It's been a good long while since anything to do with the classic series version of Thunderbirds has been talked. Well with the home of Thunderbirds ITV also turning seventy years old this year it made alot of sense to now talk about more of the show as this shoe turned sixty years old this year and so then join me as I review that sees Lady Penelope become the main character of an episode with the episode in question being called simply just "The Perils Of Penelope" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when the inventor of a revolutionary fuel is kidnapped it's up to Lady Penelope to find out what happend to him before his fuel falls into the wrong hands. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad however tho this episodes plot really isn't all that good either as while it's not that bad it also doesn't feel like a Thunderbirds plot as most plots for those show involve the team rescuing someone from some kind of natural disaster where as here it feels more like a plot to a spy movie which would have been great if this was a spy show but it's not and therefor as good as this episodes plot is it does feel out of place when compared to alot of the other plots in this show but to give this episode some credit in regards to it's plot the episode does know to give the plot alot of focus and attention as the episode does spend alot of time in just setting up the main plot of the episode and making it feel all the more richer then what it really had any right to be but in saying that tho this is plot that can at times be completely forgettable and while the plot does have alot of good things going for it it's the fact that this plot feels more like the plot to a stereotypical spy movie then an episode of Thunderbirds that does hold it back and stops it from being as good as it really wants to be with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is this shows co-creator Sylvia Anderson as Lady Penelope and Peter Dyneley as Jeff Tracy and Sir Jeremy Hodge. Also starring in this episode is Christine Finn as Tin-Tin Kyrano , David Graham as Gordon Tracy , Parker , Professor Borender , Roache, Waiter , Colonel Benson and A TV Reporter , David Holliday as Virgil Tracy , Shane Rimmer as Scott Tracy , Matt Zimmerman as Alan Tracy and Alfred and Ray Barrett as Dr Godber.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the fact that this episodes acting being as good as it is is not really something that's all that surprising as this show has a bunch if a really good voice actors in it which granted you might not know about if your not into Classic Doctor Who but if you were then you'd know how good of an actor that actor David Graham is and if you've seen The Spy Who Loved me then you'll know how good of an actor that Shane Rimmer is with them both being good in this episode despite the fact that both characters don't rally have all that much to do in the episode with the best actor in the whole entire episode being none other then Sylvia Anderson herself as even tho she's not an actor by trade really did bring alot of life into the character of Lady Penelope with this episode being proof of that as she gets the chance to show of just how street smart that the character can be at times with her performance being a true delight in what could otherwise have been seen as being a really dull and lifeless episode with the acting that's in this episode not really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
With this being a puppet based show it only makes to talk about the puppets in this episode as to be frank they were so well done in this episode. With there being alot of crowd scenes where all of the puppets are moving at the exact same time something which would have been really difficult to do back in the mid sixties and yet here they all work so well and while yes you can quite clearly see the strings on alot of the main puppet characters that is something that could also be said for alot of other puppet based shows and isn't something that's an issues with this show or with this episode with the best example of just how good the puppets are in this episode especially in the episodes many crowd scenes being in the opening of the episode where we get to see a countdown taking place for a spaceship and we get to see all of the puppet characters doing there own different thing inside what is presumably a control tower with this being something what would have been really difficult to do just due to the fact that you would have needed all of the people controlling the puppets to be careful as to not to accidentally knock into each other or each others character all the while still somehow managing to make these puppets somehow feel alive and human with even both of the scenes in the Paris cafe being a good example of this as again you have several puppet characters alot of which are in this case main characters and there all moving about just doing there own thing and it all looks so good and it's something that does make you wonder how they managed to pull off such shots in the mid nineteen sixties.
As was mentioned back at the very start of this review this episodes plot feels alot more like the plot of James Bond spy movie then it does a Thunderbirds episode. Whilst this could be seen as being a bad thing it could also be seen as being a good thing as it shows that the makers of this episode were willing to try out different genre's with these characters as even Sir Lew Grade himself once said that the pilot episode to Thunderbirds wasn't a TV show it was a movie and so it does stand stand to reason that some of the shows episodes would try to be different film genres and while that doesn't necessarily work in this episode as the plot to this episode comes of as being a more kid friendly version of the film From Russia With Love and heck the main bulk of the episodes third act even takes place on a train it still doesn't change the fact that the makers of this show were willing to be brave and bold so early on in the shows run as even tho this was the twelve episode to be produced it was still only the third episode to air and so you still do get the feeling the makers of this show are still trying to find there footing with the show and that is something that does show through in the fact that whilst Thunderbirds is typically an action show and while there is action in this episode this episode takes on the approach of being a more kid friendly version of a James Bond film and it is something that both does and doesn't work in this episode as while it's great that we are seeing this show take on different genres and seeing them done through the eyes of Thunderbirds Lady Penelope was never that well developed of a character with the same thing also being true for alot of the shows characters as well and therefor it does feel odd that she would lead a spy based episode for the show when the show itself is still is trying to find an audience.
The only thing that could have saved this episodes spy element was if instead of airing as the third episode of the show it instead aired either later on in the first series of the show or it instead aired as an episode of the second series. As while the episode isn't worthy to be the plot of the any of the two sixties films having air later on in the series would have worked out all the more better as by then the show would have found it's audience and would have been able to take on more different plots then what the audience is used to as having it air as the third episode of the first series was a very bold and risky move as the show was still trying to find it's audience at that point in time and therefor it would have made more sense of the makers of the show just went with the more stereotypical Thunderbirds plot as this was still a new show but in saying that tho having a plot like this take place as early as it does in the series running order does show just how brave that the makers of this show really were as here is an episode that not only technically takes place at the same time as the very next episode but also features a female as the main character and is tackling a different genre then what the makers of the show are used to dealing with with them oddly enough getting alot of the spy elements down perfectly with Penelope using her wits to get herself and Sir Jeremy Hodge out of danger alot of the time and while the episode tells you right away who the bad guy is and therefor we the audience are always ahead of the characters in that regard it could also be argued that in this case it does add some level of tension to the episode as now whenever Lady Penelope and Sir Jeremy Hodge meet up with this man there is a very real threat to both of there lives.
To give this episode some form of credit the very idea of having the main threat of this episode basically be this unstoppable Monorail was a really good idea. Even tho the main villain of the episode is revealed to be Dr. Godber having it be a train like vehicle that's moving towards our heroes at a fast speed is more threatening then having a mad man with a gun threatening Sir Jeremy to try and get the formular out of him as that mad man with a gun can very easily be stopped but a fast moving train can't which does mean that we get alot of tension added on in the final few minuets of the episode as now International Rescue have to work fast to not only prevent a protentional world war from happening which is what Dr. Godber wants to happen but now they also have to find a way to rescue someone who is not only a good friend of theirs but also works for them and they have to do it before the monorail comes and kills her which is something that does make for a good tension filled third act with the only thing that really lets it down being the fact that Dr. Godber really isn't all that interesting as a villain with him just coming across as being a stereotypical mad scientist type of character who only wants this formular just so that he could possibly start a new world war and that's really it which granted is an epic enough plan for this show but at the same time tho it's just not that well thought out as if he did manage to achieve his goal then he himself would be more then likely killed but it is something that would have made more sense if he had a rocketship of his own that was a rival to the Sun Probe as then it could be argued that he was making a business move and wasn't trying to start something that would ultimately end up with im dieing.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty minuets and thirty six seconds. Which is pretty much the exact grad total running time for this show as alot of this shows episodes did have a running time of about fifty minuets with this episode having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time but in saying that tho despite this being one of the episodes that got rewrites to fit that extended running time when the show got bumped up from twenty five minuets to fifty minuets in length the episode still doesn't take the time that it really needed in order to fully develop it's as it's plot while it does get alot of focus given to it still does feel really weak with it feeling like that the plot was taking place to the spy aspect of the episode with the episode not even taking the time to fully develop it's characters which in the case of the shows main characters does somewhat make sense as you could argue that they would get there development in later episodes of the show but it's also something that doesn't make sense when it comes to the episodes guest characters as we know just as much about them coming out of the episode as we did going into the episode all of which does make them feel like there undercooked and while it's not unusual for kids shows from the sixties to not give the characters guest or main any kind of character development that doesn't mean that it should have happened as kids are alot more smarter then what we give them credit for and they would always like when characters get character development as that makes them more interesting as characters but I really will admit that this very episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episodes action whilst it's not as good as the action in either other episodes of the show or even the two sixties Thunderbirds films for that matter is still alot more better then what it really had any right to be as it will always be good just seeing what equipment Thunderbird 2 is going to be using that week however this episode does also somewhat try to the up ante in what has to be the episodes best action scene in which Gordon takes on Dr. Godber in what is basically a gun fight as even tho they do put on laser effects over the guns it's pretty clear as day what there meant to be and while having guns is something that does mesh well with the episodes spy aspect it is something that does feel out of place in a Thunderbirds episode as none of the previous two episodes had shown the members of International Rescue using them with them being shown exclusively by the episodes main villains but that doesn't take away from how good that third act action scene really is as not only do we have the excitement of Gordon trying to shoot Dr. Godber and save Sir Jeremy but we also have the drama of Virgil trying to get to and rescue Lady Penelope before it's far to late which is something that really does make the action in that third act as good as it was ever going to be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this episode is still a very thrilling episode and is a very good in it's own right it's also quite clearly one of the shows more weaker episodes as the central spy aspect of the show doesn't really gel well with the main disaster aspect that would usually be in the show in my freaking opinions anyways / at least#. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and the official Thunderbirds fandom wiki page. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Thunderbirds fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Thunderbirds fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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