Movies - Thunderbirds Are GO

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	Movies - Thunderbirds Are GO

Thunderbirds Are GO! was the first feature film to be made from the highly successful Supermarionation series Thunderbirds.

Plot

The film begins with the maiden flight of the Zero-X rocket; due to sabotage by The Hood (the recurring villain of the Thunderbirds series) the rocket crashes before it leaves the atmosphere. Two years later, a second Zero-X has been built for a mission to Mars, but in order to prevent sabotage, International Rescue (the heroes of Thunderbirds) are asked to provide security for the launch. Lady Penelope, International Rescue's London agent, manages to stop The Hood from sabotage this time, and the rocket launches for Mars.

Back at Tracy Island after the lift-off, Alan Tracy feels left out because his older brothers Scott and Virgil are going with Lady Penelope to a nightclub called the Swinging Star, but his father expects him to stay on the island and on duty while the others are absent. Disappointed, Alan has a dream sequence about going with Lady Penelope to the Swinging Star, which in his dream is located in outer space. Playing at the nightclub are "Cliff Richard Jr. and the Shadows" (voiced by the real Cliff Richard), who perform a musical number called "Shooting Star" (accompanied by music video-like imagery such as the Cliff Richard Jr. marionette dancing on a giant guitar that flies through space). Alan's dream sequence ends when he misses a step and falls, and wakes up to discover he fell out of his bed.

The main action of the movie resumes with the Zero-X reaching Mars. Unfortunately, they fail to realize that the rock formations they're viewing are actually living creatures -- one-eyed rock snakes -- until they've already provoked the creatures' hostility and must hastily return to Earth.

Place in the Canon of Gerry Anderson

"Thunderbirds are GO!" functions as a link between the 1964-1966 television series Thunderbirds and the 1967 series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. The plot point of peaceful creatures on Mars that suddenly turn hostile to humans when provoked also begins the "Captain Scarlet" series. Also, Anderson had developed a new 'slim head' Supermarionation technology and this film was the first showcase. In "Captain Scarlet" the marionettes attained reasonable human proportions, but were still just 2 feet tall.

A film with marionettes?

A full length feature film starring marionettes was and still is a very unusual concept. There is little doubt that MGM funded "Thunderbirds are GO!" because the series had quickly become a cultural icon appealing to both children and adults. The film was not the success that MGM had hoped. Contemporary film critics noted that the film lacked the urgency and 'race against time' elements that worked in a 50 minute format.

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