Thunderbirds S1 E10: Martian Invasion

"This is International Rescue. Now I'm requesting you to stop and hand over the film of the rescue operation.
Now do as I ask, please!
If you don't hand over the film now I'm going to have to use more persuasive methods."

-Scott Tracy (voiced by Shame Rimmer)-




Yes, it's FAB FRIDAY! And the latest heavenly creation from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
Martian Invasion has little to do with actual real Martians or aliens. It's almost refreshing when you consider UFO (1970-1973) and Space:1999 (1975-1977) as Anderson productions. The Martians here are simply part of a science fiction film production. The film being produced features Martians attacking two police officers. With the set sabotaged by the sinister Hood two of the actors lives are jeopardized and International Rescue is called in to save the day.



Earlier The Hood reaches through to his brother, Kyrano, with a mind link and manipulates his brother, a man servant to the Tracy family on Tracy island, to disable the automatic camera detector within Thunderbird 1 to allow the evil Hood to further his quest to film International Rescue gear in action at the behest of a powerful employer.

Without question Thunderbirds, Series One, Episode 10, Martian Invasion proves yet again to be an endlessly entertaining kids' show loaded with fantastic equipment for the big kid inside all of us. If you're a kid at heart you just never tire of the model and effects work compliments of Derek Meddings and Brian Johncock.



Meddings to remind everyone offered significant modelling contributions to some of my personally favorite James Bond films in the Roger Moore years. Live And Let Die (1973), The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979) and For Your Eyes Only. All feature the late craftsman's handiwork. He even worked on the Pierce Brosnan incarnation of the 007 franchise with Goldeneye (1995). He worked on The Land That Time Forgot (1975), which also featured Shane Rimmer (the voice of Scott Tracy), and provided major contributions to Superman (1978) and Batman (1989) before he passed away in 1995.



Brian Johncock, here, later Brian Johnson, was THE man on Space:1999, and notably Alien (1979) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Thunderbirds 1 and 2 are spotlighted here complemented by Pod 5 and the Excavator on display here to shine.



As always the special vehicles of Thunderbirds have their moments in the sun. To date we've enjoyed the Elevator Cars (S1 E1 Trapped In The Sky), Recovery Vehicles (S1 E2 Pit Of Peril), The Firefly (S1 E3 City Of Fire), the Transmitter Truck (S1 E4 Sun Probe), The Mole (in some of the aforementioned episodes), and now finally the Excavator, the most exciting pod vehicle since those aforementioned. The machine digs, grinds and essentially spits out the powdered by-product through its ass end rear pipes until it inevitably reaches the water where the two trapped men are minutes away from drowning. Always a thrill.



Now a few questions. How is it the brother, Kyrano, of one of the world's great villains manages to receive employ with International Rescue? After all the Tracy family is a staunch advocate to the absolute secrecy of their organization. They have money. Were background checks even performed? Is the diabolical Hood really that ingenious? I understand The Hood is a mystery and the Tracy family are nice people. Scott Tracy even pleads with the bad guy using the word "please." My how times have changed.



The remainder of the episode sees Scott and Virgil in their respective rescue vehicles working to reclaim and hunt down the film taken of their rescue mission. Can you imagine the nightmare these people would have in age of the modern handheld camera phones? Even if the automatic camera detector disabler wasn't working you would have difficulty trying to collect every device in the area to be sure.



In the end The Hood crashes and Scott Tracy simply assumes the film could never survive the crash. Is this really good practice by an elite, top secret group, crossing their proverbial 'T's and dotting their "I"s? I think not.

Still, Thunderbirds is infinitely entertaining and colorful. The magic of Supermarionation just pulls us in to their mesmerizing world as if even viewers are led by strings. That fab world is compliments of Gerry And Sylvia Anderson and it is on full display here for yet another fantastic FAB FRIDAY!



Writer: Alan Fennell.
Director: David Elliott.
Notable Thunderbirds: Thunderbird 1, Thunderbird 2, The Excavator, Hoverbike.

Thunderbirds S1 E9: Move - And You're Dead

Welcome to FAB FRIDAY and all things vibrant and vivid from the future worlds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.

 

"Gerry's great strengths were his ideas and his leadership, his ability to bring a team of people together and to see what people might be capable of."

-Terry Curtis, sculptor and prop developer for Thunderbirds, UFO and Space:1999 [FAB #44, p.39, 2002]-





At the time of writing this entry this writer learned of a massive car race crash in the first lap in Vila Real, Portugal. How fitting.

The latest entry in the Gerry Anderson series, Thunderbirds, centers on a kidnapping at the Parola Sands Grand Prix car race highlighting Thunderbird 3 pilot and racing star Alan Tracy in a bit of further developing its wooden character base.



In Thunderbirds, Series One, Episode 9, Move - And You're Dead the story begins with Alan Tracy and Grandma Tracy atop a red bridge loaded with explosives. The two must remain still or die. Perhaps the title could have been Move Very Slowly And You Won't Die because Alan manages to move a little bit and get a request for help off to his family at International Rescue.

Normal protocols are implemented and trusty Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 2 are dispatched to save Alan and poor old Grandma who has now passed out on the bridge.



How did they get there? The story is told effectively through flashback. Sadly and oddly enough some of Alan's old racing buddies, not really friends at all, have taken to the criminal world for prize money.

The race is energized quite enough with a number of critical, well-timed car crashes at the edit points in the story. This writer laughed out loud a few times with their effective placements. It is highly amusing just how perfect some crashes are set up to elevate the excitement for young viewer's eyes.



The world of tomorrow is always interesting in Thunderbirds and the parking garage at which Alan arrives at is something to behold as it functions in much the same way as a dock with a loading arm for storage containers at a port of entry.

Alan's red race car is also very fast and very cool thanks to engineer Brains. Is that even fair? What are the rules required for these races? I mean Alan Tracy has Brains. Something smells here.



I remember attempting to help my son create a pine wood derby car (speaking of Pine Wood ... Studios) for Cub Scouts once upon a time. I was no Brains and had no friends with brains and unfortunately we rarely had a prayer against some of the parents who designed their son's cars built for speed. No chance. Why even try? So at the very least I decided I would assist my son, but let him build and paint the car as he saw fit. No amount of well-placed weights seemed to help us reduce friction in the past and we were often knocked out in the second or third round anyway. Nevertheless there was a justice one year as he won Best Kid's Car because he legitimately built it and painted himself and you know what you could tell. True story if not as exciting as Thunderbirds. I digress.




Move - And You're Dead is replete with exciting sound effects of motor car racing which amplifies the less than thrilling affair. But the episode's final segment involving the rescue is completely laughable, but does allow for the use of the family's vast arsenal of rescue equipment. I mean Grandma jumps from the bridge onto an air cushion device with pinpoint precision that sees Alan and the senior floating in the air. Oh my God.

The baddies are stopped by Thunderbird 1 and the rare utilization of a machine gun at the tip of the craft.



Grandma and Alan are rescued of course and Alan is surprisingly refreshed in the cockpit of the Thunderbird 2 after nearly passing out for an hour waiting for his brothers to arrive in a nick of time. So of course expect some lapses in logic for the adult set.

Move - And You're Dead is certainly imperfect as adult fare, but for the kiddies there is plenty to love and enjoy in the entry. So get moving and show this to your kids or grandkids before you're dead.

Writer: Alan Pattillo. Director: Alan Patillo.
Notable Thunderbirds: T1/T2. With Neutralizer Tractor, Jet Air Transporter and BR2 Race Car.

This is our first episode covering the series utilizing the restored Blu-Ray release.