Putting this turbocharged rebranding of 'Thunderbirds' on a Saturday morning at 8am seems like a sensible idea, but ITV showed how much they actually cared by starting it on two minutes early. Anyone coming late might well have missed the pre-title sequence but those fortunate enough to tune in beforehand would have found Alan Tracy piloting Thunderbird 3 - the once seemingly massive rocket of uncertain colour (was it red or was it orange? Now it's definitively red) now reduced to the aesthetic and maneuverability of a Micro Machine - in space, where he happens upon a space mine left over from the "global conflict" of 2040 (yeah, because 6-11 year olds aren't allowed to know about World Wars 1 and 2). The mine activates and chases TB3 around with a countdown to detonation and Alan has to wait while Lady Penelope and Parker (along with Lady P's pet pug, Sherbert) have to infiltrate an underground facility to retrieve the deactivation code. Sounds like several redrafts from Move And You're Dead. Oh, and Alan now has a space-surf board - might as well give him an oxygen pill instead of a space suit and be done with it.
More digestible than the double-length debut, this shows little sign of improvement (John Tracy - ironically - is the least annoying thing in it) but one can only complain that it's less mature than the 2005 remake of Captain Scarlet as that show's original was darker and took itself more seriously than the original Thunderbirds. The CGI characters here though does look cheaper but while it's not entirely awful, the fact that the cast can now walk - and Parker can now perform some videogame stunts - is not something to be proud of. The idea that "fast = good" and "retroactively old = old" is a baffling one and the plot described earlier is pretty much all that happens and it's over before you know it. What is also curious is the idea that this reboot be aimed at a specific age group, whereas - correct me if I'm wrong here - Anderson aimed for a family audience and not just children. It's fairly innocuous stuff.
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