History Series / Thunderbirds

2204 saw the release of a [[Film/{{Thunderbirds}} live-action version]] directed by Creator/JonathanFrakes; unfortunately, Creator/{{Universal}}'s ExecutiveMeddling and being trapped in DevelopmentHell since the 90s turned what could've been an awesome film into [[FanonDiscontinuity something most fans of the franchise would like to forget.]]

* AllThereInTheManual: The recurring villain, The Hood, was never named in dialogue or credits in the original TV episodes, only in publicity materials. Many things about the main character's history, like the Tracy boys' ExpansionPackPast, Jeff's late wife, and the founding of International Rescue, are also never mentioned on the series, and their headquarters was never actually referred to as "Tracy Island." The same goes for specific details surrounding the Thunderbird vehicles and other machines, like their dimensions, speed and other technical data.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never see Alan's pygmy alligator again.

* CoolPlane: ''Fireflash'', a futuristic supersonic jetliner [[http://members.fortunecity.com/wendhausen/BRStarshipsv3/profile/thunderbirds/ships/fireflash/fire11.jpg just look at it.]] Undeniably cool.

* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: IR's policy of strict secrecy concerning their equipment when the Tracy family could possibly save thousands of lives, not mention make a spectacular profit, by licensing out the designs of their Thunderbird vehicles to the various nations and organizations wanting to augment their own emergency response forces. Presumably, this is to keep IR's equipment unique and the plot complication of keeping that secrecy. Although it's also stated that IR's technology could be used for destruction if it fell into the wrong hands.

* RayGun: Used by the Tracy boys a couple of times and on one occasion the baddy.

* WomenDrivers: Played unfortunately straight in "City of Fire" and "Vault of Death" -- although perhaps justified in that she's been driven around by other people her whole life. Averted in later episodes, when Penny actually does learn to drive.

* {{Spinoff}}: The first movie doubled up as the pilot of the next series, ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons''.

* OneWorldOrder: Possibly. The government is never really explored, but there is seemingly a "World Navy", though whether it represents the entire world is unclear, as it seems to enjoy testing nuclear weapons for no apparent reason. Tie-in material places the show in the same universe as ''Stingray'' and ''Captain Scarlet,'' and it's made clear there is a world government.

** Poor Gordon, and his favored ride, ''Thunderbird 4''. His skills as a diver and submersible pilot were not useful as often as he might have liked. Most of the times he was called out on a rescue he was riding shotgun with Scott or Virgil as generic backup, and despite being a Tracy brother he was less important to the plot than Tin-Tin, Brains, or Penny almost all the time. TB 4, despite being a main-line vehicle, was the size of a van next to a fleet of giants, and was overshadowed in importance by many barely-seen robotic pod vehicles, like the Mole. On the few occasions when there was danger at sea, he really did shine. Gordon was recognised as the best marksman on the team, though, and was often utilised when something needed aiming, eg. firing the cable from ''Thunderbird 2'' into the Zero X in the first movie.

** In latter-day airings of "Day Of Disaster" (at least on Creator/TheBBC) when Brains dances for joy following the successful rescue of the rocket the line "You... er... don't suppose he escaped from somewhere, do you?" (said by one supervisor to another) is cut out.

* The third episode, "City of Fire" has Scott and Virgil collapse when testing a cutting torch powered by a prototype gaseous compound. It is implied that they may have gotten a little high off of it.

*** If they bumped this line down to around that scene it would have been perfect.

** At the end of "Attack of the Alligators" we have this line.
-->'''Scott Tracy:''' Now, what would Tin-Tin want to show Alan in the bathroom?
*** It was a tiny alligator.
** In "The Perils of Penelope" Alan pouts that his brothers are "off to The Folies" without him, an establishment known in the past for its rather ''[[{{Fanservice}} risqué]]'' costumes.

* AbsenteeActor: The only human characters to turn up in all 32 episodes are Scott, Virgil and Jeff. As far as the show's stars go, "The Mighty Atom" is the only episode where all five Thunderbirds appear and "The Imposters" is the only episode where ''Thunderbird 2'' doesn't appear (although a fake ''Thunderbird 2'' does).

** Using acronyms like FAB, and those seen in other Anderson series, such as P.W.O.R. ('''P'''roceeding '''W'''ith '''O'''rders '''R'''eceived) from ''{{Stingray}}'', was a nod to then-current real life radio practice which required responses to messages to be understandable even if the signal was bad. Oddly enough, the show's use of actual radio practice -- giving directions like "Left-left two degrees" got it wrong, as there should only have been one "left" but two "rights" so as to be decipherable even if all that could be heard was one or two unintelligible squawks.

* EngagingChevrons: International Rescue setting out on a mission.

* GoodIsBoring: Averted: a series mostly about rescues, without much of an antagonist and little real conflict has plots just as exciting as its more conventional successor ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons''.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: A few locations and directions are a bit off. Mostly averted with "Trapped in the Sky" with the bland name "London Airport" actually being a case of UnintentionalPeriodPiece, since this was actually the name of Heathrow Airport back in the day, although the dispatcher stating that the villain (the Hood) was now driving up the M1 towards Birmingham is a slight error -- though that motorway does head towards that city, you have to turn off onto the M6 before people would suspect you'd be heading that way for sure. He's also said to be heading in Lady Penelope's direction, although other behind the scenes literature claims that her stately home is in Kent (i.e. on the other side of London).

** Lady Penelope suffers from this in "Path of Destruction". She has to find the one person who knows the complex shut down procedure of the crablogger, an atomic-powered logging machine that has gone out of control and now threatens to destroy a dam and explode, putting thousands of lifes at risks, before it's too late. But despite this, she still can't help but stop along the way to help the victim of a car crash.

** ''Thunderbird 1'': silver

** ''Thunderbird 3'': red

** F.A.B. 1: pink

** And Jeff:Gold.

* ExcessiveSteamSyndrome: The creators made extensive use of steam, smoke, and zero-thrust rocket motors to depict takeoffs and landings in miniature. Rockets in flight were filmed inverted, so the smoke would rise ''away'' from the rocket instead of climbing after it.
* ExpansionPackPast: Nearly all of the Tracy Brothers (who range in age from late to early 20's) had quite interesting careers before retiring from them to join IR full time. Scott served in the U.S. Air Force where he got decorated for bravery, John published four textbooks on astronomy and is known as the discoverer of the Tracy quasar system, Gordon used to be a Olympic champion at the butterfly stroke and served at the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (from ''Series/{{Stingray|1964}}''), and Alan was a successful race-car driver. (His career was briefly revived in the episode "Move and You're Dead".) Jeff also counts; he was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, astronaut for the Space Agency and the first man on the moon, and finally started his own company.

Every week, some monstrous disaster would occur, and the boys (primarily Scott and Virgil) would pilot their awesome Thunderbird aerospace craft to the scene, moving at speeds that would make an aeronautical engineer drool. Scott would get there first, survey the situation, and call back to Virgil, who would then arrive at the scene with the right equipment loaded into the cavernous interior of ''Thunderbird 2''[='s=] "pod". Amongst other things, a drilling vehicle (Mole) or an underwater rover (''Thunderbird 4'') could be loaded into 2. In fact, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_machines the other wiki]] has a list of the ''many'' bizarre vehicles deployed.

This show is a classic in its native Britain, and around the world. The first season was such a success that it was decided to make a full-blown movie before production began on the second season; the result was ''Thunderbirds Are GO!'', wherein the Tracys must rescue an imperiled Mars rocket after a scrape with the [[ScienceMarchesOn local lifeforms]]. Expected to be a blockbuster of ''James Bond'' proportions, it performed poorly at the box office.

80s band {{Fuzzbox}} released a single "International Rescue" as an affectionate [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF0aHzNtYsk tribute/parody of the series]] that made it to number 11 in the charts

* {{Zeerust}}: Kind of inevitable, considering the show was made in the 1960's. The ''Thunderbirds'' themselves, particularly ''1'' and ''2'', were based on aircraft and prototypes that were state-of-the-art at the time; TB 1 on the [=MiG=] 19 and 21, along with a series of X-planes, and 2 on experimental lifting-body aircraft. All other kinds of high-tech machines have clicky panels, big shiny microphones and chrome-plated-chrome. And not to mention; reel-to-reel tapes are still fully in use in the the futuristic world of the Thunderbirds, while things like the internet, mobile phones, tablets, pocket calculators etc. are not present at all.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: The redubbed half-hour version from Fox Kids, as well as the truly hideous ''Turbocharged Thunderbirds''.

A revival is currently airing, titled ''[[Series/ThunderbirdsAreGo Thunderbirds Are Go!]]'', which started on 4 April 2015.

!!''Thunderbirds'' provides examples of the following tropes:

80s band {{Fuzzbox}} released a single "International Rescue" as an affectionate [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG4wdAVltmE tribute/parody of the series]] that made it to number 11 in the charts

* BewareTheNiceOnes: International Rescue is altruistic and will stop at nothing to rescue those in need. However, those who take pictures of their technology are dealt with harshly, whether it be having their film destroyed remotely, or even find themselves shot off the road by Lady Penelope.

* ColourCodedCharacters: The pilots wear pastel-coloured sashs and belts:

* ChristmasCake: Lady Penelope (26 years old in the original series.)

[[caption-width-right:336:5... 4... 3... 2... 1! '''''Thunderbirds are go!'''''[[note]]Clockwise from top: Thunderbirds 5, 3, 1, 2, and 4; FAB 1; and Tracy Island[[//note]]]]