Desperate Intruder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Desperate Intruder is the eighth episode of the first season of the Supermarionation television series Thunderbirds. It was the seventeenth episode to be produced. Its original air date on ATV in the United Kingdom was 18 November 1965. It was written by Donald Robertson and directed by David Lane.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Brains and Tin-Tin are planning to travel to an Egyptian lake to search for buried treasure. However, the Hood is also on the scent and will stop at nothing to reach it first…
[edit] Plot
At his temple in the Malaysian jungle, the Hood vows to thwart International Rescue’s attempts to recover lost treasure from Lake Anasta, Egypt. Hypnotising his half-brother, Kyrano, he forces him to reveal from Tracy Island that Brains and Tin-Tin will soon set off to begin a reconnaissance survey. The Hood then sets off for Egypt.
Having been flown out in Thunderbird 2, Brains and Tin-Tin drive in their desert jeep, towing two caravans, to meet their contact, Professor Blakely of the International Museum of Archaeology. Meanwhile, the Hood arrives at Lake Anasta and deploys a 3E submarine from his desert truck.
Brains and Tin-Tin don diving gear and descend to the submerged temple, unaware that the Hood is watching from his submarine. Brains extracts a rock sample from a column and Blakely later confirms that the treasure has been located. However, when Brains answers the door to his quarters later that night, he is hypnotised by a stranger dressed in full Arab attire. Back on Tracy Island, the news of the discovery sends shockwaves through the other members of the International Rescue team.
Brains wakes up to find himself buried up to his neck in the sand in the blazing sunlight. Tin-Tin and Blakely have also been left unconscious by the Hood, their compartments ransacked. The Hood approaches Brains in his disguise and urges him to reveal the location of the treasure, but his dehydrated victim blacks out.
Jeff, unable to contact Anasta base over the radio, sends out Thunderbirds 1 and 2 to investigate. Flying over the lake, Scott catches sight of the tormented Brains and sets down to rescue him while Virgil tends to Tin-Tin. Meanwhile, the Hood takes the opportunity to covertly photograph the Thunderbird craft.
Jeff orders for all International Rescue personnel to return to base once Blakely, still unconscious, has been airlifted to hospital. When Scott tells Virgil and Gordon that the Thunderbird 1 automatic camera detector has been operating, a convalescent Brains realises that International Rescue has fallen into a trap. He revisits the temple that night to redeem himself. However, unaware that the Hood has wired up the area with alarms, he moves a stone and alerts him to his presence. The Hood puts on diving gear and confronts Brains, entrancing him again. Detonating explosives, he destroys the temple and leaves the genius for dead at the bottom of the lake.
Gordon launches Thunderbird 4 and locates Brains, trapped under a column with a rapidly diminishing air supply. At that moment, the Hood fires a torpedo from his 3E submarine, catching Gordon off balance. Gordon swiftly returns fire and destroys the attacking craft, but not before the Hood escapes through the airlock. As Blakely is shipped to hospital by helijet, Scott joins Gordon with a hydrostatic hoist. Together they raise the column and extract Brains from underneath, pulling him to safety.
Some time later, Brains and Tin-Tin visit Blakely in hospital, but suddenly become eager to leave when he mentions the prospect of treasure-hunting in the Caribbean…
[edit] Cast
[edit] Regular Voice Cast
- Jeff Tracy — Peter Dyneley
- Scott Tracy — Shane Rimmer
- Virgil Tracy — David Holliday
- Gordon Tracy — David Graham
- John Tracy — Ray Barrett
- Brains — David Graham
- Tin-Tin Kyrano — Christine Finn
- Kyrano — David Graham
- Grandma Tracy — Christine Finn
- The Hood — Ray Barrett
[edit] Guest Voice Cast
- Professor Blakely — Peter Dyneley
- Hassan Ali — David Graham
[edit] Main Equipment
The vehicles and equipment featured in this episode are:
- Thunderbird 1
- Thunderbird 2 (carrying Pods 4 and 5)
- Thunderbird 4
- Desert Jeep
- Transporter Vehicle
- 3E Submarine
- Helijet
- Hydrostatic hoist
[edit] Goofs
- When the Hood hypnotises Brains in his compartment, Brains’ glasses vanish between shots as he collapses.
[edit] Notes
- Desperate Intruder features the smallest guest cast for any Thunderbirds episode, with just two additional characters (Professor Blakely and Hassan Ali) complementing the regular cast.
- Tin-Tin can be seen holding an Air Terrainean flight bag (possibly obtained from her flight onboard the Fireflash in Trapped in the Sky) while Virgil flies her and Brains out to Egypt in Thunderbird 2.
- Tin-Tin would next see the Egyptian pyramids in the film Thunderbird 6 (1968).
- Brains’ desert jeep is an overhaul of Wilson and Lindsay’s vehicle from The Uninvited.
- Tin-Tin wears the same diving gear featured in Edge of Impact.
