Terrahawks

I can't belive that all of Gerry Adersons other series (like Stingray, Thunderbirds, Capt Scarlet, Joe 90 and Space 1999) get repeated every couple of years but Terrahawks has been left unshown since the early 80's. I luckily managed to track down a copy of series 5 though a Blackstar Video hunt and belive it was well worth the wait. What sets Terrahawks apart from the other Anderson shows is that it does'nt take itself too seriously which can be seen in such plot lines as the evil Zelda challenging Kate Kestral to the Intersteller Song Contest! For me the best thing about the series is the army of robotic sphere's known as the Zeroids under the command of Sargent Majoir Zero who I can only describe as Obidia Hakeswell from ITV's Sharpe turned into a goodie and a small robot football type thing! Also the inventiveness of having secret launch exits for ships by creating stately homes that open up and turbines to enable Hawkwing to fly up though a whilepool is more than the equal of anything on Tracy Island. Zelda dispite being an old hag of an android is a truly briliant Villan! "We're ready Earth scum!!!"

I have read the other reviews for this series and was quite pleased to note that there were very few criticisms. I suspect that I may have been one of the few who was an adult when I saw these programmes yet still sat through every episode - and looked forward to each new one beforehand. The great thing for me about these 30-minute gems was the fact that the stories were not deep (it was for young kids after all) yet they still worked on both an adult's and a child's level thereby ensuring that dad could sit down and watch this with the kids and be entertained too. Surprisingly nobody seems to have picked up on the clever casting of Windsor Davies who effectively reprised his role as the Sergeant-Major from the BBC sitcom "It Ain't Half Hot Mum". I reckon that for good all-round entertainment this is one of the best things Gerry Anderson ever did.

Compared to classics such as Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet, Terrahawks paled in comparison. However, to be fair, let's judge it on it's own merits. Perhaps comparing an 80's puppet show to a 60's puppet show isn't ethical.

Terrahawks featured a military unit called Terrahawks (led by Dr. Tiger Ninestein) against an evil alien called Zelda (easily the ugliest character in any TV show) and her even uglier son Yung-Star. Zelda is one of these aliens who won't settle down and get a hobby, preferring to conquer the Earth instead (I wonder what these aliens do for fun after they've conquered a whole planet). Anyway, Ninestein and his Terrahawks Unit (which included characters such as ace pilot Hawkeye) battled the evil forces of Zelda each week. Joining the Terrahawks were two annoying but loveable robots Sgt. Major Zero and Space Sgt. 101 who were usually getting on Ninestein's nerves.

The show does seem rather dated now. A new process was used in the TV show-supermacromation where the puppets didn't have strings(unlike Supermarionation which used strings in the 60's shows and paradoxically, looked better). I don't know if I'd enjoy it if I watched it now. And whilst it was largely enjoyable, it was lacking that certain something that seperates a good TV show from a really great TV show.

But, all in all, kids will love it and it did have it's moments. Enjoy!

Contrary to other user reviews, I find Terrahawks far more enjoyable than Thunderbirds and Stingray, and a little more enjoyable than Captain Scarlett. The plots of Thunderbirds always seemed very one-dimensional, with the good-guys consistently getting on with each other and being good. Terrahawks has a little more depth to the characters, and some splendidly horrible running jokes (Tiger's consistent failure to beat the high-score on his game, the horrific mocking of Hiro's 'accent' ("Exactry!"), and the rivalry between the football Sgt. Zero and the speciesist Tiger).

The plots also get a bit darker, later in the series, which adds further depth, and brings it closer to the more compelling style of Captain Scarlett, without giving up the humour.

For Americans, trained by Hollywood to always expect a fluffy happy original-Star-Trek ending, I recommend Thunderbirds. For anyone who'd prefer a bit more of a Blake's 7 or Babylon 5 puppet show, I recommend Terrahawks.

Terrahawks is EASILY THE MOST BRILLIANT of ANY of Gerry Anderson's puppetry programmes/series. I have not seen it since the early eighties and it is the ONLY one I wish they would repeat. Why has it, like so many other programmes and films from various people, been forgotten about? There is nothing bad that I can think about the programme. If you like science-fiction then you will love Terrahawks! it is THE most sci-fi of the lot, is FULL of humour and constantly takes the mickey out of itself.

Oh what a fantastic, classic struggle of good against bad. Thankfully good ALWAYS won by the end of each episode/story line.

Some people have written that it is childish and is now dated; how wrong can they be?! It worked on an adult level as well and it is only dated because nobody learns the lessons and values it teaches anymore due to an ever deteriorating society. As a child I would much rather watch a programme that teaches that if you do something wrong you will get punished for it and that if you do something right you will get rewarded. In the programme, as in life, you don't get anywhere if you are bad whereas the good side were always pleased that they had yet again thwarted Zelda's plans and saved the earth from yet another horrible invasion attempt. That was the basic message. If you do good you will like the feeling it gives you and therefore want more of those wonderful feelings. If you do bad the complete opposite happens. To learn morals such as these as a child is great and doesn't happen anymore.

So if you can, beg, borrow, buy or steal (no don't steal. It's wrong to steal) one or more of the programmes. Get every one ever made and sit and enjoy a science-fiction programme that has, in my eyes, EASILY stood the test of time and is as good today as it was back in the eighties! How do I know it has easily stood the test of time if I haven't seen it for twenty years? Well if other series are being shown again now and this, as I stated at the start of this review, is EASILY THE MOST BRILLIANT of ANY of Gerry Anderson's puppetry programmes/series, will also have stood the test of time and therefore be as good now as it was back in the eighties!