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 - ALL STRINGS ATTACHED!

With the release of all 32 episodes of Thunderbirds on Blu-ray in both the UK and Australia it is a fact that you get to see detail never before easily seen. No, I won't applaud this Blu-ray release for reformatting the standard 4:3 TV screen size, to the latest 16:9 (you lose the top and bottom of the image), We all know what our true feelings about 'fiddling' with a classic are - it sucks! Not only is the screen format altered, but digital sound effects blast out at you in 5.1 surround sound. So, having said all that, I must say it is truly amazing to see such detail (accepting the 16:9 format), There are things in the backgrounds, over the shoulders of the puppets, on the sky cyc, in the miniature buildings, that are crystal clear, and its incredible to see the intricate detail that those FAB folks at AP Films put into this series. You can really appreciate their dedication.

Even the original standard DVD releases of Thunderbirds got the formatting wrong, they cropped into the 4:3 frame, obvious when you see Thunderbird Two's nose hitting the left side of the screen. At least in the Blu-ray version this has been repaired and you see all the left/right of the frame. Sadly not all the top/bottom.

No new extras are provided, all the usual standard DVD ones. They look quite bad on Blu-ray because of their standard quality showing through.

Interestingly, the Australian release (by Reel Video), comes in only a few months after they released their limited edition standard DVD set complete with a Thunderbirds lunchbox and including new extras. Also to be noted is the price of the Australian Blu-ray version, only S97.00Aust, around £43.00UK Pounds.

So, for a lad that grew up in the 1960s, glued to a black and white television, using a pair of scissors to cut up his TV Century 21s, and a magnifying glass to study all those wonderful pictures, this Blu-ray version is really Thunderbirds - All Strings Attached!