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List Price: $39.95 | | Label: A&E Home Video
Salesrank: 72946
Released: February 27, 2001 |
| Our Price: $5.75 |
| Used Price: $4.06 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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| Features:
Animated Box set Color Dolby DVD Full Screen NTSC | |
Editorial Review:
Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 02/27/2001 Run time: 312 minutes Rating: Nr
Description of Thunderbirds - Set 1:
"Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a master class in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in color and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, predating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armageddon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishizing gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As for the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (license plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catchphrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood.
On this DVD: International Rescue's very first adventure provides a template for all the rest: in "Trapped in the Sky," an experimental new aircraft becomes the target of an evil Bond-style megalomaniac who wants to get his hands on all the neat gear operated by the Tracey siblings. The show introduces, in fetishistic detail, the recurring set-pieces: Thunderbird 1 taking off from the roll-back swimming pool, the question of which pod Thunderbird 2 will use this week--the mole, or the submarine, perhaps?--and so on. Nostalgia fans will be pleased to learn that despite digital remastering the puppet strings are still in evidence, and no amount of high-tech restoration could remove the clunky expository dialogue:
Stewardess: "It's the maiden flight of the new atomic-powered Fireflash."
Passenger: "Isn't that the new aircraft that flies six times the speed of sound?"
Stewardess: "That's right, but don't worry: it's perfectly safe."
[Cut to: interior, Fireflash landing gear, a device clearly labeled "Auto-Bomb Detonator Unit"]
Sinister bad guy (talking to himself for no readily apparent reason): "Perfect. Enough explosives to smash the Atomic Reactor."
In the second episode, "Pit of Peril," an absurdly impractical U.S. Army vehicle falls into the eponymous pit, necessitating use of pod 5, the mole. Joy! Four more episodes are included. --Mark Walker
Thunderbirds - Set 1 Reviews:
Looks like I remembered as a kid 
2008-12-09 - Heck of a lot of fun watching this as a child, and still entertaining as far as I'm concerned. Corny and hokey, but it's puppets for gawsh sakes.... and they save the world all the time....with all those cool gadgets and gizmos...
I Love it.... you might as well...
The Best Ever
2007-08-02 - Thunderbirds is simply one of the best childrens TV (although my Dad loved it) programs ever made. To be honest I'm not sure now whether it was made with children specifically in mind or not.
Watching it now on DVD it remains fantastic even to my 40something eyes. The picture quality is great, it has dolby 5.1 surround sound and fortunately as it is set in 2065 you can't say well that never happened (like Space 1999 for example). All the best things about Thunderbirds still remain the best. The superb opening credits sequence with the preview of the forthcoming episode. Barry Grays marvellous music and the superb puppets and models that became a trademark for Gerry Andersons productions.
The episodes on this disc are a fair representation of the whole series, with perhaps the Pit of Peril being my favourite - remember the 'Sidewinder'? The DVD has a few interesting extras including a printable CD-Rom Thunderbird 1 cross-section. Shame that there isn't a commentary (which there is on some of the Captain Scarlet DVD's) but the episodes alone make this worth getting. FAB.
Excellent
2007-01-10 - A lot of Fun!. I remembered when I was a kid, and spent a lot of time enjoying the series. Very good.
FAB - naturally
2003-03-11 - Yes, yes, yes ... dunderklumpen Parker is tripping all over his cockney vowels and Tintin (the non-francophone version) is demurely aiding (wink, wink) Alan, but how can you resist a world where technology is always fallible (planes exploding, reactors exploding, grandma exploding - just kidding) yet can only be saved by the same, now infallible, technology. A feature film with non-stringy actors is being made of this series - it's a guaranteed flop already. You can't tell these stories today with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of thirty years ago. Also, when Thunderbirds was made, the directors were making mini-feature-films. Now, alas, even our biggest films are made to play on TV, just like a movie-of-the-week. It'll look like a Star Trek episode - neat, clean-cut and sanitary with all the soul sucked out of its CGI animated pores. What it won't have is Lord Lew Grade sitting behind it, marvelling at its imagination, egging on its producer, giggling like a large cherubic baby. The original can't be anything other than FAB - a Fully Aknowledged Broadcast.
If you liked Gerry Anderson, you've got to get this!!
2003-02-06 - I grew up on Thunderbirds and loved every minute of it. To see the shows rendered in DVD quality picture and sound provides an awesome viewing experience, especially if you have surround sound with a good sub-woofer! The explosions and the Thunderbird launches sound incredible. Highly recommended as are all the other Thunderbirds DVDs in the series.
