tbs-2-3Alan and Gordon head to one of the moons of Europa to rescue two of Gordon’s heroes…

Into the Unknown with Buddy and Ellie is one of the great TV shows of the 21st century, as the intrepid husband and wife team head out into all sorts of dangerous places and risk their lives – they’ve even gone after one of Sherlock Holmes’ most dangerous foes! But their trip to the moon of Europa means that they need International Rescue’s help… which will take some time to arrive. At long last, International Rescue isn’t just round the corner for every rescue!

There are a number of things becoming clear about this second season of Thunderbirds are Go – firstly, and in many ways most importantly, the emphasis has gone back to being about rescues. As Alan pointed out last episode, it’s sort of obvious from the name, but wasn’t immediately apparent always last season when John would sometimes send them into situations proactively. Secondly, we’re going to get a lot more guest stars: Jenna Coleman in the first episode, Adam Hills this (with, absolutely correctly, nothing being made of the fact that his character has a prosthetic limb). And thirdly, the question of scale has been addressed – one of the many differences noticeable between Thunderbirds are Go and Thunderbirds (1965) in terms of their visual aesthetic was the latter’s use of close-ups on the craft, and the new series is giving a much better idea of the weight of these machines (bouncing Thunderbird 2 in the opener aside).

There’s humour in this episode, but it’s more of a running gag involving Gordon’s love of the TV series than the broad comedy of the characters. There’s also an underplayed but important piece of characterisation for Scott…

Verdict: A fun romp. 7/10

Paul Simpson