Thunderbirds are...

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FZeroOne
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Thunderbirds are...

Post by FZeroOne »

"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.
FZeroOne
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by FZeroOne »

I'm sure some of you will know this series has now started; I haven't seen it myself so can't comment on the show itself but the following distinguished guest on the production staff caught my attention... :)

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... ane/.86850
"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.
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Crash
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by Crash »

They started it already!

I read that ITV had consigned to something like 7am on a Saturday morning.

If that's true, then they're just doing again what they did to the CGI Captain Scarlet - keep shifting the schedule times to make sure it gets consigned to the dustbin.

It should be on BBC2 at 1800 on a Friday like it was when I was little.

The online streaming versions look to be available in 720p on Isohunt and others. I'll let you know how good they are when I watch them.

This character Kayo sounds like a good addition. The way I described it to Connor at work was that she was Thunderbirds' 'Tier 2' - She would rescue them when they were in trouble. That seems to be the idea.

It almost makes you wonder why it wasn't in the original show.

That plane of hers is just a Valkyrie though, isn't it? - especially if you've seen the latest ones (VF29 etc) from Macross F.
If it doesn't transform into a robot and gerwalk, we'll have been short-changed.
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FZeroOne
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by FZeroOne »

Given its heritage, its perhaps not surprising its wound up looking a little like the YF-22 from "Macross Plus" and one of the Core Fighters from "Gundam 0083" met in a bar... :) Its a really cool tip of the hat to how popular the show was in Japan; I have a friend there whose mother was apparently a big fan back in the day!

I'm guessing with catch-up services these days timeslots are a little less vital than they used to be, and indeed thats how I got round to seeing the show last night.

The mecha design is superb. Theres some really neat detail work; I really liked the exo-skeleton employed in a rescue and Thunderbird 4s DSV-inspired windows. And a cockpit on Thunderbird-1 - why has no-one thought of that before? The characters are a little bland at the moment, but then the original show sort of had that problem as well. The mix of model backgrounds and CGI can be a bit jarring at times (and boy, someone really got a good deal on a set of used PC cooling fans).

My main gripes, though, would be with the character animation, which often seems a bit lifeless (ironically enough), and the pacing. I get that we live in a media-saturated 24-7 world where there are endless shiny distractions to tempt the intended audience, and that the show is competing with the likes of "The Avengers" etc but if there is one thing I wish that Western animation would sometimes learn from anime, its the value of quiet, just occasionally. The frenetic jumping from one event to another means, that at least in the pilot, theres very little chance to build up any form of tension. And kids do get that - because otherwise why do they watch "Doctor Who"?
"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by Crash »

I got both of them in 720p off the Isohunt.

I really enjoyed the show. I smiled all the way through. The ships, the launch sequences etc were great.

They kept things the same and yet made everything newer and better. That's a pretty epic balance to strike.

The mixture of CGI and models looked a bit funny with the Hood's ship taking off at the end but with regard to everything else, it did what you could do for real in miniature very well.
The CGI vehicles were pretty photorealistic as well and yet they behaved and moved a bit like real models at times, which I thought was good.

What did really irk me was how they made Brains into every tech support guy from India that you ever spoke to when you rang your ISP.

They should do a fan re-voice of that character, the way they edited Star Wars to remove Jar Jar.

I think we'll get some character development later on.
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FZeroOne
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by FZeroOne »

Yes, Brains was another of my minor issues, but one which I think needs some very careful treading around lest any comments get misinterpreted! For the avoidance of doubt, I have no problem whatsoever with the ethnicity - in fact, I'm a little surprised they didn't take the opportunity to add some diversity to the "main" Tracys (which could be explained away by adoption easily enough) - but its a little unfortunate that they didn't redesign the character model a bit more as combined with the accent it is just a little too reminiscent of a 1970s "comedy" trope for me. Hopefully later episodes might add some character development to balance it out a bit.
"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by AndyThomas »

I smiled quietly when I saw this thread had appeared - I thought it probably would! I sat down with my six year old to watch the first episode and I have to admit I was bracing myself for the Max Steel style treatment, but it is incredibly respectfully done for those of us old enough to have seen the originals as staples of BBC2. I have, ah, encouraged the little one to watch Thunderbirds after he somehow became a Stingray fan (!) and one of his early proclamations was that "this is better than the one with strings!". Bless him!

The vehicle updates are very, very clever. Turning Thunderbird 3's struts into grapplers, giving Thunderbird 4 launchable escape pods, showing Thunderbird 2 retrieving the pod off the water. Very, very nice. Also, of course, a clip of aforementioned Stingray in black and white just after they fix the satellite at the start of the episode, and that submersible base looked remarkably liked a crash-landed Eagle from Space 1999, hm?

Plus the nice touches with slight wobbly Thunderbirds at times, sun loungers getting blown out of the way by Thunderbird 1 taking off, power armour, and so very bravely bringing in a completely new Thunderbird, and an action based female team member. It's now on at 8am on ITV incidentally, don't know if it'll stick there, and my son was very miffed that there was only one advert during the first "proper" episode when he is sure there were four first time through. I explained they needed to introduce everyone and the Thunderbirds, which is why the first one was a bit longer!

You should definitely have a look at it if you can, probably on demand now I would think? If only as a "spot the reference" exercise while the small one is enjoying it! The question is, where is Tracey senior, eh?
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by Crash »

Quoted for truth - everything that Andy said.

I didn't wanna set expectations for those that hadn't seen it but those were all my exact reactions to watching it.

The launch sequences were good. Thunderbird 2's one was very awesome and I liked how you saw it grapple the TB4 pod up from the sea.

You were always left to wonder how TB2 recovered that in the original.

The TB4 escape pods were very useful as well.
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by Crash »

Well, I got to see the 3rd and 4th episodes of this. They were pretty good.
It's funny how they're only 22mins long or something yet they seem to pack in quite a bit.

You got to see The Mole in the most recent one. The design is clever but it lacks the majestic movement of the original.

You got to see a little bulldozer as a pod vehicle but you couldn't say that it was a revised Firefly.

I hope we get to see that and that they make it awesome.
The mole was awesome but that was my favourite pod vehicle.
The version that they built for the 2004 movie didn't quite live up to the original.

It was hardly a secret that there was likely to be one but the Thunderbirds Wikia is really good, I noticed:
http://thunderbirds.wikia.com/wiki/Thunderbirds_Wiki
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FZeroOne
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Re: Thunderbirds are...

Post by FZeroOne »

Asides from Kawamoris "guest" mecha, there may be another anime tribute in the show - the Global Defence Forces VTOL aircraft is similar in design to the NERV "heavy VTOL fighters" from "Neon Genesis Evangelion"...
"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.
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