IT’S WONDERFUL how evocative a simple countdown can be. Just the opening strains of Jeff Tracy (the late Peter Dyneley) booming out the original Thunderbirds’ “Five, four, three...” at the start of Thunderbirds Are Go sent me rocketing back across the decades for a wobbly, dry ice-shrouded touchdown in the land of my childhood.
Like so many of my generation, I loved the original Thunderbirds. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Supermarionation sci-fi masterpiece, which originally aired between 1965 and 1966, but entertained generations through reruns, was perfect entertainment for a child of the Space Race age. My love for it wasn’t a full-on passion like the one I later developed, briefly, for Doctor Who.
It was a childish, entirely unanalytical pleasure, as much driven by my desire, and that of my friends, to own, swap and play with the diecast models that recreated the Tracy family’s brilliantly imagined air, sea and space craft. For me the TV experience was focused purely on lapping up the action – then rushing out to reproduce it, or reimagine it, with my pals.
All of which made watching this revamped version last night on ITV a surprisingly enjoyable experience. I haven’t revisited the original in years, and actively avoided the 2004 Hollywood live action movie version condemned by creator Gerry Anderson. And I liked what I found, because Thunderbirds Are Go remains remarkably true to both the spirit and look of the original.
More than anywhere this was reflected in the iconic launch sequences from Tracy Island, which reverted to the Andersons’ outmoded puppetry techniques to reproduce that wobbly, highly comical original feel. The island may have had a revamp, the house
Lady Penelope and Bertie
looking a lot more Zaha Hadid than the original Le Corbusier aesthetic, but it was still essentially the same.
Still the swimming pool retracted to allow Thunderbird 1 to blast off. Still the twin lines of palm trees flapped over hilariously to expose Thunderbird 2’s launch pad – just as unconvincingly as before. It must have taken so much work to get that right. Best of all, there was no variation in these often used sequences.
In terms of “cast”, it’s easy enough to appreciate why Brains should acquire an Indian accent and why the five Tracy boys are being joined by a plucky new female character, Kayo. That’s the world we live in. Other performances felt more retro. The big signing, Gone Girl’s Rosamund Pike, gave a delicious Downton-esque performance as Lady Penelope, while 89-yearold David Graham reprised his role as her adenoidal chauffeur Parker.
Overall, the action-packed storyline was as impressively scripted as the animation was flawlessly flawed, easily holding attention for this hourlong opening episode. Clearly, I’m not this series’ target audience, but I’m grateful for the many backward nods, and impressed that the baton is being passed on with so much wit and integrity to a lucky new generation.