Best movie of this year hands down!

That was an excellent one.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

But it had big shoes to fill.Gerry Anderson plainly wanted to make something supplying more bang for his buck for the big screen, but in the process seems to have forgotten that 'Thunderbirds' is about International Rescue. Remarkably less time is actually devoted to the much-loved craft every kid in the sixties wanted to own than in any random episode of the TV series. (We don't even see Thunderbird Four.)Also sorely lacking from the series is Barry Gray's terrific music; which unchanged could have really ramped up the tension. But we instead get a rather light-hearted original score from Gray which often falls unsuitably silent at the most dramatic moments.Since so little time is devoted to International Rescue themselves, the crazy dream sequence seems even more overextended than it already is; and just seems to be there because Anderson wanted something different to the TV series. (Which I was perfectly happy with as it was!)The Mars mission is an interesting idea, but the hiccups that require the intervention of the Tracy boys are disposed of surprisingly perfunctorily, and receive insufficient screen time to wrack up the tension the TV series would deliver every week in under an hour. The sequence actually set on Mars - after a journey taking just six weeks! - seems to belong in a different film. (It also looks more like the Moon than Mars, as the pictures sent back by Viking 1 ten years later confirmed.) Nobody - including the Tracys - seems bothered that our first blundering act on encountering Martians seems tantamount to an unintentional declaration of war on Mars and its inhabitants.

I wasn't an avid viewer of the Gerry Anderson television series when I was younger, I may have watched a few episodes, I just found myself drawn more to Stingray and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, nevertheless I watched this movie. Basically it is the year 2065, and Glenn Field are constructing and preparing to launch the manned Zero-X spacecraft mission to land on Mars, but something goes wrong and it crashes during lift-off. Two years later investigations conclude that it was sabotage, so to make sure it doesn't happen again, they decide to call International Rescue to secure and oversee the mission on the second launch. Father Jeff Tracy (Peter Dyneley) is dubious that the Thunderbirds should be used for more serious emergencies, but he allows them to be launched and helped. So his three sons, Scott (Shane Rimmer) in Thunderbird 1 (mostly on ground), Virgil (Jeremy Wilkin) in Thunderbird 2 in air and Alan (Matt Zimmerman) in Thunderdird 3 in space, get going, while Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward (Sylvia Anderson) with driver Aloysius Parker (David Graham) investigates the sabotage threat. They all watch over as the second Zero-X successfully lands on Mars, but there is an appearance by villain The Hood (Ray Barrett) trying to ruin things, and worse some Martians attack the craft and force it leave with damages. Returning to Earth, the Zero-X now does have a serious emergency and need International Rescue, so with Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon (also Graham) and Brains (Graham again), they do everything to save the lives of the four men. Also, in a subplot, Alan feels unappreciated, and has a dream sequence going to "The Swinging Star" nightclub with Lady Penelope, watching Cliff Richard Jr. and the Shadows (as themselves), and this comes true at the end. Also starring Christine Finn as Tin-Tin Kyrano, Ray Barrett as John Tracy, Paul Maxwell as Captain Paul Travers and Bob Monkhouse as Space Navigator Brad Newman / Swinging Star Compere. The puppetry has a charm, the camp music video appearance by Sir Cliff and the group is good fun with their song "Shooting Star", and when it happened there were some alright action moments. My only criticism is that with the spacecraft called Zero-X and Martians attacking, it was too much like the first episode of Captain Scarlet, and it is felt more kiddie than what I remember in the past, but not a bad family science-fiction adventure. The TV programme was number 60 on The 100 Greatest TV Shows, and it was number 24 on The 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows. Worth watching!

I well remember this from my childhood. It received quite a bit of hype at the time with a full colour photo story book and the story serialised in TV21. The cinema in Malton I watched it in seemed fairly well packed and I recall everyone laughing when parker respectfully took off his cap having dispatched the Hood in his getaway craft. Years later, I was surprised to hear it had flopped at the box office - especially when a sequel followed 2 years later. Looking back, I can see why. The opening of Zero X been put together seems to take forever as does the inquest afterwards. At least the otherwise lamentable live action film had the good sense to open on a rescue mission unconnected to the main storyline - Bond-like. Perhaps if the mission had been a more personal one for the Trace family - perhaps a trap set by the Hood to destroy them once and for all - it might avoid the understandable criticism of being a TV episode stretched out beyond endurance. As with the other films, the least interesting member of the Tracey family - Alan - is made the star. The Cliff Richard interlude is too obviously padding - why not go for the Beatles? Also, the small screen tends to be kinder to the often lamentable, rock-jawed dialogue than the big screen. Fro Four Feather Falls, onward, Gerry Andeson's series' functioned as small screen parodies of big screen Hollywood heroics. We even see Gordon Tracey's visible arm joins while he goes swimming in the Trace island pool. For all that, the climax with Alan hanging on for grim death to the undercarriage of Zero X shows that the Anderson's mastery of spectacle and larger-than-life action remains undiminished. Gerry should be rewarded for his unique contribution to British cultural life - as great in its way as Walt Disney's.

I was about 6 when this film came out and I remember a friend of mine having a "Zero X". I was so jealous. It was the sexiest thing I had ever seen (long before I knew what sex was or what 'sexy' meant).I never saw the film at the time and when my wife bought me a DVD copy at a garage sale I was awash with nostalgia. A feeling of warm happiness that lasted for at least 7 minutes into the film... my god, it's boring! After a while the only entertainment value I could drag out of this stupendously dull, overpadded TV episode was spotting new ways the filmmakers avoided having to have their characters walk anywhere. During the TV shows walking was suggested by having the character puppets jog up and down as they moved forward. Fine within the limited frame of a TV screen (especially the scritty little things we peered at back then) but a similar motion on the big screen would, at best, look ludicrous and, at worst, induce motion sickness. In a film where supersonic aircraft stay rigidly in the centre of the frame having the "actors" bounce around like ping pong balls causing pre-teen movie goers to vomit over their neighbours would be distressing.