Coverage[]
15 minutes of The Vanishing Ray audio have gone up on the podcast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aZbxP203M4 at 39:30 - and oh boy my wiki editing hat does not like it one bit (although, to anyone else who may be reading this, my Thunderbirds-fan hat does!). It's much less of a straight-forward adaptation akin to the previous novelisations and moreso a complete new story merely based on its source material. The biggest change is it is firmly a Thunderbirds story set after Penelope has joined International Rescue, and is absolutely not a prequel. Penelope knows Brains, Brains knows the Hood (and vice versa) - which seems to indicate this follows from their Theydon adaptations, and AE's series is following some linear structure (which in itself is a minor relief). Also a rather poor retcon is that they've turned Lil into a terrible cook!
I genuinely don't see a way to cover this properly from an in-universe perspective. I don't want to flat out ignore this version, but I don't really want to promote it as the "proper" version instead of the comic either (even if this choice is better suited to readers, as the audio version would be easier to get than the comic). I guess this sort of stuff is another win for the "out-of-universe" voice argument for articles, and we just have to make it clear there are two mostly irreconcilable versions of the story.
(Although, it's not the first time an adaptation has taken a bit of liberty in doing something new. The Stately Homes Robberies episode has quite a different ending to the original audio, and that's kind of just been glossed over here.)
Guyus24Talk10:31, 19.9.2022
- Yeah, we're in agreement that it's shaping up to be a good story but the timeline implications do complicate things. It shouldn't be too hard to utilise "account" language for the characters who only appear in the one comic but the IR crew and the Hood could be a different kettle of fish if we potentially have to repeat events in different parts of a biography. My immediate instinct would be to treat the original versions as primary and set up "Deviations from the original story" sections to catch everything on the pages for the adaptations. I can only hope the path becomes a little clearer with the release of the full episodes... Borisashton (talk) 23:27, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
- I guess using the "account" language does work in this case, as TV21 stories were by their nature just re-tellings of the events themselves, but you are right and it does kind of fall on its face for the main characters. I've remembered that Wickfens has an example of inconsistent facts where I just went "but according to this story...". TBH, I like how the Hood's biography is laid out in groups of mediums - television, novels, comics, etc... It works well because each individual series fits together in their own right, and apart from television you can make the assumption that each story is actually set after the previous one - it's only when you bring them all together that the inconsistencies emerge.
- I hope Brains is Dead fits in somewhat cleaner, but from the teasers released so far Penelope appears in that story, so I'm not too hopeful.
Guyus24Talk00:05, 20.9.2022 - (Little postscript: this sort of stuff will get worse when Fire and Fury is released, when they start gender swapping lead guest characters...)
- I hope Brains is Dead fits in somewhat cleaner, but from the teasers released so far Penelope appears in that story, so I'm not too hopeful.
(Spoilers for The Vanishing Ray)
Yeah, as we'd already gathered, Lady Penelope is firmly an IR agent by this point, with the ending adapted accordingly. After incapacitating the Hood with the chandelier, Penny and Parker discover clues on his person which lead them to his London hideout where they find the kidnapped Brains. Once back at Creighton-Ward Manor Penny calls Jeff (who is still on Tracy Island) to inform him that Brains is alright. The last bit with the visit to MI5 then plays out roughly the same, albeit minus Jeff. I've not yet done Brains is Dead. Borisashton (talk) 21:49, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
- I'm not going to read any of that yet, but I'm going to assume AE have been sending out the discs early again? Talk pages are probably fine spoiler-wise, especially as you have helpfully denoted it (probably something I myself need to get better at!) but I think it's best to keep the main pages spoiler-free until the digital version comes out - on the proper release date.
Guyus24Talk22:04, 27.9.2022
Trivia Removal[]
I noticed that a whole load of trivia facts have been removed, and I was just wondering why? TARDIS91 (talk) 09:06, 5 January 2024 (UTC)
- We've created pages for the individual audio stories at The Vanishing Ray (audio) and Brains is Dead (audio), so the trivia has been moved onto their respective pages as that's more suitable. Sorry if that was alarming!
Guyus24Talk10:04, 5.1.2024
Thanks for explaining that. Good to hear that each story has been given its own individual page. :) TARDIS91 (talk) 11:48, 5 January 2024 (UTC)