No, it’s really not two electric shavers taped together!
Thunderbird 6 (1968), a puppet movie adventure story, is an oddball medley of elements: fascinating, even revolting puppets (a scene in which puppets are shown shouting with laughter gives us glimpses down their throats, which was creepy), excellent sets and special effects (the explosion at the missile launch site is especially effective), a fairly slushy plot involving a new skyship, its rather ridiculous procedures (they apparently thought they’d never have an emergency), and a fanciful, unexplained scheme to use it in an apparent assassination or kidnapping of its inventor, the top scientist at the famed institution International Rescue, thinly drawn and, frankly, just about interchangeable characters (such as Tin Tin, who has a great name and, er, what does she do now?), and, in the end, dialog which is awful in its banality. Spoken clearly and concisely, the dialog never gives a hint in its inflection as to whether they’re about to leap into the void to escape oncoming death, or if they’re sitting around the pool, sipping cocktails.
I could not help noticing that the movie might have been improved immeasurably if, at a few specific places, we’d had glimpses, just quick, hurried glimpses, of Godzilla going about his business in the far distance. I kid you not, that really passed through the colander I use for a brain.
Imagine Godzilla off in the far distance on the left, no doubt tidying up.
From a technical point of view, it seems interesting enough, if you’re a puppeteer or, perhaps, a fan of Team America: World Police (2004). The occasional spectacle is a lot of fun. But you have to be fairly credulous to swallow the plot, and the dialog is dry sand wafers, doing nothing to help you believe in this story – or find anything useful to learn from it.
