Interplanetary Rescue was a two-part comic story and the final piece of original fiction published in the Fireball XL5 60th Anniversary Comic Anthology in 2022. It contained elements from the Doctor Who universe.
The culmination of the narrative interwoven with the Fireball XL5 material reprinted from TV Century 21, the story was a crossover between all four supermarionation properties set in the 2060s, featuring characters from Fireball, Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. The Astran ship from Interlude also made a reappearance; the Astrans had been introduced in The Daleks comic Duel of the Daleks while their home planet of Astra was first namedropped in the Doctor Who television story The Rescue.
Summary
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Characters
- Steve Zodiac
- Professor Matic
- Doctor Venus
- Robert the Robot
- Commander Zero
- Lieutenant Ninety
- Captain Scarlet
- Colonel White
- Captain Black
- Jeff Tracy
- Scott Tracy
- Virgil Tracy
- Alan Tracy
- Gordon Tracy
- John Tracy
- Brains
- Tin-Tin Kyrano
- The Hood
- Troy Tempest
- Phones Sheridan
- Marina
- X20
- Lieutenant Nineski
- Manzackay
- Captain of Fireball XL2
- Co-pilot of Fireball XL2
Worldbuilding
- Fireball XL2 detects the radarscope trace of Captain Black's craft.
- Mat uses the Asimovian Laws of Robotics to talk down the Mysteronised Robert.
- When he wakes up Captain Scarlet suggests he might be in heaven and asks if Venus is an angel.
- Fireball XL5 deploys space mines to destroy the ship formerly of the Astran space fleet.
- Thunderbird 3 uses magnetronic grapples to latch onto XL5.
- X20 believes Titan will be pleased with both him and the Hood if they are successful in capturing XL5.
- Scott uses the word "F.A.B." after Gordon informs him he is under attack by a Titan Terror Fish.
- Fireball XL1, Fireball XL9, Fireball XL12, Fireball XL14, Fireball XL15, Fireball XL22 and Fireball XL24 are among the XL craft to take part in the assault on the Mysteron City.
Notes
- The story's title is a reference to the International Rescue organisation from Thunderbirds.
- While Captain Scarlet heads to the ejection tube as Fireball XL5 fills with water, he thinks to himself "Sometimes I wish I was a spaceman", a reference to the first line of Fireball XL5's end theme song.
- Although Commander Zodiac recalls that Earth believed the Mysterons to be permanently destroyed "for a while", the Captain Scarlet comics originally printed in TV Century 21 showed no evidence of this. We Will Destroy Earth's Communications was published immediately following We Will Destroy Unity with no indication of a significant time skip.
Continuity
- Fireball XL2 is beginning its journey from Mars back to Earth with the unconscious Captain Scarlet aboard, picking up where COMIC: We Will Destroy Unity City ended.
- XL2 would be rebuilt following its destruction in this story, later (from an in-universe perspective) reappearing in COMIC: Terror of the Titans.
- Captain Scarlet recalls being aboard the Alpha Probe with Captain Black, events which were reported by TV Century 21 in PROSE: Scarlet Kidnapped! and further seen in COMIC: We Will Destroy Unity City.
- Venus tells Scarlet a bedtime story about a time when Robert the Robot proved himself to be a hero, leading into a reprint of COMIC: Icemen of Space.
- The Astran ship which was Mysteronised in the aftermath of a skirmish on the Astran border reaches the Solar System, a journey it began in COMIC: Interlude.
- Steve believes that Spectrum could be out of a job by the time the World Space Patrol fleet returns from Mars. President Younger shut down the organisation in COMIC: Traitor Black Gives In! when it appeared the Mysterons were defeated.
- Commander Zero and International Rescue previously interacted with each other during COMIC: Solar Danger.
- The Mysteron City would be destroyed, and reconstructed, again in COMIC: Traitor Black Gives In!.
- Commander Zodiac concludes his trip down memory lane with Lieutenant Nineski, at least an hour having passed since it began in COMIC: Looking Back.