Thunderbirds: The Complete Collection [DVD] [2015]

Reviews

WD

The length can sometimes be a downside though, particularly in some of the earlier episodes of the series. This may bother purists, but having listened to the stereo mix with headphones, it didn't bother me too much. For me it is the TV equivalent of comfort food. It would've been nice if they were just included in the bonus disc though, as they only last 1-4 minutes.

Su

Fortunately, I've wrote them all down for your convenience below. This is due to the fact that they were originally around 25 minutes, but when they were commissioned to be extended, extra scenes and shots were added in to pad out the running time (some work, some don't). This was the series which I grew up with - they were repeats shown on BBC2 on a Saturday afternoon, just after the old murder mystery film (usually Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple or Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes). I believe that they were well worth getting, though I will be looking out for the 12 disc anniversary version to add to my collection.

It's a mixture of a best-of compilation of the characters and vehicles, and a making-of documentary at the same time. If there's one thing that I think is lacking in the rebooted CGI series, it's the explosions! On the sound side of things, you only have two options: stereo and 5.

In my opinion, it's only worth watching the last portion for interviews discussing the behind the scenes process, and a classic black and white film showing the series being made. The 9th disc contains a 53. Sir Lou Grade, who was head of ITC at the time, viewed the hour long pilot episode "Trapped in the Sky" and is quoted to have said "That's not a TV series.

One downside to the packaging of the DVD release is the lack of indication which episodes are on which discs. The episodes are split over 8 discs; each disc includes a special features section and quiz. However there are instances in a few episodes where the mix occasionally distracts you from the main action.

Watching each episode is almost like watching a movie, especially since this is the only series out of all of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation productions to go twice the usual 25 minute format. One of my earliest memories was watching episodes of Thunderbirds on VHS. If you want my opinion, my favorite episodes are Thirty Minutes After Noon, Sun Probe, Vault of Death, Attack of the Aligators, and Atlantic Inferno. There's another classic featurette on Disc 5 that shows what was going on behind the cameras too, and TV ads on discs 6 and 7.