MovieChat Forums > Thunderbirds Are Go (2016) Discussion > I HOPE THE FEMINISTS ARE HAPPY !

I HOPE THE FEMINISTS ARE HAPPY !

posted 9 years ago by TheChamCham
30 replies | jump to latest

Because I'm not! Tin Tin was one of my favorite characters and now apparently bowing to pressure from someone they have re-worked her into a "female" 6th Tracy boy. Why ? On the original first episode she was returning from abroad where she had been educated at Jeff Tracy's expense and then did little else than fetch coffee, do secretarial work, pack luggage, and help Grandma Tracy in the kitchen. Only on one episode was she seen doing safety checks on T1.

The new producers had a perfect chance to upgrade Tin Tin's character ( and why the name change? Tin-Tin means Sweet-Sweet.What's wrong with that ???) by getting rid of Brains (The MOST annoying and stupidest character) and putting the beautiful, feminine, AND very bright Tin-Tin in that position. But no ! Their answer to the sexism complaints was to make her "one of the boys" and that grinds my gears. Once again, little girls will be taught that unless you play down your looks, act tough, and hide your femininity that you will not be taken seriously. Wrong !!! Women are much stronger than men and smarter too and they should not be told that they have to "fit in" to be accepted.

For a series set in the future, it has already taken a big step backward.

"I say,open this door at once! We're British !"

[–] Mr_Zurkon 9 years ago

why the name change?

To avoid confusion and/or rights issues with the Belgian comic book character.

6th Tracy boy

Apart from the fact that she isn't a 6th child. Or a Tracy. Or a boy.

The new producers had a perfect chance to upgrade Tin Tin's character

Which is exactly what they are doing.

by getting rid of Brains

As Alan once said... You must be crazy!!!

beautiful, feminine, AND very bright

How do you know Kayo isn't all of those things?

Women are much stronger than men and smarter too

Which would surely be all the more reason to have the character more involved in the action.

You are the disease, and Mr. Zurkon is the cure!

[–] superturbo4 9 years ago

why the name change?

To avoid confusion and/or rights issues with the Belgian comic book character.

Why? Tin-tin in the classic series wasn't infringing on that character within a show called Thunderbirds nor was anybody confused on who she was in comparison to the Belgian comic character by his creator, artist; 'Herge'.

ST4

Name's Django, The D is silent.

[–] misscastaway 9 years ago

I am mainly puzzled as to why they changed her name. I like the name Tin-Tin Kyrano. (At least they didn't change 'Kyrano').

She will no doubt be a kickass broad who still looks beautiful, along the lines of Black Widow or Wonder Woman. Sassy and sarcastic but with a perky butt. You know, just so male viewers don't think she's a lesbian.

I don't even know if I'm joking or not. Female characters are always slotted into two camps. Beautiful and dumb/ brainy and ugly. Beautiful and brainy is a relatively new thing. Or rather what I mean is, a beautiful brainy woman will always wear a skin tight suit or something that brings to attention how sexually attractive she is, EVEN THOUGH she's smart. Just so she doesn't appear too intellectually threatening.

"He's making it up as he goes along!"

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

Mmm Hmm.

"I say,open this door at once! We're British !"

[–] bigal_a 8 years ago

Female characters are always slotted into two camps. Beautiful and dumb/ brainy and ugly.

And is it any different with male characters? Male scientists and engineers are nearly always portrayed as nerds with zero social skills.

Even in the unreconstructed 1950s SF films, there was always the bookish female scientist who nobody looked at... until she removed her glasses. then the dumb hero would adore her.

The restitution of life is no great feat. A variety of deaths may well enter into your punishment

[–] bluepenguinquack 9 years ago

Yes. As a feminist I am very happy about Kayo's character.

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

Now why don't they go all out and have Alan announce that he's gay in the first episode. Not that it would be a big surprise, but then that would explain what happened to Tin-Tin.

"I say ! Open this door at once! We're British !"

[–] SinisterCreep 9 years ago

I can see Chams point but i found Tin Tin a bit of a silly character anyway and for once maybe this new character will be better. it's not as bad as Dr Who so far where they changed the master into a woman called missy. now that's just crap.

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

Thankyou, but how was she anymore silly than believing that a twenty year old little pouty sissy like Alan was even tolerated, let alone respected as a pilot,etc., by not only his elder brothers,but his father.I am not prepared to dispel that much disbelief.

"I say ! Open this door at once! We're British !"

[–] SinisterCreep 9 years ago

Thankyou, but how was she anymore silly than believing that a twenty year old little pouty sissy like Alan was even tolerated, let alone respected as a pilot,etc., by not only his elder brothers,but his father.I am not prepared to dispel that much disbelief.

Well all the puppets were a bit silly but she was called Tin Tin for a start. i can see why they changed that as there's a much more famous Tin tin.

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

Tin-Tin means "sweet" in Malaysian. Tintin is a Belgian boy and that name was taken from another book so for them to be saying now (50 years after the original series) that Tin-Tin was "plagiarized" from the Belgian character is also silly.Why didn't they complain back then ?

And they are marionettes,not puppets. There is quite a difference.

"I say ! Open this door at once! We're British !"

[–] markfkdone 9 years ago

Now why don't they go all out and have Alan announce that he's gay in the first episode.

Now don't be ridiculous. It is obvious that John is the very gay one.
____
It is hard not to sound condescending when you are explaining things to an idiot!

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

Are you kidding ? Well, perhaps in the original series it was more obvious that it was Alan.

"Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!"🍩-HOMER J.SIMPSON

[–] SinisterCreep 9 years ago

Now don't be ridiculous. It is obvious that John is the very gay one.

I've nothing against gay people but if they ever make any of the original characters gay that's me and the show finished.

[–] bigal_a 8 years ago

It is obvious that John is the very gay one.

No, John has terrible halitosis and B.O. This explains a lot. Alan goes up to the space station every now and then to change the air fresheners and redecorate.

The restitution of life is no great feat. A variety of deaths may well enter into your punishment

[–] Royalcourtier 9 years ago

The official publicity material shows that Brains has not been written out.

[–] senua 9 years ago

Once again, little girls will be taught that unless you play down your looks, act tough, and hide your femininity that you will not be taken seriously.

Yeah because they totally left out Lady Penelope who was all grace, class and smarts and never plays down the fact she's gorgeous and also exudes femininity to boot... oh wait... she's still in it. I guess your gears can rest easy and not grind at all since your complaint is totally invalid.

All that rubbish about girls being pressured to down play their looks, lol are you serious or just trolling?  The pressure is to be a glamorous sex kitten before they're even old enough to be having sex. 

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

How seriously was Lady Penelope taken as an actual member of the team? She had looks,money, a title, and connections but her contributions to any rescue were usually performed from the back seat of FAB 1. She went on holiday a few times and did a bit of spying and got herself kidnapped a few times and had to be rescued. Parker was more valuable than she was.

Now they haven't even left her with her looks. The new one looks incredibly common but I suppose that will appeal to those that like that type and perhaps found the original too high maintenance.

Hardly trolling, I grew up on the original show which is why I don't like what they've been allowed to do to the new one.

Since when are glamorous sex kittens taken seriously?

"I say ! Open this door at once! We're British !"

[–] Lianco 9 years ago

Also makes me laugh how characters like this always need to announce that they're better than men, like, she said something along the lines of, 'oh, it shouldn't be me you're worrying about', yes, we get it, you're a woman, nobody cares. Shut up and get on with the episode.

[–] Fierro13 9 years ago

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzZ

[–] twofacetoo 9 years ago

I'll be the first person to call *beep* on feminism ruining something I love (comic books being a good example), but I think you're wrong.

To be fair her portrayal in the original show was quite misogynistic. In her first episode, she was the secretary, the assistant, the gopher who helped everybody instead of doing anything herself.
Now they've given her a cool personality, made her into a badass character, and given her a Thunderbird of her own.

Also, her name was changed because it was racist. Tin-Tin was not a real Asian name, nor was Kyrano. They were made up because they 'sounded Asian'.

And since when were they saying Kayo needed to 'fit in'? A lot of the time she's disagreeing with something the Tracy boys are saying. She doesn't fit in, that's the entire point, what with her 'uncle' and all. She's the odd one out of the group.

By god, it's almost as if you hate strong, powerful female characters and want them all to be pretty little things that sit on the arm of the big, powerful men. Or hell, maybe you just want a cute little Asian girl to go fetch you coffee and help in the kitchen.

[–] SinisterCreep 9 years ago

I don't have a problem with a stronger female or the character [i never liked Tin Tin in the show either] but when things get real contrived like the Fireflash episode then that's when things get annoying.

Kayo ruined the Fireflash episode. the whole thing was just so obviously set up so she could save the plane and it wasn't a patch on the original episode.

[–] twofacetoo 9 years ago

...even though Thunderbird 2 is what saved the plane in the end?

[–] SinisterCreep 9 years ago

...even though Thunderbird 2 is what saved the plane in the end?

Yes but the whole episode was set up so she could take control of the Fireflash. ok you say why shouldn't she and of course that's true but i would have much preferred more of a remake of the original episode where the pilots were trying to land at the airport. it was much more dramatic.

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

The only thing I liked was that Virgil did save the day again. It was his episode the first time and wound up being again. Without Thunderbird 2 they never would have had as many successful rescues.

I say! Open this door at once! We're British!🇬🇧

[–] twofacetoo 9 years ago

...how exactly was it more dramatic? In the original we see, what, FIVE people on the craft, including the staff?
In the remake, we see an entire load of passengers, giving the danger a lot more weight. If the original crashed, boo-hoo, Tin-Tin died and so did a few of the cabin crew.
In the remake? HUNDREDS would be dead. International Rescue would be branded failures for the rest of time, and they would NEVER forgive themselves for what they had done.

[–] SinisterCreep 9 years ago

...how exactly was it more dramatic? In the original we see, what, FIVE people on the craft, including the staff?
In the remake, we see an entire load of passengers, giving the danger a lot more weight. If the original crashed, boo-hoo, Tin-Tin died and so did a few of the cabin crew.
In the remake? HUNDREDS would be dead. International Rescue would be branded failures for the rest of time, and they would NEVER forgive themselves for what they had done.

There was the crew and passengers on the original aircraft and they were circling the airport on it's maiden flight. if they didn't land within 2 hours all aboard would die from radiation and it could crash over the city or the airport .....so the peril was much greater in the original episode.

so instead of hundreds potentially thousands could have been killed and was it really hundreds anyway in the new episode? they landed in the middle of nowhere and there didn't look like many on board to me.

[–] twofacetoo 9 years ago

'there didn't look like many on board to me.'
There were still more than what we actually SAW in the original episode.

[–] SinisterCreep 9 years ago

There were still more than what we actually SAW in the original episode.

I haven't seen it for years but the plane was still full of passengers wasn't it and more importantly it was flying over a city and airport anyway so there's a lot more people in peril.