If you grew up in either the sixties or the nineties in the UK then odds are you would have watched Thunderbirds growing up as a kid. As the show quite literally had everything a kid would want to see in a TV show and then some and well as it's been a long time since an episode of the show was covered I thought that i'd check out another episode of the show and so then join me as I review the episode that might might be a little bit more dated then usual with the episode in question being called simply just "City Of Fire" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when a family of three find themselves trapped in the ground level of a tower block that's on fire it's up to International Rescue to find them before its to late. 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 really good. This episode plot whilst it's not the best one that this series had it is easily one that is very movie like which is something that does work in this episodes favor as we have the drama and rising tension of if the family will make it out alive and we have the building tension of if Scott and Virgil will be OK as they have to use a gas that had previously knocked them to get the family out with this being something that in a lesser plot for a lesser show wouldn't have worked and yet due to the fact that this episode and this show does have alot of really good plots they are things that do work. With this films plot feeling more cinematic because of it heck one could argue that it's more cinematic then any of the Thunderbirds movies as this is a plot that very easily could have worked as the plot for a Thunderbirds and heck the idea of housing an entire city in one building is one that would be revisited in the Judge Dredd books and in the 2012 film Dredd and while this episode doesn't do alot with that idea as we don't get to see what any of the higher levels look like it is still a really cool idea in the first place 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 Blanche Carter and Tommy Carter and Ray Barrett as John Tracy and Joe Carter. Also starring in this episode is Peter Dyneley as Jeff Tracy and The Fire Chief , Christine Finn as Tin-Tin Kyrano and The Woman Driver , David Graham as Brains , The Tower Control Assistant and The Woman Driver's Husband , David Holliday as Virgil Tracy , Shane Rimmer as Scott Tracy and Matt Zimmerman as Alan Tracy , The Tower Controller and The WTV Reporter.
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. The fact that this episode does gave some really good acting in it is something that's not really all that surprising as by this point in the show they are fourteen episodes in with this one being the fifteenth therefor it does make sense that the acting in this episode would be really good as the acting in any show does get alot more better the further into a series that you get and while yes there some dodgy performances in this episode like for example Sylvia Anderson as good as she is in this episode doesn't make for a convincing sounding boy. With the best actor in this episode oddly enough also being Sylvia Anderson as while she is mainly known for playing Lady Penelope in this show it is therefor refreshing to see that she can do other characters with the same amount of grace and charm that she brings to Lady Penelope and while yes she can't play boy characters as it just sounds like the character is being played by a woman which is very distracting it doesn't change the fact that when she does do a good performance in this episode is something that does stand out and while other actors even in this episode have more roles then her in this episode she manages to prove that she is more then just a one trick pony with the acting that's in this episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Whilst this episode doesn't really hit home the family aspect all that much it was still quite refreshing to see a family be the ones that need rescuing this time around. This is something that does add a new dynamic to rescue as now not only do the team have more people to rescue but also in the case of this episode the mother an father have to stop there son from freaking out with them constantly trying to calm him down and reassure themselves that everything will be OK this despite the fact that deep down they know that the odds of them being rescued at all let alone in time are pretty slim at best and yet it is something that hey have to do because if they don't it will mean that there song will freak out and thus take up more oxygen in the process. While it would have been nice if the episode did take the time to fully set up the family dynamic before the action takes place as the family in question does come across as being the stereotypical family who are just perfect in everyway possible when it would have worked out all the more better if the makers of this episode added things to the family like for example maybe the father and son don't get along that much or maybe the mother is a ditzy character or perhaps even the son is a known troublemaker and lier as that would have been something that makes them interesting characters and while there's nothing wrong with having them be the stereotypical happy family as that is something that was doubt enforced upon the makers of the episode it does also mean that the family unit as a whole just isn't that fun to see and heck it could be argued that there scenes are some of the more boring scenes in the episode as you know right away how there going to go which does make them pretty boring to watch.
There is kind of a running joke in this episode that does make the episode seem to be more dated then what the show already is as the running joke is that women make bad drivers and that's it. With even the accident that causes the skyscraper to get caught on fire being caused by a woman driver with this running joke being something that wasn't really needed due to the fact that whilst it might have been relevant back in the sixties which is fair enough as that's when the episode was made it is something that does make the episode come across as being even more dated then what the show already is but in all fairness the makers of this episode weren't to know how that joke would age therefor they are kind of forgiven. However they had alot of women working on the show some of which worked in a lot of important departments for the show and yet it just seems like they were taking a cheap shot at them with things being made worse when you take into account that the joke isn't even that funny in the first place and whilst yes fair enough it very well might have been funny back then but that doesn't stop the joke from aging poorly as these days there are alot more women drivers on the roads then there are male drivers and while it is hard to say who gets into more accidents men or women what can be said is that alot of women aren't bad drivers and while this episode does mainly play up this aspect for laughs with the woman even having a husband that just blindly agrees with her which is something that does make it more tolerable it is also a joke that if this episode was being made today would be cut out before the episode was even filmed not only due to how it makes women drivers look but also because of the fact that it's just not that funny of a joke in the first place.
Whilst there are some bad things in this episode this is an episode where there are alot more good things in it then there are bad. Like for example the whole idea of having one city inside of this giant skyscraper is a really cool idea and seeing how the city is controlled from somewhere near by does help to sell you on this idea with the only down side to this idea being the fact that as was mentioned we don't get to see any of the higher levels before the fire starts with alot of the action taking place in the same grey corridors of the lower levels which is something tat was more then likely done to keep the costs down but it would been more effective if we got to see what some of the higher levels of this building looked like instead of just being told about them. Another good thing is the fact that we get to see Scott and Virgil working together which is something that we don't technically get to see in this show as while yes they are always working with each other as Scott is always the first arrive and tells Virgil what the issue is very rarely do they actively partake in teaming up to do the rescue with it mostly being Virgil and maybe another member of the team like for example Brains that take a more active role in the rescue itself and yet here it's Scott and Virgil which is something that does work in the episodes favor as the two of them do bounce off of each other really well with the two of them willing to do whatever it takes to get the job even if it costs them there ow lifes and while the two of them don't for obvious reason have any banter with each other you do still get the feeling that with Scott being the older of the two brothers that Virgil might act like the littler brother and tell a joke even if it's just t ease the tension.
The episode does try to add in some tension as the brothers do have to use this new gas that Brains has invented that will allow them to cut through doors and other metallic objects at a much more quicker rate only for that same gas to knock them clean out cold. Yet the episode does nothing with this idea as while they do bring it u alot of the time with Scott even saying that it's the only way that they can get to the family in time we don't really see that many scenes with them after they get knocked out where they showcase there concerns to either there father or to Brains himself something which they would have had every right to do. This is something that is kind of understandable as this is a kids show afterall and kids even back then wouldn't find that kind of thing to be all that interesting but if your going to have be a key part of the episode and be a key plot point then it is something that should have been discussed a little bit more and fair enough there would have been no way to di that and have all of the scenes with the family and have the rescue as well as that would have made the episode be a confusing mess but given just how vital that the gas is it is something that should have been brought up more as to be honest the idea that they could get knocked out mid-rescue is a fantastic way of creating tension and to be fair to the episode they do make the most of it even by having alot of the same things that happened prior to them getting knocked out happen here and while they of course don't get knocked out it is still a good way of creating tension as they very well could have gotten knocked out. Yet the episode has to give us this over the top reason as t why they didn't get knocked out which is so confusing even an adult couldn't make sense of it.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty minuets and fifty six seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show with this kind of running time even helping to make the episode feel more like a movie due to the fact that it's close to having a feature length running time and yet at the same time you don't even notice that it's almost one hour long as we the audience are just so engrossed by everything that is going on in the episode with the episode itself even having the right amount of plot to cover that amount of running time. The episode is even helped by the fact that it does use it's running time as wisely as it could have done in both respects as given the fact that the episode does have so much to fit in in the first place its plot is about as well developed as it could have been as while yes this is a simple plot that isn't what you come to this show for you come to see the daring rescues with the plots being nothing more then an excuse for characters to get trapped and be rescued and to be fair to the episode it does make the most out of a thin plot by giving us lots of tension and while yes if they did cut out or even redid the terrible jokes about women not making for good drivers that would allow them to have more screen time be devoted to its plot but at the same time the episode would also loose about of its charm as well. Even the episodes characters much like its plot do come of as being as well developed as there were ever going to be as while the sows main characters would have course have the other episodes and films to get there bits of character development nobody is walking into this show expecting the guest characters to be that well developed with the just being there to service the plot and that's really it and to be fair they do do a solid job of doing exactly that but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is 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 really good. This something that could be said for alot of this shows action as they all do take full advantage of the fact that all of the characters are puppets by having them do things like for example grabbing an object or in the case of this episode kicking down a door both of which re things that are a puppet wouldn't be able to do and yet because of the fact that they have them do it in this episode it does help to sell you on the action at hand when it would have been very easy for them to have alot of the action in not only this episode but the show as a whole take place off screen. With the best action scene being the start of the fire as we get to see a car drive recklessly into the skyscrapers parking are and then flip over a few cars before then smashing into a car and bursting into flames which might not seem like much but when you take into account that this show uses puppets that small stunt now seem alot more more bigger as now we have to work out just how they did it in the first place with that being something that does make that stunt be all the more impressive then what it really had any right to be and with it being a key plot point for the episode it is also an important scene to have as without that scene we literally have no episode to speak and with it being as good as it was it something that des make you wonder just what the makers of this show could really do if they had more of a budget to work with with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this episode whilst it is still a really good episode in its own right is also one that doesn't take as full advantage of its own idea due t the fact that it would have been more better if the family was somewhere o the higher grounds as that would have added more tension to the episode but this is still a really good episode albeit one that really could have been alot more better 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 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of te 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 Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images 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 really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.