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"Cut down on those S'mores, you're makin' me nuts!"
Jeff Tracy, having quite enough of the Hack Masters.

"Martian Invasion" is the second episode of Turbocharged Thunderbirds, first airing on December 25th, 1994. It was also the twenty-fourth episode of the original Thunderbirds series.

Plot[]

Tripp mistakes a major motion picture shoot for a real alien invasion. Jeff believes it to be a deliberate case of teenage hijinks, and continues to ignore the boy even when the film is sabotaged. Can Roxette persuade Mr. T to check out the scene and put an end to The Atrocimator's latest scheme?

Cast[]

Hack-Masters-Logo

Johna Stewart: Roxette

Travis Wester: Tripp

Tim Curry: The Atrocimator

Efrem Zimbalist Jr.: Jeff Tracy

Glynis Barber: Lady Penelope

Malachi Throne: The Hood, Fletcher, S.A.L.

David Naughton: Maguire (Uncredited), Scott Tracy, Virgil Tracy, Goldheimer

Dan Castellaneta: Allen Tracy, Slim, The Martian

Quotes[]

"Tripp, you really need to cut down on your Sugar intake."

  • Roxette has every right to be concerned, because...


"What's the alert for bad acting?"

  • That's a very good question, Tripp.


"Y'know, someday I'm going to be a glamorous movie star."

"Yeah right! That'll be the same day they open an anti-gravity water slide on the dark side of the moon!"

"You'll see!"

  • Both Roxette and Tripp discuss their future.


"O-Okay Hackers we-ee'll be sure to look into it, have a good tiiiime, hahahahaha..."

  • Jeff Tracy won't be lead on any wild goose chase, even if it turns out true.


"WUUUHHHHHH! The Hood crashed in uninviteeeeeed!"

Trivia[]

  • This was the final episode to feature Malachi Throne's voice acting. To replace him in the next episode, Michael Sorich would make a passing imitation of his voice for The Hood, while Dan Castellaneta took over as an incredibly high-pitched and emotive S.A.L.. No in-canon reason is given for the S.A.L.'s sudden radical vocal change. Or at least arguably until Sun Probe.
  • Speaking of voices, Slim sounds virtually identical to Louie from long-running animated television series The Simpsons. This is due to actor Dan Castellaneta performing both characters.
  • The so-called "Martian" crafts seen on the title card are in actual fact rescue jets, with the image lifted directly from Operation Crash-Dive and reused again in The Impostors.
  • Footage of Lady Penelope talking with Jeff through her compact in the backseat of FAB 1 originated from Atlantic Inferno, while the brief shot of FAB 1 on the underpass was seen in Trapped in the Sky.
  • When The Hood mutters how his explosion went according to plan, Fletcher nods in agreement, suggesting he's another agent of The Atrocimator. It's more than likely the footage overran to create an error.
  • S.A.L. has a profile on The Hood, detailing him as:
    • I.D.: HOOD
    • Occupation: BAD GUY.
    • Description: VERY LARGE BALD HEAD.
    • Eyebrows: TOO BIG.

Goofs[]

  • During a montage of the Hood's evil-doing's, a clip is played from Edge Of Impact, an episode that had yet to happen.
  • Speaking of misplaced clips, a short excerpt from City of Fire (where the Thompson Tower explodes) is worked into the story twice; first after the explosive charges detonate the mountain, and later when the Hood crashes his stolen plane. Not only does it look completely out-of-place with both scenes, but City of Fire furthermore never underwent the Turbocharged treatment.
  • Despite being shot from the back, the visual reaction (head, cheek and chin bone movements) of Tripp's "Wooooooahhh! Splendid effects!" line doesn't match the audio at all.
  • A rather soft, feminine chuckle can be heard after Jeff Tracy hangs up on the Hack Masters. This is more than likely the script supervisor reading his lines to both actors on set (later to be dubbed over by the voice actor), but was accidentally retained in the final cut.
  • In the original Martian Invasion, it's estimated the cavern would fill with water in a few hours (thus giving International Rescue plenty of time to arrive). For Turbocharged, the time is cut down to a virtually unrealistic eleven minutes.
    • By the time Roxette dressed up as Lady Penelope, suggests Jeff to rescue the actors, who then calls in Scott and Virgil to brief them on the mission, board, prepare, launch both Thunderbird craft, and fly halfway around the world to the desert, there is still over five minutes to implement the rescue.
  • If the Atrocimator can appear in the sky and evidently not be seen by anyone, why does he need the Hood to secretly record footage of International Rescue? All he has to do is draw them to the scene and watch the rescues for himself.
  • Right before Jeff Tracy contacts Scott in Thunderbird 1 to recover the film negative, a shot of Thunderbird 2 flying left-to-right (lifted most likely from season 2) is played. Given we see Scott in the pilot seat (which belongs in Thunderbird 1) immediately after the shot, it's suggested that he is flying Thunderbird 2. Nor does it help that he is facing right-to-left, and the next scene has him chasing the Hood in Thunderbird 1 left-to-right again.
  • Jeff Tracy name-drops the Hood, despite never seeing him before, let alone have anyone beyond Lady Penelope and Scott get even the faintest idea what he looks like. Either it was an error, or the pair somehow knew each other before the series began.
  • In between scenes during the third act, Jeff undergoes a drastic change of clothing with no in-canon explanation. Reason for the switch is due to use of different stock footage, from Martian Invasion to Ricochet.
  • The CGI model of the Hood's plane looks nothing like the physical model.
  • A few seconds of the Hood's failed landing is slowed down for unknown reasons, making the footage look very choppy.
  • Once again, David Naughton went uncredited for voicing a character. This time around it was Maguire, despite having a major role in the episode.

Gallery[]

Foreign Name[]

  • Japanese: Invasion Of Martians (火星人の襲来)
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