# Any Dopers planning to see the new Thunderbirds movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202 "2004-03-03T01:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/1 "2004-03-03T01:05:00Z")
I plan to see it just so I can compare it to the original series. Been viewing my DVDs of Thunderbirds and Fireball XL5. Then I wondered how a crossover between those two tv series might go. So I started to write this fic: [Stranger on Tracy Island](http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1756370). I’ll add a second chapter after my muse inspires me. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/2 "2004-03-03T13:18:41Z")
What new Thunderbirds movie? 😕😕😕😕 More info, please? ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/3 "2004-03-03T13:26:02Z")
Click [here](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167456/) for information on it at the Internet Movie Database’s site. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/4 "2004-03-03T14:54:58Z")
Yeah, I’ll see it, although I have no hope that it’s going to be any good. Live-action rather than puppets, for one thing. Directed by that guy from Star Trek with the excessively neatly-trimmed beard, for another. And this wrecks the whole thing for me right here: Rolls-Royce wouldn’t let them use the marque’s name in the film, so Lady Penelope’s limo is now a Ford. Sheesh. Nevertheless, _Thunderbirds_ has long been one of my favorite guilty pleasures, so I’ll catch the new film and no doubt complain bitterly forever after about various arcane things they got wrong, while the few friends I have left roll their eyes till they pop out of their sockets. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/5 "2004-03-03T17:00:59Z")
Please _please_ tell me they’re not gonna “update” the Thunderbird machines. I’m almost afraid to investigate more… ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/6 "2004-03-05T00:11:26Z")
[Here](http://www.latest-thing.com/html/thunderbirds_movie.html) is the latest on the live action movie version. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/7 "2004-03-05T05:51:10Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Please _please_ tell me they’re not gonna “update” the Thunderbird machines. I’m almost afraid to investigate more… It looks like it’s going to be a weird mix of camp adventure, and genuine blockbuster action. The vehicles themselves appear to be almost exactly similar, with only slight changes, including the garish colours. The actors playing the Tracy brothers are pretty much all unknowns who look as cheesy as their puppet counterparts (though Jeff Tracy the Dad is Bill Paxton, who seems an odd choice). And the sets and costumes seem very retro. It’s something that will have to strike a very careful balance to work; it could so easily (and probably will) fall too much one way or the other and ruin it. In this case, it may be a bit too faithful to its source. ---
**Author:** ![KoalaBear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47c2d/32.png) [@KoalaBear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KoalaBear)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-planning-to-see-the-new-thunderbirds-movie/232202/8 "2004-03-06T00:42:56Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Please _please_ tell me they’re not gonna “update” the Thunderbird machines. I’m almost afraid to investigate more… [Indeed they are](http://www.supermarionation.net/TBmovie/TBmovieFAQ.shtml). But this is actually a good thing, because it allows for a separate class of merchandising licenses that will neither cannibalize nor compete licenses for existing products. (I don’t mind a New Coke Thunderbird 2 so long as the Coke Classic Thunderbird 2 remains in production, and a modified design for the live-action movie facilitates this.) However, while the [trailers](http://www.empiremovies.com/movies/2004/thunderbirds.shtml) look interesting, I’m both suspicious and doubtful of Jonathan Frakes’ involvement in the property. His [directorial credits](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000408/#director) reveal a career which is singularly bankrupt in originality.