Thunderbirds are Beginning.
Set prior to Trapped In The Sky, Introducing Thunderbirds features Lady Penelope and Parker visiting Tracy Island, where they meet Jeff Tracy, the head of a secret organisation known as "International Rescue".This episode provides examples of:
- Adapted Out:
- Kyrano makes a brief appearance in the audio version, but is cut in the Thunderbirds 1965 episode.
- Jeff makes a mention of "the Hood", which is also cut in the Thunderbirds 1965 episode because it didn't fit the continuity of the main series (where the Hood is completely unknown to International Rescue).
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Lady Penelope is colder than usual in her behaviour towards Parker.
- Lady Penelope and Jeff are initially not on first name terms with each other and have to ask to call each other "Jeff" and "Penny".
- The episode uses the version of the theme from Trapped In The Sky rather than the usual Thunderbirds theme used from Pit of Peril onward, to give the impression that the episode is set before that episode.
- Recycled Soundtrack: A number of musical cues are recycled from Stingray (1964) to give the impression that the episode has been made just after Stingray. This is of course, par for the course with Gerry Anderson's shows.
- Stock Footage: Par for the course for Thunderbirds, the launch sequences and much of the footage of the Thunderbirds craft are pulled from other episodes.
