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For Zimmer, Thunderbirds was yet another opportunity to venture into a type of project that he had never attempted before. Despite his extensive experience in the animated realm, the children's comedy genre was foreign territory for the composer, and his involvement with Thunderbirds was a source of cautiously optimistic curiosity for Zimmer collectors. He had previously mentioned that his 1992 score for Radio Flyer was exactly this type of challenge, and in both that instance and Thunderbirds, Zimmer approached the assignments by diving into them one note at a time and just seeing what happens. In both cases, his performance turned out for the better, though it should be mentioned that a fair amount of compositional duties for the 2004 film was handled by rising Media Ventures/Remote Control assistant Ramin Djawadi, whose lack of proper acknowledgement in this particular collaborative effort qualified him as a "ghostwriter" in the usual Zimmer sense. Specific cue by cue credit for Djawadi is not clear, though despite his involvement, there are other points of comparison between Thunderbirds and Radio Flyer that could easily arise for experienced Zimmer listeners. If you set aside the fact that Radio Flyer was a terrible film for its subject matter, its score still had an undeniably and almost sickeningly charming and upbeat personality. Thunderbirds is very much the same way, constantly reaching for the next major key note of heroic intent, the next statement of overly positive melody, the next tingling sound effect or snazzy drum pad loop. The score mimics the bright and cheesy elements of the film in the same ways that the film attempted to mimic the general attitude of the television series, leading to a predictable but effective end. When you boil it down to its core, Thunderbirds was Zimmer's first large scale slapstick action score, taking inspiration from the foundations of Carl Stalling and Raymond Scott and infusing John Debney-like contemporary synthetics and a touch of the masculinity that defines much of his work. Mostly gone are the broad electronic swooshes that you hear in his concurrent score for King Arthur and in their place are cookie-cutter children's action cues that border on Debney's silliness at their best and Zimmer's own Toys at the worst. It's certainly superior in cohesiveness and character than Madagascar, the disastrous effort by Zimmer and his crew the following year.

In both its style and structures, Thunderbirds is Zimmer's merging of My Favorite Martian and Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 3 into a serviceable but not particularly special score. Zinging sound effects, electronic choppiness, and short bursts of orchestral energy are often set over looped synthetic rhythms. In many ways, Zimmer has produced the stereotypical Debney score in its loyalty to orchestral action while also using the electronics to reach for an appeal to younger audiences, and the latter array sometimes overpowers the organic elements, especially when the faux-futuristic sound effects are mixed so far at the front of the soundscape that you might be inclined to swat at them like buzzing insects. The score does dissolve into mayhem at times, though its demeanor is consistently intuitive throughout. Thematic development is limited to a new, heroic anthem of generic perkiness and a villain's theme introduced in "The Hood" that stomps around in three-note brass references later in the score that will make you wonder if marching Orcs from Middle Earth are somewhere in this plot. A few clarinet passages throughout the score struggle to build heart in an otherwise static adventure atmosphere. Zimmer doesn't really make great use of the classic the Barry Gray television theme for the concept, though he does re-establish the idea at the beginning in authentic tones during the album's opening track. He finally puts his own awesomely robust and cool spin on the melody in "F.A.B.," the final instrumental track on the album. The score does solidify the prowess of its orchestral performances in the last three cues, with "Major Disaster" and "Bank of England" providing the only lengthy and substantial connections to Zimmer's usual choral depth and broad brass expressions. Overall, the score is a strong one for Zimmer and his crew, but it suffers from the normal listenability challenges inherent in the children's comedy genre. It is Spy Kids music on a slightly larger scale, and it's difficult to envision hardcore Zimmer collectors warming up to that generic tone for a 50-minute presentation apart from the film. Aside from the Busted song performance of "Thunderbirds Are Go" at the end (with gain levels far too loud for the rest of the album, though perhaps that is simply due to the song's insanely ridiculous drum and cymbal slamming), there are no major detractions in that running time. Still, the score offers only about ten minutes of truly interesting thematic material from Zimmer that stands apart from this otherwise stock modernization of the Barry Gray genre sound. When retreating to a deserted tropical island, take only the final dozen minutes from this score with you.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.84 (in 121 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.96 (in 298,134 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 50:25