review time

I feel I need to put up a review, so given that I love Thunderbirds , let's look at the new ITV series, Thunderbirds Are Go.

When the show was announced, I was pumped. I've always loved the classic Gerry Anderson series from the 1960's, though I absolutely hate it now, when I was 7, I loved the critical and financial disaster that was the 2004 film. As more details on the new series leaked, fans were split, it had a vey promising cast, and was being produced by a very promising studio, but episodes had halved in length and CGI was going to be replacing the puppets of old. while some people were understandably miffed that Thunderbirds was getting all CGIified, I was personally more interested in what that would look like than butt hurt about them doing away with charming but outdated technology, I was more worried the show would have pacing issues given it's slashed runtime.

the show finally launched, and I was initially satisfied. while the shorter runtime was an issue when it came to pacing, as I feared,  I felt that the show was a very faithful and thoughtful adaptation of the original. the CGI really wasn't that bad, the sets were nice and the Thunderbirds themselves were stunning to look at. additionally, the characters, I felt, were taken in decent directions, particularly the Hood, at least at first, more on that later. My only real issue I had was the pacing, way to much was going on in the shorter runtime. I thought it had a fun story line that explored areas the original didn't. as mentioned, the thunderbird machines are a joy to look at, and the new launch sequences brilliantly carry the same excitement and wonder as the old.

where I felt the show as a whole went a bit wrong was with the first few episodes, excluding the outstanding space race,  the show's early weeks were rough, ruining a great opportunity to have a scary villain with the Hood, instead making him the same coward he was before, but without the humour of him being a coward and a screw up. where the show picked up again was Runaway, like space race, the episode had a fun sense of immediacy, rather than tension, something I've accepted the new series will do, and have started to like. This immediacy reaches several highs throughout the show, like when Alan is trying to get the mines attention away from civilian ships in Space Race, or when Scott is trying to get brains aboard the train, or later when he uses thunderbird 1's forward thrusters to slow the train in runaway, or pretty much the entirety of Skyhook. these moments are what makes the show a fun watch, and well it's lost the original's sense of tension, the new formula is still very engaging.

Verdict
If people are butt hurt that thunderbirds has been CGIified, get over it, because there is a load of enjoyment to be had in the new series, aside from the rough start, and execution of a few of it's components, this series does something the 2004 movie didn't even come close to doing, capturing the spirit of the original series, while also trying new things and appealing to a new demographic of young adventurers.

and thus concludes my first review on this blog. if anyone actually see's this, please tell me what you think of it. see ya chumps.