Thunderbirds are Go!
Original title
Thunderbirds
Released
9/30/1965
Origin country
GB
Genre
Action & Adventure, Animation, Family, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Production companies
ITC Entertainment, Century 21 Television, AP Films
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
2
Number of episodes
32
Thunderbirds is a 1960s British science-fiction television series which was produced using a mixed method of marionette puppetry and scale-model special effects termed "Supermarionation". The series is set in the 21st century and follows the exploits of International Rescue, a secret organization formed to save people in mortal danger with the help of technologically advanced land, sea, air and space vehicles and equipment, launched from a hidden base on Tracy Island in the South Pacific Ocean.
Extract from 'The Brains Behind Thunderbirds'.
Extract from 'The Brains Behind Thunderbirds'.
Extract from 'The Brains Behind Thunderbirds'.
Extract from 'The Brains Behind Thunderbirds'.
In the course of the hour-long documentary, the viewer is introduced to each of International Rescue's gadget-tastic vehicles. There's the 15,000 mph Thunderbird 1 rocket piloted by Scott Tracy; the freight-carrying Thunderbird 2 with its six different rescue machine pods piloted by brother Virgil; the space rocket Thunderbird 3 with Alan Tracy at the helm; sub-aquatic Thunderbird 4 with Gordon Tracy aboard; and the orbiting space station Thunderbird 5 overseen by a rather solitary John Tracy. Brains then introduces us properly to each of the brothers, their father Jeff, gorgeous London agent Lady Penelope and her butler Parker, and even warns us about their deadly enemy, The Hood.
Zero-X, a manned exploration mission crashes during lift-off on its maiden flight. Two years later an investigative committee finally concludes sabotage, and decides to call on the services of International Rescue to oversee security at the impending second launch. The second Zero-X successfully reaches its destination, but encounters unexpected hazards, ultimately leading to another call for assistance on its return to Earth. International Rescue respond, and once again Thunderbirds are GO!
The International Rescue team is faced with one of its toughest challenges yet, as the revolutionary lighter-than-air craft Skyship One is hijacked while on her maiden voyage around the world. Against backdrops including the Statue of Liberty and the Sphinx, Lady Penelope, Parker, Alan and Tin-Tin fight the hijackers from on-board, while the rest of the team tries to stop the airship crashing.
Dangerous missions are the bread and butter of the Thunderbirds, a high-tech secret force employed by the government. Led by Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton), the Thunderbirds are at the top of their game, but their nemesis, The Hood (Ben Kingsley), has landed on their island and is attempting a coup by using the team's rescue vehicles. He'll soon discover that the Thunderbirds won't go down.
In this story set before the first episode of the television series, Lady Penelope and Parker head to Tracy Island in order to discover more about International Rescue. There, they witness the Thunderbird craft in action for the first time.
When reports come in from the Himalayas of kidnappings by the Abominable Snowman, International Rescue sends Lady Penelope to investigate. She soon finds herself a prisoner of The Hood. Can International Rescue save Penelope in time?
Stately homes across England are being targeted for their precious jewel collections. The villains will stop at nothing to complete their task. Their next victim? Lady Penelope. Can she and Parker thwart their diabolical plan?
Behind the scenes of the production of three new episodes of the classic television show Thunderbirds - exactly the way it was done in the 60s! The team behind the Thunderbirds 50th Anniversary episodes have now produced their own show. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's classic Thunderbirds, the team from Century 21 Films produced three brand new episodes of the series using all the classic techniques. The special episodes – Introducing Thunderbirds, The Abominable Snowman, The Stately Homes Robberies – were based upon three original 1960s voice recordings and produced in association with copyright holders ITV. Their task was to build sets, puppets, and models matching the originals and to marry them with those adapted voice recordings. The final effect should make the audience feel that they're watching three long-lost episodes. The series premiered at the BFI in August 2016, and has enjoyed subsequent screenings at Vue Cinemas and now on Britbox UK.
Lady Penelope and Parker head to the elusive Tracy Island in order to discover more about International Rescue. There, they witness the Thunderbird craft in action for the very first time.
Archival interviews with Gerry Anderson and others on the production of the show
History of the Thunderbirds narrated by creator Gerry Anderson.
Full interview of Gerry Anderson.
Interview with Gerry Anderson about his creative philosophy.
Interview with Gerry Anderson about compelling TV.
Interview with Gerry Anderson about his Cold War story lines.
Interview with Gerry Anderson about his toughest obstacles.
Interview with Gerry Anderson about DVD technology.
Interview with Gerry Anderson about Stanley Kubrick.
Interview with Gerry Anderson and his message to his American fans.
Expanding on 'The Brains Behind Thunderbirds', this version adds additional extended footage and interviews with Gerry Anderson, David Graham, Bob Bell, John Blundall, Mary Turner and Alan Pattillo.
The Fireflash, on its maiden flight from London to Tokyo, is sabotaged by the Hood, a criminal who has learned of the formation of International Rescue, and is unable to land. The Hood's attack is intended to draw out International Rescue so he can record secrets of its machinery for sale to the highest bidder, an attempt thwarted by the intervention of the organization's London Agent.
A 500-ton U.S. Army walker, Sidewinder, falls into a pit during testing and International Rescue are called to save the crew trapped inside.
Lady Penelope goes on the trail of a kidnapped scientist, only to find herself in mortal danger at the hands of a megalomaniac determined to exploit the expert's work to his advantage.
While returning from a mission, Thunderbird 2 is seriously damaged when it comes under attack from a new, high-speed U.S. Navy strike vessel, the U.S.N. Sentinel. After an operation to move the Empire State Building disastrously ends in the tower's complete collapse, Jeff asks that Thunderbird 4 be transported onboard the same ship to the mouth of an underground river to reach a reporter and his cameraman who are trapped beneath the wreckage.
The Hood sabotages the Red Arrow aircraft programme. One of the planes crashes into the TV Tower in England during a brutal rain storm, and International Rescue is summoned to save the engineers inside the tower before it collapses; making their job trickier apart from the driving rain and winds at the site is that the Red Arrow's director, a long time friend of Jeff, is fired from the project and stays at Tracy Island, forcing the Tracys to draw him away and thus remain oblivious to International Rescue's existence.
The Allington Bridge collapses while a space rocket is being transported over it, trapping the rocket on the riverbed and inadvertently initiating its automatic countdown. International Rescue is called upon to save the crew before the rocket launches.
The Erdman Gang has developed an ingenious technique of having their work carried out – an explosive bracelet that can be removed only at the designated target. A secret agent's attempt to infiltrate the organisation backfires as he is left trapped in a plutonium store. International Rescue face a race against time to prevent a massive nuclear explosion.
Brains and Tin-Tin set off on an expedition to retrieve sunken treasure from Lake Anasta. The Hood has also set his sights on the riches and plans to put both Brains and Tin-Tin in grave peril.
International Rescue's security is jeopardised when Tin-Tin's close friend Eddie Houseman, who recently visited Tracy Island, takes drastic action to save his road-construction company's threatened contract by planting explosives to tear open a jungle mountainside, and the ensuing chaos leaves him trapped on a cliffside in a truck with another case of explosives on board.
While returning to base, Scott is attacked by mysterious fighter aircraft and shot down over the Sahara. He is discovered by two archaeologists, who send him on his way, only to find themselves entombed within the lost Pyramid of Khamandides.
The Sun Probe rocket and its crew are locked in a collision course with the Sun, prompting the launching of Thunderbird 3 – but International Rescue itself requires saving when Thunderbird 3 is unable to escape the Sun's gravitational pull.
A series of unexplained Fireflash airliner disappearances sees Thunderbird 4 being called to rescue a crew stranded on the ocean floor. International Rescue then volunteer its services in helping to diagnose the cause of the mechanical fault.
During the installation of a new, airtight security vault at the Bank of England, one of the employees is accidentally locked inside, and International Rescue must come to his rescue before the air is extracted.
The Hood plans to corner the Thunderbirds vehicles by drawing them out to an emergency at an atomic irrigation plant in the Sahara, then photographing them with a miniature camera disguised as a mouse.
The world's tallest tower catches fire following an explosion in the car park and International Rescue are called to rescue a family trapped in the basement, which they can accomplish only with an experimental cutting gas ("Oxyhydnite") that previously rendered Scott and Virgil Tracy unconscious during testing.
A gang of criminals masquerade as International Rescue to conceal their theft of top-secret military plans. The ensuing worldwide manhunt for International Rescue leaves the organisation powerless to operate in a rescue situation until its name is vindicated, just as a member of a manned reconnaissance satellite is suddenly trapped in space while trying to repair the station.
A criminal organisation steals classified plans. Working in conjunction with a British Secret Service agent, Lady Penelope must recover the material to save the world from total destruction.
Two Australian boys are playing their favourite game — "International Rescue" — when their "distress" call is picked up by John Tracy on Thunderbird 5. After a tour of Tracy Island, and a warning not to use their radio again, the brothers are returned home. The Hood then tricks the boys into an old mine shaft before stealing secret photographs from their government agent father. This time the brothers' SOS is real, but International Rescue refuses to believe them.
When the Ocean Pioneer tanker inexplicably explodes, Brains investigates the cause. With some help from Lady Penelope, he discovers it to be a chemical reaction between the cargo of liquid Alsterene and OD60, which is found in the sea. International Rescue set out to save the crew of the ill-fated Ocean Pioneer II.
After Alan Tracy returns to motor-racing, his rivals decide to remove the competition by rigging a bridge with a movement-sensitive bomb, which will explode the moment that Alan and Grandma Tracy try to escape. (Some of this episode is narrated in flashback.)
The Duchess of Royston has fallen on hard times, leading her friend Lady Penelope to enlist Jeff's help. The Duchess and her one asset – the painting Portrait of a Gazelle, by Braquasso – fall into criminal hands and it is up to International Rescue to save both.
An unscrupulous investor attempts to recruit Lady Penelope into funding his automated, cross-country monorail building project. Jeff volunteers to ride the prototype, but he, Brains, and Tin-Tin find themselves trapped onboard, and with no possibility of escape, when it is discovered that the monorail train is speeding towards a stricken bridge.
When a new growth hormone is accidentally released into a South American river, a house is besieged by alligators – now many times their normal size. International Rescue must subdue the reptiles and save the house's occupants.
The Hood arranges for a mishap with explosives during a film shoot, leaving two of the actors sealed inside a cave. When International Rescue arrive the ensuing rescue is surreptitiously recorded by the Hood, and when the Tracys realize they've been set up a tense chase through the nearby desert ensues.
When aircraft are shot down during live broadcasts of a hit song, International Rescue suspects foul play. Tin-Tin and Lady Penelope (posing as the singer Wanda Lamour) investigate, but are left in mortal danger when a ski lift is sabotaged and speeds out of control down a mammoth mountain slide in the Alps.
Clip show episode: the Tracy family cannot help but reminisce about their many successful missions after a young boy infiltrates the island. They are nevertheless burdened by the problem that the boy knows their identity and the location of their base – until Jeff realises that they can use the boy's dreams to their own advantage. Includes clips from "End of the Road", "Sun Probe", "Trapped in the Sky" and "Day of Disaster".
World Navy tests of a nuclear torpedo inadvertently threaten the offshore rig Seascape. Jeff, having been invited by Lady Penelope to join her on holiday in Australia, places Scott in charge of International Rescue, with Alan substituting for Scott at the helm of Thunderbird 1. Jeff though is angered when Scott launches a rescue effort to the mid-ocean rig.
A new invention – the Crablogger (a nearly fully automated logging machine that converts wood into fuel) — threatens widespread devastation if it collides with an unfinished dam, after its drivers collapse due to food poisoning.
The passenger aircraft Skythrust, conceived by Brains using his real name (Hiram Hackenbacker) as an alias, falls into the hands of fashion criminals who hi-jack the plane to steal a new French design from the renowned François Lemaire.
A malfunctioning solar reflector menaces the Italian coastal village of Monte Bianco, where Lady Penelope and Parker happen to be visiting while on holiday.
A staffed, pirate telecommunications satellite (which broadcasts a music programme of which Tin-Tin is a devoted fan) is disrupted by the detonation of a rogue unmanned space rocket and is set on collision course with a Middle Eastern oil refinery.
While Christmas preparations are underway at both Tracy Island and a local children's hospital, which is expanding to incorporate a new radiotherapy wing, a pair of criminals attempt to burgle a high-tech vault storing gold bullion.
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