Thunderbirds (television)
Thunderbirds is a mid 1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called "Supermarionation", showing the adventures of the Tracys, a family consisting of ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy and his 5 sons, all named after Mercury astronauts, together with their friends, who live on a Pacific island and are secretly the members of International Rescue, a mechanized private emergency response organization which covers the globe rescuing people with their fantastic machines, the Thunderbirds.
International Rescue
The Thunderbird craft are the workhorses of International Rescue, the private, anonymous and highly-advanced rescue organisation founded and operated by billionaire Jeff Tracy. After the tragic death of Tracy's wife, Lucille, the idea of International Rescue was formed. Buying a small island in the Pacific and secretly converting it into the secret rescue base for IR, Jeff convinced genius Brains to help him bring IR into operational reality, designing and constructing a series of fantastic machines and equipment. Key to this are the five Thunderbird craft and the many Pod Vehicles transported by TB2.
The Thunderbird machines are:
- Thunderbird 1: a high-speed rocket plane used for rescue zone reconaissance and control
- Thunderbird 2: a heavy carrier aircraft used for the transport of rescue equipment and vehicles
- Thunderbird 3: a spaceship used for space rescue and maintanence of TB5
- Thunderbird 4: a submarine for underwater rescue
- Thunderbird 5: an Earth-orbiting space station which monitors world broadcasts for calls for help
- The Mole: a high-speed manned tunneling machine
- Firefly: a fire-proofed vehicle armed with a nitroglycerine cannon to extinguish fires
- Recovery Vehicles: One manned and one remote vehicles equipped with magnetic grappling lines
- High-Speed Elevator Cards: one manned and three remote vehicles used to assist aircraft in landings
- Domo: a restraint vehicle with three lifting arms to restrain or lift unstable structures
- Booster Mortar: a small cannon used to fire rescue packages into high structures
- Transmitter Truck: a converted commercial truck used for long-range communications with spacecraft
Some of the disasters attended by International Rescue are the result of accident or misadventure, but many are caused by deliberate sabotage. A recurring villain, "The Hood" (not actually named in the series) frequently causes accidents in order to spy on International Rescue's vehicles.
International Rescue's London agent, international socialite Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, and her cockney butler/chauffeur Aloysius "Nosey" Parker, are often seen chasing The Hood and other villains in the pink, amphibious Rolls-Royce FAB 1, which is equipped with James Bond-style gadgets.
The characters use the radio sign-off "F. A. B." rather than "Roger" or "Over and out". Anderson was often asked what F. A. B. stood for, but in fact it simply stood for "fab" (short for "fabulous"), which was a 1960s catchphrase.
The program was notable for its (for the time) superlative special effects using miniatures. The effects supervisor, as on all of Anderson's shows from Supercar to UFO, was Derek Meddings, who went on to produce special effects for the James Bond and Superman movies.
Another important element in the show's success was its thrilling music score, composed and conducted by Barry Gray.
A total of 32 episodes of Thunderbirds were screened between 1965 and 1966 (although production began in 1964, as indicated by the show's copyright date), as well as two full length feature films, Thunderbirds Are Go! (1966) and Thunderbird Six (1968).
Today the series is a British institution. A re-run on the BBC in 1992 led to a shortage of Tracy Island models, and so the children's programme Blue Peter helpfully demonstrated how to build a home-made version.
The TV series was financed by Lew Grade's companies ATV and ITC Entertainment. It was originally intended to consist of half-hour episodes, but on seeing the preview Grade decided that it would be much more exciting as an hour-long show. Ironically, when screened in the US, episodes are sometimes split into paired half-hours.
Around a dozen novels were published when the series first came out, most by the author John Theydon, some hardcover, most paperback. Two were spinoffs based solely on the adventures of Lady Penelope and Parker. The plots were original, rather than recapitulations of TV episodes. These books are now collectors' items.
Some versions screened in US syndication in the 1990s used re-recorded voices and music, much to the disgust of long-time fans. Even worse was "Turbo-charged Thunderbirds", which replaced the original dialogue with "ironic post-modern" jokes. Gerry Anderson was reportedly furious.
The series was remastered with Dolby Surround sound in 2000. Gerry Anderson, who had not received any royalties on the show since signing away the rights in the late 1960s, was employed as a "remastering consultant".
For approximately three years (2000 - 2003) the satellite channel Boomerang UK broadcast uncut episodes daily, meaning that the complete run of 32 episodes was screened about 34 times.
The Thunderbirds are also screened on TechTV.
A feature film version using live actors is due for release in 2004, directed by Jonathan Frakes. All of the Thunderbird craft seen in the film are based upon the original designs, but with refinements.
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