The Thunderbirds Reboot

[Zaune]

He described himself as having been "in the Service" in the pilot, so either he used to be in MI6 or he took up a career in burglary after leaving the army... Actually, from what I've heard about British squaddies he probably started his career in burglary some time after completing Basic and just took his existing skills into the private sector.

[bilateralrope]

International Rescue doesn't have enough clout to basically say "shut the eff up and give us the records we need"

International Rescue seems to be a private organisation. I don't think they have any official authority. Even if they have any, they can't use that without dropping their secrecy.

[Zaune]

International Rescue seems to be a private organisation. I don't think they have any official authority. Even if they have any, they can't use that without dropping their secrecy.

You'd be surprised how much official authority a not-for-profit can wield in certain circumstances; I can think of at least one in the UK (the RSPCA) that's empowered to enforce court orders. And that senior officer from the Global Defence Organisation or whatever it was called called Scott at home and addressed him by name.

[Lone Browncoat]

First I heard of this, but looking forward to this, I enjoyed the reboot of Captain Scarlet, but all I could find were some old
.avi files of CS.

[Lone Browncoat]

Downloaded all three released episodes so far, 720p, so enjoyed them a bunch. Was like being 10 again, but in colour, rather than that old B&W set we used to have as a kid. I actually like the update of the machines used, especially TB-2, much better than that Jonathan Frakes frell-up.
Easter eggs all through, in relation to other G.A. products.
@Zaune@bilateralrope: that GDF might have the same relationship that DC's Justice League (aka CW's "The Arrow") has to A.R.G.U.S. or Marvel's Avengers has to S.H.I.E.L.D. i.e. They know but keep it under wraps, check with the old show on how many times I.R. had government clearance practically automatic, though even I need to check with the old show pilot ep because I don't quite remember right now.

[was just going to add to my previous post, but where's the damn edit tool?
edit: NOW it displays!]

[Bedlam]

Well I don't think this weeks episode will be winning any prizes for scientific accuracy on the nuclear front. I'm no expert but I'm fairly sure a mine wouldn't be that radioactive and if it was going to devastate a city just shutting the door wouldn't make the problem all go away and if it was that bad I don't think they should be wandering about with no protective gear after just covering over the entrance.

If we didn't already we got a fairly fixed date for the story 2040's was 20 years ago and apparently nuclear power was phased out then, which would fit with the wars mentioned in the last episode, possibly things went nuclear which is why they're so paranoid about them?

Interesting to see the tunnelled being built on board TB2 rather than already being constructed, not quite as sci-fi as nano construction or a sort of hyper 3D printing but they seem to have a bunch of interchangeable parts of board to mix and match to build what is needed to give some extra versatility at the cost of time. I guess they normally wouldn't built them on the ground but on route after TB1 has given it's report. They still have multiple pods so presumably they can't build everything possible from one set of bits, unless they're just duplicates.

[Captain Seafort]

If we didn't already we got a fairly fixed date for the story 2040's was 20 years ago and apparently nuclear power was phased out then, which would fit with the wars mentioned in the last episode, possibly things went nuclear which is why they're so paranoid about them?

Maybe, but the anti-nuclear nonsense was starting to get irritating after a while. Ironic, given that in the original series pretty much everything seemed to be nuclear-powered.

Contrary to my initial expectations, the half-hour format seems to be working, at least for the first couple, albeit at the cost of breadth and depth. Whether this will be sustainable if and when they have another Hood-centric episode like the pilot, or whether they'll do more two-parters remains to be seen. They'll certainly need to do two-parters if they want to match the best of the original.

[Lone Browncoat]

They'll certainly need to do two-parters if they want to match the best of the original.

Agreed.

Its not that nuclear power is bad, its' that we're using the wrong kind of fuel, because the uranium lobby is powerful and trying to teach the politicians and other lug-nuts out there the difference is like banging one's head against the wall.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/energysourc ... -a-chance/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Curre ... n/Thorium/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_flu ... um_reactor

It is also something that goes way over the heads of those Hollywood west-east-north-south types who just want to pound the anti-nuke message.
Plus we were warned in press releases that this series, since it's aimed at children, that there were going to be eco-themes buried in the writing.

[Zaune]

Well, that was an insultingly badly-researched plot. My enthusiasm for this series is beginning to wane.

And are they planning on doing something with the "Jeff Tracy MIA" plot, or is that just going to be forgotten until the series finale because proper story arcs are too much hard word?

[Lone Browncoat]

Well, that was an insultingly badly-researched plot. My enthusiasm for this series is beginning to wane.
And are they planning on doing something with the "Jeff Tracy MIA" plot, or is that just going to be forgotten until the series finale because proper story arcs are too much hard word?

Spoilers, I just downloaded it and haven't had a moment's peace to see it yet, maybe, like the Parker character, they want to maintain a connection
to the original by using the countdown voice over.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Dyneley

[Lone Browncoat]

Since I can't edit the previous post, I'll post this as a continuance;

After all, aren't those words now immortal? Perhaps they didn't want to re-cast, as a homage to P.D.?

[bilateralrope]

The worst part is that none of the anti-nuclear BS had any bearing on the plot at all. Just find a different reason for the mine being abandoned in a hurry, like major violence erupting nearby (maybe part of the global conflict mentioned last episode) making the workers decide to seal up the mine and GTFO. After the conflict ended, it never became economical to reopen this mine.

[tezunegari]

URANIUM ORE ISN'T THAT RADIOACTIVE!

• She nearly killed Scott by CUTTING his rope causing him to fall down the mineshaft. (around 9:00)
• She attacks Scott with a LOADER-MECHSUIT bashing around uranium transportation boxes.
• She nearly kills herself by overloading the mine elevator.
• She nearly kills herself again when she initially declines to drop her backpack (with the hidden uranium in it).
• SHE ADMITTED TO TRYING TO SELL URANIUM TO A SHADY BYUER AT BEST OR A KNOWN TERRORIST AT WORST!

And instead of arresting and putting her on trial she receives a job with the GDF...

[Lone Browncoat]

URANIUM ORE ISN'T THAT RADIOACTIVE!

.

Did you see the segment of 60 Minutes of native Americans living[and dying] with the results of uranium mining?

[tezunegari]

Did you see the segment of 60 Minutes of native Americans living[and dying] with the results of uranium mining?

I haven't and my statement was based on old rantings of my highschool science teacher that I might have remembered wrong.
Where can I find it?

Shouldn't the worst stuff in that mine be high levels of Radon isotopes and alpha radiation?

Considering that they could detect the spike in radiation levels (they didn't tell which kind though) from space.
A spike big enough to endanger a nearby city because of a storm.

Are inactive uranium mines really that highly radioactive?

[Lone Browncoat]

Did you see the segment of 60 Minutes of native Americans living[and dying] with the results of uranium mining?

I haven't and my statement was based on old rantings of my highschool science teacher that I might have remembered wrong.
Where can I find it?

Hell, if I know, I PVR'd it in the last couple of weeks, you might try CBS' own site.

Just watched it and though the script sounds like it was written by a team from WWF and PETA, there was refined uranium, not just ore, in the mine.
There are R.L. examples where the ore is mined and refined on site.

See my above post in regards to Thorium and the difficulty in educating the lay public about the difference. To a growing vocal crowd, nuke=bad,
they've made up their minds and don't want to listen or learn the science, we're different here, we're all nerds, we know.

[Bedlam]

URANIUM ORE ISN'T THAT RADIOACTIVE!

.

Did you see the segment of 60 Minutes of native Americans living[and dying] with the results of uranium mining?

It doesn't have to be radioactive to be deadly, it can just be chemically toxic.

[Lone Browncoat]

It doesn't have to be radioactive to be deadly, it can just be chemically toxic.

True.

[bilateralrope]

And instead of arresting and putting her on trial she receives a job with the GDF...

Who apparently have work for nuclear engineers that are so secret that she couldn't find them. There is something fishy about the GDF and/or they just used the job opening as an excuse to make her vanish.

[Lone Browncoat]

Well, isn't there something fishy about A.R.G.U.S.?
Catering to current paranoia. re H.S. CIA. etc.

[biostem]

While I enjoyed this recent episode, I feel that either the Traceys are pacifistic to a fault, or the writers don't know how to portray characters as sympathetic. I ended up annoyed at the mine owner woman, and wishing she would have just fallen off the metal stairs/cable at the end. I found no redeeming quality to her character.

And if the Traceys knew, (or learned the Hood's location from that woman), then why not do something more substantive than send him a burger as a joke - how about having the defense force pay him a nice little visit, or at least setup some monitoring equipment. Or, how about supplying him with a teensy amount of mostly dilute uranium, track the payment, then have the defense force freeze his assets, (once the payment is made to that woman).

I know that in the original Thunderbirds, one of the craft got shot down by a Navy ship - I suppose the Thunderbirds aren't really armed for combat, (on purpose) - I wonder why the Hood doesn't just get some fighter jets or shoulder-mounted rockets/missiles, stage a disaster, then take them out. IIRC, he wanted to steal the craft in the original show, so maybe they're carrying that over here?

[Lord Revan]

URANIUM ORE ISN'T THAT RADIOACTIVE!

.

Did you see the segment of 60 Minutes of native Americans living[and dying] with the results of uranium mining?

Uranium isn't that radioactive having a half-life of about 7*108 years for U235 and U238 that makes bulk of uranium in the grund has a half-life of 4.5*109 years and in-case I need to point the bloody obvious the higher the half-life the weaker the radioactivity.

Urananium is however highly toxic chemically (like lead but even worse) which is more often then not forgotten in favor of over emphasising the radioactivity, cause "it's toxic" doesn't sell newspapers the way "radioactive!!" does.

I have no dout people have and are dying due to uranium mining but it doesn't have to be due to radioactivity.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I've just caught up and finished watching the Space Race episode. My main thought is "wtf are all those ships of an identical design doing in orbit in formation?" I really hope the rest of the series explains what it is they're doing with those vessels.

[Captain Seafort]

Ugh. That was a mess. It felt very rushed, big chunks of the plot were dependent on poor design or unexplained malfunctions, and the scaling work was all over the place. It certainly doesn't help that Trapped in the Sky was one of the best episodes of the original series, which made the failings of this thing all the more obvious.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Yeah that was...iffy. Also, I really don't like the new Fireflash design. The old one looked way cooler.