Captain Scarlet.
 

I don't suppose that anyone saw it this morning? If I might then, a summary.

Captain Scarlet and the Angels were attending an airshow, where the latest Spectrum jet was being put through its paces. Cut away to a CGI of a Lancaster hauling itself into the air and many admiring comments from the Angels and Col White.

Next.. the evil Captain Black almost causes one of the Angel Interceptors to crash, because the Mysterons have the ability to interupt all digital signals worldwide. Faced with the potential calamity, Capt Scarlet requisitions the non digital Lanc and bombs the Mysteron base from low level with iron bombs.

Episode closes with a signal form 'RAF High Command'; "If you've finished with it, can we please have our Lancaster back and we hope you haven't pranged it.".

The new series isn't a patch on the old one, but great fun none the less. Always thought Thunderbirds was overated myself.. and as for that Joe 90. :rolleyes:

I hope that they were all up to date with their fitness tests.

Indestructible :ouch:

Wot channel's it on then, and wot time? :}

Puppets. They could get a job working for the Broons.

Dun Dun Dun DUN DUN Dun

"This is the Voice of the Mysterons"

Starter for 10 - name all the Angels (dont google)

easy (this wasnt googled)
 

symphony
harmony
rhapsody
melody
destiny
:ok:

They never had an Angel called Easy.......

Would have made for a more interesting show though!

It is on Childrens ITV each morning. I watch it of course, to maintain currency with the young generation. The Episode is #10, Circles of Doom. There's a small clip of the Lancaster at the beginning of this segment;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxIr-sBrIgs

Pah, nuthin I haven't seen the Patrouille de France do before:rolleyes:

note to self: don tin 'at and start diggin' that fox'ole, and watch out for incoming;)

Come on - What was his real (?) name and where was he from - dont google. his house was probably flooded recently.

Scarlet is the dogs bollox, and thats the truth. - I had a dinky - the SPC Spectrum Patrol Car in red.

B*stard...he got it... Stratford upon Avon was his Birthplace.

I still have my Spectrum Pursuit Car! ...and wasnt one of them called Adam?

AL1 Just checked, its a 'patrol' car

:ooh: I bet the CAA man had apoplexy...

Captain Blue's real name was Adam - he was voiced by Ed Bishop who played Commander Ed Straker in the brilliant "UFO".

(My daughters, aged 10 and 5, love UFO - good girls!)

Yes it was SPC or SPV. - What was the white one called, I always liked that cargo carrying vehicle. - a perversion that later manifests itself as a desire to join the C130 fleet.

Didnt it come with its own box of nuclear waste to slot into it. The great unwashed would have a field day with that today.

Well Thunderbird 2 had ( has ?! ) nuclear engines, which may have been a snag when the US friendly fire - ahead of their time or what ? - shot it down...

So, all together, what does F.A.B. stand for, and what was Brain's real name ?

Had an SPV - probably still in the loft - and was a UFO fan, though reckon it was a great idea with lousy scripts - a modern remake a la Independence Day would be more like it.

Most of the Test Pilots I knew who expressed a preference were big Thunderbirds fans.

Happened to notice a local shop selling die-cast models of all the Gerry Anderson craft, including Skydiver - would have given anything for that as a lad - in fact might just nip along...

PS I once touched the real Thunderbird 1 ( one of them ) - didn't go aboard, security was a bit tight.

Nothing

Hiram Hackenbacker III

Most (but not all) Anderson fare IMHO was excellent and well ahead of its time in terms of technology and story ideas. And he used to be in the mob!

Gerry Anderson has said that it was simply short for 'fabulous', but of course, in ye olde days of short wave rebro, it also meant 'Fully Acknowledged Broadcast'. I suppose everyone knows that they were named after 5 of the original Mercury 7 (Virgil 'Gus' Grissom, Gordo Cooper, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter and Alan Shepherd).

I had the entire Captain Scarlet lot. I always felt a little sorry for Captain Blue.. no secondary duties, never had a good tour, not indestructable.. no wonder Col White only ever trusted Scarlet.

F.A.B. = short for Fabulous i.e.'60's , correct as is Hiram Hackenbacker.

Don't worry about Captain Blue, it's John in TB5 to feel sorry for, as someone once said, " the unpopular one, stuck in space on his own for months with nothing but a sackload of puppet porn ".

I couldn't help thinking someone was deliberately taking the P' ( maybe of certain projects of the day & before ) in the 1st Thunderbirds episode, when the Fireflash hypersonic airliner couldn't land due to a bomb in the gear...

" Fireflash, what is your endurance ? "

" Well, with our atomic motors we could stay up for 6 months - but the radiation shields will give up 2 hours from now..."

Here's a thing, if Tb5 was so ahead of its time, why did it need a bloke in it in the first place? Having John on the ground would have allowed Brains more flex with the rostering, tasking, leave, and gym tests of course. I can't help thinking that John knew he was onto a cushy number and as a consequence, mission effectiveness suffered. The swine.

I knew a Flight Test guy who not only looked like Alan Tracy, he walked like him too...

When being briefed on the radio kit before his first Harrier flight, after a fair bit of info' had been discussed, he paused - " and remind me, what is the O.F.F. Mode ? "...

Maybe John Tracy in TB5 had a pervy way of listening in to naughty phone lines, and obviously O bin liner learned all he knows from watching The Hood.

Seems to me someone with a fair bit of aircraft knowledge was involved in Thunderbird vehicle design - is it just me, or does TB1 bear a close resemblance to a cross between the Miles M.52 & the Lightning - and for instance Fireflash I think I'm right in saying is close to some late Barnes Wallis designs - not too sure about the the thrust line with the engines high up on the tail in the Fireflash I grant you.

It did have the advantage of having the crew safely by the tail, letting the punters arrive first !

That's why SID (Space Intruder Detector) in UFO was so much more sensible - a fully automated, talking AWACS!

One of the most noticeable aspects of Anderson productions is that they take time to build a story - many are really quite slow moving and rather cerebral. The fact that they are still appreciated by 21st century kids shows that a good story never goes out of fashion.

Now, who's up for a few hours of Space 1999 courtesy of ITV 3 or 4 (forget which)?

Ahhhhh Moonbase with the lovely Gabriella Drake (caused many a pre-pubescent stirring).........she appeared later in Crossroads......Ed Bishop as the Top Man............great memories.
What an excellent thread...........
Gerry should have been knighted.............we could do with International Rescue now!

Of course the Moonbase Interceptors were quite limited in their response.......i.e. One Shot only........

Thunderbird 2 must have had a lift body design, there is no way those stubby little wings would have kept that lump in the air. It would have been like a c130 with the wings of an F104 :eek:
And the propulsion system always fascinated me. Virgil brings her into the hover and THEN fires the lift engines to descend. They can be heard winding down BEFORE T2 actually touches down..incredible :}

I'll get my coat...

Ever noticed how TB1 looks a lot like a Lighting but with 10 times the range

Or how in the new Doctor Who, the 'air base' at the end was similar to the one in Captain Scarlet?

I thought the same thing.

This then, for jungly..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB1k02yh43A

She was a few years before my time I'm afraid. If it had been Gabrielle Anwar on the other hand..

Splitbrain,

I always preferred to gloss over the timing of TB2's lift engines ( maybe just the high power bit in the pure hover makes the noise & flame etc ? sadly more likely that's how long the effects flares lasted...)

When a lad, my cynical father always pointed at TB2 " they put the wings on the wrong way !" - so many years later I took great delight pushing pics of the X-29 under his nose.

Dyonsphere,

It seems TB1 has considerably more than 10 times Lighning range as it trundles across the Pacific / anywhere without refuelling - does 25,000mph too according to the 1st episode, which even some ex-Lightning types would hesitate to claim.

Is it me or are the episodes of most G.Anderson series where it all goes wrong - TB2 shot at & crash landing, Cloudbase under mass attack & going down in C.Scarlet, Mass Attack in UFO, or the one in space 1999 where Alpha & it's Eagles are picked off by Hawks & giant bomber etc; A, a staple fall-back, B, the most exciting !

Having said that, I still think the 1st episode of Thunderbirds ( 'Stranded in The Sky ' ) is a classic at any level, landing the Fireflash wheels-up on 3 high speed trucks...

BTW A friend once saw a soft porn film with G.Drake :E

Brought into the hover on the main nuclear drive, conventional lift engines started to hold her there and the main drive is shut down - that's what you can hear winding down...

I often wonder how you pilots manage these days without a F/E to manage the power plant for you. :rolleyes:

"Retard! Retard!" as the Airbus yells at the crew when they touch down. :}

Female aircrew in front line combat duty too, while all the men have admin jobs! I would wager Sylvia had a say in that..

Bigbluecar,

Sorry, just getting a thumbnail image there.

Al R

Right click on the link and copy the shortcut- it is worthwhile, I'd forgotten about the other two ladies at Moonbase :E

Top thread chaps.

here you go...

http://ufoseries.com/newPhotos/ellisClothesChange.jpg

I think I'd better go and lie down for a while after that pic :8

Well I can honestly claim to have actually flown/steered/dived All the original Thunderbirds machines. So there! But then in my callow youth I worked for Mr G Anderson. On Slough Trading Estate. I will never forget......the smell of warm Mars Bars, almost every day for 2 years! :)
Aviate 1138

Thanks Kitbag.

God yes. I wouldn't mind any one of those ripe young fillys engaging intercontinental drive mode (nappy wearing or not) for me.

Avlate,

How fascinating, you worked on the set then? Do you have any fots?

F.A.B.
 

Surely that means "Fire All Boosters"?

And remember..... Spectrum Is Green:ok:

Holy Moly! - Desktop bound. - Till my boss sees it, I had to remove a wallpaper with Alan Partridge in his shorts with the slogan 'Do you want me to lapdance for you' as it was deemed offensive!

if you have a look at this you can see moving pics of the clothes change:}

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uah-H5...related&search=

complete with soft porn sound track and technical talk:}:}