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A&E Home Video presents
Thunderbirds #3 (19665)

"I've ascertained the danger zone. Proceeding at full speed!"
- Gordon Tracy (Peter Dynley)

Review By: Dan Lopez   
Published: December 24, 2001

Stars: Ray Barrett, Peter Dynley, Sylvia Anderson, David Holliday
Other Stars: Matt Zimmerman, Christine Finn, David Grahm
Director: Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson

Manufacturer: DVSS
MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (mild puppet violence, depictions of disasters)
Run Time: 06h:00m:00s
Release Date: October 20, 2001
UPC: 733961703290
Genre: animation

Image Transfer
Audio Transfer
A- BB+A- C-

DVD Review

Thunderbirds are a go again with A&E's third box set of the popular 1960s' series. Filmed entirely with marionettes and highly detailed miniature sets, Thunderbirds details the exploits of International Rescue (IR), a secret, privately funded organization that in the year 2065 uses advanced technology to create ambitious rescue vehicles willing to help anyone who calls on them. Headed up by the Tracy family (with friends), International Rescue must always contend with two problems: they can never be seen in action else their secret be exposed and they must always watch out for The Hood, their arch-enemy who constantly seeks to uncover their technology. Let's get started:

Episode 13: Terror In New York City

"That's it! We're done for now!" - Ned Cook

Although viewers may wince at the title and subject matter of this episode given the recent events in the world, it's still a good episode that shouldn't hit too close to home. International Rescue finds themselves in a tight spot when their fastest aircraft, Thunderbird One, is virtually destroyed by the Navy, thinking it to be an enemy craft. IR's secrecy proves costly, but to make things worse, a disaster is brewing in New York City. In order to make a large space of land available to more futuristic developments, the city government plans to move the Empire State Building on a large towing rig. Almost doomed from the start, the weight of the building causes a quake by disturbing a fault, and the historical structure is destroyed! Unfortunately, nosy reporter Ned Cook and his camera man are trapped in the accident, buried beneath the ground where water is rising from an underground river. They call International Rescue for help, but with Thunderbird One out of commission, they'll never make it in time. So, the Tracy family ask the Navy for help since it's their fault IR is in trouble. Will they make it in time? IR deploys all the help they can and crosses their fingers. An excellent episode with good pacing and a nail-biting set-up.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Thunderbirds.

Episode 14: End Of The Road

Alan: Did I say something?"
Grandma: Only all the wrong things, Alan.

International Rescue enjoys a brief vacation being visited by family friend EddieHouseman. Unfortunately, Eddie and Tin-Tin have a rather tense relationship going,much to the dismay of Alan Tracy, Tin-Tin's current suitor. All these dramatics areinterrupted, though, when Eddie's ambitious project to make a road through some Chinese mountains comes to a halt. Because of extreme storms and rains, the construction must stop, meaning Eddie's company won't be able to deliver the road on time and will lose their contract. Angered, Eddie heads out into the storm to detonate bombs in order to make the mountain range erode away from the road project. The mixture of storm and explosions causes his truck to fall over and teeter over a cliff! Eddie needs International Rescue, but there's one big problem: Eddie doesn't know the Tracys are the Thunderbirds; if they expose themselves to him, their strict vow of secrecy will be shattered. They must carefully save him without being seen. Overall, a good episode (with some excellent rainstorm and water effects), but it takes too long to get into the plot. The side issue of the love triangle between Eddie, Tin-Tin, and Alan is a little awkward since it's hard to getinto such serious drama with marionettes. I especially liked the design of Eddie's giant, mobile construction base. Also worth mentioning, this episode is the first time an outsider ever visits Tracy Island resulting in the first appearance of "Operation Cover-Up," which pretty much amounts to changing some pictures on the walls.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Thunderbirds.

Episode 15: Day of Disaster

"The countdown clock has started! We're gonna be blown up!" - Frank

It seems every day is a "day of disaster" for International Rescue, and this day is nodifferent. The episode opens with a heavy ocean storm pounding an advanced, British, suspension bridge. The bridge controllers do their best to keep it together and then repair it after the storm. Their efforts are cut terribly short, though, when the government rushes a huge rocket probe across the country; right across their bridge. The probe has to be rushed in order to make a tight launch window, but when it arrives at the bridge, it moves so slowly that the weight isn't evenly distributed. The bridge collapses and the Martian probe sinks with two technicians inside. The jarring impact causes the launch countdown to start and it cannot be stopped. If the rocket goes off underwater, it will simply blow up. IR technician Brains is in England with secret agent Lady Penelope, and they find their attempts to help rejected. Regardless, they summon the rest of International Rescue to come and help, but the problem is all the tourists and crowds that have been attracted;someone will see the IR pilots for sure! Lady Penelope must distract them somehow. Overall, one of the better episodes.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Thunderbirds

Episode 16: Edge Of Impact

"Do not worry. Red Arrow will be destroyed, as planned!" - The Hood

The Hood, working for a foreign government of some sort, has been hired to helpsabotage the launching of a new, experimental fighter plane, the Red Arrow. Histreachery manages to destroy one Red Arrow and kill one pilot, and afterwards thecreators of the Arrow fear their creation may not work properly. Project leader, TimCasey, is friends with the Tracy family and decides to visit them for a brief, relaxingvacation. While he's there, a second Red Arrow test flight is made and the result isdisastrous. Guided off course by The Hood, it crashes into a communications relay tower being manned by two technicians. Desperately needing help, they call International Rescue (relaying the call through the rarely used Thunderbird 5 space station). The problem is that for IR to spring into action they'll have to get rid of Tim Casey somehow. Lots of humor in this episode, but it still manages to boil down to the essential rescue action, and is The Hood's first appearance where he's not trying to uncover IR technology.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Thunderbirds

Episode 17: Desperate Intruder

"My friends are just on time. In fact, dead on time!" - Brains

In a rare move, this episode isn't about horrible disasters befalling average citizens, but a strange treasure hunt that Tin-Tin and Brains decide to go on. The Hood, intent on finding the same buried treasure that the Tracy's seek, hypnotizes the Tracy housekeeper, Kyrano, to get the information on where they're going. Tin-Tin and Brains head out to Lake Anasta, in the middle of a desert, unaware that The Hood is following them. They discover an underwater temple where they believe the treasure is hidden. Meanwhile, The Hood observes, waiting for his moment to move in. Once convinced that Brains has found something, he moves in and hypnotizes all the researchers. Torturing them in the hot desert sun, The Hood tries to discover crucial information about the treasure, but is unsuccessful because the explorers are in such bad condition. Things get more complex when Thunderbird 1 arrives to check-up on them, only to alter Hood's plans. This episode, while good, is surprisingly brutal, leaving me to wonder why IR doesn't try and capture the Hood and deliver him to authorities once and for all, as he proves an extremely vicious man. However, the change from regular disasters is nice, making it a more personal show.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Thunderbirds

Episode 18: 30 Minutes After Noon

"You'll need to be tough to deal with the Erdman Gang!" - Garfield

One of the most complex episodes yet, 30 Minutes After Noon is two majorstories in one, both relating to the terror of a British crime organization called the Erdman Gang. To boil things down, basically the Erdman Gang wants to threaten England with a nuclear explosion, by blowing up a plutonium storage warehouse. Doing this involves a two-fold attack, the first involving a government official who's booby trapped and threatened into giving them the information they want. International Rescue must first solve this problem then, just when things seem calm, deal with the threat on destroying half of England. Extremely detailed to get into, the plot is way beyond the average Thunderbirds' episode, and far more menacing. Luckily, the writing doesn't collapse under the weight of such complexity, and it adds up to one of the best Thunderbirds' episodes in the series.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds still entertains, thanks to its adherence to attempting serious drama in a not-so-serious way. Who would have thought such a weird concept (puppets?) would go so far? It's a triumph of artistry to see it all in action, though, that's for sure. Too bad the Thunderbird vehicle toys I had when I was a kid weren't as finely detailed as the actual models used in the show. While the show has only enjoyed a form of cult popularity in the U.S.; in England it's a certified phenomena, still popular enough that regular production lines of books and toys have been going since the 1960s. Maybe they're trying to tell us something.

Rating for Style: A-
Rating for Substance: B


Image Transfer

Aspect Ratio1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratioyes

Image Transfer Review: The stellar restoration on the series continues with wonderfully clean and crisp visuals,looking almost brand new. The source material, though with a few speckles and holes, is cleaned up to look rather modern. The bright, extreme color schemes of the show are rendered in impressive detail. There is some film grain, but nothing too harmful. Occasionally, backgrounds have a few moving groups of pixels, but compression problems never get out of hand and overtake the solid work done here.

Image Transfer Grade: B+


Audio Transfer

 LanguageRemote Access
DS 2.0Englishyes
Dolby Digital

Audio Transfer Review: A newly designed Dolby 5.1 mix adds plenty of new action and thrills into the episodeswithout being overly gimmicky. While some of the original sound effects and foley have been replaced and/or added on to, the explosive new surround audio is a treat for this old series, mainly because it's mixed so well. It never sounds too heavy and good quality dialogue tracks ensure that none of the directional effects and split-surround activity obscure the original audio. If I had a minor complaint, it would be that the mix gets a little carried away sometimes, turning many explosions and crashes into enormous, room-shattering experiences, which is a little unnerving since it's unexpected. If the 5.1 is not to your taste, a downmixed 2.0 Surround version is present and, while it contains most of the directionality of the 5.1, is a bit more muted and lacks the crisp center channel dialogue track. (note: to activate the 5.1 audio via menus, you must go into the bonus features section of the disc)

Audio Transfer Grade: A-


Disc Extras

Static menu with music
Scene Access with 24 cues and remote access
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
2 Discs
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: dual

Extra Extras:
  1. Photo GalleryPhoto Gallery
Extras Review: There is a short gallery of behind-the-scenes photos on each disc. The pictures show some scenes from the episodes as they're being filmed, giving you a general idea of the scale on which the crew operated. Other than that, there are no additional supplements.

Extras Grade: C-


Final Comments

The excellent Thunderbirds boxed sets continue to impress with A&E's respectful presentation of this TV classic. Fans should buy them, while newcomers need to rent them and see what all the fuss is about.


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