Thunderbirds Are Go

Anyone who took this task on was always going to have a hard time of getting it right, and with the absolute utter abortion that was the live action version directed by Jonathon Frakes still firmly in people's minds care and attention was due.

Fortunately a great deal of care and attention has been spent on this show so it works in almost every area, almost.

The set is up is much the same. It's 2060 and the world is united under one army (The Global Defence Force)Thunderbirds already exists, any background as to how or why the organisation was set up is dispensed with. It's run by five brothers, their assistant Brains, and Kyrano, head of their intelligence and in this version a woman. Jeff Tracey is absent although you do get to see his desk. What happened to him is alluded to but not fully explained and will no doubt become a story arc as the show goes on. Someone is causing undersea earthquakes and putting lives in danger so Thunderbirds are Go and its time to launch!

So far so good. The CGI is better than in the live action movie, the new versions of the craft move and feel as though they have weight and have been designed with the flavor, feel and colours of the originals and all work a treat. Time is spent on the launch sequences and these look and feel right. Tracey island looks a little different but not too different and there's even the lemon squeezer on the wall of the Thunderbird 1 launch bay in fact if you keep a close eye on things you will see nods a plenty to the original show. Some of the writing feels a little cheesy but overall works well enough and the updated technology seems in keeping with the times of what may well be possible in the near future.

Some of the characters voices lack depth and I felt a better range of voices could have been chosen for the brothers. Shane Rimmer's voice as Scott in the original show was always going to be hard to match but here at times they blended together, also the CGI look of the characters whilst fine lacked any real emotion on the faces, perhaps to be expected for this type of animation but Alan and Gordon even looked too similar at times that I couldn't always tell them apart. However these gripes were fairly minor and didn't detract from the show the one that did for me was the music. I thought overall the score was weak.

The score for any Thunderbirds show is vital to its success and here I felt it was really lacking in a signature tune. Barry Gray had several stand out scores and easy to identify for each sequence, be that in the danger zone or the Thunderbirds launching sequence. Opening titles aside which paid a suitable homage to Gray, I found the music for the rest of the show a bombastic mess which lacked any real direction or clear emotional underscoring. While Grays shoes were large to fill here is one area they really didn't succeed in my view. That major gripe aside I will watch the show and suspect I will enjoy finding out where the back story of Hood goes as long as he is not a main feature in every episode. Otherwise it will feel like a spy show and not a show about rescues from disaster. The introduction of a new Thunderbird at the end was a nice idea though its worth pointing out that Tracey Island had this same vehicle in the original show, it just had a different name. The pilot was 55 minutes but the main show will run at 30 minutes which with the fast paced editing that CGI animation allows will probably be about right. All in all a commendable effort and not the mess it could have been.

The new series looks pretty but the stories aren't anywhere near as interesting or exciting add the original 60's version. Far too many episodes revolve around the Hood and/or the Mechanic who are mere shadows of the old, evil Hood.

The biggest annoyance though is what I call the "K9 effect" because, like Doctor Who's old companion, whenever IR have a problem Brains has "coincidentally" just crafted/ installed/ tested exactly what they need for the mission.

Another problem is the Tracy brothers. Several act like spoilt children most of the time. You wouldn't trust them with the TV remote, let alone a Thunderbird vehicle!

Overall a fun watch for under 10's but if you have the originals, let them watch those instead.

I really enjoyed the CG Captain Scarlet reboot. Even within its half hour format, they got some good story and character development. There was plenty of people story in it and enough darkness to keep an adult interested. I was hoping to see the same with Thunderbirds. But they use most of the brief 22 minutes to do non stop action. There is really nothing along the lines of people stories. They really should have made it the hour format like the original.

On the plus side they are faithful to the vehicles of original show, the action is good as is the CG. But it just doesn't fill the shoes of the original. Probably great for kids but as a long time Gerry Anderson fan, its not the same for me

As somebody who grew up with the 1960s incarnation of 'Thunderbirds', which still holds up as a classic and iconic, was expecting a disaster and knew that it was going to be difficult coming close to its quality.

Giving it a fair chance, it doesn't reach the standard of the 1960s show but it is nowhere near the disaster that the 2004 live-action film was. It does have its major faults but doesn't disgrace the original in the way that it could have done and actually makes a real effort to try and respect it while trying to appeal to younger and modern audiences (which apparently was not an easy task for them).

There are several good things. The animation is mostly very good, smooth, very detailed and colourful and with the notable exception of a rather plastic and too young-looking Lady Penelope the characters are mostly still recognisable. There are some tense and also humorous moments ("EOS" being one of the show's better episodes with particularly good effects), Parker is often very funny, and there is evidence of 'Thunderbirds Are Go' trying to respect and pay homage to the original 'Thunderbirds' show. The launch sequences in particular are very well done, the models do look good, and also really appreciated that there was more prominence on Number 5.

Love the brotherly bond often between the brothers, and they do have likable moments, if also some bland ones. Was mixed on the voice acting. David Graham comes off best, he is very good and entertaining, and provides some of the show's funniest and most lively moments. Virgil and Scott also come off well. But as much as I really like Rosamund Pike, despite having a beautiful speaking voice her voice acting doesn't really fit Lady Penelope, although the character looks young Pike sounds a little too mature as well as even in tense situations voices her with more-of-the-same expression which gave the sense that her heart wasn't in it (the more sophisticated and aristocratic Penelope is missed). Alan has his likable moments but often he sounds bland.

Where 'Thunderbirds Are Go' mostly falls down is the length and pacing agreed. The episodes are too short, and in an effort to try and cram in as much as possible many of the stories feel rushed and hyper-active (both in comparison to the original and on its own terms). The action is also mixed, sometimes exciting and fun but too many others veer on the cartoonish. There are also changes here, especially the immediately noted and deeply felt absence of Jeff and a more diverse depiction of Brains which struck a strange chord with me and many others and the feeling has not worn off yet.

Another major problem is the music, there are attempts to use the iconic themes but mostly they are lost within the more brash and over-bearingly bombastic style adopted here and very rarely stops. The villain is not particularly menacing as a villain and seems to be there for the sake of it, and while the script has its good moments there is some awkwardness.

Overall, could have been a disgrace but wasn't, while also not being completely successful. Good try though. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I don't have a problem with Brains being Indian, in fact I think its quite funny and about time - it's the fact that it doesn't really redeem the reboot at all.

Charmless is a word I'd use to describe it - the characters are like robots, or dare I say it, "puppets", and the craft are no longer the "characters" they were in the original.

On the point of dramatic tension, if nothing else, Anderson was a great editor - that's how he started out, as an editor - and it's what gives the original series a sense of pace & excitement which is totally absent from the reboot.