Thunderbirds

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Thunderbirds ranks 5,128 out of the 18,229 shows on TV.com.

The 212 users who count themselves as Thunderbirds fans have written a total of 8 reviews.

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In 2065, former astronaut and millionaire Jeff Tracy forms an secret organization named International Rescue. Its mission is to intervene when human life is at threat and nobody else is able to help. They're based on a small tropical island in the Pacific. While it appears to all the world as a reclusive... more »

In 2065, former astronaut and millionaire Jeff Tracy forms an secret organization named International Rescue. Its mission is to intervene when human life is at threat and nobody else is able to help. They're based on a small tropical island in the Pacific. While it appears to all the world as a reclusive millionaire's retreat, complete with luxurious hillside house (appropriately in the International Style of architecture) and swimming pool, hidden beneath the house and inside a cliff face are various facilities for the enormous complex where their equipment is built, maintained and stored. The equipment, including the specialized Thunderbird vehicles, is designed and assembled by Brains, a brilliant engineer fiercely loyal to Jeff. Supporting the team is Lady Penelope, a famous society figure who secretly acts as their London operative, assisted by her butler, Parker.

The five Thunderbird craft are piloted by each of Jeff's five sons, all named after members of America's Mercury program:

- Thunderbird 1, piloted by Scott, named after Scott Carpenter. This ramjet-powered plane is their fastest aircraft, always first on the scene to assess the situation and coordinate the rescue.
- Thunderbird 2, piloted by Virgil (after Virgil "Gus" Grissom." A fan favorite, Thunderbird 2 is the heavy lift air transport, responsible for carrying all manner of large and bulky machinery to rescue sites.
- Thunderbird 3 is piloted by Alan (after Alan Shepard) or John (after John Glenn,) depending on who is on station in Thunderbird 5. 3 is the spaceship for International Rescue.
- Thunderbird 4, piloted by Gordon (after Gordon Cooper), is a mini-submarine usually carried to sites inside Thunderbird 2.
- Thunderbird 5 is manned by John and Alan on rotating monthly shifts. It's an orbital space platform where all communications around the world can be monitored and issues alerts to Jeff whenever trouble arises.

International Rescue insists on complete secrecy. Their identities aren't known to anyone outside the organization and photography of their equipment is forbidden.

Thunderbirds was produced by Gerry Anderson and was the culmination of his Supermarionation process, which used marionette puppets instead of live actors. Originally intended for children, the show still has a devoted fanbase of adult viewers, both in the United Kingdom where it originated and in the United States, where it was syndicated in the 1960s and 70s. The series spawned three theatrical features. Thunderbirds Are Go! and Thunderbird Six were produced soon after the series left the air, although neither met with box office success. In 2004, a live action feature of the same name was made without Anderson's involvement. It drew scathing comments from professional movie reviewers who compared it unfavorably to the original show.less «

• The Thunderbirds on a Saturday Morning!

  'Thunderbirds are go!' If anyone grew up in 1970s Australia and doesn't have fond memories of The ...more »

  'Thunderbirds are go!' If anyone grew up in 1970s Australia and doesn't have fond memories of The Thunderbirds , I've yet to meet them. All those wonderful spacecraft! Such design! Such Supermarionation ! And all with a strangely exotic look. We didn't know it at the time, but this wasn't a seventies aesthetic; these were super-slick 'mod' puppets of the 1960s! I'm a lifelong fan of the comedy of Dudley Moore and Peter Cook who seem to sum up the experience best: 'Virgil?' 'What is it, Dad?' 'Your strings are showing.' As it was on at 6 o'clock in the morning, I'd set my alarm for 5.45, guaranteeing I'd be in front of the telly on time and with a cup of tea. Of course I'd be the only one up, so, if particularly sleepy, I'd get up, watch it then go back to bed at seven. No wonder The Thunderbirds was so appealing to us; it was toys come to life. I only found out years later that the show's creators came up with most of those weird and wonderful spaceships simply by taking a whole bunch of plastic model-aeroplane kits, mixing up the parts and sticking them all together. Okay, so Leonardo Da Vinci and Howard Hughes worked on some of the sticking … In fact, the show's creators did about six other similar shows using the same technique, and puppets for all of them for the simple reason that they couldn't afford actors. It seems that only by the time they made UFO in 1968 and Space 1999 in 1970 did they have the budget for humans in front of the camera. There was something magical about watching this show, so hyper-early, before the adults were awake. In the dim of the early morning rainy light and the blue of the box, the moment was divinely 'ours'. Justin Sheedy http://crackernight.com less «

  JustinSheedy1 Last online Mar 19, 2009
  1 comments, last one Mar 13, 2009 + Add Comment

• Whitch Character do you like ?

  The title says it already, Whitch Character do you like ? Mine is Virgil. Since i saw the episode, Terror in new york, i liked him.

  The title says it already, Whitch Character do you like ? Mine is Virgil. Since i saw the episode, Terror in new york, i liked him. less «

  chibimax02 Last online Dec 31, 1969
  11 comments, last one Mar 13, 2009 + Add Comment

• How would Lucille Tracy look when she was alive ?

  How would Lucille Tracy look when she was alive ? many people say she look like Virg. i realy hope so. But if lucy look like virgil, then jeff has to have blond hear... or not ?

  How would Lucille Tracy look when she was alive ? many people say she look like Virg. i realy hope so. But if lucy look like virgil, then jeff has to have blond hear... or not ? less «

  chibimax02 Last online Dec 31, 1969
  4 comments, last one Sep 2, 2008 + Add Comment

•  

  8 Great

  Ready for adventure! hide « show »

  Thunderbirds is the 1967 British Sci-Fi adventure series created by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson (who would later make the more serious sci-fi series Space:1999) in which all the characters were marionettes (labeled as "Supermarionation").
  
  The series tells the adventures of the Tracy family, a widower & his 5 sons who run a secret organization called International Rescue that performs rescues from hazardous situations whether the disaster is caused by man, machine, or even nature.
  
  Despite it's campy appearance, this was 1 of the best syndicated kid's shows ever to hit American TV, long before the advent of Japanese animation.
  
  And as a proud fan since i first saw this show on Chicago TV back in the 1970's, it gives me a thrill every time that famous Thunderbirds theme right after the opening countdown & that famous line: THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!!

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  DojinFan_2K Added Nov 20, 2008 All my reviews
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  8.6 Great

  Awful Puppeteering, or the Best Show that Gerry Anderson ever created. hide « show »

  F.A.B is the word.
  Tracy is the Name.
  Thunderbirds are go.
  
  A fantatsic show, espiecially for its time. of course the Puppets weren't always the most reliable, but the story telling and the action were fantastic, although at times slightly predictable.
  It was even set in a time were it was possible for the technology to be plausable. It was fantastically planned.
  My personal Favorite was Thunderbird 4 and the Mole, but everyone had their Favorites. That is what made it awesome, everyone who watched had their own individual aspect they enjoyed about it. A Legend of a Program. Even the Movie was relativly accurate. Its a Rare show that can pull it off.
  
  FAB is all i have to say

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  CirrusC Added Jul 17, 2007 All my reviews
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  6.7 Fair

  Nice one! hide « show »

  You know what I like about this show: it takes me back in time to the days when I loved to play with toys, the days when I used to spend the whole afternoon in the bedroom of a friend of mine playing on the floor with our toys, late into the night, imitating the sound of jet engines with our mouths, crashing our plastic planes into one another, mimicking gunfights, battles, explosions. A few weeks ago I was surprised to find that Chilean TV is replaying the show on Sundays. Last time I had seen one episode must have been fifteen years ago or more, I don't know. I watched and I found myself transported through time back to those days. I can't play with toys anymore, I have lost that childhood thing for toys. But watching the show I re-live the magic of toys, I feel again the beauty and the spell of toy trains, toy cars, toy trucks, toy soldiers, toy planes, etc. And I didn't remember the show looking so gorgeously great on TV (perhaps the reason for that is that back then I watched the show in black and white). Big fun from past!

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  da_dunker Added Apr 30, 2007 All my reviews
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  9 Superb

  Thunderbirds was a major part of my childhood. hide « show »

  Everything stopped for Thunderbirds. It did not matter how many times we watched the episodes they remained as fresh as the first viewing. There is a lot of camp humour about the puppets dangling around on their strings but I never noticed that much due to the brilliant idea of never making the characters actually walk. Seriously you watch the TV episodes again you never see anyone put one foot in front of the other. Even the lithe brave Tracys scoot around on little hoverbikes that defy all the laws of physics.
  
  All this did not matter I simply adored everything about the Thunderbirds series. If I was not watching it I was building Thunderbird craft out of LEGO or sawing the crude wheels of the few Thunderbird toys that were available. Then Captain Scarlet came along and shot down the Thunderbirds. That was quite a good series but it never gripped me as much. Then the years rolled by with only TV21 to keep my appetite for the show nourished until even that with its full colour photos from the show came to an end. Reluctantly I had to leave the Tracy's world and return to my own. AND THEN! The entire series was released on DVD. I had to own it! With trepidation I inserted the first disk . Would the show seem childish and crude against my current diet of StarTrek, Starwars and all the others. Not a bit, as soon as that countdown began once again and the screen was rocked by those explosions I had seen so many times before I was hooked ! Again I was amazed at how fresh and alive the episodes are even after all these years. Even the special effects hold their own in our CGI world. Thunderbirds is an absolute classic. If you have never watched it then I envy you.

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  D-LinkUK Added Dec 11, 2006 All my reviews
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  9.1 Superb

  Thunderbirds Are Go! hide « show »

  Ah Thunderbirds. This show harks back to a Golden era of childrens programming where it was simple, enjoyable and well made.
  
  They don't make TV like this anymore. My only real gripe with the show is the uneven amount of time the characters appeared but that unimportant.
  
  Each episode was well constructed, leisurely paced and excellently voiced. The stories had plently of variety, one week they could be rescuing people from a burning building the next pulling a mech out of a hole. The were ups and downs. Injuries and moments of triumph. And it was uncomplicated. The brothers did not have girlfriends, there was no internet and very few shades of grey.
  
  It should not be forgotten.

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  Malora Added Aug 1, 2006 All my reviews