Paul Travers

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Paul Travers
Date of Birth	Unknown, age 34
Employer	Solar System Exploration Centre
Occupation	Astronaut, captain of the Zero X
Family and Known Associates	Ray Pierce (Zero X crew member) Tony Grant (Zero X crew member) Greg Martin (Zero X co-pilot) Brad Newman (Zero X navigator)
Appearances	Thunderbirds Are Go Zero X comic Planet of Bones
Voiced by	Paul Maxwell (1966) Wayne Forester (2020)

"Thunderbird 2 from Zero X. All in escape unit, except me. I can do better than the automatic pilot in holding this craft steady. I'll go back into the escape unit either when it's fixed, or when we're at zero feet..."

Paul Travers is the captain of Zero X space exploration craft, in which he became one of the first men to explore Mars.

Biography

Early Life

A very brief biography was published on Paul in issue 124 of TV Century 21. He was born in Newman City, and when he was 17 years old he joined a private firm of space freighters. Sometime later he would join the Solar System Exploration Committee as a trainee pilot.

Doomed Mission to Mars

Paul, along with his co-captain Greg Martin, navigator Brad Newman, and scientists Ray Pierce and Tony Grant, were the crew of the original Mark I Zero X, which crashed briefly after takeoff due to an unintentional act of sabotage by the Hood, who had snuck aboard to photograph the craft's internals.

Captain Paul Travers, far right, at the controls of Zero X (Thunderbirds Are Go)

Two years later he returned to helm the Mark II Zero X in Thunderbirds Are Go along with his orignal crew. After a successful takeoff from Earth, the crew reached the surface of Mars where they discovered the Martian Rock Snakes. Coming under attack from the aliens, the crew made a hurried departure from the planet and returned to Earth. On their re-entry, the Zero X developed an electrical fault which caused one of the lifting bodies to crash into the main body of the craft, and also resulted in the disabling of the emergency escape unit. Without both lifting bodies in place, the craft was unable to generate enough lift to make a proper landing and was on a crash course with the town of Craigsville. Travers opted to remain in command of the craft while International Rescue repaired the circuity in order to re-enable to escape unit, as he believed he could do a better job of keeping the craft steady than the autopilot. The wiring was fixed with just enough time to spare for Travers to retreat into the escape unit and for the crew to exit the craft, before the Zero X crash landed.

Third Time's the Charm

Despite the disaster that had plagued the first two Zero X missions, a third craft was built for the Zero X comic series, which Paul Travers returned to captain. Apart from Tony Grant, the same crew also returned for a third time. This time, the Zero X not only made a second visit to Mars, but also landed on other planets in the solar system, and beyond...

Trivia

At the Space Exploration Center

At the Zero X press conference

• A character with the same name appeared in the episode Colony from Thunderbirds Are Go!.

Behind the Scenes

Puppet

As Carter in Thunderbird 6

Paul Travers was sculpted by Terry Curtis. His facial features are based on those of actor Sean Connery, which makes him the fourth character based on the James Bond star - the others being Scott Tracy, Jimmy Bondson and Rick O'Shea. Unusually, the puppet's ears were made from rubber and had human hair, whereas other male puppets had mohair and were entirely made from fibreglass.

His puppet was later used for the fake Steward Carter in Thunderbird 6.