[QUOTE 2667546, member: 1314"]I just assumed it was written for that purpose.
The Thunderbirds Live movie is pretty cool, actually.
The theme is also the one good tune Busted wrote.[/quote]
I'm afraid I thought the movie was just pants
.I waited over 30 years for a big budget live action version and all they could come up with was effectively
Spy Kids 4: Running About on Tracy Island. Even the rescues - only two - were boring. At the beginning, some oil workers get winched off a rig and at the end, some people get winched out of the Thames
. It's a perfect example of 'franchise' driven film making which is the antithesis of what Gerry Anderson did way back in 1965. Modern movie making is run largely by accountants who love formulas and so decided to make a version around the Spy Kids formula. So Alan is a teenager (he piloted TB3 originally!!), Brains has a son (eh?) and TinTin is a teenager too (oh dear). What we get is an uninspiring piece of Hollywood fluff which goes for the younger audience,alienating anyone over 10 and thus ignoring nearly a half century of street cred now soaked into our culture. By contrast, Gerry Anderson was given some cash by Lew Grade and told to make an exciting show. So without a mega budget and live actors, he used puppets and just made the episodes like mini-movies with all the production values of a major film, as best he could, and without the commercial pressure of a successful 'franchise' formula.
What you get is something that, if you just add a little imagination, could be real. That's the 'magic', for want of a better word, that makes Thunderbirds fun for kids and adults who grew up with it. That's why the
Fireflash rescue is perfect ; action, building up the drama, tension when it all goes a bit wrong etc...Close your eyes and it could be a major movie blockbuster action sequence. Unfortunately, the movie blew it.
I loved how in the 90's, BBC repeats caused a massive surge of interest in
Thunderbirds. Not bad for a creaky old show, 25 at the time, made with puppets , blowing stuff like the
Power Rangers out of the water.
The movie was one massive missed opportunity, sadly
. For a lesson in how to upgrade an old show, I would recommend
The New Captain Scarlet
which, ironically, was in production at Pinewood at the same time as the TB film.
