Thunderbirds et l'odyssée du cosmos

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.

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.

International Rescue make their big-screen debut in a fantastic Supermarionation adventure which puts many modern summer blockbusters to shame.

Impressive ( if now dated ) special effects and model sequences, together with a strong script and interesting characters ( and of course, Barry Gray's wonderful music ) make this a real treat.

Oh, what a wonderful movie this was to me when I was a child of the sixties! Just enough British sensibility to be "foreign" and different, enough action and plot to hold my interest and, probably pretty important, the rocket ships and planes resembled my 1960s toys so it made me want to rush home and play with them, imagining very closely that I too was a member of the Thunderbird team. Seeing this again after all these years, it still retains some of that playtime magic and I can still see why it held my sttention as a youth. Recommended for the young and (forgive the hopeless cliche, but it is the only one that fits...) young at heart.

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!