Terror in New York City

Terror in New York City
Season 1, Episode 4

Air date

21st October 1965

Written by

Alan Fennell

Directed by

David Elliott and David Lane

Episode Guide

previous	next
The Perils of Penelope	Edge Of Impact

"She's coming down - right on top of us!"
— Ned Cook

"Terror In New York City" is the fourth episode of Season 1, originally broadcast on 21st October 1965.

Plot[]

When Thunderbird 2 is attacked - and incapacitated - while returning from a rescue mission, International Rescue is forced to use different means to transport Thunderbird 4 to New York City, where the collapse of the Empire State Building has trapped a reporter and his cameraman in an underground river...

Storyline[]

Main article: Terror in New York City/Storyline

Transcript[]

Main article: Terror In New York City/Transcript

Cast[]

Regular Characters[]

Guest Characters[]

Cameo Roles[]

Crowd Scenes[]

International Rescue Equipment Used[]

Non-International Rescue Equipment Used[]

Locations[]

Trivia[]

The working title for this episode was Terror of New York.
This episode features the first on-screen appearance of Thunderbird 4.
The red gantry supporting Thunderbird 2 in the Tracy Island hangar appears again as part of the Empire State Building atomic moving gantry. This same gantry was also previously seen to the right of the Sun Probe in the episodes Sun Probe and The Perils of Penelope. It also appears as part of the Australian Atomic Plant at the start of The Mighty Atom.

On 13 October 1965, AVRO aired a Dutch-dubbed, black-and-white version of Terror in New York City in the Netherlands, 8 days before it first aired in the UK.
When broadcast in half hour "cliffhanger" editions, part one concludes on the commercial break when Ned and Joe stare up in horror as the Empire State Building collapses atop of them.
In the Thunderbirds Are Go! episode Earthbreaker, Thunderbird 2 suffers a similar attack and crash-landing to what it experienced in this episode, except that the attack in Earthbreaker is a deliberate assault by a new villain rather than the accidental assault it was here.

FAB1 (Terror in New York) — FAB 1's cameo

Despite Lady Penelope neither appearing nor mentioned in the episode, FAB 1 can be seen briefly parked behind the Bubble Top Police Cars.

Goofs[]

When TV cameraman Joe falls into the cavern, the cover on the back of his head - which allows access to the puppet's internal mechanisms - is seen flying off.

The "Ultra Short Wave" device inside the Mobile Radio Control Police Van is labelled "Ulta Short Wave".

When Thunderbird 4 is shaken by the shock of the Fulmer Finance Building's collapse, water can be seen running down the outside of the aquarium positioned in front of the model set.

At The Ned Cook Show, Doctor Godber is seen sitting in front of Bletcher, with around three rows of seats behind him. In the next shot, he appears with two rows behind him, sitting in front of Jeff.

Jeff Tracy calls Washington to arrange the Sentinel to pick up Thunderbird 4 for the journey to New York. The man in Washington responds "It's the least we can do, Mr Tracy". So at least one person knows that Jeff is in charge of, or at least involved with, International Rescue. This betrays the secrecy of the organization that Jeff himself insists on.
When Thunderbird 2 comes in for its crash landing, the palm trees are lowered to give the required wing clearance as they are when TB2 takes off. However the firefighting equipment that is raised from the ground is shown to be right along the edge of the runway, making the runway too narrow again. TB2 somehow manages to fit between them anyway.

Alternate Versions[]

Thunderbirds (FOX Kids Series)[]

Main article: Terror in New York City (Fox Kids Series)

Thunderbirds The Comic[]

In 1992, several episodes of Thunderbirds were adapted into comic book format for Fleetway's Thunderbirds The Comic series with Terror in New York City among the first. Written by Alan Fennell and illustrated by Keith Page, the 12 page adaptation was spread over 3 issues, emulating the presentation of the 1960's TV Century 21 stories.

This compressed version of the episode retained most of the plot, though with a few changes in dialogue, along with switching minor character roles. The most notable change occurred in the final panel, where John Tracy and Kyrano were added to accompany the rest of his family in attending The Ned Cook Show.

Foreign Titles[]

German: Desaster in New York
French: Terreur à New York
Italian Attacco dal mare
Spanish: Terror en la Ciudad de Nueva York; Terror en Nueva York (DVD)
Dutch: Paniek in New York City (TV); Paniek in New York (VHS); De verschrikking van New York (DVD)
Portuguese: Terror na Cidade de Nova York
Japanese: ニューヨークの恐怖