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Thunderbirds Are Go!
During 1966 it could not be disputed that Thunderbirds was a phenomenon, a media success. Attempting to continue and build on this, new episodes and a feature film went into production, and - following the lead of the pre-production titles of both Fireball XL5 and the comic TV Century 21, A.P.Films became Century 21 Productions.
 The film, of course, was Thunderbirds Are Go!, and it made its debut in December 1966. Unprecedentedly for the time, five adaptations of this appeared in the media. Two of these were a TV Century 21 magazine which outlined the film itself and its production, and a novelisation (from the cover you'd think it was by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson themselves but the frontispiece reveals TV Century 21 script editor Angus Allan as the actual writer). The other three were comic or strip related, and these are detailed here.
The first to appear was a 28 part newspaper strip in the Daily Mail. Preceding this, published in the Mail on Friday 2nd December, was a feature entitled How to pull strings and make £350,000 by film critic Barry Norman. This included a brief interview with Gerry Anderson, covering his gradual rise to fame and the foresightedness of the productions. As well as indicating 'a strip cartoon of the story of the film' would be starting in the paper on Monday, the feature also gives a tantalising glimpse of the proposed second film, due to enter production in January, the plot of which 'concerns a Russo-American space project'. Sadly the commercial failure of Thunderbirds Are Go!, unknown at this time, would appear to have scuppered this storyline.
 Introducing the first instalment of the strip on Monday was another feature entitled If you're tempted to scoff at Thunderbirds - Remember what went before, was about how 'sci-fi writers' (Arthur C. Clarke and Fred Hoyle are name-checked) tended to accurately predict future technologies. But it drew a line between prediction - actual science leading to probable devices - and the more fanciful inventions, as typified by Thunderbirds, to create something for the sake of a story and ignore the technicalities. Gerry Anderson himself was again on hand to provide some quotes, and explain the reasoning behind the Zero X (although unnamed here): "It's inconceivable to me that space travel will be ever so popular if you have to be a semi-scientist and fit enough to stand the blast-off. So we've dreamed up a rocket that takes off like an aeroplane, and when it gets to the right height drops off its wings, which return to earth under their own power."
"It may be impossible now," he adds, "but there is a need for it - or will be."
Thunderbirds Are Go!
The Daily Mail
Newspaper strip, b/w.
Part 1: The Daily Mail No. 21,959, dated Monday 05 December 1966
 The time... 21st Century. The place... Martian Exploration Centre, Glenn Field, U.S.A...
Three men, Paul Travers, Greg Martin and Brad Newman, are ready for a mission to be the first men on Mars...
Part 2: The Daily Mail No. 21,960, dated Tuesday 06 December 1966
Zero X lifts off for Mars. But there is a stowaway on board...
 Part 3: The Daily Mail No. 21,961, dated Wednesday 07 December 1966
The spy is the Hood, and his foot becomes trapped in a control system, causing Zero X to lose altitude...
Part 4: The Daily Mail No. 21,962, dated Thursday 08 December 1966
As Zero X crash dives, Travers orders the crew to eject. Air sea rescue is despatched but the Hood escapes by parachute...
Part 5: The Daily Mail No. 21,963, dated Friday 09 December 1966
The escape unit ejects as Zero X crashes into the sea. Two years later, a second Zero X is ready... but the enquiry decides International Rescue should be present to tighten security...
Part 6: The Daily Mail No. 21,964, dated Saturday 10 December 2066
On Tracy Island, Jeff tells Scott to fly to Glenn Field in Thunderbird 1, while Thunderbird 2 will escort Zero X to the upper atmosphere. Thunderbird 3 will orbit Earth until Zero X is on course for Mars. Thunderbirds are Go!
Part 7: The Daily Mail No. 21,965, dated Monday 12 December 1966
Tin Tin asks Jeff who will take care of any saboteurs, and he knows just the person - Lady Penelope...
Part 8: The Daily Mail No. 21,966, dated Tuesday 13 December 1966
Penelope tells Parker to get FAB 1, as they are leaving for America immediately. At Glenn Field, Scott is ready for Thunderbird 3 to observe Zero X tomorrow. And at a press conference, Lady Penelope gives Travers and his crew special St Christophers...
Part 9: The Daily Mail No. 21,967, dated Wednesday 14 December 1966
Sixty minutes to lift off, and Penelope finds no signal from Dr Grant's St Christopher - he must be an imposter...
Part 10: The Daily Mail No. 21,968, dated Thursday 15 December 1966
Scott confronts 'Grant', and ripping off the face mask reveals the Hood. The spy escapes, but Penelope has found the real Grant...
Part 11: The Daily Mail No. 21,969, dated Friday 16 December 1966
Parker sees the Hood's getaway car, and FAB 1 gives chase as it meets up with a motor boat...
 Part 12: The Daily Mail No. 21,970, dated Saturday 17 December 2066
As FAB 1 hydrofoils over the sea, Parker spots an 'ellycopter'. During a gun fight, the helicopter is shot down by the Rolls, and there is little point looking for survivors...
Part 13: The Daily Mail No. 21,971, dated Monday 19 December 1966
Zero X heads for space and, watched by Thunderbird 3, leaves the atmosphere and heads for Mars...
Part 14: The Daily Mail No. 21,972, dated Tuesday 20 December 1966
Six weeks later, Zero X approaches Mars, and the Martian Excursion vehicle descends to the surface...
Part 15: The Daily Mail No. 21,973, dated Wednesday 21 December 1966
There is no sign of life on the red planet, but strange rock formations attract their attention, so they plan to collect a sample...
Part 16: The Daily Mail No. 21,974, dated Thursday 22 December 1966
A blast from the MEV gun shatters one of the 'rocks' - which come alive, and retaliate...
Part 17: The Daily Mail No. 21,975, dated Friday 23 December 1966
Fireballs cascade down on the MEV, and Travers orders rendezvous with the Zero X main body. But the MEV cannot take much more punishment...
 Part 18: The Daily Mail No. 21,976, dated Saturday 24 December 1966
The rendezvous position is still four minutes away but Travers ignores the countdown and lifts off...
Part 19: The Daily Mail No. 21,977, dated Tuesday 27 December 1966
Having escaped the bombardment, the MEV connects with Zero X and returns to Earth. Six weeks later, it approaches Earth and docks with lifting body 1. But as body 2 approaches, there is a radio control failure...
Part 20: The Daily Mail No. 21,978, dated Wednesday 28 December 1966
"Emergency! Lift Body 2 is lost and locking gear damaged." Zero X will crash in thirty minutes... Jeff brief Alan to get aboard Zero X and fix the failed escape unit...
Part 21: The Daily Mail No. 21,979, dated Thursday 29 December 1966
As Thunderbird 2 lifts off, Glenn Field notifies Virgil that Zero X will crash into Craigsville...
Part 22: The Daily Mail No. 21,980, dated Friday 30 December 1966
Gordon fires a line into Zero X's nose landing gear, allowing Alan to transfer across...
Part 23: The Daily Mail No. 21,981, dated Saturday 31 December 1966
With Brains' guidance, Alan rewires the escape unit, but thee is only two minutes left...
Part 24: The Daily Mail No. 21,982, dated Tuesday 03 January 1967
Virgil orders Travers to the escape unit, but then Alan drops the automatic bolt release...
Part 25: The Daily Mail No. 21,983, dated Wednesday 04 January 1967
Dangerously near the ground, Alan fixes the wires together manually, then bails out...
Part 26: The Daily Mail No. 21,984, dated Thursday 05 January 1967
Virgil calls for scott to fire the scape unit, which blasts free just as Zero X impacts Craigsville...
Part 27: The Daily Mail No. 21,985, dated Friday 06 January 1967
The Zero X crew are safe, and Thunderbird 2 lowers Alan to the ground on his cable, where FAB 1 and Lady Penelope is waiting...
Part 28: The Daily Mail No. 21,986, dated Saturday 07 January 1967
Later, at the Swinging Star night club, Alan spends the evening with Penny. But the rest of the family are there in disguise to congratulate him too!
Notes:
• An interesting way to promote the film, though one seemingly popular in the 1950s through to the late 1970s.
• The only credit on the strip is 'Created by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson' but the script is attributed to Alan Fennell.
• Likewise, artist Don Lawrence is not credited, but his signature appears on part 25
• The strip stays with the main action of the film, and omits the fantasy 'Shooting Star' dream sequence.
• Strangely, The Hood is depicted in a dinner jacket and frilly shirt when unmasked in the Zero X, as if 'Dr. Grant' has not changed from the press conference the evening before.
• The unnamed 'rock snakes' are depicted as uncoiled and erect before awakening.
• In part 27, Gordon's dialogue in the final frame appears to come from FAB 1.
• When Penelope takes Alan to relax at the real Swinging Star in the final instalment, Lawrence depicts her as wearing the outfit from the omitted dream sequence.
 Publicity for Thunderbirds remained reasonably high during the pre-Christmas weeks the strip ran through. The film got a review the day after its premiere, entitled Thunderbirds! So who needs people? written by Cecil Wilson, which describes the film as 'projecting them into a push-button, poker-faced comic strip space age'. It's clear who the audience should be, as Wilson himself closes by echoing Groucho Marx: "Why, a child of six could understand this. Go out and get me a child of six. I can't make head nor tail of it."
The New Year saw further publicity for the film in the form of a competition: "Can YOU Name This Creature?' (see right) Illustrated by a depiction of a Martian Rock Snake from the daily strip adaptation, entrants had to be age 16 or under and find a suitable name for the creature which 'appears in the Thunderbirds film when the astronauts of Zero X land on Mars. They are attacked by many of the creatures who shoot fire and flame like jets from their serpent-like mouths.' But there were also five possible names that had to placed in order of merit, and these were: A. Maronster B. Pyrock C. Marjet D. Fyro E. Marshot.
The first prize was an 18 inch model of Lady Penelope's pink Rolls-Royce actually used in the film itself. The twenty runners-up would each receive a model of Thunderbird 1. Running over two days, Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th January (effectively two chances to enter the same competition), entries had to be in by the next Monday, with winners announced on Friday the 20th.
And the winner, announced on the promised Friday in a small feature titled 'Lorraine is Go for Thunderbirds prize', was Lorraine Crockford of Camberley, Surrey, with the name 'Stratasaurus'. The twenty runners-up were also listed.
And for those of wondering what the order of merit for those stunning other names were:
1. Fyro
2. Pyrock
3. Maronster
4. Marshot
5. Marjet
 Publicity in TV Century 21 started a few days later than the Daily Mail strip, with the cover of issue 99, dated December 10 2066. 'Now it can be told... Secrets Of Mars Spaceshot! screamed the headline, over a shot of the Zero X on the Glenn Field runway. With the film release imminent, there was also the promise of a 'photographic picturisation' beginning in a fortnight's time.
As the oldest of the series still running a strip, Fireball XL5 bowed out of its colour double pages to give the four week adaptation full reign. Presumably this was quite ambitious for its time, but also made sense as a necessary prelude to the up-and-coming Zero X strip, in the possibility some regular readers did not see the film, read the novel, buy the tie-in magazine or had parents who bought the Daily Mail. It also provided, for those fortunate to have both TV Century 21 and the Daily Mail, an interesting game in the form of 'guess which photo Don Lawrence had used for reference'.
Part 1, interestingly, does not feature International Rescue at all, bar a photo of Thunderbird 3 in the opening frame, and this highlights the main failing of the film - they play too small a part in the precedings. The remaining three parts are more faithful to the strip being about Thunderbirds, even if the storytelling is so squeezed by the fact the photos are not as versatile as illustrations, requiring a lot more exposition than usual.
TV Century 21
Photostory. 2 pages, colour.
Part 1: TV Century 21 Issue 101, dateline 24 December 2066
Front Page: Mars Committee seeks aid for Zero X relaunch - Call In Thunderbirds!
Tension mounts at Glenn Field, scene of many successful space launches... But today the occasion is special. today man is going to attempt his first flight to Mars in a revolutionary new craft, Zero X.
After a lengthy pre-launch preparation, connecting the two lifting bodies to the main fuselage of Zero X, Space Pilot Captain Paul Travers, Co-pilot Greg Martin and Space Navigator Brad Newman enter the Martian Excursion vehicle (M.E.V.) and join the ship. The launch is a success but as Zero X climbs to 20,000 feet, an uninvited visitor is revealed on board - The Hood. And when his foot is trapped in the elevator system, the craft starts to crash earthwards...
Part 2: TV Century 21 Issue 102, dateline 31 December 2066
Front Page: Mars Here We Come! All systems go for Zero X
The Hood parachutes to safety, and the crew of Zero X have no option but to use the escape unit. Twenty four months later, the Martian Exploration Committee conclude the cause was sabotage, and that International Rescue should be present for a second attempt. Jeff tracy battles with the problem, as no emergency has been called - but he decides to ignore the rules, and Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 3 are launched! Jeff also calls on Lady Penelope to attend the press conference, during which she gives Travers and his crew special St. Christophers which contain electronic signallers. But as launch is prepared, the signal from number 5 - Dr Grant - is wrong...
Part 3: TV Century 21 Issue 103, dateline 07 January 2067
Front Page: Missing - Believed Killed. Lady Penelope races to foil The Hood's last sabotage bid
Flash Panel: Copybook Liftoff - Congratulations for Thunderbirds 'Watchdogs'
The imposter is the Hood, who escapes to be pursued by Lady Penelope and Parker in FAB 1. The spy is collected by a helicopter, and a gunfight ensues, with FAB 1 shooting the craft down. Zero X lifts off, escorted by Thunderbird 2 in the atmosphere, and Thunderbird 3 as it leaves orbit, and heads for Mars. Alan, returning to Tracy Island, finds Scott and Virgil have gone to the Swinging Star night club with Lady Penelope without him. Annoyed, he goes to bed and dreams of his own evening there with Penelope, entertained by Cliff Richard Junior and the Shadows. Six weeks later, Zero X reaches Mars, but as the M.E.V. explores and fires at a strange rock formation, they find themselves under attack from weird 'rock snakes'...
Part 4: TV Century 21 Issue 104, dateline 14 January 2067
Front Page: Crashdown! Crew trapped as Zero X dives to destruction.
Flash Panel: Life on Mars - the first radio pictures
Bombarded by fireballs from the creatures, the M.E.V. lifts off and makes a rendezvous with the main body. But when Zero X returns to Earth, a failure with Lifting Body 2 threatens disaster. Thunderbird 2 is launched to try and put Alan aboard, to free the crew. With seconds to spare, the escape unit blasts the crew clear, and Zero X crashes into a town. Alan is dropped to the ground, to be picked up by Lady Penelope in FAB 1, and that night they go to the Swinging Star Night Club - only to find the whole family there, in disguise.
Reprinted:
TV2000 (Holland) - issues 33-36, 1967
Century 21 - issue 7
Notes:
• To accommodate the layout of the photostory, a number of photographs are flipped back to front, and any writing or numerals painted out, or added back the right way (e.g. Thunderbird 2 in the opening frame of part 2).
 Lady Penelope was seemingly last off the mark, but had actually jumped the gun way back in July, in issue 26 dated 16 July 1966 - over four months prior to the release of the film. In a mock-up newspaper for a competition called 'Get Into Print' (pages 16 & 17), the main story was 'Second Launch of the Zero X Approved' (right). This is actually namechecked in the Thunderbirds Are Go! novelisation (page 25, if you're wondering) as a subheading suggested to entice International Rescue into assisting.
The article gives the name of the 'angry young man' of the film's enquiry scene as Colonel Edwin O'Brian, though the length of the security report as 1,862 pages, rather than the 826 quoted on-screen or in the novel. Unfortunately none of the scenes featuring it appear in the final edit of the film, but photos from them appear in the TV21 photostory where the dressing-gowned Tracy family discuss newspapers stories. The mock paper however does carry the same date, edition and price (12 June 2066, Universal, 15 cents, as well as the 'Videphone and VHF - page 3' flash to top left) as the News Of The World seen on-screen, bearing the headline World Waits, that Jeff Tracy reads after the first crash. This provides a tantalising glimpse of the detail put into the production, and it can perhaps be speculated that Century 21 Publishing (as they would become in a few months) were possibly responsible for these too.
Preceded by a special FAB Club in issue 47, which previewed the new film with some behind the scenes photos, issues 48 to 50 of Lady Penelope included a three part text adaptation, told - as one should be expected - from Her Ladyship's point of view. Here, the hand of Angus Allan can clearly be seen as whole sections of his novelisation are reproduced, with the odd tweak and abridgement to make sure each part flowed as a proper narrative. The additional of new material was also necessary, where the script - and therefore novelisation - perhaps did not cover Penelope and Parker's whereabouts while the Zero X was on Mars.
 Lady Penelope
Text story with photos. 2 pages, b/w.
Part 1: Lady Penelope Issue 48, dated 17 December 1966
Thunderbirds Are Go!
Lady Penelope watches on television as coverage of the launch of Zero X ends in disaster, and ponders on what could have happened. It will be two years before she gets an answer... After an enquiry into the disaster, which concludes 'sabotage', International Rescue agree to oversee the launch of the second Zero X. Jeff tracy calls Penelope into action, representing the Universal Mirror as cover to get special St. Christopher medallions to Captain Paul Travers and his crew...
Part 2: Lady Penelope Issue 49, dated 24 December 1966
Lady P Saves Zero X
The next day, Penelope and Parker check the signals from hidden cells within each medallion, and find something wrong with the one given to Doctor Grant. Scott finds he is an imposter - none other than the Hood - but he escapes. Having given the real Grant's location to Scott Tracy, Penelope and Parker pursue the Hood in FAB 1 as he makes for the coast. In a short and spectacular battle with an armed helicopter, FAB 1 is triumphant, and the Zero X launches successfully. Alan Tracy returns to home to find brother Scott and Virgil have gone to a night-spot called 'The Swinging Star' with Lady Penelope. Angrily, he goes to bed - and dreams he is with Penelope as Parker flies them in FAB 1 to a real 'Swinging Star'...
Part 3: Lady Penelope Issue 50, dated 31 December 1966
Crash Zone Craigsville!
Some time later, the MEV of the Zero X touches down on Mars. As the crew ponder on strange coils of rock on the landscape, and blast one to get samples, they find they have disturbed alien life in the form of giant, fire-spitting rock snakes. The MEV escapes, and International Rescue stand by for the return of the Zero X. Not without cause, as one of the lifting bodies malfunctions, and the escape unit jams. As Zero X hurtles towards a crash landing, the tracys swing into action, and Alan is put aboard the Zero X free the escape unit and save the crew. Zero X crashes into the now evacuated town of Craigsville without loss of life, and Alan is lowered to the ground from Thunderbird 2 to find Lady Penelope waiting to pick him up. Perhaps his dream is going to come true after all...
Notes:
• Drawn from the Thunderbirds Are Go! novelisation, this version gives Paul Travers the number 23 during the press conference, instead of the 17 of the film and Daily Mail strip.
• Interestingly, perhaps to retain a more romantic feel for girl readers, Alan's dream sequence does not end unhappily, nor do the Tracy family reappear at the end.
• Part 3 relates Lady Penelope and Parker had taken an extended holiday on the American seaboard after the launch of Zero X, explaining her presence in the country when it returns.
• As with some of the Zero X strips in TV Century 21, the beginning of part 3 implies Glenn Field may be located not too far from Miami in Florida - though presumably not on the site of the old Cape Kennedy, which still exists in the episode 'Sunprobe'.
Considering the commercial failure of the film, it has to be pondered whether the mass promotion had slid - and not that subtlely - into overkill. By mid-January, even if you had not seen the film, the ending had been made widely known to its main anticipated audience through the pages of TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope. Admittedly, the popularity of the series did suggest that the film should have been an immediate Christmas hit, but at a time way before home video, perhaps they killed any returns to the cinema. TV Century 21 had the better excuse, needing to launch its new strip Zero X and give the title a new boost. Ironically, for all its innovations, it seemed Century 21 Productions were now becoming a victim of their own success...
The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to thank:
Keith Ansell
Rob van Bavel
and Mike Reccia
- for their help with this feature.
Version 1.1 - 01.09.05
Any comments or notes about any of the strips, please contact technodelic@blueyonder.co.uk.
All text © The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History, and its respective writers, and may not be reproduced without permission.
All images © their respective copyright holders
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