Five, four, three, two, one – a countdown that to many heralded the beginning of a 50-minute whirlwind adventure with the Tracey family, known to the world as International Rescue. With their incredible machines, the Thunderbirds raced across the world to rescue people from disasters, as well as the most inept terrorist in history, The Hood. The programme covered various exotic locales, and was without question the most exciting show of its day, blending science fiction with espionage for an electrifying combination. Thunderbirds was a huge success in the 1960s, and has become iconic, entertaining children ever since.
For such a clear success, it is surprising that only now in 2013 has a television revival been announced. Though Gerry Anderson created other shows, notably Stingray and Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds was unquestionably the most successful, spawning two feature films and becoming a national institution. Thunderbirds’ infamous revival as a film in 2004 was critically mauled and the only positive was the theme song provided by Busted, which may perhaps explain why a television revival has been so long in coming.
The new show, provisionally titled Thunderbirds Are Go! will combine live-action model sets and CGI, not entirely dissimilar to the 2005 revival of Captain Scarlet, which although initially well received, failed to capitalize upon the warm critical response and achieve longevity.
The problem with reviving something like Thunderbirds is that there is no way to escape comparisons to the original, which may prove unfair. Although the original is undoubtedly entertaining television, there were flaws, perhaps most glaringly that the characters could not actually walk on screen convincingly. The plot too was formulaic, the setting might change and the nature of the disaster varied, but at some point there would be an almighty explosion and innocent people would be placed in danger.
That is not to say that the original is not a fantastic piece of children’s television, even today, but because Thunderbirds remains such an iconic programme, the revival will be naturally disadvantaged in comparison. Many will take issue with the omission of puppetry, for many the central charm of the programme, but in fact, in 2013 the use of CGI can only be to a benefit to Thunderbirds Are Go! The original puppets were charming, but in the 21st Century, realism is needed. If you compare the revived series of Doctor Who with the original series, special effects have improved the series massively. The revived series of Captain Scarlet, although a commercial failure, was a slick and high value reproduction of the original, adopting enough of its back story to be familiar, while striking out on a new path with introduction of new characters and greater development of that programme’s terrifying archenemy, the Mysterons.
Unfortunately Thunderbirds is better known than Captain Scarlet ever was, and its fans will likely not respond well to the changes being made to it. Thunderbirds Are Go! has a huge task to pull off in appeasing fans, whilst making the format relevant for the 21st Century viewer, but unfortunately this might be the first mission that International Rescue cannot complete.