THUNDERBIRDS!! ER!! AVATAR!! TORCHWOOD!! ALIEN NATION!! ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS!! SWAMP THING!!...

I am – Hercules!!

I’ve somehow managed to get though my entire life until this week without seeing a single episode of “Thunderbirds,” the 1965-66 series now most famous perhaps as the inspiration for “Team America: World Police,” and for me the new complete-series set provides revelation. Its wildly abundant effects work is wildly uneven in quality but the production design on this futuristic Tomorrowland marionette toy universe is impossibly cool and expensive-looking, like something out of “The Incredibles” or “The Venture Bros.” Its bug-eyed characters live in a 21st century world full of hoverbikes and spaceships and superjets and monorails and robots and giant walking armored transports and six-wheeled Rolls Royces and 20-foot mutant alligators. Because there are no human actor bodies to risk, the 32-hour series is stunt-crazy and action-packed. For the many (like me) who missed the 2004 Bill Paxton movie (which hit cinemas only months before “Team America”) as well as the TV version, the series follows the adventures of the Tracy family, which operates secretly the independent International Rescue squad. American patriarch Jeff Tracy, millionaire and astronaut, was the first man on the moon. He still lives with his mother and named all his sons – Alan, Virgil, John, Scott and Gordon – after the original Mercury astronauts. Jeff’s manservant, Kyrano, is the half-brother of The Hood, the squad’s never-named archnemesis -- who has Professor X-like mental powers. Kyrano’s daughter Tintin (played in 2004 by “High School Musical” icon Vanessa Hudgens!) clearly wants to bone Alan. They all live together on uncharted Tracy Island in the Pacific and have a British socialite accomplice, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, who operates out of her mansion in Kent. The new set’s bonus disc includes: * The “Pit of Peril” episode with pop-up text-commentary, carrying a 2002 copyright. Learn that the puppet heads are all 1/3 bigger than they should be and that puppet sweat was created by flicking a wet toothbrush. Learn that, unlike earlier Gerry Anderson marionette series like “Supercar” and “Fireball XL5,” “Thunderbirds” was geared to adult audiences as well as children. Learn that nine half-hour episodes had to be expanded to an hour after ITC chief Lew Grade decided he wanted “Thunderbirds” to be an hourlong series. Learn that “Fireball XL5,” bought by NBC, was the only one of Anderson’s 17 series to air on a U.S. network. Learn that British and Australian voice actors affected American accents in hope of attracting a U.S. network; when “Thunderbirds” failed to land a deal with NBC, CBS or ABC, the show was abandoned six episodes into its second season. * “The Making of Thunderbirds” (9:21) In glorious black and white, writer-producer Sylvia Anderson explains why creating actors is better than hiring them. Effects man Derek Meddings refuses to reveal how the wires are hidden in flying shots but does note that water must be shot at 72 frames per second to achieve realism in scale. Gerry Anderson, who would go on to “UFO” (1970) and “Space: 1999” (1975) confesses he would like to move on to using stringless actors in his productions at some point. * “The Brains Behind Thunderbirds” (54:18) In this not-behind-the-scenes minidoc copyrighted 2000, stammering supporting character Brains is videotaped discussing the capabilities of International Rescue’s amazing gear, gadgets and personnel. It teems with action highlight clips. * “Interview With Gerry Anderson” (40:57) carries a 2006 copyright. The “Thunderbirds” creator, in the United States, discusses his impoverished background, his start as a sound editor, his first producing job (which involved producing a 15-minute episode of “The Adventures of Twizzle” per day), his hairy first stab at special effects, the incredible expense of his puppet shows, how he used crew “upgrades” to stretch his money, his frightening first pitch to British showbiz titan Lew Grade, his pioneering efforts in merchandizing, why his puppet heads so big before “Captain Scarletand the Mysterons,” his excitement over the introduction of Eastmancolor, how scientists helped him create robot voices, the pros and cons of his switch to non-puppet projects, and why Robert Culp (whom Anderson does not mention by name) did not become the star of “Space 1999.” He also has a great story about a chance meeting with astronaut Jim Lovell. This new 40th Anniversary Edition complete-series edition is only $90.99, more than $50 less than the $143.99 series-set issued six years ago.

The “Banacek” mystery-movie series was one of the best things ever, depicting as it did the adventures of supersmart Bostonian who became very rich solving thefts no one else could solve. A post-“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” pre-“A-Team” George Peppard proved exceedingly likeable as the cultured and easygoing immigrant’s son Thomas Banacek, always quick with a quip or one of his dad’s Polish proverbs. I’m also a big fan of the show’s supporting cast, which featured 23-year-old Christine Belford as the superhot rival investigator Banacek often bedded and always outwitted, and Murray Matheson as Felix Mulholland, a rare-book dealer who could be relied upon to know the few things Banacek did not. The series sported a fabulous title theme too. This second and final 1973-74 season featured as guest-stars a pre-“Graffiti” Candy Clark, a post-“2001” Gary Lockwood, a post-“Strangelove” Sterling Hayden, a pre-“Rockford” Gretchen Corbett, a post-“Forbidden Planet” Anne Francis, a post-“Batman” Cesar Romero, and a pre-“Dallas” Victoria Principal. Also? Anne Baxter, Richard Jordan, John Saxon and Linda Evans. The best news is the second-season set is said to contain “Detour To Nowhere,” the show’s 1972 pilot inexplicably not included on the season-one set, and $19.99 is a pretty sweet price for nine movies.

ER’s eighth season was the last for Mark Greene, and the season’s penultimate episode, “On The Beach,” is regarded by many as the best of the series’ 14 seasons. I’d submit “Beach” as “ER’s” second-best hour to date, behind only season six’s “All In The Family.”

“Torchwood,” which launched last September on BCC America, is a British drama from Russell Davies (“Queer As Folk,” “Doctor Who”) about a team charged with containing alien threats. Note that “Torchwood” is an anagram of “Doctor Who.” Fun! The critics were generally enthusiastic: TV Guide says:

… imagine my surprise to be hooked on Torchwood, a cheeky and often startlingly adult spin-off. … But the big mystery among Torchwood's rank and file: Is Captain Jack gay? "Paramilitary is not the dress code of a straight man," quips one of the team. …

The New York Times says:

… It’s possible the space-time rift isn’t the problem, though. I’d do bad things in Cardiff too, mostly because it is lighted here to look like Studio 54 in the mid-1970s. … “Torchwood” is a world I wouldn’t mind seeing erased.

The Chicago Tribune says:

… Part of that appeal stems from the retro good looks of Harkness, a mysterious space adventurer clad in the sweeping greatcoat of a World War II hero. This is just my two cents, but the blue-eyed, square-jawed, energetic Capt. Jack makes Tom Cruise look like a tired old hag. Harkness, who's played by John Barrowman, now has his own show, "Torchwood", and you don't need to know a thing about "Doctor Who" to enjoy this cheeky, sexy sci-fi romp. If you like brisk, escapist alien adventures mixed with a bit of wisecracking and some surprising forays into emotionally charged terrain, this is the show for you.…

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:

… Surrounded by a team of geeks with no lives beyond hunting down aliens and collecting otherworldly technology, Harkness grants Saturday night's stay-in crowd reason to camp out on the couch and not sacrifice any cool. Or at least convince yourself that's the case.…

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… Suffice it to say, if you're a fan of that other Capt. Jack, played with a fey swagger by Johnny Depp in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, you may be equally intrigued by the ambiguous Capt. Jack of "Torchwood." He's a mystery to his team, which argues over whether he's gay or straight (evidently he's bisexual). …

Variety says:

… yields "X-Files"-ish charms with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" bite -- a smart, occasionally salacious hour wryly populated by cheesy monsters. Built around another one of those crack teams assigned to protect the Earth, the quirky interaction within the group (which loses members here and there) elevates the material, as does John Barrowman's "Who"-originated perf as intrepid and mysterious Yank leader Capt. Jack Harkness. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… so good and unsettling and creepy that even grumps like myself can't help but be in its thrall. The genius of the hour from creator/executive producer/writer Russell T Davies ("Doctor Who" and "Queer as Folk") is the way it takes the audience's natural skepticism and stands it on its head as we watch all manner of outrageousness unfold through the eyes of a disbelieving cop. It also doesn't hurt that the male lead, the mega-intense John Barrowman, is a near dead-ringer for the young Tom Cruise. He even sounds like Cruise. This in itself is a form of science fiction come to life. …