Thunderbirds

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ITV (ended 1966)
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Show Summary

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In 2065, former astronaut and millionaire Jeff Tracy forms an secret organization named International Rescue. Its mission is to intervene when human life is at threat and nobody else is able to help. They're based on a small tropical island in the Pacific. While it appears to all the world as a reclusive millionaire's retreat, complete with luxurious hillside house (appropriately in the International Style of architecture) and swimming pool, hidden beneath the house and inside a cliff face are various facilities for the enormous complex where their equipment is built, maintained and stored. The equipment, including the specialized Thunderbird vehicles, is designed and assembled by Brains, a brilliant engineer fiercely loyal to Jeff. Supporting the team is Lady Penelope, a famous society figure who secretly acts as their London operative, assisted by her butler, Parker.''''The five Thunderbird craft are piloted by each of Jeff's five sons, all named after members of America's Mercury program:''''- Thunderbird 1, piloted by Scott, named after Scott Carpenter. This ramjet-powered plane is their fastest aircraft, always first on the scene to assess the situation and coordinate the rescue.''- Thunderbird 2, piloted by Virgil (after Virgil "Gus" Grissom." A fan favorite, Thunderbird 2 is the heavy lift air transport, responsible for carrying all manner of large and bulky machinery to rescue sites.''- Thunderbird 3 is piloted by Alan (after Alan Shepard) or John (after John Glenn,) depending on who is on station in Thunderbird 5. 3 is the spaceship for International Rescue.''- Thunderbird 4, piloted by Gordon (after Gordon Cooper), is a mini-submarine usually carried to sites inside Thunderbird 2.''- Thunderbird 5 is manned by John and Alan on rotating monthly shifts. It's an orbital space platform where all communications around the world can be monitored and issues alerts to Jeff whenever trouble arises.''''International Rescue insists on complete secrecy. Their identities aren't known to anyone outside the organization and photography of their equipment is forbidden.''''Thunderbirds was produced by Gerry Anderson and was the culmination of his Supermarionation process, which used marionette puppets instead of live actors. Originally intended for children, the show still has a devoted fanbase of adult viewers, both in the United Kingdom where it originated and in the United States, where it was syndicated in the 1960s and 70s. The series spawned three theatrical features. Thunderbirds Are Go! and Thunderbird Six were produced soon after the series left the air, although neither met with box office success. In 2004, a live action feature of the same name was made without Anderson's involvement. It drew scathing comments from professional movie reviewers who compared it unfavorably to the original show.moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 2 :  Ep 5 Aired 10/23/66
S 1 :  Ep 32 Aired 12/25/66
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S 1 :  Ep 31 Aired 11/6/66
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S 1 :  Ep 30 Aired 1/1/66
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S 1 :  Ep 29 Aired 10/16/66
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Fan Reviews (9)

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  • FAB Thunderbirds Are Go!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By whyofbladez, Jun 20, 2011 Report Abuse
    Specialized marionettes combined with terrific special effects and great voice acting equal a fantastic series such as this. Everything which puts CGI to shame.

    For many years now, man has worked to perfect the material things in this world, and he's done pretty well for himself. If a building falls down, he can soon build it up again. With life, it's different. (Jeff Tracy, voice of Peter Dyneley; 01x22 Danger at Ocean Deep) This is the object of International Rescue, a secret organization run by retired billionaire Jeff Tracy, and his five brave sons; Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan, all of whom pilot the Thunderbird craft. We follow the various daring rescues made by the organization.

    I will not lie, the works of Gerry Anderson were unknown to me for a long time. I only discovered his works in puppetry and beyond a year ago. As a kid however, I have vague memories of my dad having an episode ("Day of Disaster") on before I went to bed. I walked in on the disaster scene when the Martian Space Probe falls off the Allington Bridge. Being a fragile little twit, I was terrified by the puppets. I also think I have vauge memories of seeing some of the stupid FOX Kids redubs from the 90's.

    Compared to today's effortless and redundant craze with CGI, "Thunderbirds" and by extent all other Supermarionation series are a rarity. What sets "Thunderbirds" apart from the others is the heartwarming plotline, the innovative special effects which would be used commonly in the future and all the iconic characters of the series. Those are certainly reasons I love the series.

    The series has held up greatly for a series made in the 1960's and is still enjoyable to this day. While the series didn't have the unpredictable and particularly dark outcome that its successor series did, the fun was watching how International rescue pulled off their impossible rescues; no matter how much you knew they'd overcome in the end with heart warming results.moreless

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  • Ready for adventure!

    8.0
    "Great"
    By DojinFan_2K, Nov 20, 2008 Report Abuse
    Thunderbirds is the 1967 British Sci-Fi adventure series created by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson (who would later make the more serious sci-fi series Space:1999) in which all the characters were marionettes (labeled as "Supermarionation").

    The series tells the adventures of the Tracy family, a widower & his 5 sons who run a secret organization called International Rescue that performs rescues from hazardous situations whether the disaster is caused by man, machine, or even nature.

    Despite it's campy appearance, this was 1 of the best syndicated kid's shows ever to hit American TV, long before the advent of Japanese animation.

    And as a proud fan since i first saw this show on Chicago TV back in the 1970's, it gives me a thrill every time that famous Thunderbirds theme right after the opening countdown & that famous line: THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!!moreless

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  • Awful Puppeteering, or the Best Show that Gerry Anderson ever created.

    8.6
    "Great"
    By CirrusC, Jul 17, 2007 Report Abuse
    F.A.B is the word.
    Tracy is the Name.
    Thunderbirds are go.

    A fantatsic show, espiecially for its time. of course the Puppets weren't always the most reliable, but the story telling and the action were fantastic, although at times slightly predictable.
    It was even set in a time were it was possible for the technology to be plausable. It was fantastically planned.
    My personal Favorite was Thunderbird 4 and the Mole, but everyone had their Favorites. That is what made it awesome, everyone who watched had their own individual aspect they enjoyed about it. A Legend of a Program. Even the Movie was relativly accurate. Its a Rare show that can pull it off.

    FAB is all i have to saymoreless

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  • Nice one!

    6.7
    "Fair"
    By da_dunker, Apr 30, 2007 Report Abuse
    You know what I like about this show: it takes me back in time to the days when I loved to play with toys, the days when I used to spend the whole afternoon in the bedroom of a friend of mine playing on the floor with our toys, late into the night, imitating the sound of jet engines with our mouths, crashing our plastic planes into one another, mimicking gunfights, battles, explosions. A few weeks ago I was surprised to find that Chilean TV is replaying the show on Sundays. Last time I had seen one episode must have been fifteen years ago or more, I don't know. I watched and I found myself transported through time back to those days. I can't play with toys anymore, I have lost that childhood thing for toys. But watching the show I re-live the magic of toys, I feel again the beauty and the spell of toy trains, toy cars, toy trucks, toy soldiers, toy planes, etc. And I didn't remember the show looking so gorgeously great on TV (perhaps the reason for that is that back then I watched the show in black and white). Big fun from past!moreless

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  • Thunderbirds was a major part of my childhood.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By D-LinkUK, Dec 11, 2006 Report Abuse
    Everything stopped for Thunderbirds. It did not matter how many times we watched the episodes they remained as fresh as the first viewing. There is a lot of camp humour about the puppets dangling around on their strings but I never noticed that much due to the brilliant idea of never making the characters actually walk. Seriously you watch the TV episodes again you never see anyone put one foot in front of the other. Even the lithe brave Tracys scoot around on little hoverbikes that defy all the laws of physics.

    All this did not matter I simply adored everything about the Thunderbirds series. If I was not watching it I was building Thunderbird craft out of LEGO or sawing the crude wheels of the few Thunderbird toys that were available. Then Captain Scarlet came along and shot down the Thunderbirds. That was quite a good series but it never gripped me as much. Then the years rolled by with only TV21 to keep my appetite for the show nourished until even that with its full colour photos from the show came to an end. Reluctantly I had to leave the Tracy's world and return to my own. AND THEN! The entire series was released on DVD. I had to own it! With trepidation I inserted the first disk . Would the show seem childish and crude against my current diet of StarTrek, Starwars and all the others. Not a bit, as soon as that countdown began once again and the screen was rocked by those explosions I had seen so many times before I was hooked ! Again I was amazed at how fresh and alive the episodes are even after all these years. Even the special effects hold their own in our CGI world. Thunderbirds is an absolute classic. If you have never watched it then I envy you.moreless

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