I watched it up to the first break and gave up. Far too frantic, it seemed like every character had to be doing something at all times. The beauty of the original was the way it was paced to build tension, this one jumped around all over the place.
Yes, I agree. The original built up the tension nicely, but the new version is way too action-in-your-face for my liking. On the whole, it's nice to see it brought back for a new generation. I
I liked the visual gag involving
(Spolier ahead...)
Stingray allegedly John's favourite TV show. Although I initailly disliked the revamped TB2, it's growing on me, obviously inspired by a Hercules transport plane. I smiled at the palm trees flopping over when it took off...
. The mix of CGI characters in a miniature environment takes a little getting used to (doors sometimes opened awkwardly on the model set to allow the charcaters to pass through etc), but it is definetly gives the show a unique style by making the environment seem more real rather than a purely CG one. The CGI itself is very good for TV and I liked the emphasis on the characters eyes, maybe another nod to the puppets of the original?.
Nice to see they took up on an old plot line from the original, that the Hood is actually TinTin's uncle. Although there's no TinTin in this one, her role is taken by a new female character. i also liked the nod of the hat to the original in the style of the end credits, sixties-style split screen with production credits on one side and colour-tinted production artwork on the other. And they did something in this one that I don't think the original ever showed - how TB2 retrieves TB4 and the pod. As a kid, I always wondered if the oceans of the world were littered with discarded TB2 pods
.
However, the music on the famous launch sequences jarred with the imagery. Instead of using the main theme to build up the scene, they had some awful rubbish. Ok, so we now have bigger budgets and can afford more original music ( Gerry Anderson shows nearly always used different arrangements of the main theme as incidental music :UFO is a good example, listen to the soundtrack and you get different versions on the main theme tune).But most of the music in the show was a bit b****ks. Hardly stirring stuff, just turgid. And do we really need Jeff Tracy (sampled original line?) saying 5...4...3...2..1 Thunderbirds are Go! at
every launch??. That never happened in the original and is irritating. And the bit with Alan Tracy on his space jet-surfboard thing was a bit cringeworthy, but hey, if I was eight again I'd probably think it was cool
.
I Liked the New Captain Scarlet when it came out, so I'll stick with this new Thunderbirds to see how it develops. It has a good pedigree of people behind it (Weta Workshops etc), so I'm optimistic. Has potential to be a great show if they iron out the rubbish bits ....