Tagline: Prepare for the new generation.
Thunderbirds movie storyline. The year is 2010. Teenager Alan Tracy, sent off to a distant boarding school, is the youngest of the sons of Jeff Tracy, a retired American astronaut. Jeff, a widower, has formed International Rescue, and raised his sons to act as a secret, volunteer organization which uses highly advanced technology to save lives worldwide.
Jeff and his older sons John, Virgil, Scott, and Gordon, who like Alan were named after the Mercury Seven astronauts are joined in this effort by Lady Penelope and her butler/chauffeur Parker. Their futuristic hardware is largely developed by a genius scientist known as Brains, who lives at the International Rescue base on Tracy Island, somewhere in the Pacific.
Thunderbirds is a 2004 British-American-French science fiction action-adventure film based on the 1960s television series of the same name, directed by Jonathan Frakes. The film, written by William Osborne and Michael McCullers, was released on 24 July 2004 in the United Kingdom and 30 July 2004 in the United States, with later opening dates in other countries. Whereas the original TV series used a form of puppetry termed “Supermarionation”, the film’s characters are portrayed by live-action actors.
This was the third theatrical release based upon the series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. It was preceded by Thunderbirds Are Go in 1966 and Thunderbird 6 in 1968, both films using the Supermarionation production techniques of the series.
Filming began in March 2003 in the Seychelles, before moving to Pinewood Studios and on-location shooting in London. Thunderbirds is dedicated to the memory of Stephen Lowen, a rigger on the film, who died in a fall whilst dismantling one of the sets.
About the Story
In a family of heroes, young Alan Tracy was always being left out. While his father, billionaire and former astronaut Jeff Tracy, and his four elder brothers are busy saving the world, Alan’s biggest challenge is saving his grade point average at boarding school. And what’s worse, he can’t even tell his schoolmates that his dad and brothers are better known as the fearless adventurers behind the top-secret organization International Rescue-called in to save those in need whenever disaster strikes. Alan dreams of one day joining his close-knit family in their global vocation and even getting into the driver’s seat of one of the awesome, incredible machines the Tracys utilize in their life-saving work: the Thunderbirds.
Back home on Tracy Island-a secret oasis in the South Pacific and headquarters to International Rescue-Alan and his friends, the brainy Fermat (Soren Fulton) and the adventurous Tin-Tin (Vanessa Anne Hudgens), are left behind as Jeff Tracy and his elder sons are deployed on a fake mission by their arch nemesis The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley). Once the master criminal takes control of Tracy Island and the Thunderbirds, it falls to Alan and his friends to come up with a plan to defeat The Hood and rescue his family… oh, and save the world while they’re at it.
Thunderbirds< (2004)
Directed by: Jonathan Frakes
Starring: Bill Paxton, Ben Kingsley, Sophia Myles, Vanessa Hudgens, Donimic Colenso, Ron Cook, Lex Shrapnel, Ben Torgeson, Philip Winchester, Anthony Edwards
Screenplay by: William Osbourne
Production Design by: John Beard
Cinematography by: Brendan Galvin
Film Editing by: Martin Walsh
Costume Design by: Marit Allen
Set Decoration by: Joanne Woollard
Music by: Ramin Djawadi, Hans Zimmer
MPAA Rating: PG for intense action sequences and language.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: July 30, 2004
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