Best Of Thunderbirds: The Favorite Episodes (A&E)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras:  C     Episodes:  C-

 

 

“The fans have voted! The best of the Thunderbirds are Go!”  I guess all four fans got together, ordered a pizza and decided which six episodes belonged on this DVD set.  I must admit that I am not one of those four unfortunate souls.  If that isn’t an impressive way to start off a review then I don’t know what is. 

 

In all fairness, The Thunderbirds does have a fan base who appreciates all the painstaking efforts that went into the production of each episode.  Nicholas Sheffo has already taken a look at the Thunderbirds Mega Set, containing all 32 of the hour-long episodes and was notably impressed; however my opinion differs from his.

 

The stories are fairly simple: someone plants a bomb here or a secret plan is stolen there making the story lines bearable but what bothers me with this series it the over attention to details. The creators of this series must have been passionate about what they were creating while working on this series judging from the detailed models to each little string controlling the puppets.  To illustrate, in the episode “Trapped in the Sky” the establishing shots are painfully drawn out.  There are several 30-second shots consisting of a model erected from a resting position in preparation for its eventual blast off into the atmosphere.  I really wish that I could have those thirty seconds of my life back.  It could be that I was born in nineteen eighty-one and I take special effects for granted. The look of the Thunderbirds just does not excite me, or maybe it is that watching a somewhat antiquated model moving from point A to point B isn’t exciting period.  I couldn’t tell whether the effects were designed to be humorous or revolutionary.  Therefore I deem the effects to be a failure.  The hour-long runtime of each episode could have been drastically reduced establishing sequences more efficiently. Should the show have been tighter, I may have enjoyed it a lot more.

 

In the end the show has been inspirational. If you look at the puppets from the upcoming film Team America, from the creators of South Park, you will see that the look was taken almost directly from the Thunderbirds.  Whether Team America will serve as a loving tribute or a mockery is yet to be established.

 

The show ran from 1965 till near the end of 1966 and is shown in its original full color, full frame 1.33 x 1 presentation.  A&E did an admirable job with the transfers for this set, however, they do not compare to the transfers that can be could have been implemented with the latest technology.  Each episode contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix.  Having never experienced the show when it aired with its original Dolby 2.0 Mono, I would have to imagine that the 5.1 mix is an improvement.  It is certainly interesting to hear a 5.1 mix for a show like this even if it doesn’t completely work.  Given the fact that episodes on the disc were a disappointment for me, I was hoping to salvage some interest in the five extra feature sections.  There are more here than expected, despite the fact that a Mega-Set had already been issued.  Before Thunderbirds Were Go: A Profile of Gerry Anderson is an interesting look at why Gerry Anderson wanted to make this series.  I was very intrigued by the how and why of The Thunderbirds as well as what went into the creation of the models and puppets.  The Gerry Anderson Interview includes seven interview sections that range from Gerry Anderson’s opinions on the DVD format to his possible involvement in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Pop-Up Episode of “Pit of Peril” -  Pop-Up commentaries are usually the most informative, packed with production information and funny anecdotes.  I found the Pop-Up’s in this special feature to lack the qualities that make most text based commentaries valuable.  This option may only be interesting to hardcore fans.  The Story of the Thunderbirds - I expected this to be an interesting video based telling of the story of the Thunderbirds; unfortunately it is a skimpy three screen page text version that contains very little information that was already discussed in previous features, and Tracey Family Autobiographies  - This text-based feature contains information about most of the main characters (i.e., The Tracey Family) that are featured in the Thunderbirds.

 

To casual fans of the Thunderbirds or those persons who want to see what the series is all about, I would recommend this title. For diehard fans of the show already possessing the Mega Set, there is no need for this to be included in your home video library.

 

 

-   Jimm Needle