(thunder cracking) (dynamic music)
(gentle harp music)
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Jeff Tracy has crash-landed on a remote island
after overshooting his original destination.
He has been nursed back to life by the faithful Kyrano
and his daughter Tin-Tin.
And after witnessing another disaster at sea,
his five sons, Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon, and John,
are flying in up to Singapore (dynamic music)
to retrieve him.
He says his goodbyes to Tin-Tin and Kyrano
and thanks them for their help.
On the way home, (jet whirring)
he explains the idea of International Rescue
to his sons who are all keen to be involved.
After some rest, Jeff is determined to get to work.
(sombre music) He first needs
to secure a base.
And, as he sifts
through plans and blueprints, (upbeat music)
he has an idea.
(dynamic music) The island he crash-landed on
during his moon training missions
would be the perfect place.
In no time at all, Jeff, Scott, and Alan
are flying out to the South Pacific
to start surveying the island.
Jeff finds a cabin and starts to imagine
how it might be turned into a hangar
for a large freighter.
Alan has a nasty fall (rocks clattering)
but Scott comes to his aid
and he comes out relatively unscathed.
(waves rustling)
They survey the rest of the island
and both Scott and Alan agree that this would make
an ideal base.
(dynamic music) They fly home
and Jeff organises meetings
in all corners of the world.
In each city, specialists are recruited
to the cause of International Rescue.
In New York, construction and legal.
In Sydney, architecture and electrical engineering.
In Toronto, communications and electrical.
In Paris, civil engineering and interior design.
But the most vital member of the International Rescue team
was still to be traced.
And Jeff remembered the gifted young student, Brains,
who had graduated Tracy College not long ago.
He traced Brains to London where he was giving a lecture.
Jeff listened with fascination
and afterwards approached him to join
the International Rescue team.
After some discussion, Brains finally agreed.
And a week later, (dynamic music)
he and Jeff were at the Tracy Aerospace plant.
The time goes swiftly and with components supplied
by hundreds of unconnected manufacturers,
construction on rescue aircraft moves along at pace.
(dramatic music) Then, at last,
the first of the new machines is ready.
It rolls out of the hangar with Scott Tracy at the controls.
(jet rumbling) He takes off,
igniting the high performance sustainer rocket
pushing the craft forward at speed.
Just as Scott begins (jet humming)
to enjoy the test flight,
Jeff warns him of a heavy storm rolling in
and tells him to return to base.
(jet engine whirring) As the machine
heads back for base, it's suddenly hit by lightning.
(thunder cracking)
Scott spirals out of control
(suspenseful music) crashing towards the ground.
Back at the Tracy Aerospace airfield,
Alan and Jeff ask Brains if Scott could eject.
But Brains has a ground-to-air control system
to try out.
He successfully takes over (dramatic music)
control of the machine but it is too late.
(metal clattering)
Although he manages to get the nose up,
the machine still crashes to the ground.
The crash tenders arrive (engine clattering)
and Jeff is sad to see
the first test flight end in disaster.
But Brains seems to disagree.
The new alloy metal has stood up well to the lightning
and Scott is hauled from the cockpit with no injuries.
(people chattering) At the debriefing,
Scott jokes that after being hit by lightning,
the rocket became a real thunder bird.
It strikes Jeff that these should be the names
of the rescue craft going forward.
(rocket fire rumbling) Three weeks later,
a modified, finalised version of Thunderbird 1
is ready for takeoff
and it blasts off for the sky.
(tense music)
Meanwhile, excavation work (crane whirring)
starts on Tracy Island
to house the large, heavy transport craft
to be known as Thunderbird 2. (lively music)
The Tracy villa at the top of the island
is also under construction (machinery rumbling)
and Brains tells Jeff and Virgil
the Thunderbird 2 is ready for a test flight.
In no time at all, (jet whirring)
Virgil is at the controls
piloting her successfully through the skies.
At the Tracy Corporation Flight Test Centre,
a finalised Thunderbirds 1 and 2 are ready
whilst Thunderbird 3 nears completion
in a nearby hangar.
The time has come (aircraft whirring)
to ferry the new aircraft to their new home
in the South Pacific now officially referred to
by Jeff and the boys as Tracy Island.
When they arrive, Jeff gives Scott and Virgil
a tour of the island.
Speed of launch will be vital.
Both Scott and Virgil will have direct access
to their machines from the lounge.
They head (lively drumming music)
to Thunderbird 2's hangar where Thunderbird 4, a submarine,
is having finishing touches applied.
As Virgil gets to grip with the pod system,
Gordon takes Thunderbird 4 (dynamic music)
for a spin off the jetty.
The action moves offshore (jet whirring)
as they test Thunderbird 2's ability to pick up a pod
off the water.
Suddenly there's a fault (dramatic music)
in the buoyancy system
and Thunderbird 4 starts sinking.
Thunderbird 2 races (jet whirring)
to the spot where she went down
but the pod latches fail.
Pod 4 falls out of Thunderbird 2
and crashes down onto the island
grazing the side of the Tracy villa as it goes.
Meanwhile, Gordon leaves (submarine whirring)
Thunderbird 4 on the seabed and swims to the surface.
Scott and Alan (waves splashing)
meet him in scuba suits and they head underwater
to fix Thunderbird 4.
It doesn't take long before Thunderbird 4
floats back to the surface.
Despite the setbacks, Jeff tells his sons
that they've been given permission to build a space station.
Thunderbird 5 is go.
(lively music)
With Thunderbird 3 finished, they are able to take it
on its maiden flight to assist in the construction
of Thunderbird 5.
Jeff, Alan, and John Tracy take up launch positions
and liftoff is successful. (aircraft whirring)
A series of exhaustive flight checks are carried out
as she continues out of the stratosphere.
The skeleton of Thunderbird 5 is soon in view.
The scores of expert (eerie music)
space engineers and technicians employed
to construct the satellite are unaware
of the eventual purpose
of the new space station. (lively drumming music)
To them, it is just another interesting project.
Under the supervision of Jeff, Scott, Alan, and John,
Thunderbird 5 is soon complete
and International Rescue is finally operational.
But there is still one missing piece of the jigsaw.
As Jeff and Brains (dynamic music)
fly to London to view the unveiling
of the new Fireflash airliner
that Tracy Aerospace helped to build,
he finds time to visit a stately home
not far from the airport.
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
is an old acquaintance (lively drumming music)
of Jeff and she welcomes him.
Penny has not realised
that her latest undercover investigation
has been a test set up by Jeff.
She is to be lead amongst the International Rescue agents
across the globe.
Continuing on (helicopter whirring)
around the world, (bird chirping)
Jeff stops off at Singapore where he had his crash landing
now some months ago.
Meeting up with Kyrano who nursed him back to health
after his crash, Jeff invites him
and his daughter Tin-Tin to stay on Tracy Island.
He is delighted to accept the offer
and as a university (dynamic music)
graduation treat, Tin-Tin has a place on board
the first commercial flight of the new Fireflash airliner.
With the International Rescue list
of very important people nearly complete,
Jeff returns (jet whirring)
to Tracy Island where one final arrival greets him.
He is pleased to welcome (upbeat music)
his mother to the team, (men chattering)
fondly referred to as Grandma
by the boys. (man chuckles)
Back in London, (jet whirring)
Tin-Tin is about to fly on board the maiden flight
of the new Fireflash aircraft.
She is on her way to Tokyo and will after be travelling
to Tracy Island.
It'll not be long before International Rescue
carry out their first mission.
For in order to obtain (jet whirring)
the secrets of International Rescue,
the Hood has planted a bomb on the Fireflash
which will force the Thunderbirds out into the open.
(dramatic music) But will the Hood
get his wicked way?
Or will International Rescue save the day?
(lively music)
(thunder cracking) (dynamic music)
(thunder cracking)
(dynamic music)