For anyone who is familiar with Biblical verses, according to 1 Corinthians 13:11, becoming a man involves the putting away of childish things. For some of us, however, the very opposite is true, and the joy of having disposable income means being able to have more of those things from childhood. What were once toys and action figures are now collectibles. Movies and TV programmes from your formative years live on not just in the memory, but in increasingly remastered formats, in even better quality than when you first saw them.
The nostalgia market is definitely big business, and not only reliving but also recapturing one’s fondest memories of your childhood is an opportunity for enterprising businesses who can furnish that need. Big anniversaries in particular can be a lucrative time, with all of the recent 60th birthday hoopla for Doctor Who being a case in point. However, telly’s favourite Time Lord is not the only one seeing a landmark occasion in 2023, as another British TV icon – the late Gerry Anderson – had one of his series hit our screens for the first time back in 1983. Yes, 40 years ago, we were all implored to “stay on this channel”, as Terrahawks blasted off on ITV.
READ MORE: Casino Raiders (1989) – Blu-ray Review
The programme was noteworthy in that it would be the first made by Anderson without having any creative input from his ex-wife Sylvia, and would also be his last foray into the world of puppetry. Terrahawks also happened to be the first of Anderson’s productions to run for three seasons. Perhaps now somewhat overshadowed by all the Supermarionation output, Terrahawks had also been beaten to the punch by the premiere in 1982 of Star Fleet, a redubbed version of a Japanese production, X-Bomber, which – ironically – been made in ‘Sūpāmariorama’, a process inspired by Anderson’s pioneering work in small screen puppeteering.
Terrahawks would be a fusion of some of Anderson’s earlier concepts, the titular organisation being part-International Rescue from Thunderbirds, part-Spectrum from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, with Earth being under attack from life forms based on Mars, and the Terrahawks as first line of defence. Some 40 years on, it now seems odd to look back at Terrahawks’ setting of what was originally the far-off, futuristic year of 2020, and now seeing it as passing us by, with the only thing we needed protecting from being a deadly worldwide pandemic, rather than the onslaught of a group of androids and aliens from the Red Planet.
READ MORE: Sh!t-Faced Showtime: A Pissedmas Carol – Theatre Review
Another point of note is that Terrahawks would be the first of Anderson’s shows without having Barry Gray as resident composer. This time round, the musical duties would fall to Richard Harvey, a graduate of the Royal College of Music, who had worked with the legendary Maurice Jarre. Due to budgetary constraints, it was apparent that a full orchestra score as used by Gray for Anderson’s work in the ‘60s & ‘70s would not be practical here, but given the advancements in synthesiser technology, some of that type of sound could be reproduced here, only for far less expense.
Having worked their way through much of Gerry Anderson’s oeuvre, Silva Screen Records have finally reached what was his farewell to marionettes, and released a two-disc set of Harvey’s music for the series. With Terrahawks’ visual style being markedly different from earlier Anderson productions – due to all of the characters being hand-operated puppets, rather than on strings – it seems apt the sound of the show should also be updated, and the synth-based score fits right in with a more modern approach. Some synthesiser material can age rather poorly, and sound like it’s still stuck firmly in the ‘80s, but Harvey’s work has dated remarkably well, and feels as fresh as it ever did.
READ MORE: Doctor Who – ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ – TV Review
The synths definitely allow for an atmospheric and sinister vibe when Zelda and her evil acolytes are present, and what we get is perhaps rather more subtle and understated than we might have had if Gray had been still been on composing duties. Absolutely no disrespect to Gray, as his work was so marvellous, but times had moved on, and neither his brassy bombast nor his forays into electronic music would have cut the mustard here. Of course, counterpointing the creepy is a real playfulness, and there is plenty of lightness of touch and fun to be had here.
The fact that one of the characters – Kate Kestrel – had the cover of being a pop star means there are a few vocal tracks on here, with Moya Griffiths doing the honours as Kate. One of the best remembered of these is possibly ‘S.O.S.’, which is no relation to ABBA’s hit, and is also surprisingly meta, with the lyrics referencing “International Rescue” and “Mr Tracy”. Right in time for the festive season is ‘I Believe In Love This Christmas’, which begins sounding very much like ‘Eternal Flame’, and then veers into standard MOR territory. Perhaps the breakout pop track is the intentionally hilarious ‘Zelda Rap’, which makes you think that villains should settle their differences via the medium of rap battles.
READ MORE: Board Games for Non-Gamers – Games Review
Of course, the centrepiece of any Terrahawks soundtrack is naturally going to be the theme, which is a soaring, majestic piece, and still makes the skin prickle and hairs on the back of your neck stand up with that opening fanfare. Plenty of TLC is devoted to the tune here, with not only the opening, closing and extended versions present and correct, but also three demos, the first two of which make you glad that they didn’t settle, and persisted with getting the signature tune just right. Some lovely extras here are a version performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the one that was played at the Stand By For Action! concert in Birmingham in April 2022, newly remastered for this release.
Doctor “Tiger” Ninestein’s constant credo throughout the series was to “expect the unexpected”, and perhaps nobody could expect just how much Terrahawks has endured over the last four decades, with plenty of TLC being given by Big Finish with their audio revival of the series between 2015 and 2017, bringing back as many of the original voice artists as possible. What you could perhaps expect, however, is that Silva Screen would pull out all the stops and deliver us such a superb compilation of Harvey’s work for the series. Just pop this release on, and jump right back to that time in your life when your most pressing concern was whether the Cubes or the Zeroids would win the game of Tic-Tac-Toe that played out during each episode’s end credits.
Terrahawks: Original Television Soundtrack is out on 8th December from Silva Screen Records.
