Thunderbirds are Go: Review: Series 1 Episode 10: Tunnels of Time

A few months after an ancient temple is revealed during a rescue, Gordon assists Lady Penelope and Parker to investigate it…

Given the honour of broadcasting on the main ITV channel at teatime on a bank holiday weekend, this second dose of Thunderbirds are Go this weekend focuses on a very different set of characters from Saturday’s, with no sign of Alan or Kayo at all. This time Gordon is centre stage, alongside Penny and Parker who have their doubts about the professor who is in charge of the investigation – played by an unheralded Matt Zimmerman (the original Alan Tracy – surely someone at ITV should have made something of this?!).

Dan Berlinka’s script plays up the comic potential as the International Rescue trio make their way through a series of traps (think Indiana Jones, or, perhaps more pertinently, the Magic Roundabout movie [Doogal as it was known in the US] from a decade ago). There are hints of something between Gordon and Penny which are pushed into the background at the end of the episode but which will hopefully be revisited, and a very nice moment when Scott nearly loses it when he thinks something has happened to his brother.

Apart from one moment when it looks as if the IR craft has been dumped in a child’s sandpit, the scale issues aren’t as present as they sometimes have been (that, or I’m becoming more accustomed to the show’s use of perspective!), and the use of sound to lend weight to objects is definitely better than it was initially.

Verdict: An enjoyable, lighter weight, episode. 7/10

Paul Simpson