In Review: Thunderbirds Are Go – Slingshot

Synopsis: A malfunction at a mining operation sends an asteroid careening toward the sun, endangering crewman Ned Teford.

Review: With all the other Tracy brothers on a big rescue mission elsewhere young Alan Tracy is forced to step up on a mission with kayo and Thunderbird 3.

Pretty much everything that could go wrong does and Alan is forced to think outside the box and look to his training in order to achieve the rescue and get everyone home safely. This is not helped by the protestations of crewman Ned who feels that Alan and Kayo are too young to be executing a rescue mission, but thankfully Kayo’s strong personality and assertiveness take much of the heat off of Alan, which allows him to do his job.

Meanwhile back on Tracy Island all the brothers along with Brains are forced to look on helplessly as Alan and TB3 battle against time and the elements.

This was a great episode for Alan and Kayo and watching the two work together is as fun now as it was in the pilot. I also liked the fact that John up in Thunderbird 5 was pretty anxious about having sent Alan up to do the rescue and we see a nice moment when one of the brothers tells John that he is underestimating Alan.

The voice work in this episode was pretty solid and the character of Ned Teford seemed perhaps a bit child like when compared to his younger rescuers. I’m not to sure if I liked how that played.

The model and CGI work in this story is perhaps some of the best we have seen yet. I really enjoyed watching the mining operation slowly burn up and the prevailing sense of tension as Kayo and Alan battled the various problems that they were presented with.