History Headscratchers / Thunderbirds

* John and Alan are blonds, Jeff, Scott and Virgil are brunets and Gordon is a redhead. How many mothers were there? And what is Brains' relationship to the others? Did Jeff father an entire team of bastards?

* So has Tintin and The Hood's PsychicPowers ever been explained? My headcanon is that they're part of a race with PsychicPowers, or are TheReptilians (they give me that vibe), but I've always been curious.

** He also might not be able to even ''use'' the blueprints, since he might have the knowledge to be able to know what's on the blueprints, or the required materials to be able to recreate each and every Thunderbird.

** He also might not be able to even ''use'' the blueprints, since he might have no knowledge or the materials required to be able to recreate each and every Thunderbird.

** He also might not be able to even ''use'' the blueprints, since he might have no knowledge or the materials available to be able to recreate each and every Thunderbird.

* During the 2004 film, Fermat states he can't swim. Thing is, the guy ''lives on an island.'' Wouldn't teaching him to swim be a priority for his dad? Or if not him, one of the others?

* In ''The Uninvited'', why do Tintin, Scott, Virgil (and presumably Brains, although not seen) camp in the desert, after rescuing Scott after he was shot down? Presumably it's to allow Scott to rest before flying Thunderbird 1 home, but why in the desert, in ''tents''? Would they not be vulnerable to another attack by the Zombites, considering Jeff did not want Tintin to go at all? We can see that the tents are dwarfed by Thunderbird 2; would it not be safer for them to sleep inside Thunderbird 2? There is more than enough room inside.

* It takes thousands of people to get a single NASA launch up there. Recoverable tech like the Space Shuttles needs a ''lot'' of looking after. Who does the maintainence at Tracey Island? Where are all the ground crews? who keeps all the machinery and moving parts in working order? surely it can't be Brains working as a one-man operation?

* Why do the various Thunderbirds have large signs in their launch bays saying "Thunderbird [X] Launch Bay" or similar? For whose benefit are they there? It's a top-secret organisation and all the people on Tracy Island know exactly what each launch bay is.

* Given that Scott and his brothers are the sons of an ex-astronaut turned multi-billionaire industrialist, why does no one recognise them when they go on rescue missions?

* It takes thousands of people to get a single NASA launch up there. Recoverable tech like the Space Shuttles needs a ''lot'' of looking after. Who does the maintainence at Tracey Island? Where are all the ground crews? who keeps all the machinery and moving parts in working order? surely it can't be Brains working as a one-man operation?

*** In "The Imposters", we learn Jeff has an international network of agents.

** Yep I always thought one was the radio too but it turned out they’re spare barrels for the guns that shoot different ammo. The idea was that instead of switching clips you put a different barrel on the gun. The blue barrel was stun gas and the yellow was ‘needle dart’. One of the tie in novels definitely confirmed it and I think so did certain action figures.

* A classic YouFailPhysicsForever moment in both the series and ''Thunderbirds Are Go'' is the sonic boom at Mach 1 -- and ''only'' at Mach 1. Fireflash or Zero X is accelerating to supersonic speed and the captain announces, "Mach 1", at which point there's a dull boom -- ''which can be heard in the cockpit'' -- and then nothing. No more boom as the air/spacecraft goes on up to Mach 6 or escape velocity. Okay, you can argue that the thing is way, way up in the air by that time, but that bang at Mach 1 is annoying.

** In regards to that last bit, they do all have 'Thunderbird [Number]' or just [=TBx=] written on them, like they said, they saw the markings on it, and that's presumably what they meant (and from the angle it was lying at they probably only saw the TB1 markings and correctly concluded that it meant Thunderbird 1).

* Can anyone explain how Thunderbirds 1 & 2 and Fireflash are supposed to move? They are explicitly stated to be [[strike:nuclear]] atomic powered. Thing is, nuclear reactors aren't much good for propulsion unless said propulsion is an electric motor (see: ''submarines and ships''). How the heck does a nuclear reactor power what are clearly ''rockets''? More to the point, if your nuclear reactor ''is'' behaving like a rocket then ''something is very'' '''''very''''' ''badly wrong indeed''.

* AndAnotherThing, paraphrased from somewhere else but I can't remember where I put it: Fireflash can travel at Mach 6, approximately 4,500mph. It is a super-aerodynamic plane. Thunderbird 2 can travel at ''at least'' 5,000mph. It is ''a freaking'' '''''brick.''''' [[FlatWhat What.]]

* The Automatic Camera Dectector seems to cause more problems than it solves. Why is it an issue if people take pictures of the outside of the Thunderbirds? It's not like there's a big sign on the back of TB1 going "Look! Secret technology here =>". Further, if people had been able to take pictures of the Thunderbirds, the entire problem highlighted in "The Impostors" never would have come up - it's clearly not a Thunderbird the bank robbers are flying around in. FURTHER! In "The Uninvited", the two Saharan explorers drive by a crashed TB1. One of them goes, "Look, the markings! It's a Thunderbird!" How did he know what the Thunderbird looked like since ''there are '''no''' photographs, ever''. Grr.
** In regards to that last bit, they do all have 'Thunderbird [Number]' or just TBx written on them, like they said, they saw the markings on it, and that's presumably what they meant (and from the angle it was lying at they probably only saw the TB1 markings and correctly concluded that it meant Thunderbird 1).

** International Rescue has many agents? I haven't seen the reboot so maybe it does there, but the original series is Penelope, Parker and maybe Tin Tin on occasion. Other than that it is a small family run operation.

** International Rescue is a worldwide organization with many agents. First of all I highly doubt the Thunderbirds fleet is the only team in I.R. probably the elite team, as it could be speculated that there are other teams with their own fleet of vehicles. The agents may follow the same rule. If people keep seeing 'Thunderbird' on each I.R. Vehicle or anything too similar, they may connect the dots.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_aircraft Less harmful plans]] were made in the 60s but they were nothing like as fast as the Thunderbirds, and the projects never really [[IncrediblyLamePun got off the ground]], due to the potential radiation - very similar to Fireflash in the pilot, [[ShownTheirWork oddly enough]].
** It's supposed to operate under a dual power system. Atomic reactor drives the turbines to make it move in the air and rocket fuel gets it on and off the ground. That's why the rockets aren't constantly firing. One of my cutaway books shows fuel tanks.

** According to WordOfGod, the reason why the FAB-1 was a Rolls Royce and not a Ford Thunderbird was because it's obviously a British show, and the [[CoolCar classiest British car]] at the time that everyone drooled over was a Rolls Royce. The only reason why the live-action movie didn't use a Rolls Royce was because BMW (The current owners of Rolls Royce) wouldn't give permission, so Ford jumped in with their "retro" model.