Thunderbirds Are Go Series 1 (2015-2016) - Review

Starring: Rasmus Hardiker, David Menkin, Thomas Brodie-Sangster & Rosamund Pike

Written By: Rob Hoegee (Head Writer)

Directed By: David Scott & Theo Baynton

Certificate: U

 

Following a number of teaser trailers broadcast across ITV, I decided to enter the world of the Thunderbirds. Despite being a child of the 1990s, I was never introduced to the Thunderbirds world, unlike many other children who enjoyed the hype thanks to repeat episodes on the BBC. However, this hype came to a shuddering halt with the 2004 live-action adaptation Thunderbirds, a critical flop. Now, in the hopes of bringing the Tracy brothers back for a new generation, ITV have launched their newest children's series, Thunderbirds Are Go.

 

Following the same premise as the original 1965 series, Thunderbirds Are Go follows the tales of International Rescue – a secret organization on Tracy Island, designed to help people in crisis and in need of rescuing from dangerous situations under the sea, on land, in the sky, or even up in space. The amazing rescue ships, the Thunderbirds, are piloted by the five Tracy brothers – Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan. The brothers are helped in their missions by engineer Brains, head of security, Kayo and London agent Lady Penelope. As well as rescuing people in danger, International Rescue has to deal with the devastation caused by the evil criminal mastermind, the Hood.

 

One of the most iconic and memorable aspects of the original series was its use of puppets and miniature sets to create each episode's adventure. Hardcore fans of the original series will be glad to know that the use of miniature sets has been retained for the remake, and they honestly look incredible. All the trees, rocks and water effects looked so realistic, and congratulations has to go to every single member of the team for such a great creation. Upon watching the first episode of the series, I wasn't aware that sets had even been used, and I thought that everything I was seeing on screen was entirely CGI. If there's one thing that has changed from the original series, it's the puppets. The Tracy brothers and all the other characters in the series no longer come with strings attached – both characters and ships are now CGI. The CGI characters look very good, especially for a TV budget, with some admirable detail visible in the characters' eyes. Another nice touch from the animators was the puppet-esque eggshell skin tone that each character had been given.

 

The actual Thunderbird ships have also been given a slight 21^st Century makeover, one that is a surprising upgrade from the original ships. For example, the arms on Thunderbird 3 can now deploy and grab objects in motion, and Thunderbird 4 can now send individual lifepods up to the surface of the water. Each Thunderbird now gets used more frequently, as opposed to it just being Thunderbirds 1 and 2 dealing with emergencies, so many of these upgrades can be enjoyed more often. Another aspect of the show that received an upgrade was the music. Updating the music was an area that could have easily gone wrong with a lack of care for the original score. Thankfully, Barry Gray's original masterpieces have been treated with respect, and have been given a suitably epic makeover. Personally, one of the best pieces of music in the new show has to be the launch music for Thunderbird 2, as it often sends a shiver down the spine.

 

Unfortunately, the first half of the series didn't really allow us to get to know each character as an individual, meaning that each of the brothers just seemed to be generic and one-note. Thankfully, this changed by the second half of the series, and we were given time to get to know each of the characters individually – particularly the Tracy brothers. We even got the chance, during less dramatic moments, to get to know characters such as Brains and Grandma Tracy, and learn a little more about them. While I know he's the villain of the series, I just can't stop myself from loving every moment that The Hood is on screen. I'll admit that I wasn't entirely keen on the Malaysian version of The Hood in the original series, but I love Andres Williams' more European take on the character. Showing up just the right amount throughout the series, The Hood is one of the highlights of the revived series for me, and despite his character's apparent conclusion in Legacy, I really hope we see him in the second series.

 

While the majority of individual episodes in the series are good and solid, there are a few standouts that deserve their own mention. Firstly, Crosscut and its anti-nuclear message made it feel like the first proper Thunderbirds romp. Unplugged was another highlight, largely because we got to spend some time getting to know Grandma Tracy and Virgil. Relic is another standout that was immense fun to watch, particularly the asteroid blasting, which made me feel like a child again. Breakdown also looked set to be a great story, but was made into an even better one, thanks to surprisingly mature approaches. The series finale, Legacy was an episode that I was immensely looking forward to, thanks to some great trailers, and it didn't disappoint, ending the series on a very high note. However, if I had to choose the single best episode of the series, it would easily be Skyhook. Skyhook was an immensely tense episode, and one that managed to make effective use of all the Tracy brothers and all the Thunderbird ships. The stakes were very real and remind the audience that not every rescue attempt is always a success.

 

However, while individual quality is generally high, there are a couple of exceptions. The first of which is Tunnels Of Time. Tunnels Of Time was a disappointment, because it could have been really good. Instead, the dialogue felt very forced and artificial, with some laughably one-note characters. It's an even greater shame that this was the episode ITV decided to show on its main channel instead of CITV. The episode after this was the vastly better Skyhook and unlike Tunnels Of Time, Skyhook is the kind of episode that could convert viewers of the original series into watching the new one. But probably the worst episode of this series has to be Designated Driver. While I'll admit that there are some nice callbacks to the original series here, we have car chases that couldn't even be saved on a “It's so bad, it's good” level and main threat and situations that make the episode feel more like a parody of the show.

 

Now with the advancement of technology happening much faster than we would expect, the original 1960s Thunderbirds series doesn't today feel as though its really set in 2060. While I'll never hold the original to fault over this, Thunderbirds Are Go does create a believable future setting. For example, the main cast now comprises of more important female characters, as well as ethnic minority characters. One of these characters is Kayo (this series' version of Tin-Tin from the original). Along with Lady Penelope, Kayo is a strong female character, and at the end of Ring Of Fire: Part Two, she even gets her very own Thunderbird: Thunderbird Shadow. Both Kayo and Thunderbird S are great additions to the original line-up. At least, it would be if we actually saw Kayo and Thunderbird S at ANY point in the series. While Kayo does occasionally get her own missions, usually involving some great scenes with The Hood, it isn't until Touch And Go, (the 24th episode!) that we actually see Thunderbird S do anything! Why?! It's a great design, and it makes for a brilliant addition to the original Thunderbirds, when we actually get to see it in action.

 

Another change from the original series is the reduced run time. The original episodes of Thunderbirds were around fifty minutes long, but the new episodes are around half this length. This has had mixed results depending on each episode. It certainly worked in favour for Skyhook, as it was able to constantly feel tense, while also moving at a great pace. The first two episodes, collectively titled Ring Of Fire was a different matter. As it was the very first piece of Thunderbirds media that I watched, I can remember asking “What's going on?” and “Who's who?” multiple times. Despite its extended run time, it just moved far too fast to introduce new viewers like me to the franchise. There are also several other episodes across the series that had some great concepts, but would have been even better if they'd had time to explore them properly.

 

So to summarize, Thunderbirds Are Go is probably the best revival of the original series that we could have expected. The bond between the Tracy brothers is still present, and they still manage to have their own personalities. The new version of The Hood easily manages to best the original, and he has become one of my favourite villains. The new design changes are very effective, with a perfect blend between CGI and miniatures, and the updated music is suitably dramatic, thanks to the brilliant work of Ben and Nick Foster. Thunderbirds Are Go was renewed for a second series before the first had even begun, and I'm really glad of it. But for the next series, ITV please make better use of Kayo and Thunderbird Shadow, and maybe extend the run time of each episode to about half an hour. With this, Thunderbirds Are Go could become something even greater than it already is.

 

 

Thunderbirds Are Go



8/10