30 Minutes After Noon
Brains' automaton, Brainman, is back...sort of! This time, there are a group of similar robots used for maximum security at a plutonium plant in the UK.
There is use of both live action and Supermarionation in the same scene in one sequence of the show, allowing for a very realistic-looking manner of telling the story.
Tom Prescott can be heard humming the song "Marina" from the "Stingray" series as he drives along, prior to turning on the radio.
This episode is a clever paean to Hollywood film noir: note the snoopy janitor and his overly-talkative wife in the apartment across from the Hudson Building, the hardboiled, loud-talking detective whose case this becomes, and the obligatory Irish cops who are clueless as to what's going on!
Even though this episode takes place in America, a simple difference in the way the calendar is configured in the Commissioner's office tells us that someone from Britain set it: it reads 12/7/65 one day and 13/7/65 the next, just as would be done in the UK during the month of July.
Because the events take place in July of 2065, we know it follows the events in "Attack Of The Alligator" which takes place in March of the same year.
The imaginative creators and writers of the series managed to predict pink designer cel phones and the common usage of fax machines, supersonic air transport, reusable space shuttles and information-sensitive stylus equipment by the 21st Century. However, they over-anticipated the usage of atomic and nuclear energy, two sources which looked to be promising forms of power in the early '60s.
From the "That just can't happen!" file: With the kind of slow drive-time traffic gridlock in our major cities, there's no way that anyone can manage 30 miles on the streets in 20 minutes' time as Prescott is forced to do!
From the "Curiouser And Curiouser" file: There are already flames at the bottom of the elevator shaft from a fire that only just started on the 10th floor.
And Curiouser still: John is obviously monitoring the fire situation with Brains in Thunderbird 5, but Jeff bypasses them to have Tin-Tin sit at the radio and monitor the reports and then contact Thunderbirds 1 and 2. It comes off as just an excuse to see Tin-Tin's legs as she sits on the edge of Jeff's desk...and to ignore John, as usual!
As with the paintings of race car drivers in "Move And You're Dead," the "talking hats" are a clever cost-cutting method of furthering the story and setting up the next sequence of events.
Reporter Frank Forester just happens to have the same voice as NTBS reporter Ned Cook! (Don't they all)?!
Did you ever notice?: Why does Scott always tell Virgil to "hurry it along" when he already knows he's going at maximum speed?!
The most used lines of the series (in no particular order):
10) "Have some coffee!"
9) "That's enough, Gordon!"
8) "Good (or nice) shooting!"
7) "Come on, baby!"
6) "Ok, John; keep in touch."
5) "Tin-Tin, take a letter."
4) "Yes, M'Lady!"
3) "Paaaaaaar-ker!"
2) "Calling International Rescue!"
1) "Thunderbirds are GO!"