The Martian Excursion Vehicle (MEV) formed part of Zero X, the crew of which drove the former on the surface of Mars in the movie Thunderbirds Are Go.
During the Zero X mission in the year 2067, the MEV landed on the surface of Mars to survey the landscape and collect rock samples to take back to Earth. The mission was aborted when the MEV and crew were attacked by vicious Martian Rock Snakes, which fired blazing and explosive fireballs from all directions. The attack was so intense that the MEV began to overheat, and the crew were even forced to abandon their countdown for rendezvous with the Zero-X main body, and take off ahead of time.
Gallery[]
The MEV being connected to the main body of Zero X
Heat shield is attached
Zero X Crew and passengers inside the MEV
Attacked by Rock Snakes
The MEV under fire
Lifting off from Mars
Firing retros
Trivia[]
- The MEV reappeared in the very first episode of later AP Films production Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, the series which immediately followed Thunderbirds. There, it was called the Martian Exploration Vehicle. It was refitted with a missile launcher between the treads, as demonstrated when Captain Black gives the order to destroy the Mysteron base. It also appears to have had a redesign of its cockpit interior.
The new cockpit of the vehicle.
- The MEV model has survived until today, though without its original front canopy. At the request of prop dealing firm The Prop Gallery, it was fitted with a replacement canopy by Mastermodels, the same company that had built the model almost 50 years earlier.
- In the 1990s, model-maker Martin Bower built a model marked MEV 3. It appeared on the cover of The New Thunderbirds Comic, issue 71.
The surviving MEV model
The restored MEV model
The MEV 3 on the cover of
The New Thunderbirds Comic (1994)
The New Thunderbirds Comic (1994)