Thunderbirds Are GO (1966) on Netflix
G19661h 33mActionAnimationFamilySci-Fi
Zero-X lifts off on the first human mission to Mars and goes out of control. A second craft is built, and International Rescue agrees to guard its launch from Glenn Field.
- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb6.4/102,858 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes57%
Trailer
Plot summary
The first human mission to Mars leaves Glenn Field aboard the spacecraft Zero-X, with Captain Travers commanding four others. A stowaway is trapped in the craft's hydraulics, jamming them; the ship goes out of control, the astronauts eject and Zero-X is lost. An inquiry later rules the mission sabotaged, and a second Zero-X is built. International Rescue takes on the guarding of the new launch. Scott flies to Glenn Field in Thunderbird 1, while Virgil and Alan escort the ship through the atmosphere.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Thunderbirds Are GO (1966)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Alan Pattillo turned down directing the film, frustrated with the puppets' limitations, and 24-year-old David Lane took over, making Lane the UK's youngest film director at the time.
- Thunderbirds Are Go was the first film shot using a video assist system called the Livingston Electronic Viewfinder Unit, or "Add-a-Vision", which relayed the shooting camera's images to monitors around the studio so the crew could watch footage live.
- Derek Meddings's Zero-X spacecraft was a 7 ft, 50 lb fibreglass model costing £2,500; it took months to build, yet every one of its shots was completed in two days.
- The film's special effects became so well known in the industry that the crew of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) used them for reference.
- The role of Navigator Brad Newman first went to Alfred Marks, who withdrew in a dispute over his fee; Bob Monkhouse, who had asked Gerry Anderson for permission to parody Stingray, ended up replacing him.
- Cliff Richard and Shadows member Bruce Welch, who both owned homes in Portugal near the Andersons, agreed there to appear in the film as Supermarionation puppets, and recorded the song "Shooting Star" and the instrumental "Lady Penelope".
- The only effects shot filmed outdoors, a long shot of Zero-X's lifting body exploding in the atmosphere, was mounted on a gantry at a power station against the real sky, using Cordtex strips, gunpowder, naphtha, magnesium and petroleum gel to make the fireball.
- Thunderbird 6 was deliberately written to be a more light-hearted adventure, but its critical and commercial response was no better than before, ending Thunderbirds as a media franchise until the release of the live-action Thunderbirds in 2004.
