This topic is to all your bits and bobs about the Thunderbirds - ruminations, observations, questions and so on.

To get the ball rolling:

1. Weren't there a couple of Thunderbirds movies as well? Thunderbird 6 springs to mind but wasn't there another?

2. Does the hidden location of Thunderbird 1 under the pool seem practical? If the pool leaked, wouldn't the water go all over the craft and possibly affect wiring and so on?

3. It must get lonely in Thunderbird 5 all by yourself. Don't you think?

4. How come sets of the Thunderbird crafts always include 1, 2, 3 and 4 but never 5?

5. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson both say F-A-B didn't actually mean anything, it was just used because "fab" was a groovy word at the time. But what do you think it might stand for? I go for "Full Acknowledged Broadcast".

The other film was Thunderbirds are GO

Yes, I saw that film in the video library the other day.
And I meant to say "Fully Acknowledged Broadcast" in my previous post.

FAB stands for "Funderbirds Are Brill". Thought everyone knew that!!

I thought it was "Frequencies Are Broadcasting". Or something like that.

It doesn't actually mean anything. I met Sylvia Anderson a few years ago and asked her.

I was having a little bit of fun Chris. That's what I thought FAB meant back when I was a child.

With you now, sorry.

Nitpicking Thunderbirds feels a bit like kicking my granny, but nevertheless I’ve been watching the series again recently and haven’t been able to help but find a whole stack of nits:

Why do Thunderbirds 1 and 2 in particular take so long to take off when time is almost always of the essence? Shouldn’t they be parked nearer to their take-off points? (and if, as mentioned above, parking TB1 right underneath the swimming pool could be risky in case the pool leaks, it doesn’t have to go under the pool at all, does it? There must be plenty of other places under the island it could go).

It seems to take an enormous amount of time for Scott to even get into TB1. Shouldn’t that ramp be extended out to TB1 all the time she’s parked, then Scott could run along it (well, run in the way that only the Tracy boys can!), jump inside the craft and then retract the ramp. And the craft then takes forever to chug along the tunnels before she reaches her take-off point.

Similarly, TB2 can take off from a standing start, so why does she have to grind (painfully slowly) all the way along that runway to a ramp? Why not move to just outside the cave and then do a vertical take-off?

Who put together all the equipment on Tracy Island? In one episode when TB2 had been damaged, Jeff emphasised to Scott that they were ordering new components from many different aeronautical companies so that no-one knew what the parts were going to make; but I find it hard to imagine Jeff, Brains and the boys building all those caves, runways, take-off ramps etc themselves. Did they have a gang of workmen who were then killed after the job?!

In at least two episodes there’s been major concern over the fact that someone has filmed the Thunderbirds. Why so much worry? There must be hundreds of people who’ve witnessed I.R. in action by now – surely someone had a pencil and a good memory? So there must be quite a lot of people who know what the Thunderbirds look like but surely it’s not really important provided no-one gets inside them to see how they work. In fact, if more people had known what they look like, Thunderbird 2 would never have got shot down by the Navy!

Watching episodes as an adult has rather made me despair for the future of humanity. It seems that only the Tracy clan have got any intelligence! Some of the disasters that I.R. have to rescue people from have had me rather slack-jawed at the inability of the future’s designers and scientists to foresee the simplest problems. For instance:

(I rarely get home in time to see the very beginning of the show so don’t know the titles of these episodes)

An experimental aircraft goes out of control and crashes, killing the pilot and leaving the military with no idea of why it went off course. The result of this catastrophe? They send up the second version of the craft within a day or two, still with no idea of what caused the demise of the first one.

The biggest, most modern and most state-of-the-art tower block in the world is engulfed in fire and collapses within hours all because a car crashed in the car park! And after the collapse, the fire department all disappear off and render no aid to International Rescue whatsoever. And meanwhile a family gets trapped in the basement because someone left a caretakers’ cupboard unlocked and there were no cameras in that room.

The Empire State Building falls over because apparently none of the surveyors noticed that the ground underneath the track it was going to be moved along wasn’t quite strong enough.

A humungous automatic logging vehicle doesn’t have a dead man’s switch, consequently when the two drivers collapse with food poisoning the vehicle goes charging off on its own, demolishing everything in its path.

A film company lets off what’s meant to be a small explosion to cause a few boulders to bounce across the mouth of a cave – and they leave the actors inside the cave while they’re doing it!

Personally, if I was Jeff Tracy I’d want details of how the accident happened and then tell ‘em, “Sorry, but you and your colleagues are too dopey to live anyway – we’re doing the world a favour by letting you die!”

And yes, I know that Thunderbirds is only a kids’ show, but nitpickers don’t deal in reality! I still love the show and it brings back fond memories of Sunday lunchtimes when I was a kid, but I do sometimes boggle at the Andersons’ vision of the future.

I've always been puzzled as to how the Tracy family managed to build all the launch bays etc in Tracy Island all by themselves, or did they pay the builders to keep quiet? Another bunble was The Bank Of England building their vault so it only had a thin wall between it & an abandoned Underground tunnel, which has be forgotten about by everyone but Grandma.

Actually, have you ever wondered how the Tracys et al managed to walk through doors?

It is not just marionation Chris, it is SUPER-Marionation!!!!!!!! :~}

Someone gave me a Thunderbirds calendar for Christmas and the January picture is Thunderbird 2. It's missing it's main body part and underneath there are several main body sections, marked 4, 5, 6 etc.

So what does each one contain? Presumably 4 contains Thunderbird 4 but what about the rest? How many main body sections are there in total?

Chris, I'm dead jealous - I've not seen Thunderbirds calendars on sale anywhere round where I live!

I think there are six pods. They don't seem to always contain the same equipment - when we were kids my sister and I always used to cheer whenever the Mole appeared because it was our favourite, but we could never tell by the pod number whether the Mole was about to be used or not. Similarly, there's been at least one episode when TB4 came out of a pod other than number 4.

My mother bought the calendar for me for Xmas - in Perth, Western Australia.

I don't think there's any more than six pods, that looks like the limit in the picture.

Which episode was it when Thunderbird 4 came out a different pod to pod 4? AFAIK, it's always come out of it.
As to vehicles in the pods, I don't think there was a specific pod for particular vehicles except for TB4 (cf the scene in 'Cry Wolf' where Scott is taking the kids on the monorail tour of Tracy Island, we see the pod vehicles bay (including, I believe, the Mole). This leads to the question. Why does Scott request particular pods once Thunderbird 1 has taken off? Shouldn't he be requesting the equipment in particular so it can be loaded on?
Of course it doesn't matter, as whenever we see Thunderbird 2 launch, it always comes out of the hangar with the same pod (Pod 2?)

Callie, whereabouts do you live? I know I've seen Thunderbirds calenders for sale in England.

I can't recall which episode had TB4 coming out of a different pod, but it definitely happened because my boyfriend and I looked at each other in surprise and I said, "Cor! I've never seen it come out of another pod before!" There was another vehicle in the pod which had already come out earlier.

I live in north Kent and work in London. I guess I've just not been looking in the right shops!

I found a few copies of the calender in MVC in Bracknell (Berks) going for £1.99, I would have bought one and sent it in the post if you wanted if it weren't for the fact that I've had to come back to France (It's a hard life at uni - forcing me to spend 6 months working here as an assistant )
Someone I know thought that TB4 might have been launched out of a different pod in 'Attack of the Alligators!' as when TB2 was launched, it took Pod 6, but when we saw TB4 launch, it was a side shot of the pod, so I couldn't make out the pod number (although I think it was pod 4 - looks like Virgil ignored Scott )

Here in Britain, the smoking lobby have just realised that Thunderbirds is back on screen (it's been showing for months!) and are complaining about the amount of smoking being shown, particularly from Penelope who - they claim - never has her cigarette holder out of her hand. They want the smoking scenes removed.

I do understand their concern that children could be influenced by seeing their favourite characters smoking (could you imagine Tinky Winky puffing on a ciggy?!), and I do appreciate that showing a 60s programme in the noughties is bound to cause controversy because of the different attitudes towards smoking, but how can any scene with smoking in it be edited? The fact that Penny, Jeff and at least two of the boys smoke constantly (not to mention several miscellaneous characters in each episode) would make some episodes unintelligible if vast lumps of dialogue were removed because someone had a ciggy in their hand at the time!

I'm suprised that no-one complained about the awful sexist comment at the end of 'City of Fire' about women drivers as well. Personally, I would have preferred an ending where Scott slagged off women drivers and Tin-Tin slapped him and walked off...

i am feeling not

I think some of the magic of Thunderbirds is the way it is so un-PC (not that I think or see that it is) - the smoking, the sexist remarks etc and that is something that would be totally lost with any sterile remake that would be done. The Americans came up with some pathetic comments during the 90's about a Thunderbirds remake - they wanted a black character (when it was their ignorance at the time that prevented there being one in the first place), and they wanted more women in it. Apparantly Gerry wants to have women pilots and a different voice for Lady P for his feature film of Thunderbirds - all I can say to that is it mightn't as well be called Thunderbirds.

Joanna Lumley was an alomost certainty for the role of Lady P, according to some sources.

Wasn't there a cartoon series called "Thunderbird 2086" or something? It seemed like a Japanese Manga-esque rip-off of the Thunderbirds idea, without the ideals of International Rescue. Anyone see it?

I can remember it, apart from the name & it being based around a rescue organisation there wasn't much in common. In fact it reminded me more of Battle Of The Planets.

In fact it reminded me more of Battle Of The Planets.

It certainly did, didn't it? I actually remember this as an earlier memory than the original Thunderbirds - but ultimately it wasn't really a patch on the original.
Cool theme tune, though.

I seem to remember that "Thunderbirds 2086" was a officially licenced Thunderbirds spin-off - it had Gerry Anderson's name in the credits and everything.
I remember it reminded me a lot of "Star Fleet" for some reason. Anyway, the hardware in the show was pretty cool, with (I think) early CGI used to introduce the vehicles in the title sequence. But I remember forsaking Thunderbirds 2086 when I was six years old, because everybody in it cried a lot and I thought it was far too wussy (Yeah, I know, but I was six.)

I found a list of episodes for Thuderbirds 2086 at

http://www.toonarific.com/

And the Internet Movie Database had this list of voice actors. Don't ask me who does what voice as it didn't say. And I'm not sure if the info the IMDb has is accurate anyway. But here it is.

Joan Audiberti, Paolo Audiberti, Peter Fernandez, Earl Hammond (I), Eleanor Kearney (II), Henry Mandell.

From what else I've found out. It was originally a Japanese anime cartoon (Hence the similarity to Battle Of The Planets as they were both Japanese anime) in 1982.

I liked Star Fleet, I didn't find out for year that is wasn't a Gerry Anderson show. The writer Michael Slone worked on Battlestar Galactica.

I found a small set of Thunderbirds videos available at Borders book store.

So the characters smoke and drink. Some of today's heros kill, use language not thought of years back, and screw. Leave Penny's cigarette holder in her hand. After all, without it she may actually not be recognizable, kind of like folks who lived wearing glasses being displayed in a coffin plain faced.

Thunderbirds are back and the air, and I just notiched Thunderbird 1 rotates 90 degrees as it descends the ramp. AS it starts the wings face the sides of the shaft. when it exits the wings are now parallel to the shaft.

Thunderbirds are go! on TechTV!

Love those little factoids they put in on Tech Tv's broadcast of the show,makes it even more interesting.

Just HOW exactly is Lady Penelope connected to
the Tracy clan?Is there any backstory to how she
and Parker got involved with International Rescue?

Where IS Tracy Island?

Just wondering,but if there were a LIVE Thunderbirds as opposite to an Supermarionation
movie who'd be in it?

There were plans a few years back for a live action film, with Joanna Lumley as Lady Penelope.

The new rumour (or is it fact?) is that there will be a live-action Thunderbirds film to be made, due for release in 2004. Apparently Jonathan "Eight-Legged" Frakes* will be directing.


*I apologize for this joke. It wasn't even mine.

Its fact as far as it's been announced, however whether it gets into production is another question...

Personally, based on what Frakes assumes Thunderbirds is (he admitted he hasn't watched it and sees it as a James Bond kind of thing), I think this film will do more harm than good.

It's a shame that they couldn't film a few more establishing shots of Scott and Virgil heading for their TBs. I mean, practically anytime you saw Scott in his blue shirt and grey-checked jacket, and Virgil in his browns, you knew that you'd see them going through the walls.

Of the varied approached to the Thunderbirds, I think that Virgil's required the steadiest stomach. (Steady, dependable Virgil.) My nephews thought that it was neat, but I think I'd want to take some Dramamine first. Flipping over backwards, sliding backwards and head downward, then skidding down a chute like the slides at a water park...oh, boy!

On the rare occasions when Brains, Tin-Tin, or even Penelope went along, why weren't they provided with a variation of the International Rescue uniform? Was it always understood that they would not move outside of the ship?

Why did Scott, and even his father, keep telling people their last name? Granted that the Internet was still in its early stages, and home computers only a sci-fi fantasy, but there were still things like newspaper morgues back in the sixties, and clipping services. A determined person, such as a newspaper reporter, armed with the name Scott Tracy, and possibly Virgil, Alan or Gordon, could probably track them down. Surely an ex-astronaut who named his sons for astronauts would have been in the news from time to time.

Why did a young woman who spent a lot of time (and a lot of Jeff Tracy's money) getting a superb education end up mostly typing letters and serving coffee? Kyrano was there to serve drinks, and in the first couple episodes, it looked as though Jeff had a machine that automatically typed as he dictated to it.

Is it just me, or did Tin-Tin's voice sound a bit more Oriental when she was in her father's presence?

>> Why did a young woman who spent a lot of time (and a lot of Jeff Tracy's money) getting a superb education end up mostly typing letters and serving coffee? <<

Don't forget she also helps Brains a lot (as seen in Terror in New York City and Danger at Ocean Deep). And in Sun Probe she's using her technical skills to tweak TB3's safety beam array.

True, but you sure don't see it a lot. "Sun Probe" seems to have been her only formal mission.

I've been picking up bits and pieces of information about the Thunderbirds, and no one seems to agree on the boys' relative ages. One source listed John as the youngest (presumably based on the fact that he managed #5.) Another had Gordon as the youngest. Virgil has been mentioned as both second and third in line. Personally, I would list them as Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan, simply because that is the way they are introduced on the show. Listing 1,5,2,4 and 3 does not make sense unless you regard it in descending order of age.

I would like to know the relative heights of the boys. (I know, the puppets were all designed as roughly 18 inches tall, but let's not quibble.) Virgil gives the impression of being tall, but I suspect that that is because he's the only one introduced with a full body shot, rather than waist high or sitting down. In some shots, he seems shorter than Alan, and in another shot, Alan was distinctly shorter than Scott. Any ideas?

It must be rather crowded under Alan's portrait. In "End of the Road" they showed an electronic map of the island and surrounding area. In "Day of Disaster" they lifted the portrait to show an electronic map of the house. Add to that the "cover-up" portrait and the area where Alan's transmissions come through....

Of the five, John's voice seemed least suited to him. (Virgil's was the best, but then, I'm biased.) I thought that John's voice should have been slower and deeper.

John's been described as patient and solitary, fascinated with astronomy. (He's written four books on the subject.) That presumably keeps him pretty well occupied up there in TB5 during slow periods, but what the heck does Alan do when he's on shift? I can see him getting antsy in just a few days, jealously speculating on what Tin-Tin might be doing (and with whom).

Why (in "The Uninvited") did they have to wait for Scott to heal up so as to accompany Alan up to TB5? On another episode, when they were shifting back, John apparently came up alone and Alan would therefore have to return alone. (I've seen speculation elsewhere that Scott went along to keep Alan from accidently hitting the self-destruct button....)

In one book I've read, Virgil was described as the only puppet on T.V. who smokes. What makes this statement all the more laughable was that there was the classic shot of Lady Penelope, house in the background and cigarette holder in hand, on the SAME PAGE of the book! In another book, Penelope was described as one of the rare puppets who smoked. Whoever wrote that obviously never saw any of the episodes! In the closing scene of "Day of Disaster" Brains was the only one in the room NOT smoking! I do wonder, did they honestly not know (or care) about the dangers of smoking (the Surgeon General's warning has been around for quite some time) or did they just like playing with the special effects of having a puppet holding a smoldering cigarette or cigar?

>>In the closing scene of "Day of Disaster" Brains was the only one in the room NOT smoking!

I was sure he was. If he was, that means of all the regulars, only Kyrano and Grandma didn't.

Who came up with the idea of pull-away masks first? Was it the Hood, or was it the team of Mission: Impossible? (The Hood's masks pull away much more neatly.)

Jeff shouldn't have bothered providing hats with the uniforms. Given how most of the boys janked them off at the first opportunity, they must not have like them much.

In a couple different places, I have read this phrase, used to describe the character of Scott and "Alan's dream sequence":

"...like Marmite; you either love it or hate it...."

O.K. Is Marmite animal, vegetable, or mineral? Is it smaller than a breadbox? I'm presuming that it's a British food product, but is it? Could someone out there tell me, please?

Marmite is considered to be a VERY English food product. It's a spread extracted from yeast and is quite nice on toast, actually. Maybe it's known by a different name in the US.

Extracted from YEAST? I'm from Ohio; we've got nothing like that here. Perhaps the East Coast....

Thank you for the information; little things like that bug the heck out of me.

Not that I am aware of.

Scott and Virgil seem to be the most conservative of the brothers; at least in matters of dress. They seem to prefer coordinated outfits in quiet colors, while Gordon and especially Alan favor flashier shirts. I also seem to recall John wearing a red shirt or vest when he was home during "Desperate Intruder."

Of course, there was that crazy painting outfit Virgil wore at the end of "Move--and You're Dead". He might as well have been wearing a sign saying, "Look at me--I'm an ARTIST!" Later, you see him wearing jeans and a flannel shirt when painting.

Penelope was a regular clotheshorse (of course, of course) and Tin-Tin liked to dress up, even though she was usually on the island with only the boys to see her. I think that Grandma must have been waiting all her life to have a girl that she could make outfits for. She could really go to town if all the guys got married!

Good thing that none of the other brothers (or Brains) are interested in Tin-Tin, or they could have some phenomenal squabbles....

Could anyone tell me what the two cylindrical whatchamacallits are that are on the belt of each Thunderbird uniform? I thought that perhaps one was the hand-held radio you sometimes see them using (Scott in "The Uninvited" for example) but unless it has a retractable handle, those things look too short for that, and it wouldn't explain what the second item is. (And they look too big to be the edible transmitter with the nice raspberry flavoring.)

>> Could anyone tell me what the two cylindrical whatchamacallits are that are on the belt of each Thunderbird uniform? <<

They're meant to be binoculars, I think.

Perhaps, but they look as though they're in two separate pouches.

Perhaps one is a transmitter and one a small telescope.

Or, most likely, they're just there for decoration!

Oh, yeah, I meant to put this in above. I found what looks like a nit in my book THE COMPLETE BOOK OF THUNDERBIRDS. In the biographical section, Parker is described as being the last of a long line of Cockney butlers who turned to crime because he could not find a proper butlering job. In "Vault of Death" he makes it clear that being a safecracker was the way he was following in his family's footsteps. ("This was the way my father did it, and his father, and his father's father....")

Elsewhere, I saw that someone had changed the "hurricane" that killed Brains' parents to a "tornado", which makes more sense. However, I was wondering--why doesn't anyone seem to know Brains' real name? What name was he using when Jeff found him lecturing somewhere? Hiram Hackenbacker? Or did he decide to make himself anonymous after the death of his parents?

Why is it that every other visually impaired character on the series has glasses (and sunglasses) that fit the size of the face, but poor Brains is stuck with those humongous goggles?

Actually, I don't think that Brains is as much the stereotyped genius wimp that he appears at first sight. He is a reasonably skilled scuba diver, for one thing. And, when necessary, he doesn't hesitate to jump into the thick of things, rather than lagging behind and just giving others instructions.

Various people have been wondering just how they got Tracy Island set up for the Thunderbirds. Perhaps all of the agents referred to in "The Imposters" pitched in. (Of course, I really can't see Lady Penelope wielding a shovel....)

I like the way that everything explodes. A bridge collapsed - and it explodes. It's a reinforced concrete structure. What exactly is exploding here?

To paraphrase Alexie Sayle, is it due to the negligent inclusion in the design of huge great quantities of dynamite?

>> Extracted from YEAST? I'm from Ohio; we've got nothing like that here. Perhaps the East Coast.... <<

Interesting to see you're from the States, D.K. Did you know that Virgil's first season voice was the only one to be performed by a real American? Which brings me to ask: what do the US accents sound like to you? We over here accept them as genuine, but I thought an American might be a bit more critical of them. What do you think?

I'm not overly critical of them. We've got considerable variations of accents over here, sometimes even in the same state. (My father, for example, put an "r" in the word "wash", and we always used to tease him for pronouncing the city of Bowling Green as BOWLing Green, when the rest of the family put a slight emphasis on "Green".

John Steinbeck complained that television was blanding down regional accents. He might be right, the only American regional accents that really leap out at me are New York Bronx, New England, Southern, and Texan.

Of the Thunderbird voices--if I hadn't known that they were British voice actors, I might have assumed that they were American. Alan's voice, just occasionally (and I can't remember the occasions!)seemed to acquire a slight accent; not necessarily British, just not-American. One occasion with Scott popped out at me in "Desperate Intruder"; Scott said that the injured Professor needed to be "in hospital." The American phrasing would have been "in THE hospital" or "in A hospital". Another time, in "The Imposters" an American-sounding astronaut referred to losing a "spanner" when it should have been "wrench." But this is a matter of phrasing, not of voice tones.
I thought that they did an excellent job, which is what you would expect of professionals.

(I do wish that David Holliday could have nipped back to England long enough to tape Virgil's voice for the second season and the movies. Jeremy Wilkin sounded as though he were trying to sound like David, but it didn't quite make it.)

>> I thought that they did an excellent job, which is what you would expect of professionals. <<

Indeed - that's one thing all SuperM fans tend to agree on. I think Thunderbirds contained the best line-up of vocal talent and professionalism in SuperM, personally.

Interesting that you bring up Alan and Scott specifically - they were voiced by Canadians Matt Zimmerman and Shane Rimmer respectively, which might explain the lapses. The Andersons also liked using Australians actors as they proved to be competent with both English and American accents. There was certainly no effort spared to ensure the voice acting was the best.

That would have been interesting to watch--one actor jumping from character to character and back again. Not to mention the one doing the Duchess of Royston; I understand that he had the other cast members in stitches.

I'm presuming that when the actors got together for a taping session, they alternated dialogue as we hear it on the show, so that they could react to each other. Is this how it's done? Or does the actor read off all the lines for one character, and then go to the next?

>> That would have been interesting to watch--one actor jumping from character to character and back again. Not to mention the one doing the Duchess of Royston; I understand that he had the other cast members in stitches. <<

David Graham was especially good at doing this - remember the famous Parker-Kyrano exchange in The Mighty Atom? Well he did both those characters. Also in the Stingray ep The Lighthouse Dwellers he did both the aliens and Frank, all in the same scene!!

Good Gad, how did he keep from getting his tongue in a knot?

And wasn't it "The Duchess Assignment" that had an English actor voicing an American (Jeff) trying to sound British? Sheesh!

Here's a question, if anyone knows the answer:

On one of my DVDs, one of the bonus features was a
behind-the-scenes look at the Thunderbirds--which at first appeared to be a look at Stingray.
They showed a scene being filmed, using a set that I do not recognize. It's a large room, with a huge world map taking up the whole back wall, with what looks like a long table coming up the right side wall. John, in uniform, is in the forefront, transmitter in hand, facing forward but apparently talking with Virgil, who is standing back by the map and the table.

The voice-over implied that Thunderbirds had not yet been shown on television yet. Could this scene, so early on, have been from the first movie, or was it something that ended up on the cutting room floor, or was it something that they created strictly for this behind-the-scenes footage?

BTW, it looked really odd when the technician walked over and handed John up to the puppeteer--his hat was floating a couple feet above John on the head strings!

I just picked up an out-of-print copy of FAB FACTS, which was fun to read. I saw that when a character normally wore a hat, but not at a particular moment, they just pushed it up the strings out of camera range.

I was shocked to read that, when the crew showed up for work in the mornings, they would occasionally find Lady Penelope in a "compromising position with one of her colleagues." (And disappointed that they didn't mention who the colleague was--or was there more than one?) You have to wonder about that production crew....

I still want to know what those little cylinders on the sashes were supposed to be used for. The book had a picture of someone painting some, and they were definitely two separate cylinders, one blue, one yellow.

I was interested to see how they handled the door problem. I had thought that they simply cut away from the door, then returned to show the puppet on the other side. Apparently they moved in for a close-up, then simply removed the top of the door frame and went through.

I wonder what Sean Connery thought, having Scott Tracy modeled on him!

According the the book FAB FACTS, John was originally slated to be a pilot for one of the Thunderbirds, until Gerry Anderson decided that he didn't like him and relegated him to the space satellite.

So, which Thunderbird would he have been in? Who was originally supposed to be the space monitor? How, exactly, did they go about designing the puppets in the first place? Did they have the names and the personalities laid out beforehand?

And for Heaven's sake, if Gerry Anderson didn't like John, why didn't they REDESIGN him?

Changing the subject abruptly--why is it that, practically any time they showed a close-up of bookshelves, desks, etc, so many books had HUGO on the spines? I've heard of the Science Fiction Hugo awards, but is this in reference to something else?

I've been reading some of the fan fiction over at the S.I.G. homepage (we've finally got a computer at work that brings up the text!). Some of it is very good. They have a section outlining the hazards of the dreaded "Mary Sue" type of fiction. (I don't write my fantasies down, so I can "Mary Sue" all I like in my head. So there. Nyaah.)
After reading the description of what constitutes a "Mary Sue", something interesting occurred to me. Suppose that the character of Lady Penelope had been male, or left out entirely. If someone had then created her for fan fiction, she would unhesitatingly been tossed out on her immaculate rear as a "Mary Sue". A wealthy aristocrat, beautiful, perfectly dressed, perfectly cool at all times (except when there's a mouse around)equipped with a fantastic car and gadgetry that would have had "Q's" mouth watering, frequently in peril but always getting the upper hand...a fantasy figure indeed!

In virtually every book that I've seen that has information on the Thunderbirds, they have the same thing to say about the function of Thunderbird 1: It is designed to be first on the scene of any emergency, so that Scott can suss out the situation and determine what type of rescue equipment will need to be brought.

One itty bitty problem with that--Thunderbird 2 always launches before Scott arrives at the danger zone. In fact, they usually decide what equipment is necessary before Scott even leaves the lounge, and Virgil is only minutes behind him. Sometimes Scott will get further details from John while he's in the air, and decide on the equipment then, but not often. The only time we saw Scott going it alone was in "The Uninvited", when he went to Tokyo and determined that IR's assistance would not be needed after all.

BTW, I had to special order a used copy of THE COMPLETE GERRY ANDERSON, in spite of the fact that it only came out in March, because we don't get it over here in the States. Pfui. I wish that we had a publisher that would deal with specialized items like this.

Another question: where is Creighton-Ward Mansion?

In 'Trapped In The Sky' we hear that the Hood is escaping towards Birmingham. Then we hear Scott tell Lady Penelope that the Hood is heading in her direction, implying that Lady P lives somewhere in the vicinity of the M1 corridor. However, most oficial materials state Creighton-Ward Mansion as being in Kent.

Perhaps it's a Mobile Mansion?

Where is Kent in relation to Birmingham? If FAB I was driven at full speed, would it have been plausible for them to intercept the Hood?

Considering that Lady Penelope is a member of International Rescue, a highly secret organization, does it make sense for her to be zipping around the countryside in a gigantic, six-wheeled, PINK Rolls Royce? Or is it a question of reverse psychology? Do they assume that people will never take Penelope seriously, because of her pink car?

Perhaps it's a Mobile Mansion?

Redneck aristocracy?

> Where is Kent in relation to Birmingham? If FAB I was driven at full speed, would it have been plausible for them to intercept the Hood? <

Kent is right in the south-east corner of England, just SE of London. Birmingham is about 100 miles NW of London. It would probably be possible for her to intercept the Hood in time, but still, the geography doesn't quite pan out.

Here's a question, if anyone knows the answer.

My little nephews have become fascinated with "Thunderbirds" and are always asking me questions about them. I answer as best I can, but I got stuck with one I can't answer. They wanted to know what the guys like to do on their off time. I explained about Virgil liking to paint and play music, Gordon likes water sports, John is into astronomy and Alan likes racing cars and exploring around the island. "So what does Scott like to do?" "Well, ummm...." None of the books or websites I've seen so far say anything about that. They tell of his education, his previous career in the Air Force, something about his temperament and personality...but what does he like to DO? They sometimes show him playing checkers or chess, but all the guys do that.

>> but what does he like to DO? <<

Boss people around. I thought that was obvious!

Now, now. My nephews like Scott. (So do I, actually, although Virgil is my favorite.) You have to admire a man who's willing to milk cows in exchange for the use of a barn.

Besides, when it comes to bossing people around, surely Jeff beats him, hands down!

Now, now. My nephews like Scott.

So do mine

Oh, wait. You weren't talking about me!

DK: Besides, when it comes to bossing people around, surely Jeff beats him, hands down!

But presumably not physically. And don't call me Shirley.

>> Besides, when it comes to bossing people around, surely Jeff beats him, hands down! <<

Well we know where he gets it from then!

Boy, you ask one little question around here...

...and I didn't even get a serious answer!

Perhaps if we're going to start picking on the guys, we should set up another sub-category for it.

Going back to an early thread: >> Actually, have you ever wondered how the Tracys et al managed to walk through doors?<< They cut right before any of the characters actually pass through a doorway (I've run the DVDs frame by frame to check on this), where you see the entire door. In other shots, you don't see the top of the door-- so presumably there isn't one, so that the marionette wires can pass without hindrance. Also, notice that a lot of car shots are in convertibles or have sun-roofs ;-)

Were the voice actors paid by the word? Does this explain why all the characters were so extraordinarily quiet?

Someone falls and bangs his head into a wall or projection without a sound. Penelope slams ten feet down onto a monotrail tunnel floor without so much as an "oof." Giant alligators are knocking a house to pieces and there is not a single shriek, or even a gasp.

I think that they take this stiff upper lip bit a little too much to heart. Naturally, they would not want swearing on a children's show, but the only time (I think) that they had a wordless, vocal expression of emotion was when Lady Penelope started shrieking at the "mouse." I really think that a few yelps or indrawn breaths, or even a scream or two would have added to the tension. ("Gee, I'm on the verge of slipping over the edge of a cliff here, and a nice big box of explosives is going to come along with me. Big deal.")

I found an explanation for the different cylinders that the boys carry on their sashes. (And now I can't remember where I read it!)

According to the source, they were different attachments for the guns. Instead of tediously unloading one form of ammo and loading another, they would simply switch barrels. One would have regular bullets, one would have tranquilizers, and the third...hmmm, can't remember what it said the third was. An energy charge, perhaps.

There's a rather odd phenomenon regarding the use of Alan and Gordon in the episodes. They seemed to like sending Alan on the missions, and yet...quite often he was not necessary. Virgil showed several times that he was able to fly TB2 and work the "grabs" by himself, so having Alan along in "End of the Road" was not necessary. Alan came along on the fire rescue portion of "30 Minutes After Noon", yet that cage was so small that Virgil could surely have handled everything himself. In "Edge of Impact", Virgil could certainly have driven the mortar vehicle out the pod by himself.

On the other hand, when Gordon came along to assist (and I'm not counting the times that TB4 was used) his assistance was quite necessary. Virgil could not have flown TB2 and winched himself into the Fireflash, and it would have been difficult, in "The Perils of Penelope" for Virgil to have saved Penelope and the other two hostages. (Notice that the only apparent reason Alan came along on that one was to have a Paris date with Tin-Tin!) Also, in the episode where the ship exploded from an unexpected chemical reaction, Virgil and Gordon went off to assist an endangered hospital. Gordon's appearance on their return made it quite clear that he didn't just sit in TB2 and watch the proceedings.

It's rather as if they liked having Alan on the screen, yet didn't trust him to do anything really significant. Hmmmmm.....

One of my all-time fav TV series from the '60's but clearly in need of realistic updating should they revive the show as a movie(and not that atrocious live action one)or as a CGI TV show.I know Jeff Tracy was enormously wealthy but could one man actually fund such an operation? How could they maintain,repair & upgrade the vehicles without an army of tech support? With advanced computers,would they really need to place one of the Tracy boys on Thunderbird 5 all the time? Couldn't the space station monitor all the civilian/military channels,& the Earth itself,spot a problem,or be contacted by those in need of aid,& then automatically contact International Rescue? Plus,that's a waste of a skilled pilot to just be sitting there & waiting for an emergency.Finally,Tracy Isle would not be able to maintain their secrecy.World governments would easily be able to utilize their satellites & military craft to track a Thunderbird vehicle as it returned from a rescue operation.But once these & other nits were addressed,they should go ahead with an updated version of this classic series.

I always enjoyed the fact that Thunderbird 1 left via the secret entrance with the sliding swimming pool.As to fears about the pool leaking onto T1;in an update of the series I would establish that (1.)T1 is one sturdy vehicle & water leaking on it wouldn't affect it one bit,& (2.)the pool could have nano-sensors built into it which would alert IR to any possible leaks.

Gasp,watching the DVDs of Thunderbirds there's even one episode where Tin-Tin is smoking!!!

Yeah the third type of barrel is some kind of Raygun it's seen in the Perils of Penelopy, as for who built the hangers in the imposters they showed they had dozens of agents maybe they all helped with the construction, plus this is the future who knows what construction methods they use especially with Brains's advanced tech.