In the mid-1960’s, the UK was gripped by the Radio Caroline phenomenon, a pirate radio station broadcasting from a ship off the English coast without a government license. It was popular for bravely busting the BBC’s broadcasting monopoly and circumventing the restrictive music broadcasting rules of certain record companies. Something about this cool and rebellious concept struck a chord with Gerry Anderson, who theorised that in the future, pirate radio ships would be replaced with pirate radio satellites broadcasting from orbit without a license. It’s a wonderfully inventive notion, and one which I feel is extremely well executed in this episode. The story also gives us a rare Thunderbird 3 mission, a fun guest character, and it gives us a little break from the Penelope based adventures which otherwise dominate the second series.
Category Archives: Reviews
Thunderbirds – 30. Lord Parker’s ‘Oliday
Two new names are brought to the credits of this episode, with a script written by Tony Barwick, and direction from Brian Burgess. Neither of them were new to the world of Thunderbirds. Barwick was hired during the first series to write additional material for the episodes originally created as half hour stories. He continued to work with Gerry Anderson on a number of projects until his death in 1993. Barwick had essentially taken over script editing duties from Alan Pattillo who had turned away from his full time role at the studio by this point. This episode appears to have been Brian Burgess’ first job as a director. He is also credited as production coordinator on Thunderbirds Are Go, and went on to direct five episodes of Captain Scarlet as well as working as visual effects production manager on the series. Burgess then worked as production manager on the live action Anderson feature film, Doppelgänger. Burgess was presumably filling in the gap left by David Elliott and Alan Pattillo after their departures as directors for the series. Lord Parker’s ‘Oliday, and the following Barwick/Burgess episode, Ricochet, perhaps give us a taste of what the series would have been like had it continued past Give Or Take A Million, with new talent rising up through the ranks of the studio to provide their interpretation of the format.
Thunderbirds – 29. Alias Mr. Hackenbacker
Alias Mr. Hackenbacker isn’t exactly one of the most talked about episodes of Thunderbirds. Indeed, before sitting down to watch this one I had no idea what I was going to make of it. The simple fact is that I really enjoyed it. There’s lots of action, intrigue, entertaining characters, great technology, all building to a thrilling conclusion… which admittedly does match the climax of Trapped In The Sky almost shot for shot. Maybe that’s the issue here, or maybe it’s the somewhat cheesy fashion show plot that puts people off this one. The plot elements don’t necessarily gel together perfectly, but for me there’s still a good mix and balance between the fashion show stuff and the revolutionary new aircraft getting hi-jacked stuff. Let’s dive into it!
Thunderbirds – 28. Path of Destruction
Path of Destruction brings the Thunderbirds format right back to basics. A big, yellow, dangerous machine goes out of control and causes mass destruction – International Rescue have to stop it. That’s what it boils down to and that’s probably why people love this story so much. Maybe it’s too simple and contains much that is highly unlikely and highly unfortunate, but hey – this is Thunderbirds and that’s why we love it. There’s a lot that is imperfect, but suspend your disbelief and enjoy this cracking good story.
Thunderbirds – 27. Atlantic Inferno
In order to kick off the second series of Thunderbirds just right, Atlantic Inferno gives us a disaster of epic proportions. The special effects team tackle the difficult task of filming both fire and water in ways which make them look far from miniature. The incredible production value continues to rise from where we left off… it’s almost as if the team were making a movie… well as a matter of fact they were. At the end of the last series, a two month or so break in shooting was taken. In that time all of the sets, models, and regular cast of puppets were revamped to stand up to the scrutiny of appearing on the big screen. On March 3rd 1966, filming began on Thunderbirds Are Go, a feature film starring International Rescue and the Zero-X crew. We’ll talk more about that later. It was deemed possible for the production team and the studios to split down the middle and expandeven further to tackle shooting the movie at the same time as new episodes of the television series. Generally speaking, the more senior members of the crew went to work on the movie while the juniors rose to the challenge of maintaining the high standard of the television series. The division of people and resources meant that the standard schedule of two units shooting two episodes every four weeks was no longer an option. They were down to one unit shooting one episode every four weeks. Let’s see how the changes implemented for Thunderbirds Are Go really affected the second series as we dive in to Atlantic Inferno.
Thunderbirds – 26. Security Hazard
With the schedule incredibly tight and the budget limited, the decision was taken to make the final episode of Thunderbirds’ first series a clip show recycling footage from four previous episodes. As a result, Security Hazard often gets a bad rap for rounding of series one with a fairly uneventful story. I won’t be able to blow your mind and convince you that Security Hazard is the best episode ever, but as clip shows go it’s a good bit of fun and has enough extra goodies in it that you should definitely still include this story in your Thunderbirds marathon regardless.
Thunderbirds – 25. The Cham-Cham
By this point in the production of Thunderbirds, in the final months of 1965, the team were on a roll. They were racing towards the finish line on the first 26 episode commission from Lew Grade. The series had been on air for several weeks now and the public were loving every minute of it. The pressure was on to keep the format fresh and the focus of the series was definitely changing based on the demands of the public, and the wishes of the producers. Those changes would become more evident in the next series but they’re certainly starting to creep at this point too. The Cham-Cham continues the trend of pushing the talents of the puppet department to the limit. The nature of the story makes it very clear that the puppet stars were basically expected to behave like human beings now. The Andersons and their team were truly attempting to compete with the likes of James Bond and the ITC live action adventure series with a movement towards more mature storytelling, lavish locations, and character-driven adventures.
Thunderbirds – 24. Attack of the Alligators!
Picture the meeting that would have taken place at the AP Films studio before this episode went into production, or possibly before it was even written. Alan Pattillo wants to write a story about International Rescue fighting giant alligators. The team decide they’re going to go for it. One can only assume that from a very early stage it was the intention to use real animals on the set. The stories of the production team working with these beasts are legendary. But of course, the alligators are only a part of what makes this episode stand out as an incredible piece of film making, so let’s explore Attack of the Alligators! in as much depth as possible to appreciate the hard work of the AP Films crew.
Thunderbirds – 23. The Duchess Assignment
If I was to tell you there was a Thunderbirds episode all about an old woman with a gambling addiction who decides to rent out a portrait to a New York businessman, and ends up being kidnapped and trapped under a burning building – you probably wouldn’t believe me. If I was to then tell you that in my opinion, it’s one of the best episodes of the entire series you would probably never listen to anything I said ever again. Well you can do that if you like, because The Duchess Assignment is a real episode of Thunderbirds and it is certainly up there as one of my favourites. In my opinion there is just so much that The Duchess Assignment does right to pull off this unconventional story. It has the right amount of comedy, a great rescue, and just about every aspect of the production is extremely well done.
Thunderbirds -22. Danger At Ocean Deep
There is much that is unsaid or downright odd about Danger At Ocean Deep. Firstly, it has nothing to do with the Cliff Richard song, Ocean Deep, from 1983. That much is clear. Secondly, nothing actually takes place deep in the ocean as the title suggests. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, most of the plot is held together by the thinnest of threads that don’t make any sense. The thing is though, the story carries on with such conviction that you may struggle to notice what it is about the episode that doesn’t make any sense. My mind was somewhat blown when I sat down to watch this one again and I realised that I had been fooled for all these years into thinking this was a pretty solid episode with some interesting features. Maybe it still is, so let’s dive in…
Security Hazard 