Thunderbirds Are Go

[Jaffa1978]

Hi there,

On the R2 DVD of 'Thunderbirds Are Go' the opening credits appear to be missing. I remember my old VHS copy version had them but that was pan and scan. Did the original widescreen version have them at all? Also in the journalist scene with Penelope and Captain Travers one of the wipes has an appalling mistake and appears bright pink. I'm sure most of you know what I'm on about. Just seems like an a sloppy effort on someone's part. Is there a better version out there? How did this happen? I've never seen any other film with this sort of mistake.

G

[Silent Bob]

When i bought the first widescreen release of Thunderbirds Are Go, it to had credits during the Zero-X sequence. But they never looked quite right, as if they had be digitally superimposed. The DVD and the laserdisc(which is in the right ratio, by the way) dont have these credits, so i believe this is how the film originally appeared at the cinema.

[Picasso61]

I have the MGM collectors edition of Thunderbirds Are Go/Thunderbird Six and the opening credits are indeed missing.
Yes that was the case with the VHS copy inasmuch as the credits were there. That pink wipe during that interview between Lady Penelope & Captain Travers looks awful. I agree that it looks sloppy and amateurish and spoils the scene completely.
On the whole the film is excellent so I can't understand why it was a flop at the box office. Maybe the viewing public just didn't take to the characters from Thunderbirds on the big screen.

[Mark42]

I'm pretty sure that the film did have credits when shown at the cinemas, the drawn out opening sequence is pretty much made for them to be there. This has been mentioned before - I think it was mentioned that every film has a 'clean' print for foreign markets to add their own titles in their own language. The people releasing this dvd just didn't know what they were doing - or this was the best print they could find.

[Silent Bob]

They cetainly were very good prints used for the laserdiscs and in my opinion superior to even the DVDs (and they are both in the correct ratios!)

[Richard259]

I have the Canadian version of the Thunderbirds are Go Laserdisc (don't know if there was ever a UK version), which, in my case, is a double disc with Thunderbird 6 and agree that the film is more complete and in the correct "Techniscope" ratio. It's just a shame that Laserdiscs, especially NTSC ones, don't look so good on flat panel TVs.

One howler that I remember from the VHS releases was that somehow they managed to get the title of Thunderbird 6 wrong on the packaging. Calling it 'Thunderbirds 6' instead. This was never corrected so they obviously didn't feel it mattered. Quite shoddy production values really.

Incidentally, this is how my LD version starts, minus the Century 21 logo, which I'm sure was how I saw it at the cinema: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJi_WpR4YcI

Even this is slightly squashed but all the info is there.

[Jaffa1978]

I suppose there has never been an explanation as to why the films haven't been presented in their original aspect ratios? Seems strange especially if they have been before on the laserdiscs. Maybe it's because the DVD version is the most common version available now and the black bars would be too big even on a 16:9 TV perhaps putting off too many people? Who knows! Well lets hope one day they are presented correctly.

[Silent Bob]

Quite a few early DVDs, especially region 1, were released in the correct ratio. But then the 'anamorphically enhanced' discs started appearing as more and more people bought 16:9 TV's. For some reason people with widescreen TV's didn't want any black bars showing, which is why the anamorphically enhanced discs were the standard for a few years.
The Criterion Collection always released their DVDs and laserdiscs in the correct ratio. Pity they weren'y involved with any Anfderson releases.

[Jaffa1978]

Sounds interesting, do you have any details of any DVD issues in the correct ratio?

[Silent Bob]

I will have to check out my early (mostly region 1) DVDs and i will post some info or PM you as soon as possible.

[Jaffa1978]

Many thanks!!!!

[roose1982]

In his commentary for Thunderbirds Are Go, Director David Lane states that the shots were framed to chop the tops of the puppets heads off, to hide the puppet control wire.

I wonder whether that was actually the case, or whether the formatting has been cropped for the DVD?

[rockwellcm]

from what i remember,the artwork had not been cleared with the artist,i bought one direct from the distributors,and that was the conversation i remember at the time,the artwork was withdrawn,and reissued with different artwork


Donald