History Series / Thunderbirds

--> '''Parker''': Oh we are, madam, but 'backwards'!

* PopTheTires: Subverted on an episode: Lady Penelope attempts to shoot out the tyres of a car, only for it to fail because they've been reinforced to protect against such things.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: ITC did this ''twice'' in the mid-90s. First came an attempt to cram it into a half-hour slot on Creator/FoxKids- in addition to cutting scenes for both time and censorship, all the voices were redubbed and the original music replaced by random rock music. After that flopped, ITC took it into syndication and edited it even more, turning it into the horrific ''Turbocharged Thunderbirds''. Now there were a couple of live-action kids called the "hackers", who lived inside Thunderbird 5 (now "Hacker Command") and took orders from Jeff Tracy (who they called "Mr. T"). while The Hood took orders from a floating holographic head named "the Atrocimator"; they redubbed all the dialog again to add "post-modern" jokes, and supposedly took place on "Thunder World". It really says something when the [=YouTube=] comments on an episode of ''Turbocharged'' say that the ''[[Film/{{Thunderbirds}} 2004 movie]]'' was better than this.

[[quoteright:336:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thunderbirds.jpg]]

-->-- '''Kate Kestrel''', "[=SOS=]", ''{{Series/Terrahawks}}''

Oh, and all the characters were puppets. The show was filmed in {{Supermarionation}}, which was a process using souped-up marionettes with moving lips electronically synchronized with pre-recorded dialogue.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The title sequence proclaimed it to be filmed "In Videcolor" and "{{Supermarionation}}." Plain-English translation: "It's in colour[[note]]Though shot on film, contrary to what the designation would indicate[[/note]], and it's a (sophisticated) puppet show." The "super" in "Supermarionation" referred to the automated lipsynching. The characters' voice tracks were fed to solenoids in the puppets' heads that moved the lips based on the audio level of the speech.

* RestrictedRescueOperation: The show runs on this trope, as the titular craft are designed specifically for rescue. Despite really specific equipment, expect a lot to go wrong, forcing an out-of-the-box solutions. Also, International Rescue must operate under strict secrecy, as they do not wish their technology to fall into the wrong hands.

** ''Thunderbird 4'': yellow

* SixthRanger: The final movie, ''Thunderbird 6'' introduces the titular machine - [[JokeCharacter an antique Tiger Moth biplane]] that actually does become [[LethalJokeCharacter quite useful]] in the final rescue.

* {{Spinoff}}: The presence of Zero-X in the first [[TheMovie movie]] seems to make it double up as the pilot of the following series, ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons''. However, it isn't really confirmed in-series as the Thunderbirds never showed up in ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons''.

* ThemeTuneCameo:
** Virgil plays the theme song on a piano at the end of the pilot episode.
** In ''Thunderbirds Are GO'', Alan hums the theme song not long after observing Zero-X leaving Earth's atmosphere.
* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: TheMovie ''Thunderbirds are GO!'' ends with the disclaimer: "None of the characters appearing in this photoplay intentionally resemble any persons living or dead... since they do not yet exist!"

* TheMovie: ''Thunderbirds Are GO!'' and ''Thunderbird 6'', neither of which were very successful.

An unsuccessful trip made by Lew Grade to try and sell the show to American networks ensured the second season would be the series' last; further, amid corporate fears that the bubble had burst, Gerry Anderson was instructed that said second season be cut back to just six episodes. Creator/UnitedArtists, surprised at the failure of the first movie, subsequently commissioned another -- ''Thunderbird 6'', where designing a new Thunderbird vehicle is put on hold when a state-of-the-art luxury airship is in danger -- and this also flopped. But by then Anderson was already at work on new Supermarionation projects with a new generation of puppets.

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 imperilled 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.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The title sequence proclaimed it to be filmed "In Videcolor" and "{{Supermarionation}}." Plain-English translation: "It's in colour, and it's a (sophisticated) puppet show." The "super" in "Supermarionation" referred to the automated lipsynching. The character's voice track was fed to a solenoid in the puppet's head that moved the lips based on the audio level of the speech.

* ContinuitySnarl: Hoo boy! The series was first released in 1965. Since then we've had movies, comics, novels, annuals, guide books and interviews with the cast/crew -- all of which largely contradict themselves. This include topics such as: How did the boy's mother die?[[note]]Car crash? Skiing accident? Giving birth to Alan?[[/note]] What order were the boys born in?[[note]]Pick an order. Any order you like. At least one obscure source will back you up.[[/note]] Up to and including, ''what year is the show set?''[[note]]2026, or 2065?[[/note]]

* OddlySmallOrganization: Well, saving the world is a family business.However, it was established that International Rescue has agents ll over the world.

* AnInsert: Human hands pressing a button for a puppet character. The series also liked to use cutaways to get around the problem -- you'd see, say, Parker holding a cigarette when Penelope would ask for a light, then cut to another shot, then to Penelope holding the lit cigarette. One episode takes this a step further by having a human hand holding a pen in the foreground with a couple of puppets in ForcedPerspective in the background.

--> '''Bank Manager:''' Let's go back to the old design; at least that took him two and a half hours to open it.