Thunderbirds (2015) First viewing

[cdnbob]

I've emailed YTV, SPACE and Teletoon here in Canada asking them if they plan on purchasing and airing the new Thunderbirds. So far I've not had any response to my emails but when I do, will post them here.

I saw the first two episodes of the New Thunderbirds series on Saturday and I have to say I was quite impressed. Really enjoyed it a lot, has a very fast pace. Lots of nods to the original 60s series and based on the 2 episodes today, think it'll do well. The SFX and CGI is amazing. I'm looking forward to watching further episodes. Overall I give the pilot episode a 9/10.

[videoking]

The 3rd episode has Alan Tracy using an outer space surf board which to me is something jevenile that you wouldn't have scene if Gerry was in control of the series.

[GarethR]

Even if Gerry hadn't succumbed to Alzheimer's, the fact that he would now be 86 wouldn't make him the ideal person to be in charge of a series aimed primarily at 6-12 year olds.

Some of his ideas in his latter years were bloody stupid anyway. ISTR him suggesting that in a remade Thunderbirds, Lady Penelope could have a satellite dish hidden in her hair. And I don't think he was joking.

[Ross]

The 3rd episode has Alan Tracy using an outer space surf board which to me is something jevenile that you wouldn't have scene if Gerry was in control of the series.

Not so very different from the various hover bikes seen in Thunderbirds, Fireball XL-5, Stingray, surely.

[Bob Richardson]

The 3rd episode has Alan Tracy using an outer space surf board which to me is something jevenile that you wouldn't have scene if Gerry was in control of the series.

Surely that's the very kind of idea that would have appealed to Gerry? Anything to avoid showing the unconvincing walk of marionettes was OK in his book.

The satellite dish concealed in a beehive hairdo (which would have to be very small, rather than a revolving Jodrell Bank dish) is not that far from the various communication implants featured in other sci-fi and fantasy series (q.v. Scully in the X-Files).

[thebeekeeper]

Despite the Radio Times and other guides saying this series was not in HD one user has reported quality matching the HD Itunes download so it may well be airing in HD - worth checking this weekend even though it only merits an individual RT listing under the CITV channel

[cdnbob]

I've emailed YTV, SPACE and Teletoon here in Canada asking them if they plan on purchasing and airing the new Thunderbirds. So far I've not had any response to my emails but when I do, will post them here.

I heard back from SPACE and this is the response I got...

Hi Bob,
Thank you for your email. I’m not sure about Thunderbirds. I haven’t heard anything about it but I will let the programming team know that you’re interested.
Thanks!
Space

Non-committal but at least they responded.

[spflog1]

The 3rd episode has Alan Tracy using an outer space surf board

Bombed Out In Space With A Spaced-Out Bomb!

[ctraynor]

I was thinking that. Did they play Benson, Arizona on the soundtrack?

[Doom Patrol]

Quite enjoying this I have to say.

[Cooper S]

It was all showoff clever ("See what amazing things we can do with CGI!!")

Well, what exactly did you expect them to do? Make it look deliberately low-tech? What would be the point?

Although that's exactly what they've done through the use of model sets, many of which look far less convincing than those used in the original series.

[Cole]

Thought it was a nice touch that they used the original incidental music score for the Fireflash-landing-on-the-pods sequence this week.

[Simon Coward]

Many regions were even clever enough to air the show at 7pm in 1965

You're seriously trying to compare the 1965 TV landscape with 2015?

It doesn't stop it being a valid observation, though, and one point that's often made is that slightly older children will often deliberately stop watching the programmes which are only being aired on CBBC/CITV etc not because they've stopped enjoying them, but because they see them (or fear their peers will see them) as being childish and thus uncool.

If putting a Thunderbirds Are Go! on their main channel at a point when the whole family might watch it together is such a dumb idea, why did ITV show the first pair of episodes in exactly that fashion?

[drmih]

Many regions were even clever enough to air the show at 7pm in 1965

You're seriously trying to compare the 1965 TV landscape with 2015?

It doesn't stop it being a valid observation, though, and one point that's often made is that slightly older children will often deliberately stop watching the programmes which are only being aired on CBBC/CITV etc not because they've stopped enjoying them, but because they see them (or fear their peers will see them) as being childish and thus uncool.

If putting a Thunderbirds Are Go! on their main channel at a point when the whole family might watch it together is such a dumb idea, why did ITV show the first pair of episodes in exactly that fashion?

Well it was shown at 5pm, presumably to pick up the nostalgia audience on the back of all of the publicity. I'm sure there were many of us casual fans who watched it in the 60s who tuned in but saw it for the young kids cartoon it is and stopped there. This isn't suitable for family audiences and even young teenagers would be bored - they're aiming to watch Game of Thrones, Walking Dead etc if they can get access.

[Doom Patrol]

I think that's a little unfair. I think you'd have to be pretty curmudgeonly to dismiss it so off handedly. It's well written without being condescending. It has some nice animation and some running gags which makes it quite sophisticated in its way. I did watch it in the Sixties and I'm quite happy to watch it now.

[Bob Richardson]

I think that's a little unfair. I think you'd have to be pretty curmudgeonly to dismiss it so off handedly. It's well written without being condescending. It has some nice animation and some running gags which makes it quite sophisticated in its way. I did watch it in the Sixties and I'm quite happy to watch it now.

I've seen them all so far, and enjoyed them. Every bit as entertaining as Murder She Wrote and many other daytime shows which require the audience to sit back and park their brains in neutral. OK, so it's made for kids, but it's light-hearted fun. After watching Saturday's plane crash episode (a remake of the T-birds pilot) I dug out the DVD and watched the original again. Double fun.

[drmih]

I think that's a little unfair. I think you'd have to be pretty curmudgeonly to dismiss it so off handedly. It's well written without being condescending. It has some nice animation and some running gags which makes it quite sophisticated in its way. I did watch it in the Sixties and I'm quite happy to watch it now.

The suggestion put forward was that it might have been successful if put in a family entertainment slot on a Saturday. I was merely stating that it is what it is, and no matter how many nods to the past or quality, it's a kids cartoon series which could perhaps be better scheduled but isn't family entertainment. There have been a number of very good children's dramas on CBBC (Sarah Jane Adventures, Aliens and Wizards(?) etc) but that doesn't make them suitable for family entertainment. There have been a range of programs made for that slot (Robin Hood, Merlin, Atlantis, Musketeers etc), some good and some not so good, but they have a different feel and audience.

[Mark]

The Documentary "Reggie And Thunderbirds-No Strings Attached", is on again, tonight at 10.40pm, ITV.

[swills]

Now of course I am sure we are all awaiting the completion of THUNDERBIRDS 1965, which was the Kickstarter/Crowd funded remake, and of course going back to the orginal way THUNDERBIRDS was made :-)

[cdnbob]

Finished watching the first 12 episodes and really enjoyed what is supposedly a children's series. No one's picked up it for broadcast here, so I'll have to content myself with the dvd set. Btw, has the rest of the first season started airing yet? Season 1 was 26 eps, or 13?

[drmih]

Yes, Eps 17 was shown last weekend.