Thunderbirds (2004) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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Thunderbirds are FAB!

Not every sci-fi film needs to be an epic dystopian drama. There’s always the need for lower-stakes films that attract a wider audience, and especially younger viewers. Thunderbirds is another one of those entry-level films that can get people excited for sci-fi adventures that are not all space aliens and robots.

First Impressions

A team of rescue workers with fantastic machines called “Thunderbirds” get stuck on a satellite and it’s up to their youngest member to save them. The trailer shows lots of action and thrills, fast jets, explosions, fighting, and much more. Get ready to launch the Thunderbirds in 3, 2, 1!

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

An animated title sequence gives a little back story on International Rescue and the Tracy Family who secretly run the group as the Thunderbirds. Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) and his older sons are using their incredible rescue machines to save workers on an oil rig off the coast of Russia. Young Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet) watches the Thunderbirds in the lounge at a private prep school where Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles), a pink-clad socialite and confidant of the Thunderbirds, picks him up for spring break.

At the Tracy’s private island in the South Pacific, Alan and his friend Fermat (Soren Fulton) get in trouble for playing inside the jet named Thunderbird-1. Jeff grounds Alan claiming he put everyone in danger with his selfish act. Meanwhile, a balding villain known as The Hood (Ben Kingsley) fires a missile from his submarine at Thunderbird-5, an orbiting satellite manned by John Tracy (Lex Shrapnel). Jeff, and his other three sons Scott (Philip Winchester), Virgil (Dominic Colenso), and Gordon (Ben Torgersen) depart in the rocketship Thunderbird-4 to save John.

Using the rescue mission as a distraction, The Hood and his henchpersons Mullion (Deobia Oparei) and Transom (Rose Keegan) arrive at the island, believing it unoccupied. His plan is to take over International Rescue, using their advanced technology to rob banks. At the base, The Hood encounters Brains (Anthony Edwards), IR’s stuttering scientific genius, and uses mind control to force Brains to unlock the computers. Alan, Fermat (who is also Brains’ son), and Tintin (Vanessa Hudgens) witness the break-in but are powerless to stop them.

It is revealed that The Hood is Tintin’s uncle and has a vendetta against Jeff Tracy for leaving him to die during a rescue operation years before. Alan has a plan to escape in Thunderbird-1, but Mullion chases the kids into the jungle outside the compound. Fermat has stolen the guidance processor to Thunderbird-1 so The Hood will be unable to use it. Alan is determined that everyone follows his plan, so he doesn’t realize when Fermat and Tintin are captured. Meanwhile, Lady Penelope and her driver/bodyguard Parker (Ron Cook) arrive and put up a good fight, but are also captured.

Alan is captured shortly as well, and everyone is put into the freezer while The Hood and his team take the bulky carrier Thunderbird-2 to the Bank of London in order to convince the public that the Thunderbirds have turned to crime and discredit them. Up in Thunderbird-5, Jeff and his boys are running out of oxygen, having been trapped by The Hood crippling the ships. After escaping from the freezer, Brains manages to get Thunderbird-5 working again and Jeff is convinced that Alan can help stop the Hood.

Arriving in London, Alan, Tintin, and Fermat help civilians who are trapped in the Thames River while Lady P and Jeff arrive and corner The Hood. Alan and Tintin enter the Bank as The Hood gets the upper hand, but Tintin uses mental powers, similar to The Hood’s, to distract him. Alan manages to save The Hood from a deadly fall, even after he urges the boy to let him die. Back at Thunderbird Island, the kids are all made official Thunderbirds, and Alan finally gets the attention and respect he has been craving. A call from The President cuts short the party as they all race off to help.

“It doesn’t matter how hard you try or how brave you are. It doesn’t even matter if it’s someone you love, someone you’d give your life in a second to save. You just can’t save everyone.” – Jeff Tracy

History in the Making

The family-friendly adventure film Thunderbirds was based on a 40-year-old television show also called Thunderbirds. It was the fifth (or eighth) series to be filmed in Supermarionation, a technique that used servos and other electronics within marionette puppets. These puppets were intermixed with miniature footage of vehicles and locations to create fantastic adventure shows that were not animated. This was the most popular of the Supermarionation series’ having the only feature films of any of the shows. Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968) were considered flops in the cinema, killing the prospects of future films. That is until the decision to make a live-action version of the film began in the mid-90s. Unfortunately, this film was also criticized heavily by fans and critics, ending not only any future adaptations but the director’s film career as well.

According to promotional materials at the time of release, the film is set in the year 2020 (even though the trailer identifies the year as 2010). The original 60s show was set in the 2060s, 100 years in the future according to the producers. But props from several episodes include calendars that set the date in 2026, making this movie a prequel, which seems appropriate given that Alan is still a teenager at the beginning of the film, and not a full-fledged member of International Rescue. Viewers of the film who are not familiar with the source material may miss a couple of interesting Easter Eggs. The first is when The Hood uses his mind control to force Brains to log into the computer, He mind controls the scientist, forcing him to walk “like a puppet on a string,” a nod to the marionette style of puppetry used in the 60s series. Later when Alan and Fermat take off in Thunderbird-2, a close-up of one of the hands on the throttle shows a wooden hand with strings attached, also a reference to the puppet style, but also a nod to the way close-ups were filmed with real hands.

Genre-fication

The genre rules for a series like Thunderbirds are very specific. Like numerous other kid-friendly, family-oriented films, it features a wholesome adventure with not-too-scary action moments and a clear-cut villain that’s dangerous but also not too evil. The heroes of the series are also obvious heroes. Thunderbirds the film ticks all the boxes about what people like about the original series, adapting the same plots and characters. But it may not go far enough. The original TV series focused a lot on the high-tech vehicles of the Tracy family. Each ship got a few moments on screen but didn’t seem to be as featured. The film also changed the point of view, making it a youth-oriented film about teenager Alan and his friends. This was similar to director Jonathan Frakes’s previous film Clockstoppers. It also featured young protagonists, goofy one-dimensional villains, and high-tech gadgets. Whether due to the reviews or other factors, this was Frakes’ final film that he directed. He would, however, continue on directing television episodes.

The film also copies the characters of the original series almost too closely. The main protagonists are the Tracy family: widower Jeff and his five sons, who are all named after the Mercury 7 astronauts:  Scott (Carpenter), John (Glenn), Virgil (“Gus” Grissom), Gordon (Cooper) and Alan (Shepard). Lady Penelope and Parker are represented, as is The Hod, complete with his ethnic background and mind powers. Since this film is an attempt at a prequel to the TV show, Tintin is not yet Alan’s girlfriend. She is still the daughter of Kyrano, who regrettably was still depicted as a servant to the Tracy’s. Brains was featured with the creation of a son, Fermat–possibly named after Pierre de Fermat, a French mathematician. His creation was probably to give Alan a buddy and downplay any sexual tension with Tintin.

Societal Commentary

The Tracy family is an extraordinary group of men. Jeff Tracy, a billionaire, ex-astronaut, and widower leads the group along with his four adult sons. Then there’s Alan, who is fourteen and desperately wants to be part of the team with his family. However, he’s too young and needs to finish school. There are no shortcuts his father tells him. Yet Alan believes that he knows everything, as all boys at age 14 do. He secretly has the coolest family, and cannot tell anyone–which chafes him. Most of the film is about believing that his father hates him and is denying him the chance to work with International Rescue, something The Hood tries to capitalize on to sway Alan to his side. But in the end, Alan learns that he doesn’t need to do everything himself. Even when Tintin and Fermat try to help him, he doesn’t see that his dream only works with teamwork–which is also the core of the Thunderbirds relationship. He also realizes that his family is the most important thing to him. But it’s not just made up of his dad and brothers. He also has his friends, Lady P and Parker, Kyrano, and Brains to help him and the team.

The Science in The Fiction

The element that enthralls the most viewers of the movie (and television series) is the amazing vehicles that the team possesses. Each of the Thunderbird ships gets at least a few minutes to shine. Thunderbird-2 probably gets the most screen time. It’s the green oblong craft that The Hood takes to London, and the one Alan and Tintin use to rescue people from the river. Thunderbird-1 is the blue and silver rocket-plane and the one Alan gets caught “playing” in, but also how he and the kids are able to get to London to stop The Hood. Thunderbird-5 is the space station targeted by The Hood, and where most of the Tracy family spends their time during the film. Jeff and the boys make their way to space in Thunderbird-3, a red rocket/shuttle. Finally, getting minimal screen time, Thunderbird-4 is a yellow submersible piloted by Fermat in the Thames. It is housed on board Thunderbird-2 and is more of an ancillary device than an autonomous vehicle like the other Thunderbirds.

There are also a few other vehicles seen in the hangar, referred to in the fandom as Pod Machines. These machines can be loaded onto any of the main three Thunderbird vehicles, usually Thunderbird-2. The film has the kids driving both the Thunderizer and Firefly around the hangar. The Firefly is primarily a firefighting vehicle, looking like a combination of a wheel loader and bulldozer. It has a foam cannon that Tintin uses to blast Mullion and his goons, but it comes out as more of a “slime time” moment in the film. The Thunderizer is a red vehicle with a large array that fires charged particles. Alan uses it to break into the T-1 silo so they can escape. There’s also The Mole, which as its name implies, is a drilling instrument used by The Hodd to tunnel into the bank, and FAB-1, Lady Penelope’s car. Her vehicle gets the biggest redesign from the TV series, changing from a pink Rolls Royce to a pink modified Ford Thunderbird–both of which fly, of course.

The Final Frontier

The one regrettable thing about the Thunderbirds film may be its adherence to older tropes. I’m not sure that these elements played well twenty years ago, but they seem a little cringey today. Both Fermat and his father suffer from a rather substantial stammer. With Brains it’s mostly played for laughs as he tries to get out an appropriate word only to stutter and pick something sillier or longer than his intended word. Fermat’s stutter is not as bad but is featured in one nasty moment when Alan teases him about the speech impediment. That doesn’t go over well with any of the kids and is a teachable moment–presumably for the younger people in the audience. But using these moments for comedy seems insensitive, even for 2024.

This was not the last hurrah for the Thunderbirds. A CGI animated series called Thunderbirds Are Go ran from 2015-2020. It was a successful adaptation endorsed by the original creators. If you’re looking for a serious action/adventure film, then Thunderbirds (of any kind) might not be on your list. These films and shows are definitely a little bit campy and targeted towards younger viewers. Frakes really showcases that amazement and enthusiasm for the source material, sometimes too much. But the film appears to have been made with a lot of admiration for the original Thunderbirds, and the hope that it might inspire a new generation into the world of International Rescue.

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