Thunderbirds (2004)

When The Hood finds and invades International Rescue's secret base and traps most of the Tracy family, only young Alan Tracy and his friends can save the day.

Director:

Jonathan Frakes

Writers:

Gerry Anderson (television series), Sylvia Anderson (television series)

Stars:

Bill Paxton, Anthony Edwards, Ben Kingsley

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brady Corbet	...	Alan Tracy
Debora Weston	...	Teacher
Soren Fulton	...	Fermat
Lou Hirsch	...	Headmaster
Alex Barringer	...	Excited Kid
Demetri Goritsas	...	News Anchor
Genie Francis	...	Lisa Lowe
Philip Winchester	...	Scott Tracy
Deobia Oparei	...	Mullion
Bill Paxton	...	Jeff Tracy
Kyle Herbert	...	Know It All Kid
Dominic Colenso	...	Virgil Tracy
Ben Torgersen	...	Gordon Tracy
Sophia Myles	...	Lady Penelope
Ron Cook	...	Parker

Storyline

The year is 2010. Teenager Alan Tracy, sent off to a distant boarding school, is the youngest of the sons of Jeff Tracy, a retired American astronaut. Jeff, a widower, has formed International Rescue, and raised his sons to act as a secret, volunteer organization which uses highly advanced technology to save lives worldwide. Jeff and his older sons John, Virgil, Scott, and Gordon, who like Alan were named after the Mercury Seven astronauts are joined in this effort by Lady Penelope and her butler/chauffeur Parker. Their futuristic hardware is largely developed by a genius scientist known as Brains, who lives at the International Rescue base on Tracy Island, somewhere in the Pacific.

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Plot Keywords:

island | rescue | oil rig | hostage | bank vault | 

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Taglines:

Coming to the rescue

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for intense action sequences and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

As the young Thunderbirds prepare to launch towards The Bank of London with Lady Penelope, an insert shot shows a hand grabbing a lever. This hand is held up by strings, a quick reference to the style of animation used in the Thunderbirds television series. Also, this is in a complete reversal to the series, as all shots in the television show were of marionettes, except when there was an extreme close-up of a hand or foot, at which point was replaced with a person's hand or foot doing the required action (pulling a switch, stepping on the gas pedal of a car, et cetera).

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Goofs

Thunderbird 2 flies from the Pacific and across the Atlantic to England, and Lady Penelope watches a display that shows it approaching London, correctly, from the west. However we see Thunderbird 2 approach and fly under Tower Bridge from the east.

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Quotes

[first lines]
News Anchor: From a secret island in the South Pacific, the courageous Tracy family run an organization called International Rescue. When disaster strikes anywhere in the world, they are always first on the scene. They go by the name they gave they're incredible machines. The Thunderbirds. 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Thunderbirds are GO!

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are animated (cartoon style) with the 4 Thunderbird Rescue Craft "saving"/manipulating the text which is in danger of being destroyed by disasters (Volcano Lava, Meteors, etc.). For those who have never seen the original TV Shows, it offers a peek at the design of the Craft and how they function at the disaster sites. A jazzed-up/updated version of the TV Theme Music is used for this sequence.

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Fat Slags (2011)

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Soundtracks

Thunderbirds are Go!
(Original TV Series Theme)
(Barry Gray)
Arrangement by Ramin Djawadi & Hans Zimmer
Courtesy of Universal Pictures Music

User Reviews

Mediocre film but with excellent special effects which remember to the magnificent original series

The picture deals with a family whose purpose is save the world of dangers and risks generated by naturals forces or the cruel villains who want to rule over and dominate it . It's an all time work for the astronaut Jeff Tracey (Bill Paxton) and his sons as well as the incredible machines utilized ¨the Thunderbirds¨ which the world depends . But now they are menaced by an evil foe called ¨The Hood¨ (Sir Ben Kingsley) who has trapped them in the space and has taken control the aircrafts and utilizes for his horrible intentions . Then Alan , the youngest son , remains in the secret island . He's only helped by other adolescents and Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles) and , of course , the chauffeur of her spectacular car . Did have they sufficient courage to save the family and world?

The Thunderbirds emerge with impressive and exciting action and with extraordinary rockets and crafts controlled by the family members and intervening anywhere being necessary . The cast is constituted by Bill Paxton (Apolo13 , Twister) as a courageous dad who rules correctly his boys , Anthony Edwards (ER) as a nutty wise man , Ben Kingsley as a nefarious nasty , Sophia Myles as Lady Penelope who appears attractive and gorgeous and the rest cast are brave teens and young heroes . Hans Zimmer score is an adaptation from serial television music . The film is regularly directed by Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek : Insurrection , The first contact) . The movie will appeal to children and nostalgics.

Details

Official Sites:

Universal Universal [UK]

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Thunderbirds

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$57,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,766,810, 1 August 2004

Gross USA:

$6,880,917

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$28,283,637

Company Credits

Production Co:

Working Title Films, StudioCanal, Tracy Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital EX DTS-ES

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1