Thunderbirds Are GO (1966)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

David Lane

Writers:

Gerry Anderson (writer)
Sylvia Anderson (writer)

Release Date:

July 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Excitement is GO! Adventure is GO! Danger is GO!

Plot:

Zero-X, a manned exploration mission crashes during lift-off on its maiden flight. Two years later an...

Plot Keywords:

Puppet | Supermarionation

Cast

Peter Dyneley	...	Jeff Tracy (voice)
Sylvia Anderson	...	Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward (voice)
Shane Rimmer	...	Scott Tracy (voice)
Jeremy Wilkin	...	Virgil Tracy / Space Exploration Center President (voice)
Matt Zimmerman	...	Alan Tracy / Messenger (voice)
David Graham	...	Gordon Tracy / Brains / Aloysius Parker (voice)
Ray Barrett	...	John Tracy / The Hood (voice)
Christine Finn	...	Tin-Tin Kyrano (voice)
Paul Maxwell	...	Captain Paul Travers (voice)
Alexander Davion	...	Space Captain Greg Martin (voice)
Neil McCallum	...	Dr. Ray Pierce (voice)
Bob Monkhouse	...	Space Navigator Brad Newman / Swinging Star Compere (voice)
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell	...	Dr. Tony Grant / Angry Young Man / Public Relations Officer (voice) (as Charles Tingwell)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cliff Richard	...	Cliff Richard Jr. (voice) (uncredited)
The Shadows	...	Themselves (uncredited)

Directed by
David Lane

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gerry Anderson		writer
Sylvia Anderson		writer

Produced by
Sylvia Anderson	....	producer
John Read	....	associate producer
Gerry Anderson	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Barry Gray

Film Editing by
Len Walter

Production Design by
John Lageu
Keith Wilson

Costume Design by
Elizabeth Coleman

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Harry Ledger	....	assistant director
Ken Turner	....	assistant director

Art Department
Tony Dunsterville	....	property maker

Sound Department
Maurice Askew	....	sound mixer
Brian Hickin	....	sound editor (as Brian T. Hickin)
John Peverill	....	sound editor
Lionel Strutt	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Richard Conway	....	visual effects assistant
Derek Meddings	....	visual effects director
Harry Oakes	....	visual effects lighting camera
Peter Wragg	....	visual effects: second unit
Ted Cutlack	....	visual effects camera operator (uncredited)
Ted Fowler	....	visual effects lighting cameraman: second unit (uncredited)
Shaun Whittacker-Cook	....	visual effects director (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Alan Perry	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Paddy Seale	....	lighting camera (uncredited)

Animation Department
John Brown	....	character sculptor (as John F. Brown)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Zena Relph	....	assistant to costume designer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Selwyn Petterson	....	apprentice editor (uncredited)
George Randall	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Other crew
Brian Burgess	....	production coordinator
Norman Foster	....	assistant to executive producer
Christine Glanville	....	character operator
Mary Turner	....	character operator
Wanda Webb	....	puppeteer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Associated Television (Overseas) Limited
• Century 21 Television

Distributors

• United Artists (1968) (USA) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (2002) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print Techniscope Technicolor - re-issue)
• United Artists Corporation (1966) (UK) (theatrical)
• MGM Home Entertainment (Europe) (2001) (UK) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Video (1988) (UK) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Studio Film Laboratories Ltd.  titles
• Wig Creations of London  wigs

Also Known As:

Thunderbirds Are Go (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | UK:U

Company:

Associated Television (Overseas) Limited

Trivia:

Because Panavision cameras couldn't cope with special effects (at the time), a scope camera was still needed for filming, so Techniscope was used instead. This would also be used in the filming of Thunderbird 6 (1968).

Goofs:

Continuity: At Assembly Control, the name of the Zero-X launch site on the map is given as "Glenn Field". However, when Lady Penelope drives into the car park, there is a sign on the gate of the press enclosure that reads "Glenfield".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Glenn Field Controller: This is Assembly Control calling all Zero X units. Assembly Phase One - go!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in All About 'Thunderbirds' (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Lady Penelope

International Rescue..Calling International Rescue

In the 1960's, British TV producer Gerry Anderson and his wife, Sylvia, went about making a series of shows based around a highly functional set of marionettes which where built around a process called Supermarionation, a speech syncronization system designed to have the puppet's mouth move in sync with the voice actor reading it's lines.

Combining it with some of the most fanciful designs of futuristic societies, they spawned a slew of shows including "Joe 90", about a boy with the ability to be programmed like a computer to do anything, from pilot a stolen jet fighter to perform brain surgery: "Fireball XL-5", a galactic adventure onboard a massive space cruiser, "Stingray", the tales of a super sub working for the World Aquatic Security Patrol ("W.A.S.P."), "Captain Scarlet", tales of an indestructible agent in a war against unseen Martian invaders called The Mysterons, et al.

Perhaps the Anderson's most famous and popular show in the hearts and minds of it's fans is "Thunderbirds". The background is simple. John Tracy, former astronaut and billionaire industrialist, decides to use his wealth to help the world by creating "International Rescue", a secret force of super vehicles designed by an in-house genius known simply as "Brain" and manned by his sons, each a superb athlete and trained expert in their fields (It is no doubt to some that his sons would have been Xtreme sports enthusiasts given the times). Brain's creations are the Thunderbirds, a set of highly specialized rescue and response vehicles each designed for specific purposes.

Thunderbird One is a hypersonic VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) vehicle used as a mobile command center. Thunderbird Two is a heavy lifter, capable of transporting pods containing rescue equipment to any location, from a subterranean "Mole" to the aquatic Thunderbird Four. Thunderbird Three is a space ship, launched from under the Tracy Island estate's pool (the vehicles launch sequences are themselves something to behold, since International Rescue is a secret organization, the deployment of the vehicles must also be the same, leading to some of the most unique ways of converting the Tracy Island compound into a launch & retrieval complex). As for Thunderbird Five, it is a monitoring station orbiting in space, listening in on the world's airwaves for the call.

A pink, armoured futuristic Rolls Royce bearing the license plate FAB-1 also come into play, as the property of one Lady Penelope, British aristocrat and undercover agent for International Rescue. Driven by a former resident of Wormwood Scrubs Prison known simply as Parker, it is bullet-proof,has an exceptionally heavy bit or ordinance under it's hood and is capable of Hydrofoil work on the water.

The way that they pull this off without it turning into a low rent kiddie show was from the contributions of such people as Derek Meddings, designer or the ships as well as the space craft and miniatures for movies like "Krull", "Moonraker", "Goldeneye" and many James Bond films. Barry Gray's scoring duties bring real tension and drama to the adventure.

Anderson was no slouch himself, creating many inventive effects shots using the highly detailed miniatures. This movie, surrounding the attempted sabotage and eventual rescue of a Mars exploration mission, displays the tools of Anderson's craft quite well. Look for another movie, Thunderbird 6, as well as newly digitally remastered releases of the original episodes on the shelves (and no, they did not digitally erase the wires). It is truly one of the best guilty pleasures from the past.

It also marked the end of Supermarionation, for with the exception of one puppet show ("Terrahawks"), Anderson's productions went into live actors, but still carried on the traditions of awesome miniatures with shows like "U.F.O", "Space:1999" and "Space Precinct".

Unfortunately,the big budget adaptation of the series, released in 2005, directed by Johnathan Frakes (Commander Will Riker of "Star Trek:The Next Generation"), was a muddled, childish piece of dreck which totally ruined the hopes of many aging fans of the original show for a decent and reverent homage to Anderson's vision, which probably explains his refusal to have anything to do with the movie.