Thunderbirds! They were a part of my life when I was growing up. It was a
puppet series made by Gerry Anderson. He'd made three previous series of
varying quality, but "Thunderbirds" was his masterpiece. The opening sequence
has been embedded in my brain:
"Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Thunderbirds are go!"
I don't remember the exact time, but it was broadcast relatively early on
Thursday evening, so I had to rush home from school. In alternate weeks I
watched it alone or with my school friend Richard Lee, who lived in the same
street as me. He wasn't always allowed to watch it at home, because his sister
watched a programme on the other channel. I say "the other" because BBC 2 had
only recently been launched and most television sets couldn't receive it, so
there were only two channels to choose from: BBC and ITV. Thunderbirds was
broadcast on ITV.
The setting is a private island in the South Pacific that belongs to the
ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy. He lives with his five sons, Scott, Virgil, Alan,
Gordon and John, as well as his mother, a scientific genius nicknamed Brains,
a servant called Kyrano and Kyrano's daughter Tin-Tin. Together they run an
organisation called International Rescue that operates throughout the world.
Although John is listed as the space monitor, he alternates the service
on the space station with his brother Alan.
Jeff Tracy isn't given a place in the title sequence.
Instead, we see Lady Penelope, an English woman who acts as an undercover
agent for International Rescue. What's bad about her is that she's always
carrying a cigarette. What's good about her is that it's never lit. She drives
a beautiful pink Rolls Royce.
The archvillain who appears in about half of the episodes is The Hood. What a
great name! He's Kyrano's brother, and he has a psychic link that allows him
to hypnotise Kyrano from afar. He's determined to steal the technical secrets
of the Thunderbirds vehicles, and he frequently causes accidents to lure
International Rescue.
The year is supposedly 2064, a hundred years after the series was first made,
but that shouldn't be taken too seriously. Nobody knew what the future would
look like. It looks quaintly archaic to see messages being recorded on
reel-to-reel tape.
This episode, first broadcast on 30th September 1965, shows the first
operation of International Rescue. It's the maiden flight of an atomic powered
aircraft from London to Tokyo. The Hood plants a bomb in the plane's landing
gear that will detonate when the plane lands. The plane returns to London, but
it has to circle above the airport.
Thunderbird One is the fastest craft that arrives on the scene first to assess
situations. Thunderbird Two carries the necessary equipment for the rescue.
Thunderbird Two has a selection of six pods to load before leaving.
Pod three contains four elevator cars, of which three are needed for the
rescue at London Airport. It's not Heathrow, it's a fictional airport
in the future.
The elevator cars catch the plane, so it can land without using its landing
gear.
To call Gerry Anderson a genius would be an understatement. He was a
visionary. Even though he made "Thunderbirds" in 1964, when televisions were
in black and white, he decided to film "Thunderbirds" in colour. Was it a
waste of money? When it was broadcast in 1965 I could only watch it in black
and white. Gerry was investing in the future, for the day when I could hold
the vividly coloured Blu-ray discs in my hands.
The series ran for 32 episodes, followed by two feature films.
In 2004 a poor quality live action film was made.
From 2015 to 2020 there was a well made CGI series that
almost lived up to the quality of the original series.
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