- You may wish to consult
Series 1
for other, similarly-named pages.
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[]
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[]
# | 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[]
- 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[]
- Jeff Tracy - Peter Dyneley
- Scott Tracy - Shane Rimmer
- Virgil Tracy - David Holliday
- Alan Tracy - Matt Zimmerman, Ray Barrett
- Gordon Tracy - David Graham
- John Tracy - Ray Barrett
- Brains - David Graham
- Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward - Sylvia Anderson
- Tin-Tin Kyrano - Christine Finn
- Parker - David Graham
- Grandma Tracy - Christine Finn
Recurring[]
- Kyrano - David Graham[1]
- The Hood - Ray Barrett[1]
- Airport Commander Norman - Peter Dyneley
- Captain Hanson - David Graham
- Fireflash co-pilot - Ray Barrett
- Eddie Kerr - Matt Zimmerman
- Television reporter - Matt Zimmerman
Guest[]
- Jimmy Bondson - Ray Barrett
- Tidman - David Graham
- Carl - David Graham
- Ritter - Ray Barrett
- The Third Man - Matt Zimmerman
Adaptations and merchandising[]
Novelisations[]
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[]
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[]
- ↑ 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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