I don’t know what to say about this. Either you know “Thunderbirds” or you don’t. If you know this Gerry Anderson series then you absolutely want this release. If you don’t, I almost feel sorry for you.
“Thunderbirds” is the crowning achievement in Gerry Anderson’s career. And it should be noted he did not create these series in a bubble, but had a great team of collaborators. Still, it is his name most closely associated with the SuperMarionation productions, and “Thunderbirds” is perhaps arguably the best of the bunch.
The bottom line is this – the cast is portrayed by marionettes which are controlled by both humans and electrical means, with voices recorded and synced up with lip movements. While this is cool the real star is how everything is portrayed against the marionettes, real sets, real props, and real practical special effects. What you see on the screen really happened and it was not always easy to pull off.
International Rescue is a semi-secret organization run by the Tracy family. There’s patriarch Jeff and his 5 sons (who are named after NASA astronauts) and the family friend Lady Penelope. Each episode has International Rescue being called upon to help because of their special individual talents as well as their fantastic vehicles. In many ways the real stars of this series are the various vehicles the Tracy family have at their disposal.
Jeff Tracy is so rich he founded International Rescue assembled a team around his sons, and built it all on a private island. If this isn’t high fantasy I don’t know what is.
Pure fantasy is what makes “Thunderbirds” work – it isn’t trying to be overly realistic. Set in the future there is a grounding in some form of practicality and plausibility, but the notion of technical advancements and throwing enough money at a problem seem to overcome most issues viewers should have with their suspension of disbelief.
Only 32 episodes were produced, followed by two feature films. I would love to see the films get a similar treatment to this series. Shout Factory has released “Thunderbirds” on Blu-ray in a complete series set with all 32 episodes looking better than they ever have.
A little disappointingly we do not get any audio commentary tracks like we have on some of the previous Shout Factory releases of Gerry Anderson series. There is a great 45 minute documentary on the making of “Thunderbirds” but that’s it, along with a PDF publicity brochure you can access on your computer. I would have liked to have the films and a couple of audio commentary tracks and I’m sure there’s more stuff available such as promotional images and whatnot, but as it stands “Thunderbirds” on Blu-ray is a must-own for fans.