Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation". more...

Home
Action Figures
A-Team
Action Man
Alien/ Aliens
Austin Powers
Babylon 5
Batman
Battle Of The Planets
Bruce Lee
Buffy & Angel
Captain America
Collections/ Bulk Lots
Daredevil
Doctor Who
Dragon
Dragonball Z
Evangelion
Fantastic Four
Final Fantasy
Ghostbusters
GI Joe/ Action Force
Godzilla
Green Goblin
Green Lantern
Gundam
Halo
Hawkgirl
Hellboy
Hellraiser
Incredible Hulk
Incredibles
Iron Man
James Bond
Jurassic Park
Justice League of America
Kill Bill
Kubrick
Lord of the Rings
M.A.S.K.
Macross
Marvel Legends
Marx
Masters of the Universe
Matrix
McFarlane
Mego
Micronauts
Other Action Figures
Planet of the Apes
Power Rangers
Predator
Qee
Reservoir Dogs
Resident Evil
Robotech
Shrek
Six Million Dollar Man
Small Soldiers
Smurfs
Spawn
Spider-Man
Star Trek
Star Wars
Stargate
Street Fighter
Superman
Teen Titans
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Terminator
Thunderbirds
Thundercats
Tomb Raider
Toy Story
Transformers
Wonder Woman
Wrestling
X-Files
X-Men
Xena
Zoids
Beanies
Construction Toys & Kits
Diecast & Vehicles
Toys & Games
Wargames & Role-Playing

The series followed the adventures of International Rescue, an organisation created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment and machinery. The series focused on the head of the organisation, ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, and his five sons who piloted the "Thunderbird" machines. A popular show, the series is still shown today and has inspired a number of subsequent television programmes and films.

Origins

Thunderbirds was the fifth Supermarionation children's series made by Gerry Anderson's AP Films (later Century 21 Productions). The logo of Supermarionation had previously been seen in the shows Supercar, Fireball XL5, and Stingray. Gerry Anderson came up with the concept for the series after hearing about a German mine disaster in 1963. The heavy equipment needed to rescue the miners was located far away - transportation time was a major hindrance in ensuring the survival of the miners. The "race against time" element is one of the recurring themes in Thunderbirds. The show's title derived from a letter written to his family by Anderson's older brother, while he was serving in the United States during World War II. In the letter, he referred to an American Air Force base called "Thunderbird Field".

Many of the crew came directly from APF's previous production Stingray, but for Thunderbirds the crew was expanded, and was shot at A.P. Films' ever growing studio at Stirling Road, Slough, Berkshire. It was APF's first one-hour series. Thunderbirds had been in production for several months when ITC Entertainment boss Lew Grade was shown the completed pilot episode, "Trapped in the Sky", and he was reportedly so excited with the result that he immediately instructed Anderson and his team to expand all the episodes from 25 minutes to 50 minutes. This initially proved to be a headache as nine episodes had already been completed.

Production commenced in 1964 and the show premiered on British television on 30 September 1965 in the ATV Midlands region. Other ITV regions followed, including London on 25 December 1965. Two series were produced, comprising thirty-two episodes in total.

Plot

Set in the 21st century (the actual year remains a hot topic amongst fans, due to contradictory dates seen on newspapers and calendars in different episodes, though Gerry Anderson stated in a Sci-Fi interview that it was set in 2065) the show depicts the adventures of the Tracy family, which consists of millionaire former astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five sons: Scott (pilot of Thunderbird 1 and principal rescue co-ordinator), Virgil (pilot of Thunderbird 2), Alan (astronaut in Thunderbird 3), Gordon (aquanaut in Thunderbird 4) and John (principal duty astronaut on the space station Thunderbird 5) - each named after a Mercury astronaut - Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper and John Glenn, respectively. Together with Jeff's elderly mother called Grandma Tracy, the scientific genius and engineer "Brains", the family's manservant Kyrano and his daughter Tin-Tin, the Tracy family live on a remote, uncharted Pacific island (Tracy Island). They are, in secret, the members of International Rescue, a private and highly-advanced emergency response organisation, which covers the globe and even reaches into space, rescuing people with their futuristic vehicles, the Thunderbirds.

Read more at Wikipedia.org