I sat down and watched this disk for the first time
with some friends and was amazed at the amount of entertainment it provided. I was
expecting to be pushed into taking it off. I’m sure I don’t need to explain the
thunderbirds to most of you. I would consider it a sin of your parents not to have let you
watch it when you were young: but then of course I have to consider those that are perhaps
a little younger than myself, and didn’t really get the opportunity to see it.
Thunderbirds is a hugely popular TV series from the 60’s, and has been repeated
and rerun so many times I’ve lost count. In fact I would swear I’ve seen all of
the 32 episodes several times. Time takes it toll though and after so many years it was
like new to me to watch them again. Basically the marionette series created by Gerry
Anderson is a collection of the adventures of an organisation called International rescue
who as the name would suggest rescue people from some of the most bizarre circumstances
you could imagine. And I have to say I couldn’t contain myself from a good laugh. It
was such a shock to see these again.
The 4 episodes on the disc are:
The Uninvited: 3 Jet fighters shoot down Thunderbird 1, thought to be the Zombies.
The Mighty Atom: An Australian atomic plant is under threat from the Hood. If you want
a good laugh this is definitely the episode to give it to you.
The Vault of Death: The story of the safe cracker Parker, Lady Penelope’s butler.
Operation Crash Dive: International Rescue save the crew of the Fireflash after a
suspicious crash in the ocean.
So how does this transfer hold up?
...  |
VIDEO
This is an incredible transfer and Village Roadshow should be commended. I am happy when I
see a transfer of this good quality from recent source material let alone something of
almost 40 years old. The images are consistently sharp and clear (with the exception of
few intended soft scenes), with no grain or mpeg artefacts. The colour palette was also
fantastic, at times it did appear a little muted but I would expect this from a source of
this age.
There are some very minor instances of aliasing and of course to be expected the film
artefacts. There was quite a lot of dust marks and flecks on the film but again it can
only be expected.
AUDIO
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track was a little more disappointing as for
most of the time it may as well have been a mono track. Aside from the occasional sound
effect from the rears and some beefy bass to compliment explosions and so forth, the rest
of the soundtrack is limited to the front sound stage and predominantly from the centre
channel. At times the level of the lfe channel actually created some distortion to the
sound but even at a low volume level it was obvious this was a fault with the source
rather than the transfer.
Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand aside from
some of the extremely bad fake Aussie accents.
EXTRAS
Animated Menus with Dolby 5.1 audio
Featurette: The Secrets, this is a fantastic making of..., which actually
shows you behind the scenes and the making of the marionettes and the miniature scenery.
Thunderbird Facts: 11 screens of
Thunderbird facts.
The Machines: A screen for each of the
Thunderbirds, the mole and Lady Penelope’s car.
Stills Gallery: 10 stills from the DVD.
Overall
This great for a good bit of reminiscing and a bit of a
belly laugh.
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
8/10
simply fantastic |
SOUND
- Quality
- 5.1 WOW Factor |
6/10 very ‘monoish’
5/10 a little overdone when it kicked in. |
| EXTRAS |
7/10 some good quality at
times. |
| OVERALL |
7.5/10 have some fun with
this one. |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Pioneer 737
Receiver: Yamaha DTS RX-V595a
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfedale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
Sub: M&K v75
- Reviewed 17th April 2001
* jpeg files for internet promotion use
only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Universal Pictures Home Video
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