerry Anderson and his wife, Sylvia, went about making a series of shows based around a highly functional set of marionettes which where built around a process called Supermarionation, a speech syncronization system designed to have the puppet's mouth move in sync with the voice actor reading it's lines.

Combining it with some of the most fanciful designs of futuristic societies, they spawned a slew of shows including "Joe 90", about a boy with the ability to be programmed like a computer to do anything, from pilot a stolen jet fighter to perform brain surgery: "Fireball XL-5", a galactic adventure onboard a massive space cruiser, "Stingray", the tales of a super sub working for the World Aquatic Security Patrol ("W.A.S.P."), "Captain Scarlet", tales of an indestructible agent in a war against unseen Martian invaders called The Mysterons, et al.

Perhaps the Anderson's most famous and popular show in the hearts and minds of it's fans is "Thunderbirds". The background is simple. John Tracy, former astronaut and billionaire industrialist, decides to use his wealth to help the world by creating "International Rescue", a secret force of super vehicles designed by an in-house genius known simply as "Brain" and manned by his sons, each a superb athlete and trained expert in their fields (It is no doubt to some that his sons would have been Xtreme sports enthusiasts given the times). Brain's creations are the Thunderbirds, a set of highly specialized rescue and response vehicles each designed for specific purposes.

Thunderbird One is a hypersonic VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) vehicle used as a mobile command center. Thunderbird Two is a heavy lifter, capable of transporting pods containing rescue equipment to any location, from a subterranean "Mole" to the aquatic Thunderbird Four. Thunderbird Three is a space ship, launched from under the Tracy Island estate's pool (the vehicles launch sequences are themselves something to behold, since International Rescue is a secret organization, the deployment of the vehicles must also be the same, leading to some of the most unique ways of converting the Tracy Island compound into a launch & retrieval complex). As for Thunderbird Five, it is a monitoring station orbiting in space, listening in on the world's airwaves for the call.

A pink, armoured futuristic Rolls Royce bearing the license plate FAB-1 also come into play, as the property of one Lady Penelope, British aristocrat and undercover agent for International Rescue. Driven by a former resident of Wormwood Scrubs Prison known simply as Parker, it is bullet-proof,has an exceptionally heavy bit or ordinance under it's hood and is capable of Hydrofoil work on the water.

The way that they pull this off without it turning into a low rent kiddie show was from the contributions of such people as Derek Meddings, designer or the ships as well as the space craft and miniatures for movies like "Krull", "Moonraker", "Goldeneye" and many James Bond films. Barry Gray's scoring duties bring real tension and drama to the adventure.

Anderson was no slouch himself, creating many inventive effects shots using the highly detailed miniatures. This movie, surrounding the attempted sabotage and eventual rescue of a Mars exploration mission, displays the tools of Anderson's craft quite well. Look for another movie, Thunderbird 6, as well as newly digitally remastered releases of the original episodes on the shelves (and no, they did not digitally erase the wires). It is truly one of the best guilty pleasures from the past.

It also marked the end of Supermarionation, for with the exception of one puppet show ("Terrahawks"), Anderson's productions went into live actors, but still carried on the traditions of awesome miniatures with shows like "U.F.O", "Space:1999" and "Space Precinct".

Unfortunately,the big budget adaptation of the series, released in 2005, directed by Johnathan Frakes (Commander Will Riker of "Star Trek:The Next Generation"), was a muddled, childish piece of dreck which totally ruined the hopes of many aging fans of the original show for a decent and reverent homage to Anderson's vision, which probably explains his refusal to have anything to do with the movie.

Try to see it on the big screen

[BruceCorneil · 7/10 · 30 January 2004]

Further to my previous post regarding this film, I would just like to add that seeing it in a really good cinema ( as opposed to seeing it on television ) makes A lot of difference. The special effects, the art direction, the sound ... everything is SO much more imposing and impressive.

I never worried too much about "The Thunderbirds" when they were on TV in the 60s. I usually watched something else.

But seeing this picture up on the silver screen with the soundtrack coming through a decent sound system it's just superb.

I went along purely out of curiosity. It appeared on a double bill with "Thunderbird 6" which wasn't quite as good but still fun. BUT .... "Thunderbirds Are Go" was WONDERFUL !

Still Holds Up, Even If It Doesn't Quite Gel

[Steve_Nyland · 7/10 · 8 October 2008]

It's impressive to see how well Gerry Anderson's assorted Supermarionation projects have held up over the years. The Thunderbirds were always my favorite of the batch and this, their first feature film, is still an impressive, majestic entertainment for all ages -- even if it sort of misses a few of the marks that made the show such a global phenomenon.

I'd always wondered about that: Here was the first big screen adventures for the clever motorized puppets that made Anderson's shows so special, and the film seems to abruptly forget who the real stars were. It wasn't the puppets themselves but the marvelous rocket powered machines they flew. Just like the U.S.S. Enterprise was the real hero of "Star Trek", the Thunderbird machines themselves were the "stars" of Anderson's show, and yet they get surprisingly little screen time in their big epic cinematic debut.

Instead, the focus of the project is the Zero-X, an ungainly interplanetary rocket ship that was introduced in an effort to bridge the gap between "The Thunderbirds" series and Anderson's followup, the much more grown up and dark "Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons", a show that I never quite warmed to. In THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO the Zero-X and it's crew of astronauts is sent to the first manned voyage to Mars, where about all they do is manage to rile up the local populace of "Rock Snakes" who proceed to hurl fireballs at the Earthlings and chase them off. The ship would be back in the Captain Scarlet series to do more or less the same thing, according to the Wikipedia pages devoted to the Anderson franchises, with the movie's big set of Glenn Field Spaceport also playing a recurring role.

Meanwhile, the Thunderbird crafts themselves serve more as a Greek chorus to usher in the action of the film as they first escort the Zero-X into Earth orbit after a scurrilous sabotage attempt by the series' running villain, the Hood. And then they are brought back in for the conclusion where the Zero-X develops the inevitable malfunction that triggers the traditional Thunderbirds race against time to save the astronauts trapped on board from certain doom. All of it ends in another big colossal Gerry Anderson explosion that wipes out an entire (evacuated) town after some appropriate puppet heroics messing about with the power cables while the standard Thunderbird cast watches from a distance with great concern.

The film is exceedingly well made, and those with a taste for Anderson and Derek Meddings' particular brand of mechanized miniatures combined with animatronic puppetry will of course be delighted by the results. Non-fans of the series will probably be entertained as well, and there is even an amusingly clever musical interlude featuring Cliff Richard Jr. that feels like it was added for the hell of it. Well, why not? Especially if the Thunderbirds aren't really going to the focus of the proceedings. To a degree it really is just an extended episode with the Tracy family, the movie assumes viewers having a certain familiarity with the Thunderbirds' universe and usual devices. Explanation is tossed aside in favor of just getting to the action, and for a puppet movie there's plenty of it, even if the wrong machine is the one that gets the majority of the attention.

If it sounds like I'm annoyed by this rest assured that I adore this movie, used to get a genuine kick out of horrifying an ex-girlfriend with it from time to time, and it is indeed quite true that to really appreciate how majestic of a production it is you need to see it in the full widescreen -- something that's a bit of a pickle, since the film was shot in an ultra-wide 2:74:1 Techniscope ratio that may not come across adequately on even a contemporary widescreen TV display (a fact not helped by the DVD being presented in a 2:35:1 16x9 ratio, and the older VHS versions show a miserable pan/scan compression that utterly ruins the widescreen compositions).

It's still a treat however, boys over the age of about six will find this to be more addicting than Coco Puffs, and before you know it they will be clamoring for the "Thunderbirds Megaset" featuring all of the original full length TV adventures. And then they'll want to see Captain Scarlet, and Stingray and Supercar, and eventually UFO & Space: 1999 ... AND WHO COULD BLAME THEM? It's some of the most miraculous "family" entertainment ever devised, with even a downright grownup left turn with Anderson's under-appreciated JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. More than forty years later the material is still fresh and vital and capable of winning over new audiences with their positive, upbeat vision of the future where technology and humans work together to save the world. The kids might be a bit confused by all those rocket fumes though -- hardly a "green" vision of tomorrow, but then again this was the 1960s we were talking & about nobody gave a damn back then about a little jet fuel being consumed.

7/10: You KNOW you want your own copy. Say you got it for the kids and she'll let it pass.

Successful big screen adventure for the Tracy team

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 26 November 2016]

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO is a big screen outing for Gerry Anderson's popular puppet TV series and the good news is that it's a successful one. This successfully captures the magic of the show and is as exciting adventure as you could wish for. I always find myself impressed that Anderson's productions don't pander to kids in any way, instead telling adult story lines that just so happen to have puppets instead of actors on the screen.

A wealth of British voice talent helps things considerably and I would even go so far as to call this realistic, at least in the attention to detail. It says something that the puppets are more animated and have more character than many of the so-called TV stars of our modern age. The cameos by Bob Monkhouse and Cliff Richard help to make this a lively experience, and the globetrotting storyline is as explosive and action-packed as you could wish for. Fab? Yes, it is!

Cute and entertaining

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 9 November 2021]

Whats' not to like? A feature length movie of the famous puppet series we all loved as kids. This one has the Thunderbirds team saving astronauts on a first manned mission to Mars. It has all the usual cute miniature sets and bobbly headed puppet characters we know and love. A significant additional highlight in this one is provided by a surreal dream sequence where one character fantasises about going on a date with Lady Penelope on a space station, where Cliff Richard and the Shadows are the star attraction. That whole scene is worth the price of admission alone. This little exotic gem wasn't shot in Hollywood or Cinecittà, it was made in Slough Trading Estate - proper British glamour.

Thunderbirds are go

[sjmsurveyors · 9/10 · 1 May 2006]

When considering the standard of the film making quality its important to remember the age group at which the film is aimed at. Similarly the technology around at the time.

It beggars belief to see that there are individuals that are today criticizing the standards of what is fast approaching animation that is an entire working lifetime ago.

Having been a childhood fan of Fireball XL5, I watched the 'ZERO X' (Thunderbirds are go)film at the ABC Cinema in Birkenhead when it first came out. I remember the basic storey line and still appreciate the quality of a film from my childhood. Whilst Equally noting its standards by those of todays it still remains good for young children today.

Long may these films remain available in accessible archive records for all to access.

Steven

Thunderbirds Are Go-Go-Go!

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 1 August 2020]

With "Thunderbirds Are GO!" now being 54 years old (and coming from the pre-CGI era in movie-entertainment) the viewer is really gonna have to be willing to cut this "Supermarionation" production some serious slack in order to fully appreciate it.

'Cause, believe me, with all of its obvious flaws and faults staring one right in the face, this elaborately staged puppet show sure needs to be forgiven, big-time, for its dated appearance and all of its whatnot.

Anyway - If you can accept "Thunderbirds Are GO!" for being what it is (which is basically just some light-hearted cinematic distraction), then, (in the long run) I don't think that you'll be left disappointed with what it has to offer you.

"Now this is going to be a tough assignment..."

[The_Secretive_Bus · 3/10 · 24 June 2007]

I grew up on Thunderbirds repeats as a kid. The excitement, the explosions, the majestic Barry Gray scores... It was a wonderful programme. Even now I have a great soft spot for it and own the whole series on DVD. Though the episodes now seem quite padded here and there and I watch it with much more cynicism than I did as a child, I still love it. A good episode of Thunderbirds is the perfect nostalgia trip for me.

Sad to say, then, that the Thunderbirds movies retain little of the qualities that made the TV show such great fun. Perhaps it's the script: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were far better leaving the scripting duties to other writers as they couldn't write decent dialogue for peanuts. They wrote Thunderbirds' debut episode, which has awful expository dialogue and lots of pointless sequences that go nowhere - but the episode as a whole is still a classic due to the frenetic atmosphere, the sense of doom and the fantastically imaginative rescue (it's the episode where the Fireflash plane lands on three little buggies). "Thunderbirds are Go!" is just horrendously boring. The first ten minutes are taken up with the Zero-X ship being assembled. Very slowly. Later on we have a long dream sequence where Alan imagines going out for a date with Lady Penelope, which features Cliff Richard and the gang having a sing-song (a musical segment in a Thunderbirds movie - what were they thinking?!) and the entire subplot of what the Zero-X astronauts get up to on Mars has no bearing on International Rescue at all.

The Tracy brothers get hardly anything to do in their own film (John, as is customary, has about 5 lines of dialogue, and Gordon just sits about looking glum - even everybody's favourite, Virgil, has barely any screen time at all). Nor, in fact, are the Thunderbird craft used all that often. In 100 minutes of film there's only one real rescue (featuring Thunderbird 2), with IR overseeing operations at the beginning of the film - which involves them sitting around and peering contentedly at control panels. You'd think with 100 minutes - double the length of one of the TV episodes - the Andersons could've plotted loads of thrilling situations and rescues that involved all the Tracy brothers and their Thunderbird machines, but it was not to be. Thunderbirds 1 and 3 swoop about for a few seconds. Thunderbird 4 isn't even in it (despite being on the DVD cover). Nor are the pod vehicles present - couldn't we even have had the Mole drilling away at something? It really is a tedious film. And that's not even mentioning Alan Tracy ignoring his girlfriend, Tin-Tin, and fantasising about Lady P instead. Way to be a good role-model for the kiddies, Alan. Then again he was a snot in the telly series too...

Maybe I'm being too hard on what is meant to be an inoffensive kids' film featuring explosions and great model work. But then again the TV show was a genuinely exciting and exhilarating programme, which, at its best, provided great entertainment. "Thunderbirds are Go!" has an uneventful plot, awful dialogue, no decent set-pieces, and - the cardinal sin - a boring rescue that doesn't even utilise the Thunderbird craft to the best of their abilities. It's difficult to imagine kids being wowed by it. You'd be far better off going back to the telly series. Show your kids the Fireflash episodes, or that brill one where giant alligators attacked a manor house. Heck, show them the daft one where Parker encouraged everybody to play bingo for half an hour. Both younger viewers and adults looking for warm nostalgia will be disappointed with "Thunderbirds are Go!" Avoid.

An Absolute Delight!

[mymainbox08 · 9/10 · 4 January 2009]

Gerry Anderson is one of the very few stellar heroes of British TV production, and this classic THUNDERBIRDS offering is an absolute delight. Such a shame that folks in the USA and other countries didn't have the opportunity to grow up with Gerry Anderson's weekly TV shows the way two decades of children throughout the 1960s and 70s did in the UK - we were so privileged. His production values and characterisations are always consistently exceptional, and his work has surely influenced the creativity of virtually everyone above the age of 35 working in the British film and TV industry. THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO like all his other work is so much more than just a puppet show - the characters and their interactions have depth, the action, the angles, the voice acting talents, the tension are all filmic and it's so easy to imagine these are real people not plastic toys. Please watch it and anything else he's done. For me one of the greatest things about THUNDERBIRDS and most other Gerry Anderson shows is the MUSIC, which is simply thrilling. The THUNDERBIRDS theme tune is an absolute undeniable classic, and the greatest joy of this particular production is that it concludes with an actual outdoor performance of the theme tune by Her Majesty's Royal Marine Band playing their chops while marching on the parade ground - UTTERLY FABULOUS - made my scalp go all tingly to hear it! Watch THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO for the music alone, but also enjoy the story, which I'm not going to spoil for you. This is great fun TV viewing for all the family.

Enjoyable but flawed

[ewaf58 · 6/10 · 17 January 2021]

Firstly why on Earth would the want to do away with one of the best opening sequences of all time?

Another problem was that during the action sequences of the first Zero X crash and the fiery return of the second Xero X to Earth there was none of the usual exciting Barry Gray music. This rendered both sequences somewhat sterile and may have alienated contemporary audiences.

Then even more strangely they depicted the Martian surface in barren black despite depicting Mars as red on the Alan Tracey dream sequence. Perhaps they'd been guided by the black and white pictures taken by Mariner IV in 1965

Still Barry Gray's theme music and the model work is to be applauded - it's just a pity they couldn't have put them in a better overall package.

A disappointment

[moysant · 4/10 · 4 October 2003]

A curiosity for fans only. Thunderbirds was an early 60's UK TV show (50 mins format). It was original because it used marionettes (mechanised puppets) and superb models of aircraft, spaceships, nuclear powerplants and the like, usually exploding at some point.

The first 10 minutes of this movie sets the tone - the slow and boring construction of a martian spaceship just before it takes off from earth (although it is amazing to think it predated the current space shuttle concept by twenty odd years). The rest of the movie plays like an overextended TV episode. The reduction of well-loved characters to caricatures is a disappointment. For instance, Jeff Tracy (the father and chief of the International Rescue organisation) is just plain cranky and unreasonable (and annoyingly keeps saying Thunderbirds Are Go even when no-one else is around). Scott and Virgil (the brothers who are the main pilots) are bossy and a walking doormat respectively. Gordon Tracy seems to be channeling Adam Sandler, and Alan (the hero of the piece) is so petulant he'd put your 12 year old sister to shame. Other characters have had personality enemas (particularly Lady Penelope).

But there are three really outstandingly bad parts. Alan has a dream sequence where Cliff Richard and the Shadows do a little music ‘video'. Forget about the 60's being the decade of rebellion – even by Sir Cliff's standards this song is terrible. Then there is the crash of the giant spaceship into the earth. The crash looks like a model hitting cardboard ‘houses'. Even the TV episodes got the explosions right (by filming at high speed and then slowing down to make the bangs look ‘real' and ‘heavy'). Finally, the last scene is just bone cringingly embarrassing, even for kids. I suppose things have changed in the last forty years, but are we really suppose to believe that a 21year old astronaut is still treated by his family like he's 12? And if so, why was he given the central task to complete a dangerous rescue instead of one of his older brothers? (And why did he use a screwdriver to secure wires when twisting the ends together would have done?).

See the TV show instead.

Not at all Bad

[loza-1 · 16 May 2005]

I remember back in the 1960s the family were out for a walk and we were passing a cinema. We had nothing else to do, so we went in to see this. I had never been particularly impressed with the TV version in black and white (at that time in Britain). But I was very impressed with the film. In full glorious colour, and the special effects looked highly realistic on the big screen - they really did.

It's kids' entertainment for children aged from 7 to 700. The fact it lasted longer than a TV episode doesn't matter.

You get a great exciting story, lots of journeys into space in a blistering adventure that'll steam up Brains's glasses and set his bow tie spinning.

Saw the film again recently, this time with the eyes of an adult. Saw the dream sequence set in the night club. I was amazed at the attention to detail with The Shadows. Not only was each puppet almost a perfect model of Hank, Bruce, John and Brian, but the little Burns guitars were perfect in every detail, right down to the trade mark scroll head. Beautifully done. The singer was Cliff Richard Junior. Oh, well, you can't get everything right!

Amazing

[yusufpiskin · 7/10 · 10 August 2021]

Made in 1966. All practical effect. All handcrafted. They do things like this now. I am happy with the development of technology, but it is a very bad result that the works are soulless.

On It's Own Terms Reasonable Enough

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 6 August 2018]

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.

Wow!

[rabiera · 10/10 · 28 November 2010]

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!)

Stupendously Dull

[junk-monkey · 1/10 · 13 February 2006]

I was about 6 when this film came out and I remember a friend of mine having a "Zero X". I was so jealous. It was the sexiest thing I had ever seen (long before I knew what sex was or what 'sexy' meant).

I never saw the film at the time and when my wife bought me a DVD copy at a garage sale I was awash with nostalgia. A feeling of warm happiness that lasted for at least 7 minutes into the film... my god, it's boring! After a while the only entertainment value I could drag out of this stupendously dull, overpadded TV episode was spotting new ways the filmmakers avoided having to have their characters walk anywhere. During the TV shows walking was suggested by having the character puppets jog up and down as they moved forward. Fine within the limited frame of a TV screen (especially the scritty little things we peered at back then) but a similar motion on the big screen would, at best, look ludicrous and, at worst, induce motion sickness. In a film where supersonic aircraft stay rigidly in the centre of the frame having the "actors" bounce around like ping pong balls causing pre-teen movie goers to vomit over their neighbours would be distressing.

"Internationl Rescue" Are The Heroes Of The Day!

[strong-122-478885 · 8/10 · 17 January 2017]

(*Fave movie-quote*) - "F.A.B.!"

For starters - This 1966 Sci-Fi/Fantasy story (filmed in Super-Marionation) certainly isn't gonna please any jaded viewers who have been totally spoiled by the CGI effects that dominate such films of today. No way.

But, if you can appreciate an outer space adventure tale (with great production values) that features puppet people acting out the story on fantastic sets (with awesome aircraft and impressive land vehicles), then, yes, "Thunderbirds Are Go!" will definitely leave you entertained and equally satisfied.

Produced on a surprisingly low budget of just $300,000 - This 90-minute, high-tech story of non-stop heroics is based on the popular TV series of the mid-1960s.

Created by Gerry Anderson - I, personally, think that this high-quality, British production still holds up quite well today, 50 years later.

With its amazing attention to detail and its excellent theme music - "Thunderbirds Are Go!' is sure to please any non-jaded viewer, regardless of their age.

Thunderbirds Are SLOW.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 4/10 · 21 June 2011]

The "Thunderbirds" TV-series always had been a very entertaining one to watch, which is also the reason why reruns of it still air, decades after the series had ended. I myself also always had been quite fond of it, which made it all the more a personal disappointing that this movie just doesn't live up the TV-series.

Really the biggest problem with this movie is that it just never feels like you are watching a big, 90 minutes long, Thunderbirds adventure. Instead this really feels like a TV-series episode, that however got incredibly stretched out, which for the movie means that it has such a slow build up and some of the scenes seem to go on for however, while they add nothing at all. It really makes this a boring watch.

But even the story itself is really below par. If this story got used for one of the random TV-series episodes it would had been one of the lesser ones at well. It's simply lacking in some fundamental ingredients, such as a villain or even a clear main plot line. Seriously, when the movie is about at its half way point, you will still have no idea what the main story is supposed to be about. It's just all over the place!

Also the dialog is real poor but this is something that seems to suit the Thunderbirds type of charm and atmosphere.

Main reason why I always liked watching the "Thunderbirds" was because they had an old James Bond type of charm and atmosphere to it. I am of course talking about the very first Bond movies, starring Sean Connery. The clothing, the sets, the villains, the silly gadgets, spy plots and of course the fact that both were made during the '60's make James Bond and "Thunderbirds" much alike. All of this is also still present in this movie but it just all works out far less entertaining and interesting this time around.

Another reason why the series was so popular was the combination of its science-fiction and action elements. The only science-fiction this time comes from the space mission that is set to Mars but the Thunderbirds themselves are not even involved with this. None of the Thunderbirds' crafts even gets to do anything in this movie and they are also hardly in this at all. There is also hardly any action, though by the end you will still get treated with some trademark big Thunderbirds explosions.

I can't imaging that someone will get into "Thunerbirds" after watching this movie and also will understand why it was such a popular show. It is possible to watch this movie without knowing any of the background of the characters or stories from the TV-series but still the movie does a very bad job at setting up the characters and story for any new, fresh viewers. Some of the familiar characters make even a totally redundant impression. Was there any reason for all of the Tracy brothers to be in this? And couldn't Lady Penelope and Brains just have been let out as well, since they add absolutely nothing to the story, once you start thinking about it. When looking purely at this movie, all of the characters are such extreme boring and one dimensional ones, as wooden as its facial expressions.

They also didn't do any new tricks, so still expect all of the same and familiar puppetry tricks and effects, like got used in the television series. This is all still something good and impressing of course. "Thunderbirds" made puppetry something awesome and all of the miniature sets and set pieces are still a joy to look at, as is all of the marionette work that is in it.

I really expected to- and also tried desperately to like this movie. I tried to let them get away with some stuff, courtesy of its style and charm but they basically however did everything wrong. It's just a boring and very uninteresting, unimaginative, redundant Thunderbirds 'adventure', I am sad to say.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Pure Hollywood

[trini_jselle · 13 November 2003]

I have just been watching this movie and felt that as the only other comment on it was some excuse for a review by some person with rather questionable views above, i thought i'd lend my opinion (after all, i couldn't be any worse). "Thunderbirds Are Go", the first full-length feature film version of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's top fantasy series of the 60's is quite a landmark indeed.

Landmark (?), i hear you ask. Well, yes. The whole Thunderbirds series was nothing but pure Hollywood at it's best; and this movie - as well as the one that came afterwards - only served to expand that tradition, whilst still maintaining the elements and formula that made it famous in the first place in 1965. The movie, has style, wit, incredible drama, and for its time, an astonishing view of the mid-21st.Century. Of course, most of it was pure fantasy and could never ever be real. The amount of times i've heard it said that the Thunderbirds machines couldn't even get off the ground is enormous. But that's ok, it's fantasy. And what good would a decent adventure be, if it didn't transport you out of reality and into a fascinating fantasy world where everything was different! As i say, the best Hollywood tradition. And of course, what made these productions so very special (at least to us Brits), was that 1. it was British, and 2. the heroes were all Puppets! Unbelievable to this day, i know. Yet as we are soon to be confronted by a million dollar live-action Thunderbirds epic, i think it is true to point out, that the main charm in the Thunderbirds adventures WAS the fact that they were acted by Puppets. So charming, so much a throwback to our own innocence (let alone a throwback to a much more innocent time when it was made); how could that be improved upon? The model work and special effects, especially the Zero-X Space-probe, are all extremely effective (as you would expect from Derek Meddings), and whether you are a Thunderbirds fan or not, it will be hard to knock this piece of Movie/TV history off it's perch. This movie being years ahead of its time, a great piece of fun and a fine addition to a classic series.

Love it!!!

[joemorgan-01462 · 9/10 · 24 June 2019]

I grew up watching this, and having been born in the late 80s, I can safely say that I am glad they did re runs of Thunderbirds. Otherwise I probably would not have had a clue about it, and also thanks to my uncle who was a die hard Gerry Anderson fan, who made me, my sister and brother watch it on a regular basis.

The series was pure genius and Gerry Anderson deserves a lot of credit for it. The film was just as good. A completely different storyline, containing the usual characters, with a brief appearance of The Hood. You can't go wrong with that. To have existed in the 60s and predict what it would be like in the year that Thunderbirds was created was very bold and the imagination of Gerry Anderson and his crew was pure brilliance.

The characters don't change at all which is very good news and the film is just a sheer delight to watch. Having created fireball xl5, supercar and stingray, prior to Thunderbirds and to finally do a full length feature film just shows how much hard work was put into the production of Thunderbirds and how successful the series was and to be able to do the film is a credit to Gerry Anderson and his sheer brilliant creativity.

Thunderbirds are go on the big screen

[studioAT · 4/10 · 17 February 2017]

This was the first big screen outing for Gerry Anderson's puppet characters, and sadly was a film that never lived up to the hype.

I think the fact that the plot was sort of a strung out version of one we'd seen on the TV show may not have helped, and also at this time it may have felt odd for people to pay to see something they could get at home on the TV for free.

It has its moments, but for all the moments of high action, there are also some slow moments, that feel like we're being force fed a lot of information rather than being entertained.

I think when people think of 'Thunderbirds' they remember the TV version rather than this or the other film that was made.

Great. Just plain great!

[mc_chuckster · 10/10 · 13 January 2001]

For around 10 years of my life, I have enjoyed watching both the TV series of "Thunderbirds" and the "Thunderbirds" movies. This movie is obviously the best because it has great special effects and music (special thanks to Cliff Richard & The Shadows). Also, it is "pretty true" that [as it says in the closing credits] the characters "...don't exist yet!". Who knows if they will? Still, it is a really great film for anyone [young and old] to watch.