- Not to be confused with the audio story.
"Introducing Thunderbirds" is the first of The Anniversary Episodes, successfully funded through Kickstarter on August 9th 2015. It is an adaptation of the audio story of the same name.
Plot[]
Lady Penelope and Parker head to the elusive Tracy Island in order to discover more about International Rescue. There, they witness the Thunderbird craft in action for the very first time.
Cast[]
- Lady Penelope: Sylvia Anderson
- Jeff Tracy: Peter Dyneley
- Parker: David Graham
- Brains: David Graham (voice only; not seen on screen)
- Scott Tracy: Shane Rimmer (stock footage only)
- Virgil Tracy: David Holliday (stock footage only)
Cameos (silent characters)[]
- John Tracy (stock footage only)
- Gordon Tracy (stock footage only)
- Alan Tracy (stock footage only)
International Rescue Equipment Used[]
- Thunderbird 1
- Thunderbird 2 (Pod 4)
- Thunderbird 3
- Thunderbird 4
- Thunderbird 5
- FAB 1
- FAB (yacht)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This story is set before the events of Trapped in the Sky, with International Rescue almost ready to begin operating.
- Jeff's sons, and Brains, appear via archive footage from several original-series episodes.
- Archive footage of Tracy Island and of all of the original launch scenes were reused for this episode.
- Although Kyrano doesn't appear in person in this episode (see Deleted Scenes, below), Jeff does name-check him when he invites Penelope to dinner ("...Kyrano is an excellent cook.").
- This is the second episode (after - or is it before? - The Mighty Atom) to show all five Thunderbirds in action.
- One of the paintings on the wall of the Tracy Lounge is the work "Mexican Plain," by fictional artist Bud Hassler, previously seen in the Supercar episode A Little Art.
Deleted Scenes[]
While Introducing Thunderbirds remains faithful to its source material, several exchanges were cut from the original audio, including:
- After naming all five Tracy brothers, Lady Penelope mentions Brains as the genius behind the craft, and Tin-Tin's role as engineer. Jeff further mentions Grandma to round off their operation.
- When asked how private his organisation is, Jeff comments that no-one else knows about International Rescue - though he's seen reports of a man working under the melodramatic alias of 'the Hood,' attempting to steal their secrets. This scene is important, as Lady Penelope and Parker have already faced the Hood (in the TV Century 21 story The Vanishing Ray) - which, chronologically, took place immediately prior to Introducing Thunderbirds. Blazing Danger would depict an alternate take on Penelope and Parker's first visit to the island.
- Before Jeff, Penny and Parker head off to see the four island-based Thunderbirds put through their paces, Kyrano steps in with tea and welcomes Lady Penelope.
Goofs[]
- Due to stock footage from Danger at Ocean Deep and Sun Probe being used in Thunderbird 3's launch sequence, Alan's off-duty clothes changes.