10 August 2016

Review: Terrahawks (Volume 1)

Blu-ray: Terrahawks (Volume 1) (1983)

What is there to say about Gerry Anderson that hasn’t already been said? From my point of view the word ‘Legend’ seems an appropriate way to describe the man who provided so many amazing childhood memories with the likes of Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Invasion: UFO. Now, thanks to the good people at Network Distributing, we have the release of Volume 1 of Terrahawks which includes the first 13 episodes and loads of fantastic special features.

Led by Doctor Tiger Ninestein the Terrahawks are the only thing standing in the way of the evil Zelda who wants to invade earth. The other members of Terrahawks are all appropriately named as Captain Mary Falconer, Kate Kestrel, Lieutenant Hawkeye and Lieutenant Hiro who battle mysterious aliens and attempt to thwart Zelda and her minions.

The Terrahawks are also aided by the wonderful Zeriods. These spherical metal robots are one of the many highlights of the show, in particular Sergeant Major Zero who is fantastically voiced by Windsor Davies. Let’s face it, who else would you expect to be the voice of a Sergeant Major?! The eyes and facial expressions of the Zeriods are absolutely brilliant and I loved the interplay between Doctor Ninestein and Zero.

Doctor Ninestein refuses to acknowledge that Zero can act or feel like a human and yet Zero usually ends up saving the day or besting Doctor Ninestein when he is trying to beat a high score on his video game. I won’t say too much about the camp New York sounding Zeroid called 101 but he is also brilliantly sarcastic.

Another highlight of Terrahawks is the cackling maniacal Zelda who revels at causing mayhem at every opportunity. Her children are also wonderful, especially her son Yung-Star, who is hilarious as he looks like a homeless man but sounds like a fish talking underwater! The flamboyant Cy-Star has hair that has a mind of its own and I chuckled every time her wig slipped.

As you would expect from a Gerry Anderson production everything is so intricately designed from the model sets, vehicles and the characters themselves. Watching Terrahawks now makes you pine for the days of actual models that had love, care and attention poured into them by the creators. It just makes you realise how empty and charmless a lot of cartoons and kids programmes are today compared to then.

I would have been 7 years old when Terrahawks was first shown on TV so I had vague memories of it but watching this fantastic Blu-ray release has brought it all back to me. I’ve been humming the superb theme tune since watching it, and I loved the brilliant end credits where the Zeroids and evil cubes have a game of noughts and crosses. I had a real blast with Terrahawks and loved watching every episode. If you are a fan of the show then buying this release is a no-brainier.

The special features are excellent especially the interviews from the people who worked on the show. There is also a brilliant cartoon featuring the Zeriods which had me wishing that there was a modern day version on kids TV.

Special Features: