Talk:Thunderbirds (TV series)
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This article is part of WikiProject British TV shows, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to British TV shows on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project British TV shows, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
Please consider joining the project! HowardBerry 19:22, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
Jeff Tracy didn't have a daughter. I assume that you're thinking of Tin-Tin who was the daughter of Jeff's manservant, Kyrano. -- Derek Ross
Please see the discussion at talk:Thunderbird_(disambiguation). - UtherSRG 20:18, 10 Jan 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Uniform Question
On the Thunderbirds IR uniforms they had the sash and belt that held a sidearm and two tube thingys (One yellow, one blue) Does anyone know what these tubes were for? I think one might be a radio/microphone (of the silver cylinder on a handle type) as Scott always seemed to produce one from somewhere (like in "The Uninvited"). Des anyone know for sure?
The books refer to different colored interchangeable barrels for their guns. One was stun gas, one was needle darts, one was explosive shells.
[edit] NPOV
"Turbo-charged Thunderbirds" is very bad, yes, but Wikipedia is not a place for voicing such opinions except as part of an NPOV description.
- That's as may be, but Gerry Anderson still wanted every episode burnt! Lee M 23:42, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Well, that's good information, and in fact if anyone has actual quotes from him on the matter I'd like to see those replace the description that he was "reportedly furious". ISTR that previously, instead of saying "many fans were disgusted by TCTB and Gerry was reportedly furious" the description went further and directly declared the show to be a piece of ****. Which, y'know, I can't argue with the sentiment, cause it was, but it shouldn't be asserted as fact in the article. -- Antaeus Feldspar 16:41, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Homages/Parodies?
I'd like to see if the information on "Team America: World Police" could be folded into a more general section on homages to and parodies of Thunderbirds. Other examples would include MTV's "Super Adventure Team" and the "Power Kings" segments of Joel Hodgson's HBO special "The TV Wheel". -- Antaeus Feldspar 00:14, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Wallace and Gromit's A Close Shave also featured a brief homage to the Thunderbird launch sequences. Lee M 23:42, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
"David Holliday (the original voice of Virgil in Series I) was the only real American cast in any voice role in the series; all the others were British or Australian."
- This is directly contradicted by the statement that Shane Rimmer is Canadian. (Now corrected.) And I thought Matt Zimmerman was American, but IMDB doesn't confirm this. Anyone? Lee M 23:47, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
International Rescue aka International Rescue Committee does exist by the way... disambiguation may help
[edit] Reorganization
The "special effects" section actually included stuff about music, the 2004 movie, Team America, and a bunch of other stuff, so I've added some new chapter headings. I rewrote the Team America paragraph because the older version made no sense (and it's irrelevant where Stone and Parker watched the show so I took that out). I also removed a paragraph about the books which duplicated the section on the books later in the article. I agree that a "parodies" section might be a good place to put Team America and even make reference to Turbocharged Thunderbirds. The original Thunderbirds marionettes also appeared in a Dire Straits video awhile back, as well as a couple of TV commercials, too. 23skidoo 23:10, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Sci-fi is not a proper word
I have removed two instances of the word "sci-fi" from the article on the grounds that it is a slang term and not a real word at all. Lee M 02:23, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- Good luck convincing others of that. Slang terms are "real words" and one such as "sci-fi" has come into popular usage, albeit against the wishes of Isaac Asimov. The only difference here is whether the term is properly applied. It's used all over the place in Wikipedia so if you want to see it eradicated, I suggest you visit the Village Pump and plead your case. 23skidoo 03:43, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Time setting
To my understanding, originally Thunderbirds was supposed to take place in "the near future", but a decision was made late in production to place the year as 2064 (one hundred years from the then-present) instead. Where in the series is it stated to be 2026, as SpaceCaptain claims? -- Antaeus Feldspar 14:30, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I don't recall an actual year mentioned at any point, including 2064. Which episode mentions this? The only year I recall hearing is in one episode Parker gets drunk of a bottle of wine of 1998 vintage. If my memory serves, the Century 21 timeline that established Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Fireball XL5 as all occurring in the same universe placed Captain Scarlet somewhere in the 2060s with Thunderbirds listed as taking place some decades earlier. Maybe that's the source for the 2026 date? Even though it was "official" I've never heard a definitive call as to whether the Century 21 timeline is canon or not. 23skidoo 15:22, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I don't remember them mentioning years at all in the canon, though I could easily have missed that. However, when TechTV ran the series, they ran it with a informational band at the bottom of the screen where they'd tell tidbits about the special effects, the behind-the-scenes -- sort of a commentary track. On the very first episode, they mentioned that the setting was intended to be the near future until quite close to production and then was changed to production + 100 years. It's not impossible that they could have been misinformed, but I think I put more trust in them than in the Century 21 timeline, which had to try and fit four different series that had each been produced as their own series into a single coherent timeline. -- Antaeus Feldspar 20:51, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Watch the final episode, Give or Take a Million (the Christmas special). A calendar is seen (close-up) that reads DECEMBER 24 2026. SpaceCaptain 00:32, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Oh, yeah... there is one place where the 2026 date survived the retcon. Thunderbirds Are Go (the behind-the-scenes book from the early 90s, not the old movie novelization) uses 2026. Gerry Anderson has stated this was an error and denies that it was ever intended differently. I think the move for the redating came from TV Century 21, so they could do crossovers between Thunderbirds, Stingray, Fireball XL5 and Captain Scarlet. Unlike Star Wars or Star Trek, the Supermarionation universe (if, indeed, the shows are all in the same universe - I don't think Fireball XL5 is, at least) doesn't have a canon policy. SpaceCaptain 00:42, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Ah, that explains it -- I still haven't gotten a chance to watch that episode (my VCR blew up shortly before it would have shown up on TechTV's schedule...) -- Antaeus Feldspar 00:52, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
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- I had a feeling the 2020s date was mentioned in "Ricochet", too. The Zero-X article says that the film was set in 2065 - but that feels like part of the retcon to me, put in once the date for Captain Scarlet was fixed. -- Beardo 05:42, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Meaning of FAB
An anonymous editor just added an apparent meaning for the phrase FAB. While it makes sense, I have no recollection of it ever actually being spelled out like this. Can anyone verify the new information or at least provide a source? Sounds like something that might have originated with one of the Century 21 publications. 23skidoo 16:49, 5 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Production credits
Do we need such an extensive list of production credits? (referring to the recent edit) 23skidoo 03:06, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
- No, I don't think we do. I think it's probably an anonymous editor excited that they have something to contribute and not realizing that it's overdetailed. Since a lot of the same people worked on multiple Anderson shows, however, maybe it could be usefully transferred to Supermarionation or the like. -- Antaeus Feldspar 14:17, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
- That's a good idea. Maybe a list of "regular contributors" to not just the Supermarionation shows, but Anderson productions in general, such as Barry Gray, David Lane, Shane Rimmer, etc. I was going to revert the credit list that was added, but I'll wait and see if anyone else chimes in first. Cheers. 23skidoo 16:27, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Imitations
I have expanded the Parodies section to include a reference to the South African series Interster, made using supermarionation techniques in the late 1970s. Humansdorpie 17:02, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
This article seems to repeat itself over and over about Team America World Police. —User:ACupOfCoffee@ 05:17, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Stingray
How do you do it so that the Stingray link will connect directly to the TV show entry, and not to the fish? 70.50.53.38 20:26, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
- Like this '[[Stingray (TV series)|Stingray]]' Ben 20:59, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Italicised Thunderbirds?
Just wondering what peoples opinions are for italicising the names of the Thunderbird craft to conform to wikipedia manual of style. The consensus on Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (titles)#Italicize names of spacecraft is that ship and spacecraft names should be italicised so by that argument Thunderbird 3 and I guess TB4 should be italicised, but the others aren't really ships or spaceships and what about FAB1 and Fireflash? Obviously all the names should be consistent. I'm guessing italics might be the way to go. Anyone have any objections? Bobfos 17:10, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
- OK, well according to Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (titles)#Italicize names of spacecraft as callsigns they don't really count as ship names, so for the record I seems they should not be italcised.
Bobfos 01:26, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Thunderbird 6
I see that all of the vehicles are listed but what about Thunderbird 6, the bi-plane. It did make its debut in the second movie, but is it considered canon? Did it appear in the series? Evilgidgit 18:19, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
- The tiger moth didn't appear in the series, but I don't see why TB6 wouldn't be considered canon. The only problem I can see is that spoiler tags might have to placed around the Thunderbirds fleet section for anyone who hasn't seen the film, which might not be ideal.
Bobfos 18:35, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Article assessment
As requested here I've assessed the article. I've given the article a B on the class scale. It contains a wealth of information but very little of it is verifiable by the reader. One of the major aims for the article should be to find sources for the information already present.
The organization is sometimes confusing. What have uniforms got to do with the plot? Perhaps production would be a better place for this production design related information. The episode list needs a summary paragraph as an introduction to the content of the subarticle - just state the number of seasons, episodes and the years of broadcast.
The list of credits should be written as prose. I would give some thought as to which crew members are notable enough for the wikipedia article.
The lists of references, parodies and imitations should be rewritten as prose and properly referenced.
The article is very long and some of the detailed information should be moved into subarticles - a separate article for the vehicles with a brief summary of the major vehicles remaining seems like a good first step to me.
You are missing a section on the critical response to the show. Try to find and summarise some reviews, even if the historical response is hard to retrieve then there must be plenty of DVD reviews out there.--Opark 77 12:01, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Meaning of FAB
Please add a comment in the article as to the origin of the word 'FAB'....is it an acronym for something? 60.226.239.121 21:57, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
Ooops...my bad, I just noticed the article does explain it. But there are no sources cited. 60.226.239.121 22:05, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Thunderbirds Vehicles
As suggested in the above article assessment I was thinking of moving the Thunderbirds vehicles to a separate page called 'Thunderbirds Vehicles". Does anyone have any objections or alternatives names for the page? Bobfos 16:53, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
- Is this including the machines as well? As then the article title shoud reflect this. AxG ҈ ►talk 16:56, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
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- OK, I've moved the Thunderbirds machines section to a dedicated article entitled Thunderbirds Machines and left a brief run-down of the main TB craft.
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Bobfos 11:19, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] 2065-2066
Controversy? As a kid when the series originally aired, much of the merchandise- children's annuals et al- associated with the series indicated that Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Stingray et al were all set about one century or so beyond the present day.
User: Calibanu 16.58, 04 May 2007
- I am sure that there are references in the series indicating a date of 2028 or thereabouts. The 2065 dates came from TV Century 21 which pretended to be a newspaper reporting events, and also to allow cross-overs. That date was probably a retcon, though Captain Scarlet was officially set in 206x. -- Beardo 03:51, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Funding
International Rescue is a private organisation and the characters sometimes refer to being "back in business" (or so I remember). Operating such an organisation (which includes a space station and global network of agents) can't be cheap.
Does anyone know how they got funding? Is it explained in the series? Thanks. 155.198.134.185 15:47, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
- I am sure it was stated that Jeff Tracy funded it - his article describes him as financier - but I am not sure if it was explained where he got his money. -- Beardo 03:53, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
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- From what I remember, Jeff Tracy was a multimillionaire who owned several large technology companies across the world which not only provided the funding for the organisation but were secretly involved in the construction of the Thunderbirds machines. These companies were managed by IR agents who were trusted friends of Jeff. I'm not sure if this was mentioned in the series but I think it was in the comic books which were edited by Alan Fennell, one of the series writers. Bobfos 11:00, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Why doesn't the Hood have his own page?
Most of the other main characters have their own pages/stubs. Admittedly, he isn't a main character (he's not in every episode), but he is a recurring arch-enemy to International Rescue. --85.92.179.141 21:36, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Thunderbirds FAB production
Was hugely successful and ran for several years, going from an Edinburgh Festival skit by two fans to eventually ending up with a sold-out run in London's West End. An expanded description and explanation of their production and its success would be in order (maybe their own page? - many lesser theatricals get theirs) but if nothing else they deserve here at least an acknowledgement for their outstanding contribution to the demand which lead to the resurrection of Thunderbirds on the BBC in the early 1990s - which saw both its cult status secured as well its continuing popular appeal to a new generation of viewers. Plutonium27 (talk) 00:04, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Thunderbirds-marionettes.jpg
Image:Thunderbirds-marionettes.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot (talk) 02:18, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Carleton's site
Carleton's official Thunderbirds site was deactivated after the merger with Granada. I've edited the eternal link to direct to the last archived copy at the Wayback Machine. --Tikatu (talk) 04:06, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
