Synopsis: When an orbiting solar energy station malfunctions, International Rescue must deal with both the station and a passing cargo plane carrying a Panda.
Review: When Lady Penelope and Parker pay a visit to an experimental Solar Energy station they wind up being in the right place at the right time when the thing goes wrong. The resulting malfunction sees the station unleashing some lethal plasma bolts which hit a cargo plane, which is carrying a family and their giant panda.
Thunderbird 1 and 2 are both called in to try and save the plane’s passengers and panda while Lady Penelope and Parker try and switch the solar station off. What follows is an episode, which allows for multiple characters to get some of the limelight.
As always the combination of model and CGI work in the episode is fantastic, but it is the various ingenious ways in which the team try to attempt the rescue that kept me glued during this half hour.
The way in which Virgil makes use of Thunderbird 2’s cargo hold in order to load the Panda on during flight is ingenious and a moment of genuine excitement for the young audience to latch onto. Even I was on the edge of my seat during this brief scene. I also enjoyed Lady Penelope’s somewhat unorthodox use of her communications device when she throws it across the room to shut off the station’s gravity so that Parker can zero G his way to the control panel and switch the solar device off.
The station administrator who has a weird southern US accent was kind of annoying and admittedly. I was whooping for joy when she was arrested by the authorities at the close of the show. It was, of course, her negligence that created the accident in the first place.
While this story isn’t quite as enjoyable as last weeks episode. It certainly comes very close.
- Story9.6
- Voice Acting9.8
- CGI & Models9.8
- Incidental Music9.5
