Thunderbirds

Review by Cavan Gilbey

Thunderbirds has been a long standing television love of mine, it was something introduced to me in my childhood and ever since and I the artistry of the show has always stuck with me. Great puppet and model work ensured that the show would stick in the mind, plus the Barry Gray music and vocal performances lend a further level of perfection. Last year Big Finish began to produce full cast adaptations of the novels by John Theydon, much in the same style as the excellent Spectrum Files which were done to bring Captain Scarlet to audio life. But Big Finish, in collaboration with Anderson Entertainment, this year started to produce full cast audio drama adaptation of the comic strips that would appear in the likes of TV Century 21. The first set, Thunderbirds vs The Hood came out earlier this year and was such a fun time for me because it took me back to watching episodes like City of Fire and Vault of Death on DVD. Now this new set, Fire and Fury, continues the quality of the previous set and makes me itch to want more stories in this style.

Continue reading →

Review by Cavan Gilbey

Big Finish’s recent collaborations with Anderson Entertainment have been simply brilliant, bringing many of Britain’s best cult action sci-fi shows back to life with audio adaptations of otherwise inaccessible novels and comic strips. This month sees two major releases; a pair of full cast Thunderbirds stories based on fan-favourite comic strips and this audio annual which collects a series of short stories written for the respective show’s annuals. Anything Can Happen brings together Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90, some of these shows I am more familiar with than others; Joe 90 is the one I am least familiar with outside of the basic premise and insanely catchy opening theme. This collection makes for a good, nostalgic listen, harkening back to an era of pulpy camp story telling that certainly charms and excites and its great to have these otherwise rare tales preserved by excellent narration from Nicholas Briggs and Wayne Forester and sound design from Briggs and Benji Clifford; makes them closer to feeling like traditional episodes of the shows rather than simple short stories.