Series 1 (Thunderbirds)

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Series 1 of Thunderbirds ran between 30 September 1965 and 31 March 1966. It starred Peter Dyneley, Shane Rimmer, David Holliday, Matt Zimmerman, David Graham, Ray Barrett, Sylvia Anderson and Christine Finn as the members of International Rescue and an assortment of guest characters. The series opened with Trapped in the Sky and concluded with Security Hazard.

Overview[[edit] | [edit source]]

It consisted of twenty-six episodes of around fifty minutes each. The series was most notable to the Doctor Who universe for including an episode which featured the Daleks, namely The Man from MI.5. They appeared under license by Terry Nation in the form of an in-universe version of the Century 21 Productions magazine TV Century 21.

The first series of Thunderbirds had a close relationship with the publication of TV Century 21, which included The Daleks comic strip, resulting in photographs of Thunderbirds characters and concepts appearing in the magazine as early as TV21 5 on 20 February 1965, often recontextualised to suit the current storylines within. This was most prominently seen on the front cover of the magazine which usually played host to "cover" stories in the shape of newspaper front page articles as part of TV Century 21's format that all its stories shared a single fictional universe, set exactly one hundred years into the future from publication date.

As a result, images taken from Thunderbirds television episodes were often in Dalek crossover stories. Titan Declares War! featured an image of the Stingray ship from Stingray in front of Tracy Island as well as a Black Dalek, Superjet Shot Down featured an image of the Fireflash from Trapped in the Sky with a trio of Daleks on Westminster Bridge taken from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and Jungle Terror! featured the Junglecat from Pit of Peril with another Dalek image sourced from The Dalek Invasion of Earth. All of these shared covers were published within just a month of each other, from 20 February to 20 March 1965.

Even after Thunderbirds started broadcasting on 30 September 1965, the reports of Dalek activity continued to share their stories with Thunderbirds material. FAB1 Back in Action!, released on 6 November 1965 featured Lady Penelope's car front and centre while Thunderbird Two, released on 26 March 1966, featured a damaged Thunderbird 2 from Terror in New York City alongside Skardal.

Television stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

# Title Writer Director Notes
1 Trapped in the Sky Gerry and Sylvia Anderson Alan Pattillo First appearances of Jeff, Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon, John, Brains, Tin-Tin, Kyrano, the Hood, Thunderbird 1, 2 and 5. Televised debuts of Tracy Island, Lady Penelope, Parker, FAB 1, Creighton-Ward Manor and the Fireflash.
2 Pit of Peril Alan Fennell Desmond Saunders Televised debut of the Junglecat.
3 The Perils of Penelope Alan Pattillo Alan Pattillo & Desmond Saunders First appearance of Alan as voiced by Matt Zimmerman. First episode written by Alan Fennell.
4 Terror in New York City Alan Fennell David Elliott & David Lane First appearances of Thunderbird 4 and Grandma Tracy.
5 Edge of Impact Donald Robertson Desmond Saunders
6 Day of Disaster Dennis Spooner David Elliott First appearance of Grandma as voiced by Christine Finn. First story written by Dennis Spooner.
7 30 Minutes After Noon Alan Fennell David Elliott
8 Desperate Intruder Donald Robertson David Lane
9 End of the Road Dennis Spooner David Lane
10 The Uninvited Alan Fennell Desmond Saunders
11 Sun Probe Alan Fennell David Lane First appearance of Thunderbird 3. First appearance of a guest voice actor.
12 Operation Crash-Dive Martin Crump Desmond Saunders
13 Vault of Death Dennis Spooner David Elliott
14 The Mighty Atom Dennis Spooner David Lane Only episode in which all five Thunderbird craft and all thirteen "main" characters appear.
15 City of Fire Alan Fennell David Elliott
16 The Impostors Dennis Spooner Desmond Saunders Only non-appearance of Thunderbird 2.
17 The Man from MI.5 Alan Fennell David Lane First appearance of the Daleks outside of Doctor Who and the first crossover between Doctor Who and another franchise. Televised debut of the Dalek Prime and rank of Dalek Emperor.
18 Cry Wolf Dennis Spooner David Elliott Final episode written by Dennis Spooner.
19 Danger at Ocean Deep Donald Robertson Desmond Saunders
20 Move – And You're Dead Alan Pattillo Alan Pattillo
21 The Duchess Assignment Martin Crump David Elliott Most characters featured in a single episode.
22 Brink of Disaster Alan Fennell David Lane
23 Attack of the Alligators! Alan Pattillo David Lane
24 Martian Invasion Alan Fennell David Elliott Final appearance of the Hood in the television series.
25 The Cham-Cham Alan Pattillo Alan Pattillo
26 Security Hazard Alan Pattillo Desmond Saunders Clip show. Final appearance of Virgil as voiced by David Holliday.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Both Trapped in the Sky and The Perils of Penelope were not given a title upon original broadcast, although title cards would be added in later for certain home video releases.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Recurring[[edit] | [edit source]]

Guest[[edit] | [edit source]]

Adaptations and merchandising[[edit] | [edit source]]

Novelisations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Novelisations to various first series episodes were published in 1992. Those published by Young Corgi were closer to faithful novelisations whereas those published by Boxtree were more akin to picture books, although both formats were aimed at younger readers.

Title Writer Publisher Based on Release date
The Uninvited Dave Morris Young Corgi The Uninvited 1992
Brink of Disaster Brink of Disaster
Sun Probe Sun Probe
Day of Disaster Aisling O'Hagan Boxtree Books Day of Disaster
End of the Road End of the Road
The Perils of Penelope The Perils of Penelope
Desperate Intruder Desperate Intruder
Cry Wolf Cry Wolf
Man from MI5 The Man from MI.5
Martian Invasion Martian Invasion
The Imposters The Impostors

Audio episodes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Between 1966 and 1967, Century 21 Records released thirteen audio re-tellings of first series television episodes, adapted from the soundtracks. Each was cut to fit the shorter running time and accompanied by original narration from a member of the voice cast speaking in character.

# Title Writer Narrator Based on Release date
1 Thunderbird 1 Gerry and Sylvia Anderson Scott Trapped in the Sky April 1966
2 Thunderbird 2 Dennis Spooner Brains End of the Road June 1966
3 Thunderbird 3 Jim Watson Alan Sun Probe November 1966
4 Thunderbird 4 Gordon Terror in New York City
5 The Perils of Penelope Parker The Perils of Penelope
6 Lady Penelope and Parker Len Cleal Lady Penelope Vault of Death January 1967
7 Brains and Tin-Tin Tin-Tin Desperate Intruder
8 International Rescue Scott The Impostors
9 Thunderbirds Gordon Day of Disaster March 1967
10 Lady Penelope Parker The Cham-Cham
11 Brink of Disaster Brink of Disaster May 1967
12 One Move and You're Dead! Alan Pattillo Tin-Tin Move – And You're Dead July 1967
13 Thirty Minutes After Noon Alan Fennell Parker 30 Minutes After Noon

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Although generally considered "main" characters in Thunderbirds circles, Kyrano and the Hood fail to meet this Wiki's definition of such status due to appearing in less than half the episodes of the series.
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