Thunderbirds Film Review

[ray gower]

Bit of a prepensity of pondering in the first review I can find on the film.

This from Channel 4

Five! Four! Three! Two! One! The Thunderbirds motion picture is set for blast off

Does the world really need a live-action Thunderbirds movie? Are there legions of Gerry Anderson fans holding their breath waiting for the Supermarionation stars to be made flesh and blood? Well, Working Title thinks there is a demand for Anderson's brand of colourful, camp sci-fi. Indeed, the British company is confident to the tune of $70 million.

Producers Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan aren't the only ones who think they have a hot property on their hands. The Tracy family's patriarch Jeff, aka Aliens star Bill Paxton, believes the picture could be about to do great things for the UK. "I think this is ultimately going to become this kind of great, quintessential British export to the world," Paxton enthused at a recent press conference. "It's going to celebrate the style, the charm of England in the 1960s." However, the actor was keen to point out that the differences between the movie and the hit TV series would amount to more than just an absence of string - "this is not your parents' 'Thunderbirds'."

However, from a distance, Thunderbirds the film looks very much like 'Thunderbirds' the TV series. Not only does the movie retain the series' favourite characters and its bracing colour palate, the plot charmingly resembles that of a standard episode, pitting the Tracys against their arch-foe, sinister slaphead The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley, who must be wondering when someone's going to remember he's won an Oscar and been nominated on three other occasions).

Paxton, though, is speaking like a man who believes the forthcoming film won't just entertain - it will change people and the way they see the world! "When I grew up in the 1960s, it was about vocation. It wasn't about making money. It was about doing things for other people, finding something you wanted to do. There's a message of integrity and ethics all through this thing. It celebrates technology as benefiting mankind, using these machines to try to actually help people, instead of decimating them."

If only Gerry Anderson were as enthusiastic. Actually enthusiasm is the very reason the series' creator has turned on the big screen adaptation. "I was really quite prepared to support the picture in my own way," explains Anderson, "but they wanted me to enthuse over it. And then I saw Lady Penelope's new car. I thought it was a monstrosity! I thought, if that's the kind of thing they're doing, how can I possibly support the picture? Could I lean against the car and have my picture taken and say, 'Isn't it terrific?' I couldn't do that."

Anderson's anger aside, it's not hard to see how Thunderbirds might misfire. The decision to hire writer Michael McCullers - who penned the last two Austin Powers pictures and the underrated Undercover Brother - was inspired, but why then pair him with Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot scribe William Osborne? And while Jonathan Frakes may have scored a few hits with his Star Trek films, his CV away from the franchise comprises little more than the weak Clockstoppers and a couple of episodes of 'Roswell'.

Still a large part of Thunderbirds' appeal was the wonky model work and the puppetry. While modern audiences demand smooth special FX, the Thunderbirds diehards will expect a healthy dose of incompetence. Maybe Jonathan Frakes wasn't such a bad choice as director after all.

Richard Luck

Bill Paxton and the producers think it is a hit, but it sounds as if Sir Ben Kingsley wishes he had not been involved, whilst Gerry Anderson does not have a good word for it (well he does, but 'excellent' and 'good' are not them). The reviewer seems a little confused though

[Dave]

I think that's because everyone involved in the film is a little confused themselves:

Is it an Austin Powers-type spoof of Sixties kitsch?

Is it a modern re-imaging of a much loved childhood memory updated for the present day and it's tech-savvy kids?

Is it a blatent rip-off of a franchise that was available to use at a knock-down price, but which has now shot well over budget?

The fact that Frakes seems to have no concept of why the original was so popular is my main concern. That and the incredible amount of money spent on computer graphics, models and Ford cars, yet the vehicles look nothing like the originals (I still can't get over ditching the Rolls Royce!)

Who is meant to see it? What is the target audience?

Is it fathers who loved it taking their kids? That was the main audience of 'Star Wars Ep I'. In general, the fathers were disappointed by it, but the kids loved it. I'm not sure about this. I would only go if my son asked me, but he has no interest in this at all. I'd like to see it, but only to see how bad it is.

Is it for kids? The original 'Thunderbirds' has seen a revival in popularity recently, but I think it's on the wane now. 'Tracey Island' models used to be worth more than gold and impossible to find in the shops. They are on sale at a reduced price in my local Woolworths. I also saw the complete set of Videos at 99p each (cheaper than blank cassettes!) at Virgin.

[ray gower]

Think we are back to what exactly people mean by the term 'Camp'

The modern usage seems to have undertones of derisery or performed for farcial humour. So we are being set up for ridicule.

The OED, apart from the obvious definitions for dwelling under canvas, or military barracks offers:-

• adjective 1 (of a man) ostentatiously and extravagantly effeminate. 2 deliberately exaggerated and theatrical in style.

• noun camp behaviour or style.

• verb (usu. camp it up) behave in a camp way.

Given those I would dispute any claim that the original was 'Camp'. Fantasy, yes. But not Camp.

All the wonderful equipment sits firmly in the land of fantasy sci/fi.
There has always been a hard edge under Anderson productions, well padded for children perhaps, but there. So any claim for effeminate, sexual dis-dmeanour or farce really goes by the board.

Perhaps it is farcial for people to want to use their life for the benefit of others?

If so, I know a lot of camp people. God bless each and everyone of them!