Thought I'd have seen something earlier, but not. Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6 came out on DVD today. In the only acceptable format and with 5.1 surround sound. grabbed 'em both at Wally World, gonna watch Thunderbirds Are Go tonight (yeah I'd watch both but me better half has to get up at 5 tomorrow, and she'll wanna see em). Man I aint bin this stoked to see a flick in years.

Just finished watching THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO.

MGM is one WEIRD company. These Tbird DVDs are absolutely outstanding. What I can't figure out is: How can MGM do brilliant DVDs sometimes while, at other times, put out steaming piles of horse crap? These are the same dipsticks that put out a full frame Remo Williams and a non-anamorphic version of the scope film X-15. What a crap shoot.

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO is a superb disc. Being able to watch if on a big 16 x9 set, I get to take full advantage of the anamorphic enhancement. This is a very wide (2.35:1) film and it couldn't look better. It not only includes a Dolby 5.1 sound track but it includes DTS! It's got a commentary track and lots of special features. And the price for this magnificent two disc set is LESS than the price of some other single discs I want (in Canada, it's $5.00 less than the single disc of The Creeping Flesh).

With this Thunderbirds set, MGM has done as close to a PERFECT release as I have ever seen in terms of quality and price. Bravo. Now, lets find out who produced this release and put him in charge of redoing all of that full frame and non-anamorphic crap that they still put out!

Now, as for the actual movie THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO...well, it's not much more than an extended episode of the TV show in terms of plot. The model work and effects are excellent. But it's little more than a 50 minute TV episode streched out to 93 minutes in terms of content. Nevertheless, it's an excellent buy and highly recommended. The quality and value of the presentation is such that, even with a padded plot line, you get more than your money's worth.

Makes me wanna drag out the ol' laserdisc and watch it.

(The old laserdisc. God, I can still remember seeing the very first LD player in a demo at a mall in Paramus. Phillips, wasn't it? I even remember Siskel & Ebert demoing it on their show)

TIME MARCHES ON! :lol:

This is one of those titles that demonstrates the difference between LD and DVD. Of course, I'm speaking of the technical specs because I've never seen the LD so I can't comment on it directly.

But, to their credit, MGM has done an anamorphic transfer on this title (both titles in the set, in fact). Apparently, they use a large roulette wheen to see which discs get anamorphic transfers and which discs don't!

When viewed on a 4x3 set, the Thunderbirds movie DVD may look no different than the LD. Figure a 220,000 pixel equivalent screen with about 70,000 pixels lost because of the letterboxing and you have 150,000 pixel image.

LD or DVD...won't make a difference. Only that 150,000 pixel strip in the middle will display. Even though an anamorphic DVD has twice the resolution of an LD (give or take), it won't help on a 4x3 set.

Watch that DVD on a 16x9 and it's a whole 'nother story. You get around 350,000 pixel potential. Because of the small black bars (very small when watching a 2.35 movie on a 16x9), you might lose about 40,000 pixels of image space. So figure about 310,000 pixels of actual image.

The short version is that the DVD has twice the res of the LD. Someday when you get that 16x9 (and you WILL get a 16x9 soon) you'll be happy you got the DVDs.

As I read this the Thunderbirds theme is playing in my head. Now I'll be humming it all day!
Huzz

This is one of those titles that demonstrates the difference between LD and DVD. Of course, I'm speaking of the technical specs because I've never seen the LD so I can't comment on it directly.

But, to their credit, MGM has done an anamorphic transfer on this title (both titles in the set, in fact). Apparently, they use a large roulette wheen to see which discs get anamorphic transfers and which discs don't!

When viewed on a 4x3 set, the Thunderbirds movie DVD may look no different than the LD. Figure a 220,000 pixel equivalent screen with about 70,000 pixels lost because of the letterboxing and you have 150,000 pixel image.

LD or DVD...won't make a difference. Only that 150,000 pixel strip in the middle will display. Even though an anamorphic DVD has twice the resolution of an LD (give or take), it won't help on a 4x3 set.

Watch that DVD on a 16x9 and it's a whole 'nother story. You get around 350,000 pixel potential. Because of the small black bars (very small when watching a 2.35 movie on a 16x9), you might lose about 40,000 pixels of image space. So figure about 310,000 pixels of actual image.

The short version is that the DVD has twice the res of the LD. Someday when you get that 16x9 (and you WILL get a 16x9 soon) you'll be happy you got the DVDs.
:freak: I ... just like watching the movie :wave:.

:freak: I ... just like watching the movie :wave:.

You mennonite! :jest:

Well, here is the 2-disc set with both movies:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=0&WLBS=fsweb16&sku_id=0665000FSM2070535&catid=&newdeptid=13

But what is this one?

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=0&WLBS=fsweb16&sku_id=0665000FSM2070090&catid=&newdeptid=13

Huzz

Huzz, that second disc in your link is a compilation of "best of" episodes of the THUNDERBIRDS TV series as well as some nice extras. I saw it at Best Buy a couple of days ago.

Might be good thing for casual fans of the show. In my case, I already own the commplete series on DVD so I really have no reason to own it.

Thanks Brent. I was aware of the two movies being released separately and together in a 2 disc set but I didn't know that a "Best Of" set was released recently also.

By the way, how much is the "International Rescue" edition at Wal Mart?

Huzz

That's great music to have in your head. There was an approved website that had a different cut every week, before getting shut down recently ...for some reason.

Laser discs are old? I saw a Columbo where Shatner explained how a VCR worked. It was the size of a suitcase!

Just called the local Future Shop and they are holding their last copy for me!

Huzz :thumbsup:

Speaking of the music, you can get 2 CDs of Thunderbirds music at www.buysoundtrax.com
It is awesome.

Was it the beer goggles, or did anyone else notice they seem to have 'removed' the strings from the puppets? While I'm not a fan of altering films this is one change I can get down with. Didn't alter the film or the quality of the puppetry, I didn't even notice til part way through.

Don't know how many of you get the G4 channel on your cable system, they show mostly video game stuff, but on weekends they show episodes of "Thunderbirds" in sequence with pop-up-trivia facts, you can learn a lot of behind the scenes stuff.

I noticed some bugs in the print of "Thunderbirds are GO!". When Lady Penloppy is having the interview with the astronaut, when she starts the interview, the split screen has pink on one side for a few seconds before the astronaut's image appears. Later on, the print shows a few cuts/breaks that were spliced back together. The framing seems to be tighter than what the Laserdisc was. Maybe they cropped the top and bottom?



This is one of those titles that demonstrates the difference between LD and DVD. Of course, I'm speaking of the technical specs because I've never seen the LD so I can't comment on it directly.

But, to their credit, MGM has done an anamorphic transfer on this title (both titles in the set, in fact). Apparently, they use a large roulette wheen to see which discs get anamorphic transfers and which discs don't!

When viewed on a 4x3 set, the Thunderbirds movie DVD may look no different than the LD. Figure a 220,000 pixel equivalent screen with about 70,000 pixels lost because of the letterboxing and you have 150,000 pixel image.

LD or DVD...won't make a difference. Only that 150,000 pixel strip in the middle will display. Even though an anamorphic DVD has twice the resolution of an LD (give or take), it won't help on a 4x3 set.

Watch that DVD on a 16x9 and it's a whole 'nother story. You get around 350,000 pixel potential. Because of the small black bars (very small when watching a 2.35 movie on a 16x9), you might lose about 40,000 pixels of image space. So figure about 310,000 pixels of actual image.

The short version is that the DVD has twice the res of the LD. Someday when you get that 16x9 (and you WILL get a 16x9 soon) you'll be happy you got the DVDs.

I noticed some bugs in the print of "Thunderbirds are GO!". When Lady Penloppy is having the interview with the astronaut, when she starts the interview, the split screen has pink on one side for a few seconds before the astronaut's image appears.

That can't be a bug. It has to be in the print.

The split screen is made buy optically printing the separate Techniscope sequences together into the finished print. Techniscope is very cheap to film but very expensive to print (which is why it is almost extinct today).

In order for this to be a transfer bug, MGM would have to have used the original Techniscope elements and reprinted the split screen sequences for transfer. There is absolutely no way they would have done that.

No comment on the other issues because I've not seen the LD.

Picked up my 2 disc set last night from Future Shop, not Wal Mart I'm happy to report.

Huzz

Huzz, that second disc in your link is a compilation of "best of" episodes of the THUNDERBIRDS TV series as well as some nice extras. I saw it at Best Buy a couple of days ago.

Might be good thing for casual fans of the show. In my case, I already own the commplete series on DVD so I really have no reason to own it.


Actually, the bonus features in this set are pretty good - they have a "History of Thunderbirds" feature narrated by Shane Rimmer (the voice of Scott Tracy), and a short section of "Ask Gerry Anderson" questions.

I've got the series on DVD as well, but for the for $11.50 that I paid for it, it's a good deal.

Actually, the bonus features in this set are pretty good - they have a "History of Thunderbirds" feature narrated by Shane Rimmer (the voice of Scott Tracy), and a short section of "Ask Gerry Anderson" questions.

I've got the series on DVD as well, but for the for $11.50 that I paid for it, it's a good deal.
The six episodes are pretty much what you saw on TV; they didn't clean them up at all. And, actually, you get seven episodes, not six. Included in the bonus features is a "pop-up" version of "Pit of Peril" like they used to show on Tech TV, including the commercial bumpers (you know, those "We'll be right back to Thunderbirds!" and "And now, back to Thunderbirds" cut scenes before and after each commercial). The other bonus features are good, but entirely too brief. I don't know that the episodes chosen are truly "the best", but they're a lot of fun to watch! If you don't have the box set, this is a nice little collection for the price. :thumbsup:

Here's a bonus question (and, if you have to look it up on the net, you're disqualified :)):

Shane Rimmer can be seen at the controls of another aircraft in a VERY important and well-respected movie.

Name the movie (should be easy).

That's long enough - what is the answer?

Huzz

But - but - Shane Rimmer is in every fourth movie ever made!

(Okay, nowhere near that much, not really that often at all, but...he keeps showing up when you least expect him!)

Shane Rimmer was the B-52 right seater* in Dr. Strangelove.

*By most people's definition, the guy in the right seat is the co-pilot. In the B-52, the right seater is, technically, the pilot and the left seater is the aircraft commander.

Did you know Peter Sellers was going to play the commander, but couldn't get the accent down, so Slim Pickens was hired. He wasn't told it was a comedy.

Actually, he had started filmng the part, fell out of the suspended airplane set, trashed his ankle, and the part had to be recast while he recuperated. There are pics of him in costume as they wait for the ambulance.

Actually, he had started filmng the part, fell out of the suspended airplane set, trashed his ankle, and the part had to be recast while he recuperated. There are pics of him in costume as they wait for the ambulance.

Yep, John Wayne and Dan "Hoss Cartwright" Blocker were both offered the part before Pickens stepped in to replace Sellers. Both thought the script was too 'pinko". I heard a Terry Southern lecture back in the early eighties, he told some great Strangelove stories!

Shane Rimmer has an uncredited role in a famous science fiction movie in the late 1970's that everyone might be familiar with. Can anyone name it (or is this too easy)?

You might be thinking of that little known movie: Star Wars???:)

Shane Rimmer turns up in so many productions filmed in the UK. Need a guy with an American accent in the UK...? Rimmers your man. (Even though he is Canadian)

Alien
Todays Kiwi (New Zealand) Language Primer:
"carked it" died

Shane Rimmer turns up in so many productions filmed in the UK. Need a guy with an American accent in the UK...? Rimmers your man. Why, is Ed Bishop dead? :)

Todays Kiwi (New Zealand) Language Primer:
"carked it" died
In the supplementary material on one of the Hercules tapes, Michael Hurst (Iolaus) gave us some Kiwi lessons. My favorite was "Dag."

He described "Dag" politely as the crusty stuff on an unwashed dog's butt. It's use is to describe a crappy situation, i.e. "Bit of a dag today, ain' it?" To which, he said, he usually replies, "Dag? It's whole dog's arse today!"

Dag, so that's where Yama picked up that expression! Got it from the Kiwis! Always wondered what that meant.

Shane Rimmer trivia question of the day - in which Doctor Who story did he play a character? No cheating!

John,

Dag can be found on an unwashed dogs butt, however in reality it is the term used by sheep farmers to describe poop caked wool around the sheeps rear end.
New Zealand Sheep farmers describe the trimming of this wool as 'dagging'
Also, an expression used to get someone to hurry up is: "Rattle your dags!"
If someone is "a bit of a dag" it usually means he is a funny (humourous) person.
Michael Hurst is certainly a bit of a dag.

Ain't language fun... And here is another for ya!

And PS.
No Ed Bishop is not dead.
Shane Rimmer appeared with the 1st Dr Who (William Hartnell) in a wild west set of episodes. Would have to look up my Dr Who books to remind me of the name of the episodes and his character name but that would be cheating, right Dreamer?

Alien
Todays Kiwi (New Zealand) Language Primer:
"tramping" to walk through bush, hiking

The transfers of these TB movies are not new, they are the same as the previous DVD releases that have been kicking around in the UK for a few years - MGM has not really had to do 'that'much for this particular set, apart from bundle them up into decent packaging add some extras - some of the extras, including the commentaries are the same as the previous DVD release.

MGM have used the export print for Thunderbirds Are Go, part of the credits are supposed to play over part the assembly of Zero-X, hence why the section as long as it. These were deleted on the export print so the local distributors could add thier own unique credits.

The above does not detract from a nice and very cheap set - Play were knocking out the two disc set with collectors cards and fridge magnets on pre-release inc post for £9.99. Pretty much giving it away in my opinion.

I for one enjoyed Brent disection, if it was'nt for comments like this we would have to put up with substandard LD et-al, carry on Brent.

Marty..........

Alien, you got it. Doctor Who, "The Gunsliners", often considered one of the worst Doctor Who serials. Filled with British actors doing American accents, Rimmer is the only one who doesn't sound wildly exaggerated!