Thunderbirds revamps

J. Lester Novros II

as detailed elsewhere on this site, throughout the Supermarionation series, models [or parts of same] were reused extensively. The studios didn't stop its recycling there, however: closer inspection reveals that quite a number of puppets also turn up in more than one episode [and sometimes even crossed over into other series], albeit in different roles most of the time. With the help of the two Thunderbirds Picture Library CDs – compiled by my good friend Theo de Klerk, each containing screenshots of half the episodes – I have made an attempt to gather together the faces of all Thunderbirds 'revamps'.

production number	regular cast appearances	Jeff	Scott	Virgil	Alan	Gordon	John	Kyrano	Lady Penelope	Parker	Brains	Tintin	The Hood	Grandma
	episode title
1	Trapped in the Sky
2	Terror in New York City
3	End of the Road
4	Pit of Peril
5	The Perils of Penelope
6	Day of Disaster
7	Edge of Impact
8	Desperate Intruder
9	30 Minutes after Noon
10	The Uninvited
11	Sunprobe
12	Operation Crash-dive
13	Vault of Death
14	The Mighty Atom
15	The Impostors
16	City of Fire
17	The Man from MI.5
18	Cry Wolf
19	Danger at Ocean Deep
20	Move and You're Dead
21	The Duchess Assignment
22	Brink of Disaster
23	Attack of the Alligators!
24	Martian Invasion
25	The Cham-Cham
26	Security Hazard
27	Atlantic Inferno
28	Path of Destruction
29	Alias Mr. Hackenbacker
30	Lord Parker's 'oliday
31	Give or Take a Million
32	Ricochet

This was by no means an easy task. First I had to go through all 32 episodes [upwards of 9000 images!] and find clear socalled 'head shots' of the secondary characters. In some cases, this meant enlarging group pictures since the individual in question had not warranted his own close-up. Then there was the matter of beards, moustaches, glasses and sundry headgear to contend with — sometimes two characters looked alike due to wearing a similar pair of specs, sometimes the face was partly obscured by the rim of a hat or the billet of a cap. It is therefore quite conceivable [nay, inevitable] that I have mistaken one individual for another. Additions and corrections would therefore, as always, be welcomed.

Similar to the other revamp catalogues from FAB magazine that are reproduced here, I took the trouble to compile a table of regular cast appearances. A few things come to light this way.

Obviously Jeff, Scott and Virgil appear in every episode: they participate in all rescue operations. John, surprisingly, performs in a stunning 24 episodes which contradicts the fact that he was delegated to Thunderbird 5 because Gerry [or Sylvia, depending on whose story you believe] didn't like the character. Grandma appears in respectable 17 epsiodes as well, a lot more than I recalled. It must be noted however, that these performances were often in minor roles, sometimes [as in the case of Grandma] purely as comic relief.

Also, to my surprise, Tin Tin appears in all but 3 episodes while The Hood fizzles out after a mere 6 performances. And finally, Lady Penelope and Parker always appear together in an episode, except at the Christmas party on Tracy Island in Give Or Take A Million: since Kyrano is absent too it appears that that shindig was not for the servants.

Finally, the episode The Mighty Atom is the only one in which all protagonists play a part.

Provided my inventory contains no oversights or other mistakes, this boils down to 13 regular characters, 105 revamp characters and 126 characters who appeared in a single episode only, bringing the grand total to a whopping 244 distinct puppets.

Postscript

Since I researched this page, it came to my attention that others had had the same idea for other series, in casu Captain Scarlet, Joe90 and The Secret Service. They published their results in issues 31, 34 and 59 of FAB magazine respectively. I have added their findings to this site.

Simms

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