Thunderbirds (2004)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Creating The Action Featurette-Tracy Island Revealed Featurette-Lady P & Parker: Fun and Stunts Featurette-FAB 1: More Than a Car Featurette-Lady Penelope's Pink World Music Video-Thunderbirds By Busted Audio Commentary-Jonathan Frakes (Director) Game-Hood vs Thunderbirds Trailer-Shrek 2, Barbie as The Princess and The Pauper Trailer-Two Brothers, The Land Before Time 10 Trailer-Balto-The Wings of Change Featurette-Launch-Launches The Craft Biographies-Character-Facts- Information About The Craft
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	90:44
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (73:23)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jonathan Frakes
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Brady Corbet Bill Paxton Soren Fulton Vanessa Anne Hudgens Ben Kingsley Anthony Edwards Sophia Myles Ron Cook Philip Winchester Lex Shrapnel Dominic Colenso Ben Torgersen
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Ramin Djawadi James Michael Dooley Mel Wesson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired English Audio Commentary	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    "Thunderbirds are go!" Going downhill that is... Over the last 40 years, the 1960s British television series Thunderbirds has achieved cult status, and it was only a matter of time before Hollywood was to cash in on their international popularity. But, with actors almost as wooden as the marionettes they replaced, and with $US70 million to burn, Universal Pictures has managed to take something unique and special and turn it into instantly forgettable garbage.

    The husband and wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson produced at least ten marionette (okay, so Gerry called it "supermarionation") series for television, including Stingray and Supercar. Their most famous, Thunderbirds, premiered on UK television in 1965.

    Set in 2063, the Thunderbirds followed the exciting adventures of International Rescue, a secret organisation dedicated to daring and large-scale rescues. Hidden in a remote, high-tech Island, International Rescue was founded by ex-astronaut and millionaire, Jeff Tracy. His five dashing (for puppets) sons manned five top-secret (and numbered) Thunderbirds. Many episodes also featured the lovely Lady Penelope, and her butler/side-kick Parker.

    An immediate hit, the Thunderbirds have since achieved cult status, and it is not uncommon to see the odd Thunderbirds t-shirt out on the street almost 40 years later. They have well and truly entered popular culture. For example, consider the well-known band (of a few years ago) who was named after them, Fabulous Thunderbirds. (They had the country-rock hit Tuff Enuff). Indeed, when I attended the Melbourne Cup a few weeks ago, there was a small army of men wearing (very accurate) replicas of the Thunderbirds full costumes.

    During its run, 32 hour-long episodes were made, and at least two feature-length productions, Thunderbirds Are Go! and Thunderbird 6.

    In this obvious Spy Kids rip-off, billionaire ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) is troubled by his wayward teenage-son, Alan (Brady Corbet). A dreamer, Alan is keen to become an International Rescue hero like his father, but he is too young and irresponsible. Unexpectedly, Alan gets his chance to prove himself when the villainous The Hood (Ben Kingsley) lures the team away, and strands them on a damaged satellite. So, in true Spy Kids style, it's up to Alan to rescue them, and foil The Hood's dastardly plan. Alan is aided by the nerdy Fermat (Soren Fulton), and the helpful Tin-Tin (Vanessa Anne Hudgens). Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles) also pops up occasionally to lend a (well-manicured) hand.

    A weak and unimaginative script, backed up with very clumsy direction by Jonathan Frakes (Riker from Star Trek the Next Generation), results in a very heavy-handed approach to the themes of responsibility and teamwork. Indeed, the movie grows very tedious very quickly.

Video

    As often observed, it often seems that the worst films get the best transfers, and this is no exception.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    While a few scenes looked intentionally soft, the sharpness is good overall,. Consider, for example, the detailed shot of the computer screens at 31:56. The black level is good, and the shadow detail is also fine. For example, look at the scene in the dark lair at 35:52.

    The colour is amazing throughout, with a well-saturated use of bold primary colours. The skin tones are accurate.

    There are no problems with MPEG artefacts, but film-to-video artefacts appear in the form of aliasing throughout. For example, look at the shimmer on the window ledges at 3:43.

    A few tiny film artefacts were noticeable, but this is a pristine print. Occasionally some edge enhancement can be spotted, but it's not very noticeable.

    English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are provided for the feature, and English subtitles are provided for the Audio Commentary. They were both accurate.

    This is a Dual Layer disc, with the layer change placed at 73:23.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The feature only offers one audio option: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s). The Audio Commentary is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are fine throughout.

    The musical score is credited to Ramin Djawadi and Hans Zimmer, and there is also a re-working of the well-known original theme music by Busted.

    There is considerable surround presence and activity throughout. The rear speakers are used to support the score and provide a lot of ambience. For effect, at times, the score is very prominent in the rears, such as at 72:25.

    The subwoofer is also utilised very heavily throughout, and the LFE track really does bring the power and size of the Thunderbird Ships to life, such as the roar of Thunderbird 2's engines at 64:34.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are a few extras, although they are hard to find due to the worst menu structure I have ever seen.

Menu

    The menu is designed to look like a Thunderbird cockpit, and it is the most confusing, frustrating, illogical, disordered, annoying, and non-user-friendly DVD menu structure I have ever seen. Viewers are forced to blindly find their ways through multiple menu structures, with nothing clearly marked. For example, if you select Director's Commentary (if you can find it), you then have to navigate through a series of further screens and menus before you can play the movie with the commentary.

    From what I can work out, hitting the "Launch" button on any menu screen will play a short clip of a Thunderbird ship being launched. Hitting the "Facts" button provides some information about the Thunderbird ship featured in that menu screen, (unless you're in the Lady Penelope themed menu, which features Lady Penelope's FAB 1 car).

Featurette-Creating The Action (7:37)

    A quick look behind-the-scenes at the movement from script to story-board to shooting. This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Featurette-Tracy Island Revealed (9:17)

    A quick look at the island used, as Tracy Island, in the beautiful Seychelles. This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Featurette-Lady P & Parker: Fun and Stunts (2:50)

    The actors playing Lady Penelope and Parker discuss their training for the fight sequences. This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Featurette-FAB 1: More Than a Car (3:24)

    A quick look at Lady Penelope's FAB 1 in the movie. Interestingly, unlike the television series, Rolls-Royce didn't want to be associated with this movie. As a result, Ford now provide Lady Penelope's pink FAB 1 car. It's just not the same is it? This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Featurette-Lady Penelope's Pink World (4:08)

    Sophia Myles discuss the character of Lady Penelope, her wardrobe, and her affinity with all that is pink. This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Music Video-Thunderbirds By Busted (3:30)

    This music video is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, non-16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Audio Commentary-Jonathan Frakes (Director)

    Frakes provides a fairly screen-specific commentary, in which he comments on everything from the actors to the locations used. There are also a few anecdotes along the way. Considering that this is his first really big directing job (outside of Star Trek), and by the time the commentary was recorded he would have been aware of the box office disaster, Frakes is pretty upbeat throughout.

Game-Hood vs Thunderbirds

    One of the tedious kids' games using the DVD remote to navigate around a map.

Theatrical Trailers

• Shrek 2
• Barbie as The Princess and The Pauper
• Two Brothers
• The Land Before Time 10
• Balto-The Wings of Change

    Thunderbirds is due for release on DVD in Region 1 on December 21 2004, in both widescreen and 'full-screen' versions. From what I can tell, our versions will be much the same, with some variation to the trailers included.

    The R4 also seems identical to the R2 version, except they get a trailer for Billy Elliot the Musical, and miss out on trailers for Barbie as The Princess and The Pauper and Two Brothers. Interestingly, we all miss out on a trailer for Thunderbirds itself.

    Aimed directly at kids, Thunderbirds often appears to be merely a feature-long commercial for the inevitable merchandise (especially toy Thunderbirds).

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is also very good.

    The extras lack any depth, just like the movie.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall