Thunderbirds Are Go 205A colony ship heading to Mars is in big trouble…

If the continuity separation between the original Thunderbirds and its 21st century successor wasn’t abundantly clear by now, then this episode confirms it. In the “original” timeline, the mission to Mars took place in the first Thunderbirds movie (confusingly for this discussion called Thunderbirds are Go!) and was followed up by the adventures of Captain Scarlet. Here it was Jeff Tracy who first went to Mars some years back, and his colleague Colonel Taylor’s help is needed when a colony ship hits snags. Jeff Tracy’s presence in fact looms over the episode (partly thanks to the theme the Fosters have used for him appearing).

It’s very much an episode about the rescue, and dealing with things when they go wrong during it: Rich Hall’s colonel drops the comedy as he assists with the attempts to save the ship, and there’s a very nicely judged scene between him and Paul Travers, the commander’s young son (who obviously can’t possibly the same person as the captain of the Zero-X from the movie Thunderbirds are Go…!)

The use of scale is once again well judged – the shots of TB3 through the windows of the Helius, for example – and the direction is extremely dynamic.

Verdict: A strong episode. 8/10

Paul Simpson

 

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