Irresistible. Of the fantasy/adventure puppet shows created by Sylvia & Gerry Anderson in the mid-‘60s for British tv (filmed in SuperMarionation!; still syndicated ‘round the globe), this 32 episode series about a top-secret/family-run/last-resort rescue outfit is the best-remembered. Not that it's so superior to similar Anderson shows of the ‘60s. It’s more that where the others made do with half-hour time slots, THUNDERBIRDS got a full-hour. Subtracting commercials and credits means a bit over 20" vs. a bit over 40"; the latter proving a perfect length for set-up, characterizations, unfolding disaster; late plot twist and dangerous mission hitch before saving things from catastrophe in the nick of time! Set a century in the future (2065) our heroes a family of five boys, The Tracys, commanded by their widowed dad, and living on a secret island with Grandma and a few non-family assistants while underground silos store fabulous jets & space rocket rescue vehicles. Stories mostly the same: futuristic technology goes haywire and the family is contacted to save the day. (A ‘clip’ show ends season one and a Christmas Special ends the series.) What makes it so charming & fun is watching them solve all the technical tricks in scale within the limitations of marionette puppetry.* (Occasional cheats come via close-ups of real hands and real scenery.) Spot the modest improvements in detail work: immovable mouths loosen up; eyes start to blink, hair is styled, but keeping extravagant eyebrows on all the villains. A ‘Cool Britain’ vibe lasts for the first ten episodes (very SECRET AGENT MAN; THE AVENGERS) with Barry Gray’s pulse-pounding score (bongos to the fore, then receding till the penultimate episode). And note how Dad Tracy favors eldest son Scott (the only one with dimples!); and constant changes to London agent Lady Penelope’s hair. Plus sexual tension on the isle; so much testosterone and only one eligible gal. (Son Virgil Tracy mentions a wife and kids, but we never see them.) But if there’s no sex, we do get plenty of suggestive space docking and surface drilling. Yikes! That rubber cement glue used for all those scale-model space ships and hovering jet planes must have lingered in the air on set.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Tracys always end ship to ship or ship to base messages saying ‘F.A.B.’ Apparently, it’s no anagram, simply a phrase like A. O. K. or Roger & Out acknowledging reception. F.A.B.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *One thing Andersons & crew can do little about is getting water and fire to match scale. A problem only solved (if that’s the word) once CGI came on the movie scene.
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