BluRay

Thunderbirds are Go & Thunderbird 6 now on BluRay

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:06; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 2550

The movies Thunderbirds are Go and Thunderbird 6 have just been released in high definition on a combo BluRay disc from Twilight Time Video. The release is limited to only 3000 copies and is expected to sell out fairly quickly. Luckily it is region free so should work anywhere with any player. What a concept.

The single disc release comes in a plastic case with colour artwork covers as well an 8 page colour booklet inside.

Thunderbirds Blu-Ray is region-free

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:07; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 5788

The Thunderbirds BluRay set is available in the UK and even though it is marked as REGION B (PAL I think), I had been told by multiple sources that the set is region free. I took a chance and ordered the now much cheaper set. I paid £58.88 from Amazon UK. I use a normal Sony Playstation 3 with no hacks. The Thunderbirds BluRay set plays just fine on my USA Playstation 3. The shows look amazing on my *ahem* 58" plasma screen and I have to say the show looks incredible presented in this way.

I know the top and bottom have been cut off, but to be honest, 98% of the time, you won't even notice. They did grab some extra side area that was never shown before, so generally its a major win in terms of picture quality. Colour is excellent and it looks like a major restoration was done for the most part. The sound is available in 5.1 surround (???) and stereo. Stereo is the default and for good reason. Still some additional "effects" but thats OK in moderation. (read on)

Thunderbirds Blu-Ray: UK/Aus yes - US no

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:08; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 7882

Well, despite the earlier post, it appears that there is not in fact currently a US release of Thunderbirds on Blu-Ray. It is for sale in the UK, and a region 4 version is on sale in Australia (and eBay) for those with multi-standard players.

I already played that (region free) game with DVDs, and I already have one Blu-Ray player so I'm reluctant to spend yet more money on an iffy media.

After finding the Thunderbirds Blu-Ray on Amazon.com, the price skyrocketed to an amazing $290.Its for sale by a third party. I looked around for other US-based carriers and nobody else has it. Best Buy/Borders/Barnes and Noble/DeepdiscountDVD/Frys/ebay - none of them show a US Blu-Ray release.My guess is that this is the UK release.

As a result, I have to assume I jumped the gun and that a US release is not (yet) available.

During my search, I came across something interesting, namely a Blu-Ray release of the 1949 movie "The Third Man". This was shot in 1.33:1 ratio, like Thunderbirds. Guess what? its not cropped, that's right they retained the correct aspect ratio and it shows black bars left and right. Exactly how Thunderbirds should be done. Hint hint.

If you see an info about any Anderson show/movie coming out on Blu-Ray, please drop me a line via the link to the left.

Oh, and one more thing: I have seen bits from a high-def version of Thunderbirds are Go. Now that makes sense for a Blu-Ray release, right?...

Thunderbirds released on Blu-Ray in USA

User Rating: 5 / 5

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:08; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 7268

Thunderbirds was released in a 6 disc Blu-Ray set on March 17th 2009. Looks to be the same as the UK release, eg cropped to lose top and bottom of the picture. Price is $99.99 so I'm guessing that this set will be hard to find in the shops and not sell too many copies.

Sadly, its stupidity like this which could well kill future releases of older shows as the publishers will point to poor sales of "Flagship" shows like Thunderbirds when requests come in for Joe 90, UFO etc. It will be interesting to see how "classic" US TV shows like Star Trek are treated in this medium.

Anyway, if interested, its a 6 disc set, but no details yet on any extras, but its probably identical to the UK release.

Thunderbirds Blu-Ray review

User Rating: 5 / 5

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:08; Written by Dennis Nicholson; Hits: 9481

The new year brought with it a new release of Thunderbirds, on Blu-Ray discs. The discs are available in the UK and in Australia.

No sign of release in the US, or anywhere else yet.

Australian mega-fan and author of the must-have "Gerry Anderson Memorabilia Guide" has obtained the discs and presents his view of them in this exclusive review which appears after the jump.

Thunderbirds BluRay set - more details [U]

User Rating: 5 / 5

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:09; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 10509

As you know by now, the Thunderbirds Blu-Ray set has been released in the UK by ITV. The main issue for many is that the set is cropped to 16:9 ratio essentially cutting off the top and bottom of the picture, which for many is unacceptable. I don't know how many 4:3 classic movies are on Blu-Ray yet, but I can tell you that if they crop the disc of Citizen Kane to 16:9 ratio there will be an outcry. Sadly, as the fanbase of Thunderbirds is probably less than that of Citizen Kane, even if we all stand on top of our roofs screaming at the top of our lungs they won't hear. Time will tell if they hear and if they care. Anything shot in 4:3 should be kept that way and use black bars on the side to retain all the image. Its OK to crop 2.35:1 widescreen movies top and bottom with black, so there really is no excuse. Oh and don't you love the way they put Kyrano in the background? I bet they thought it was The Hood. I know I'm being anal here, but c'mon, its the cover.

Anyway...

I would like to thank the Richard (PR) for providing me with additional details on the release, which I can share with you. The show has been digitally restored and is in 1080p high definition (with 16:9 crop). In addition to the shows themselves, the following extras are included:

Disc 1: Thunderbirds Companion
Disc 2: 4 original TV ads + All About Thunderbirds documentary (originally aired on BBC)
Disc 3: featurette: The machines
Disc 4: featurette: The Characters
Disc 5: featurette: Lady Penelope and Parker
Disc 6: featurette: Making of Thunderbirds (originally aired on BBC)

I could be wrong, but I think all the extras have been on prior DVD sets with the exception of the items which were recently aired by the BBC this new year. Early word is that the picture quality is outstanding, but sound has been modified/improved to a noticeable degree. Level of detail on these discs is very high. Amazing considering when these shows were made, the UK viewers were watching it on small black and white sets. What a difference 40+ years makes!

Update: Checked the price at Amazon and it has gone down to about £80, a drop of £10. Also note the average review for this set is 1 star (4 reviews). As you cannot rate an item with 0 stars, I'd say the BluRay vendors are going to have to seriously reconsider putting black bars left and right if they wish to actually sell older TV shows or movies. Hopefully this is a triumph for sanity over greed. It really doesn't matter if they give it HD treatment, if the original source is noticeably missing content, people will not stand for it. FAB.

Thunderbirds set released on Blu-Ray in UK

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:09; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 7818

Here we go again, out with the old and in with the new. Today marks the release of the Thunderbirds Blu-Ray DVD set. According to reports, the episodes are cropped to 16:9 ratio, so you get the filled screen, but lose, you know, content from the top and bottom of the screen. Its unclear how much the images have been cleaned up, but its not unrealistic to expect a fairly decent transfer from a clean source. The audio has also received the hi-def treatment and only comes in 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby, which means no mono. Not the end of the world, hopefully the jacked up explosions will be minimal.

Price on this is a bit steep, too: £90.98. It's now available for order from Amazon UK.

Thunderbirds coming to Blu-Ray!

Details: Category: BluRay; Last Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2014 02:09; Written by Simon Wickes; Hits: 6755

I guess it was inevitable, but Thunderbirds is coming to Blu-Ray disc on 15 September 2008. This will be in the UK only for now, but if past history is any indication, this will be the first of many Blu-Ray releases for Anderson productions. Right now details are very sparse, but it appears to be a box set of the entire series. Probably will be 16:9 which will inevitably mean that something gets lost. See the Stingray HD broadcast article to see what I mean.

Although its a fairly obvious first release, I was actually expecting to see the New Captain Scarlet show get the first high-definition DVD release, as it was produced in high-def and 5.1 sound. That would be an ideal candidate, as would the Thunderbirds movies. Expect little in the way of extras this time round though. One question that does come to mind is will they attempt to 'hide' the strings, now that the show is going to be high definition?

Price on this is a bit steep, too: £90.75. Pre-order it now from Amazon. That reminds me, are there any region-free Blu-Ray players yet?