Day Of Disaster
The rocket featured in this episode---a Martian Probe---is one of the earlier steps leading up to the Zero-X mission seen in "Thunderbirds Are Go." The results of that trip to Mars and further expeditions were the catalyst for the series "Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons."
Safety rules: Though the pilot or crew is seatbelted for take-off on Thunderbirds 1 and 3, the same is not true for takeoffs in Thunderbird 2. Quite often, Gordon or Alan are seen standing up next to Virgil as the ship is angled for departure!
The Hood specializes in ingenious ways to hide his spy camera---in hats, in movie film equipment and even inside a clockwork mouse.
When Thunderbirds returned to the British airwaves on BBC2 in 1991, it was greeted with an amazingly high amount of viewership: approximately 7 million households tuned in.
One of the most difficult toys to obtain recently is the talking Thunderbird 5 which features John Tracy announcing rescue calls. Some stores pulled the toy after the events of September 11, 2001 because one of the announcements states, "A missile is heading for New York!"
Each Tracy son is named for an astronaut from the early US space program; four of them became astronauts, and all five have been into outer space.
Thunderbird 5 is protected from meteors and has a gel core beneath its tiles to absorb any damage and to seal punctures from meteorites and space debris.
The perpetually orbiting John Tracy was the first astronaut among the Tracy boys. He is also a noted writer and astronomer (a good sideline, since he's almost always in outer space).
"Thunderbirds Are Go"---the first theatrical release utilizing Supermarionation---opened with great fanfare at the London Pavilion in December 1966.
Brains often pairs off with Gordon Tracy for games of checkers and chess.
A young man who loves "serious" music and art, Virgil is often teased by his giddy younger brothers, Alan and Gordon. He's known to join them in playing tricks on others, showing he's got a good sense of humor.
Alan's portrait conceals both a map of Tracy Island and the surrounding ocean and a map of the layout of Tracy Villa.
Lady Penelope makes a point of giving Brains weak tea as a presumed American preference, negating that he's spent half of his life being raised in England.
The edible transmitter sequence is mainly...filler! No one ever uses them during the run of the series, and Grandma certainly never needs one since she never goes out on a mission.
The company which owns and operates the Fireflash SST fleet is called Air Terrainean; planes from the fleet appear throughout the series.
The Hood is only ever referred to by an agent number in the series. No real name is ever revealed, but we can draw an inference by the fact that he and Kyrano share the same father.
During the series, it's notable that sibling squabbling arises at any time when the Tracy boys have too much time between rescues. In the novel "Thunderbirds Are Go," Jeff angrily reminds them that the rescue operation is not run for "kicks."
In the hunt for the person who had swallowed the edible transmitter, Jeff orders these young men off to their rooms as if they were errant small children, yet he could have discovered who had ingested it by merely having them step out onto the patio only a few feet away.
Bill and Frank, the two mission crew members aboard the rocket, are wearing Cape Kennedy patches, in keeping with the NASA space program of the day.
An unspoken rivalry exists uniting the Tracy brothers and Brains which is evident from time to time. Gordon, Brains and John all want just as much to be thought of as being capable of rendering assistance as Scott, Virgil and Alan are.
Brains' line, "Listen to me, John," can be heard many times over in the dance mix " 5 4 3 2 1," by Twenty65, a hit in clubs throughout the UK and Europe in 2000.
Gordon, being rather more rambunctious and unconventional than his older brothers, rarely wears his IR hat when on a mission, this episode's rescue being an exception.
Parker was featured as a hip-hop DJ in a Japanese video featuring a dance mix combination of the theme from "Stingray" and "The March Of The Thunderbirds."
As seen in the film "Thunderbirds Are Go," it's a sure bet that Alan was having a fit at the thought of Gordon, Scott, Brains and Virgil having a brief holiday with Lady Penelope at her mansion.
Items found in John's room aboard Thunderbird 5 prior to its remodeling include numerous books and language guides, a globe, a framed photo, a potted plant and his diploma from Harvard University.
Gordon's rule for releasing rocket capsules is the same as his rule for playing football: when pressed for time---punt!
Parker's personality was modeled on that of a waiter who was once in service to the royal family at Windsor Castle. His appearance was fashioned on that of 1950s music hall star Ben Warris.