Thunderbirds are Go (1966) is a puzzling movie. What are they trying to do here? Make the argument that puppet movies are the way to go? Nothing like the profane and screamingly funny Team America: World Police (2004) in tone, the show features the attempt to reach Mars. The Thunderbirds are not those going, but are the search and rescue team that must rescue the explorers after sabotage and equipment failure imperils the explorer’s lives.
But why the sabotage?
Eh, not important.
Oh, wait, there’s hostile life on Mars! Surely this is important, it must mean something!
Nope.
And that illustrates the problem with this movie – it’s all about the puppets and sets; the story is scattered and incomplete, becoming little more than trivia and rendering the movie dull. The dialog ranges from mediocre to absolutely excruciating. We see old stereotype of various types.
And perhaps the movie makers achieved their aim, for soon we were watching merely to see the sets, various vehicles, and to a lesser extent the puppets (who spent so much time in chairs that my Arts Editor began speculating that nearly everyone in the movie was a quadriplegic). The vehicles were particularly impressive, having rockets, jets, and propellers as means of mobility, they were impressively presented.
Oh, and the explosions in the ocean. Also well done.
And I never want to see this one again. This one’s so threadbare it nearly defies analysis.
