Product: Thunderbirds [VHS] (1965)
Rating: 5.0
A well earned reputation
Imagine James Bond and Mission Impossible performed by marionettes. Throw in some eye opening and lavish (miniature 1/3 scale puppets) sets, special effects, and a "gee whiz!" attention to detail, and you begin to get an idea of why "Thunderbirds" has such a cult following. The scripts are involving and could just as easily have been performed by live actors with good results. There are enough cool gadgets in this series to please the ten year old boy in every grown up man (I suspect this series is more of a guy thing because relationships take second place to action). There is something else fascinating about this series and that is how seriously the producers, directors, designers took what was essentially a children's puppet show and kept to such high (and unnecessary) standards. This may be partly due to producer Gerry Anderson's frustrated desire to work as a mainstream film director/producer with live actors (he eventually got his wish years later). Seeing marionettes perform in realistic sets, with sophisticated action scripts, and good voice acting is a novel experience that appeals to everyone who has ever had a train set and tried to build a miniature town or city.I bought this series for my mindless summer vacation viewing and it has been great fun. The DVD transfers are very clean.This is great family entertainment, summer viewing, father and son get together material. Way to go, Thunderbirds!