Another 6 episodes of the popular '60s show "Thunderbirds" from A&E Home Video. This review will look quite a bit like the review for sets 1-3 since A&E has kept the quality of the release the same.
Gerry Anderson was known for his shows "Supercar," "Fireball XL5" and "Stingray" featuring "Supermarionation" which used marionettes instead of actors. In 1963 he was coming to the end of production on "Stingray" and needed an idea for a new show. While listening to radio reports about a mine disaster in Germany he got the idea for a show about a group of people working as an international rescue organization. Since villains would be after their amazing equipment, the organization was hidden in a secret location on an island in the Pacific ocean. In 1965 "Thunderbirds" premiered and lasted 32 episodes. The show has aired somewhere in the world since it's first episode.
Sure the show can drag on and the dialog is cheesy, but it comes from the wonderful 60's where a 60 min show was almost that long. It's still enjoyable for adults and kids.
Menu Design
The menus on the disc are quite nice and reflect the feel of the show and the look of the artwork on the cases.
This set features the following episodes:
The Imposters
Two crooks have posed as International Rescue operatives to steal top secret missile plans, and now IR is the subject of an international manhunt! Will the help of undercover operatives Lady Penelope, Parker and the Hillbilly agent Jeremiah Tuttle tip the scales of justice back in the Thunderbirds' favour?
The Man From M.I. 5
Lady Penelope has joined M.I. 5 agent Bondson in a top-secret effort to recover stolen plans to a nuclear weapon! Courageously setting herself out as bait, Penelope has been kidnapped. Will Scott, Virgil and Gordon, using the awesome capabilities of Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 4, be able to free her before her boathouse prison explodes?
Cry Wolf
Young tony and Bob Williams have unwittingly called out International Rescue while playing, and the publicity surrounding their "rescue" has brought the attention of the villainous Hood to their father's secret government project. Will International Rescue answer the boys new cries for help, or think they're simply crying wolf?
Danger at Ocean Deep
Six months after the unexplained destruction of Ocean Pioneer I, Ocean Pioneer II is sailing toward disaster! Mysterious radio blackouts have led Brain to trace the cause to a chemical reaction about to be duplicated! Thunderbirds 1 and 2 race to rescue the ill-fated crewman before their craft explodes!
The Duchess Assignment
Lady Penelope's dear friend the Duchess of Royston has been cheated at a casino and is now bankrupt but for a precious painting. Having agreed to rent it to an American collector, she's now been kidnapped by two crooks. Only Lady Penelope's quick thinking - and Scott's fast flying - can save her!
Attack of the Alligators!
Theramine, a food additive that greatly increases the size of livestock, has been dumped into the Ando River! Now inventor Dr. Orchard and his guests ped, and only the courage of Alan, Gordon, Scott and Virgil can save them from ravenous giant alligators!
Video
Okay, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting much from a show that's over 35 years old, so what's on this disc blew me away. Many of the elements in the show are meant to be brightly colored, from the character's uniforms to the Thunderbird ships and background sets. I was expecting the picture to be washed out but was surprised by nice, bright colors. It's obvious that A&E Home Video did a lot of work to the print for this DVD release. Sure there are some dust specs, and the "outdoor" shots show some grain and look a little poorer compared to the "inside" shots, but overall this is a nice picture. A few shots suffer from minor shimmering, but nothing that's too distracting. Most of the show features the marionettes, but every once and awhile they'll insert a human hand because they can't do the shot with a marionette.
Audio
While the video quality was a surprise, the audio was even better. The soundtrack has been completely redone in Dolby Digital 5.1 and it sounds great. There's excellent use of panning between the front speakers and from the front to the rears. The rears feature some nice ambient effects while most of the dialog and music comes from the front 3 speakers. Explosions really rocked! I couldn't believe I was watching a show from the 60's that sounded this good. Excellent audio work!
I was a little surprised that the Dolby Digital 5.1 track wasn't the default track used for this release but I guess they wanted to set the original mix as the default.
Photo Galleries
There are 22 photos on the first disc and 23 photos on the second. The photos feature scenes from each of the episodes contained on these discs.
Production Credits
Not really an extra, but this is a still with the people responsible for the DVD.
Summary
The "Thunderbirds" is one of those shows that you can enjoy no matter what your age. A&E Home Video didn't let anything slide from the first two sets, and I expect the others to be of the same quality. It's nice to see a company spending the time to restore old shows for DVD release.
I loved seeing Derek Meddings name in the credits as the Special Effects Director. I'm a big fan of the Bond movies and Derek Meddings did special effects work on 5 of them.
