Tram Town
Saturday, September 25, 2004
| Category: Thunderbirds I think I'm going to have to see it again to see where I went wrong. This on imdb: The original Thunderbirds was an eccentric, low-budget, weird piece of TV science fiction with the emphasis on alluring gadgetry and brilliant machines. The fact that all roles were played by puppets certainly helped it attain a certain cult status. Fans and even casual viewers have fond memories of puppets bobbing around miniature sets and palm trees folding back to allow Thunderbird 2 to get down the runway. Approaching a cinematic updating of the concept, director Jonathan Frakes had two choices: Go for a faithful, no-holds-barred action-packed romp full of alluring gadgetry and brilliant machines with a 21st century gloss, or ruin the whole thing and make the worst film of the year. Unfortunately, Mr. Frakes chose the latter option.Firstly, it was NOT low budget. It was a very expensive production in its day. It was made with puppets and models because that was the only way to do such things. Go look at Gerry Anderson's current remake of Captain Scarlet, go on... CGI, isn't it? Just like most of the action bits in the new movie. The story was not really helped by the marionettes bobbing around and if you thought that was a feature you missed the point, bozo. The vehicles one through five and the mole are all very similar to the originals but with way more detail and realistic manoeverability that CGI brings. For my money, ths film is very faithful to the original concept. I say Gerry's being just a bit precious or bitter. What's more, I find it hard to believe he is so stupid as to have turned down $750k to say it was alright. Just one thing, how is the Hood made to forget where Tracy Island is? Make that 9.5 9.4. |
