Thunderbirds strip guide - part six

The New System
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Don Harley. 2 pages, b/w.

Part 1, Issue 1, week ending 20 February 1971
Writer: Dennis Hooper (?). Artist: Don Harley. 2 pages, b/w.
Any organisation, however sophisticated their hardware may be, needs time to develop new ideas in systems and technology. International Rescue is no exception. One such project is about to begin…
Thunderbird 3 drifts alongside space station Thunderbird 5, as countdown for a new automatic ground control system for the giant nuclear-powered spacecraft ticks down to thirty-five seconds. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… blast off… and Thunderbird 3 heads off, with all fully automated. But ninety-three million miles away on the surface of the Sun, a particularly violent prominence explodes out into space. It takes just eight and a half minutes for the high energy radiation to reach Earth, and less then four and a half minutes from re-entry, contact with Thunderbird 3 breaks up in interference. Switching communications to microband, Alan is warned to use the radiaton shields but the mechanism jams. Weightless, Alan floats up to free the mechanism, but is knocked unconscious when it re-activates. John sees this on the tracking camera and reports, but Jeff is more concerned if Thunderbird 3 does not correct its approach speed, Alan will be made jelly by the G-force…

Part 2, Issue 2, week ending 27 February 1971

Brains tries to use the control system but the radiation is affecting the magnetic beam. The particles are building and spiralling back down the beam, and as Brains fires the main engines for re-entry, the ground control overloads, destroying it! There is one chance to stop Thunderbird 3's imminent burn-up, and Brains uses a secondary system to fire two attitude rockets which check the suicidal headlong plunge. The control system needs major repairs, and Thunderbird 3 is on a decaying orbit, as each circuit brings it into contact with the atmosphere, slowing it down. The polyarcanium hull will withstand the heat of re-entry, meain the craft will crash to Earth with the force of a nuclear bomb! The main waveguide necessary for rebuilding the control system is manufactured in a secret International Rescue subsiduary in South Africa, and Virgil is despatched in Thunderbird 2 to fetch it. But with time running out, Jeff ponders he may have to destroy Thunderbird 3 - with Alan on board - to prevent disaster...

Part 3, Issue 3, week ending 06 March 1971
Brains theorises four circuits before Thunderbird 3 burns through the atmosphere - and there is no telling where it will come down. Virgil is now traversing northern Australia, and is about to make contact with his destination. Without the waveguide, Brains can do nothing more, and Jeff Tracy confirms that if Thunderbird 3 cannot be controlled, it must be destroyed. Meanwhile, Virgil is getting to response from Africa Nine-Zero, and Jeff theorises it may be interference from sun-flare activity. Landing, Virgil finds the place deserted - well, almost. A radio operator sits in the communications room but as Virgil finds the man unconscious, a man in camoflage fatigues clubs him down with a rifle butt...

Part 4, Issue 4, week ending 13 March 1971
The soldiers are mercenaries, rebels in a sudden civil war International Rescue has not anticipated, and they leave Virgil unconscious in the shadow of Thunderbird 2. Jeff sends Scott to investigate when there is no response to calls, as Thunderbird 3 completes its second ellipse. Recovering consciousness, Virgil staggers towards the building, just as it is blown apart by rebel explosives. The electronics factory becomes a raging inferno, and Virgil risks his life to dash inside and find the part they need, as a blazing support fells him...

Part 5, Issue 5, week ending 20 March 1971
Trapped under the collapsed support, Virgil can only wait for the end. But help is at hand as Scott arrives. Freeing his brother, Scott returns to Thunderbird 1 and uses its rocket motors to blast out the fire. Donning a protective suit, he smashes crate after crate in the smouldering embers until he finds the right part. Now it is a race against time to return to Tracy Island, where Brains fits the waveguide. There can be only one real test, and Brains operates the controls, and even as the hull of Thunderbird 3 begins to redden with the friction of re-entry, its engines fire! The spacecraft is back under control, and Alan will be okay. Jeff tells his sons to get some rest, as International Rescue may be called to action again... at any minute!


Notes:
• While usually given the title The New System, this appears to come from an explanatory paragraph on the first page of the strip about what International Rescue are testing.
• Oops? - It would seem Don Harley was possibly given reference of Alan at the controls of Thunderbird 1, from the episode 'Atlantic Inferno', as this is how he depicts the interior of Thunderbird 3.


Story Two
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Don Harley. 5 pages, b/w.

Issue 6, week ending 27 March 1971
The submarine liner, Kennedy, on its maiden voyage to the Arctic Ocean. On board are 1000 passengers and crew… Eager eyes take in the wonder and mystery of the ocean floor…
But as the green Atlantic gives way to the frozen sea of theArctic ocean, the Hood – also a passenger – watches and plots. As the giant liner reaches the central area of the polar ice cap, the propulsion unit explodes, and it plummets to the ocean floor to become stuck on some rocks. A mayday goes out, and Scott launches in Thunderbird 1. Brains goes with Virgil and Gordon in Thunderbird 2, carrying pod 4, and a radio link to the Kennedy is established. Put through the public address system to clam the passengers, the Hood hears and waits. Scott blows a hole in the ice to lower the underwater camera, and seeing a finger of rock needs to be blown away to free the liner, Gordon and Brains launch in Thunderbird 4. But the Hood is in contact with others, and as Thunderbird 4 reaches the liner ready to deploy buoyancy bags, he delivers an ultimatum – surrender or the Kennedy and all aboard will be destroyed by two subs in wait. Jeff has no option to comply – after the liner has been rescued and released. Being on board, the Hood agrees and Gordon deploys the buoyancy bag under the Kennedy but the Tracys have other plans. Under the ploy of blasting the rocks, both Thunderbirds 1 and 4 simultaneously fire missiles – which destroy the hostile subs. The shockwave frees the Kennedy but it capsizes as it rises but it doesn’t take long for Thunderbird 4 to right it and tow it to waiting rescue ships. Back on Tracy Island, Jeff thinks the Hood was probably on the Kennedy, allowing the rescue, but he has slipped away, and plots again for another time.

Notes:
• The Kennedy bears a slight similarity to the Posideon, from the Dan Dare strip The Man From Nowhere, which Don Harley also co-illustrated with Frank Hampson.
• The crew of the Kennedy wear uniforms not unlike those of the WASPs and World Navy, as seen in Stingray and earlier TV21 strips.
• Thunderbird 2 is seen lowering the pod on cables, as with the original Frank Bellamy strips.


Story Three (aka Pressure Point)
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Don Harley. 2 pages, b/w.

Part 1, Issue 8, week ending 10 April 1971
36,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific, in the lowest depths of the Mariana Trench, the bathyscaphe 'Columbus' lies coupled to the dome of a vast pressure shield... Beneath the shield, sophisticated drilling equipment that has taken months to assemble, remotely controlled from the 'scaphe interior...

Slowing the bit penetration, the crew are put on alert positions as the moho penetration enters its final phase. Well south of the trench, on Tracy Island, Brains is listening to a radio account of events, as the research to find valuable minerals is of immense importance. Jeff warns that it could also be immensely dangerous, as nobody knows what forces will be released. Even as he speaks, penetration is achieved, and massive pressure buckles the super-hardened steel... and the bathyscaphe is thrown against a cliff face near the ocean floor as the shield is torn apart. Unharmed, the crew find the buoyancy tanks, and they are trapped. Hours later, John on Thunderbird 5 reports that Pan Oceanic do not have another craft capable of withstanding the pressure, and this is a mission for International Rescue...

Part 2, Issue 9, week ending 17 April 1971
Virgil and Gordon approach the area in Thunderbird 2, and the aquanaut comments Brains thinks Thunderbird 4 might take the pressure. Off the Mariana Islands, Virgil tells Gordon to get into position and Thunderbird 2 descends over the bubbling surface Too late Virgil realises he is flying into a cloud of gas, which the ram-jets ignite. In a desperate move, Virgil jettisons the pod for stability, with both craft and pod okay, Gordon takes Thunderbird 4 into the depths to follow the column of escaping gas. Below, the crew of the Columbus are told of the impending rescue, but as Gordon reaches thirty-three thousand feet, the hull groans ominously. Thunderbird 4 is forced to rise, as the crew cry out, 'You can't leave us here to die!'...

Part 3, Issue 10, week ending 24 April 1971
Gordon surfaces, and returning to the pod, which is retrieved by Thunderbird 4, tape is reviewed. The bore-hole is splitting the sea-bed, which could swallow the 'scaphe if they open. Brains plots the position of the craft, at the base of a six and a half mile cliff dropping from one of the Mariana Islands to the ocean floor. Instructing Thunderbird 2 to return, the scientist prepares the Mole for loading. The pod exchange takes only minutes, and on board, Brains explains his plan - the Mole will descend behind the cliff face to rescue the crew...


Part 4, Issue 11, week ending 01 May 1971
Scott thinks it is one heck of a gamble, but when it comes to saving lives, any risk is worthwhile. Thunderbird 2 touches down on an island, and the Mole emerges with Scott and Brains on board, to begin its perilous descent. By now, the air situation on Columbus is getting dangerous, and they are asked if they can hold out for another hour. Passing through an unforseen strata which nearly stops the Mole, it finally achieves the right depth, and Scott emerges in a pressure suit to lay explosive charges. With the Mole reversed twenty feet back up, Scott has nearly finished when Brains feels the craft begin to slip...

Part 5, Issue 12, week ending 08 May 1971
The caterpillars won't respond, and Scott watches as the cutters inch nearer. At the last moment, Brains operates the air pressure equaliser, and it fills the small space, the compressed gas preventing further slippage. With the charges placed, Scott climbs aboard, and the Mole reverses back to the surface. The situation on Columbus is starting to get critical but Virgil explains the plan to them. With the Mole back on the surface, the charges are blown and, as planned, the 'scaphe is wrenched free and sucked into the hole in the cliff base. But the violent manoevre has also caused a pressure leak, and it won't hold for more than an hour...

Part 6, Issue 13, week ending 15 May 1971
The crew in the 'scaphe think International Rescue should abandon them, as the sea-bed is going to explode at any minute, but the Mole is already underway. Virgil asks what will happen if the sea-bed does give way, and Brains' thinks the released pressure could put them into orbit! On Tracy Island, Jeff has heard the report and orders Virgil to return at speed to pick up Gordon and Thunderbird 4., to prepare for a restrictive impact missile strike. In the meantime, the Mole has reached the other side of the 'scaphe, and Scott starts to cut his way in. Because of the imminent danger, Gordon has orders to fire the missiles at the sea-bed and seal the fissure, even if the others are still down there.

As he cannot go below the critical pressue zone, Gordon fires... just as Scott gets through. There is a rush to get the crew out into the Mole and it starts to reverse up the tunnel just as they strike home. A relieved Virgil sees the Mole emerge from the tunnel minutes later.

Reprinted:
Thunderbirds Special 1983 as Pressure Point.

Notes:
• As with the Kennedy in the previous strip, the crew of the Columbus wear what appear to WASP-style uniforms.
• Oops - in part four, Jeff's name is spelt 'Geoff'.
• It cannot be a coincidence, even with interest in the Moho layer during the 1960s, that this story was not part-inspired by the Doctor Who story Inferno, airing in May and June 1970, the working title of which was The Mo-Hole Project.
• The reprints in the 1983 Special returned to Don Harley's original artboards, presumably still held by Polystyle, and removed the mastheads and captions to reveal the whole of the first frame in full. The exception is part three, where the first frame - of Thunderbird 4 surfacing - was centralised and the background expanded on either side.


The Amazon Affair (Story Four)
Writer: Alan Fennell (?). Artist: Don Harley. 5 pages, b/w.

Issue 14, week ending 22 May 1971
The Amazon Basin, South America – one of the last virtually untapped regions of the world… an expanse of choking vegetation broken only by a maze of rivers. It is here that an offical survey team seeks massive mineral deposits…

The team, led by Professor Kurt, has already found gold and turns in for the night but they are disturbed by a strange cry. Venturing outside, Kurt sees two large glowing eyes in the darkness – and a huge prehistoric monster emerges from the river, smashing their hovercrafts. There is only moments to send a brief radio message giving the location, which is picked up by Thunderbird 5 before – silence. Scott is launched in Thunderbird 1 within minutes, and finds the camp smashed as if by a tornado. Exploring on foot, Scott sees a huge reptile foot print, before he is attacked by angry natives. Miraculously, Scott evades the deadly shower of arrows and lifts off to report. Brains is intrigued, and joins Virgil and Gordon on Thunderbird 2 to try out his latest project – the netpack. At the Amazon, Gordon is launched in Thunderbird 4 to find the creature, and it is not long before he does. ‘Shock’ missiles have no effect on it, and Gordon is forced to try and lure it to the shallows, where Thunderbird 2 nets it as it surfaces. In the harsh daylight, the creature is revealed as a huge disguised machine, and the men inside flee for the bank – only to come under fire from natives. Thunderbird 1 scares them off, so the men can be brought to justice, and Professor Kurt and his team freed. Back on Tracy Island, Scott reasons the disguise was to prevent suspicion of the illegal gold dredging, but Brains has his own ‘treasure’ – a genuine prehistoric fossil from the beach.

Notes:
• Thunderbird 1, when landing in the wrecked camp, has wheels instead of skids at the end of its undercarriage struts.


Story Five
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Don Harley. 2 pages, b/w.

Part 1, Issue 15, week ending 29 May 1971
'Diego Valdes... you are an enemy of the country. You are sentenced to life imprisonment...'

Valdes is taken away by armed guards but fights free and escapes. he dodges gunfire to find a hiding place in an old car on a rubbish tip, and awaits darkness to move on. Half a world away on Tracy Island, Jeff finds brains working on a 1971 racing car - a real antique! - but he cannot repair the cylinders. The only place something like those might be found is 'The Scrap-Heap' - ten square miles of worthless swamp in Camaguay, South America, where tons of rubbish have been dumped since 1980. In Camaguay, the car Valdes is hiding in is picked up by helicopter and dumped in a huge net to be taken to The Scrap-Heap, knocking him unconscious...

Part 2, Issue 16, week ending 05 June 1971
Unconscious, Valdes lies sprawled beside the wrecked car. Some days later, John on Thunderbird 5 picks up a weak S.O.S., '...Valdes... Scrap-Heap... help... before they come again...!', in morse on an old V.H.F. wavelength. Jeff's only concern is a man needs help, and Virgil launches in Thunderbird 2 with Brains aboard - the scientist also hopes to find parts he needs. Jeff tries to get clearance from the Camaguay authorities to carry out the rescue but as Virgil approaches he is forced to land by air fighters. He is told Valdes is a convicted murderer, and if found alive he must be handed over - International Rescue is on their soil, and must obey their laws! Moving on in Thunderbird 2, Virgil is sickened they picked up the S.O.S. and did nothing - he will make up his own mind but they have to find Valdes first. Landing on the Scrap-Heap, Virgil and Brains emerge armed with hand-lasers but there is no sign of the man. Brains finds what appears to be a 'cave' in the rubbish, and thinking perhaps Valdes dug it, enter...

Part 3, Issue 17, week ending 12 June 1971

Going deeper, they find it is a long tunnel, which Valdes could not have dug so quickly. With no machines about, the alternative is large animals. Able to see from phosphorence caused by the rotting rubbish, Virgil is suddenly attacked by a huge rat - larger than a dog - which brains kills with a laser. Thinking Valdes could not have survived, they are surprised to hear music, played on a flute, and following it find Valdes surrounded by giant rats - mutations from radiation in the rubbish. Using a variation of three ultra-sonic notes, Valdes has entranced the animals to stop them attacking but is near exhaustion. Urging him to keep playing until he reaches them, Virgil and Brains aim their lasers. As the music stops, they open fire - but their lasers are running out and there are still three rats...

Part 4, Issue 18, week ending 19 June 1971
In desperation, Virgil throws his useless weapon at a nearby rat but the animals jumps and knocks him to the ground. Owing his life to the rescuers, Valdes clubs the animal down with his flute, and carries Virgil out. Realising he is probably due for prison - a better fate than being left to the rats - Valdes surrenders. He explains to recovering Virgil he was a university electronics professor before becoming a political leader. Virgil is willing to take his word and asks Brains' advice, but the scientist has found a Cheetah - another 1970s car - with a perfect engine. Minutes later, Thunderbird 2 lifts off, and Tracy island informs the Camaguay authorities of the rat mutations. A flight of fighter bomb the Scrap-Heap, and it burns, the pilots believing Valdes dead with the rats. But the political fugitive is on Thunderbird 2, and Virgil and Brains leave him with supporters in the mountains - he will lead the people to care for others as International Rescue have done. And back on Tracy Island, much to the bemusement of Jeff, Scott and the others, Brains unloads his new-found 'antique'.

Notes:
• This concise story is marred by a couple of things - firstly, we are never really sure who Valdes is to start with, whether he is really a good guy wronged or not, or a bad guy who sees the error of his ways. Secondly, Brains' sudden obsession with 'antique cars' doesn't quite fit the character, and detracts from the story. This might have worked in a longer strip but here it jars a little.
• 'Cheetahs' are a famous line of kit cars but Don Harley's depiction does not really match their designs.


Higher The Tide (Story Six)
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Don Harley. 2 pages, b/w.

Part 1, Issue 19, week ending 26 June 1971
During a lull on Tracy Island, Brains asks Jeff Tracy if he could take a month’s holiday. The scientist wants to go to the Arctic, where a friend of his is testing a prototype sub-zero digger using a chain reaction principle – it breaks up earth by destroying the atomic structure, and as each atom disintegrates, it destroys the next. Ferried to the mainland by Jeff Tracy, Brains takes a regular Arctic flight to Circle City where he meets up with Barney McBride, and his ‘Termite’. Brains is impressed, and the next morning they begin tests: first cutting a five yard wide trench, and then others through the day – each performed exactly to drawing board specifications. Tunnelling, the Termite goes down half a mile in twenty minutes, but the two engineers are so absorbed with their success, they fail to notice the ice cracking, and the vehicle falls into the ocean…

Part 2, Issue 20, week ending 02 July 1971
The Termite falls on its back on the seabed, its chain reaction cannon still firing up into the ice. Inside, Brains and McBride are trapped in their seats but an automatic S.O.S. beacon alerts Thunderbird 5, and Scott plots the reference to the same area Brains was known to be. Thunderbirds 1 and 2 are launched, and track the signal under the ice. Within moment, Thunderbird 4 is launched, and fighting fantastic currents and rising temperatures, finds the Termite. A radio transmitter is suckered to the Termite’s hull, and contact established. Thunderbird 2 returns to base to get pod 6 in order to lift the Termite to the surface, but a blizzard breaks, and Scott has to remain on the ice to monitor Gordon. The water temperature is now one hundred and fifty, and the ice cap is beginning to disintegrate above Thunderbird 4. And above, the ice is also cracking under Scott and Thunderbird 1…

Part 3, Issue 21, week ending 09 July 1971

Scott races back to Thunderbird 1, and lifts off as the ice cracks apart in a wide chasm to reveal the now steaming Arctic Ocean. Re-establishing communication with Thunderbird 4, Scott reasons the whole ice-cap could melt, putting half the coasts of the world under water. Inside the Termite, Brains rips a strip of material from this jacket to make a crude lasso, in an attempt to pull the reactor switch. Thunderbird 2 has returned, and two remote control vehicles fire missile grabs at the Termite. Only two make contact before the underwater camera fails. Already the reactor is having an effect on world weather, and the World President has given International Rescue two hours to rescue the Termite… or destroy it!

Part 4, Issue 22, week ending 16 July 1971
Scott asks Virgil if he can lift the Termite using only two lines, which is risky as if either breaks, they have lost for good. Virgil is unable to fire the other lines blind, so Scott dons a heat suit and switches places with Gordon in Thunderbird 4 to give directions. Long seconds tick by but soon Virgil is able to fire the rocket clamps – but one fails. Gambling on three, Virgil starts to haul but the softening ice means the vehicles cannot get any grip. The only chance now is to blow the reactor, but as Virgil prepares a missile, other weapons at a U.S. Army rocket base emerge from their silos…

Part 5, Issue 23, week ending 23 July 1971
Virgil fixes a missile to one of the grab lines, and it fires to hit the Termite. After several minutes the water clears, and Scott is able to see the reactor has been blown from the fuel rods. More equipment is sent down the line, as now the water temperature is dropping every minute. Brains and McBride are unconscious, so Scott cuts through the Termite’s hull and attaches a rescue dome. Reviving the two men with oxygen, they are sent to the surface in the artificial bubble. That evening, Jeff and the boys celebrate Brains’ rescue and return. It might be the Tracys operating them but Brains designed them, and Scott has a modification suggestion, about Thunderbird 4’s performance under heat.


Notes:
• The opening frames are interesting - showing the Tracy boys relaxing: Alan playing the piano, Scott and Virgil playing chess, and Gordon reading a book.
• There seems to be a continuity error between parts 2 and 4: at the end of part 2, Gordon is in Thunderbird 4, trapped in an air pocket under the disintegrating ice, but in part 4 Thunderbird 4 is apparently back in its pod. Now it is possible the crack in the ice in part 3 freed Gordon to return, but it is never stated this happened.
• In parts 4 and 5, Scott is seen wearing a heat suit similar to the one he dons in the final part of The New System.


Issue 24, week ending 30 July 1971, to issue 30, week ending 10 September 1971
Reprint of the strip Mission To Africa from TV Century 21 issues 59 to 65

Reprints and Abridgements Aside from the odd cutaway and special, Countdown was the first British comic to return to the excessive supply of Anderson artwork alreay in existence, and start to reprint it on a regular basis. The reprints of Fireball XL5 (from issue 21 onwards) and Stingray (from issue 23) kept the strip in the same format as the original, albeit in black and white, or reduced and flipped sideways. But the reprint of the Thunderbirds strip Mission To Africa saw each instalment cut down from a colour centrespread and third monchrome page, to two separate black and white pages, for Countdown. Reformatting of strips had already proved successful for the Thunderbirds Holiday Special, published earlier that summer, reducing the seven, two page parts of the Lady Penelope adventure Behind Enemy Lines to eleven monochrome pages. Most of this was due to removing the mastheads to make one long strip, with no real loss of frames apart from recaps. The technique at the time, so as not to damage the originals, was to make a half-tone bromide - a high-contrast photographic transfer, which breaks down the hues or grey washes into a black dot pattern for print. This also has the advantage of being thinner than the original artboards, easier to cut and manipulate into the new layout. Mission To Africa attempted the same, cropping frames, and sometimes reordering them (such as frame eight in part one, moved back to become frame fifteen) with new captions, to keep the story flowing and the layout balanced. Interestingly, this first part also moves Thunderbirds into the year 2071, attempting - like TV21 - to keep things one hundred years hence. Usually, frames cut are mundane scene setters - part 2 has four: a small one depicting savannah, a long shot of the tribe's huts, another scene of elephants fighting and a binocular shot of two buffalo in combat - but part three loses frame thirteen, where Peters sees guards outside Adams' hut and is forced to leave him. Part four loses frame 10, of Thunderbird 1 landing, while part six loses the fourth frame of page three, a portrait of Scott, transferring Virgil’s dialogue to the previous scene. Part five sees some awkwardness to the reformatted layout, with most of the original spread compressed onto the first page (above), with only two frames carried over, and frame four from page 3 'doubled up' - Thunderbird 2 is cropped out, the rhino moved down, with new grass and trees added. Conversely, the final part suffers from only 11 of the 17 frames of the spread used for page one, making the final page and end of the story a somewhat cramped affair!

Countdown Annual 1972

Terror At Torreba
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Don Harley.
6 pages, duotone.
In the darkness of space, Alan Tracy's Thunderbird 3 speeds on routine patrol...
Wth nothing to report, Alan is about to return to base when a huge, claw-like meteorite hurtles from the unknown. John in Thunderbird 5 tracks the object to earthfall on the wildlife reserve on the Pacific island of Torreba. Keepr Lindsay and his partner venture out in a vehicle to investigate, and are attacked by lions, rhinos and vultures seemingly driven by an unnatural fury. Thunderbird 1 is launched to investigate, but finds none of the wild animals scared by his landing. Following in Thunderbird 2, Virgil and Brains drive a mobile probe to look at the meteor crater, radiating with a growing intensity. Suddenly, both are driven wild with fear and return to Thunderbird 2 in panic - the radiation from the meteorite causing terror in humans, but rage in animals! But the effect is increasing, and International Rescue must find a way of dealing with the meterorite without destroying it - or the contamination could spread like atomic dust...

Notes:
• The opening caption about Thunderbird 3 being on 'routine patrol' is at odds with the series concept.
• Oops - Alan is again clearly depicted as being at the controls of Thunderbird 1 on the opening page.

Reprinted:
Thunderbirds Special 1982

U.N. Rescue Ltd (Story Seven)
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Don Harley. 2 pages, b/w.

Part 1, Issue 45, week ending 25 December 1971
The aftermath of another successful mission does not bring the usual adulation for International Rescue, but rather a resolution at the United Nations by Professor Cytak that such an organisation should be under World Government control. With full Presidential backing Cytak has a working organisation, operating out of an orbiting space station, with a matter of months. The Tracy boys are concerned this will mean the end of International Rescue but Jeff believes there is still be work for them. Their concerns may be right, but for the wrong reasons,as not even the World President realises Cytak, exerting a strange influence on him, is actually the Hood in disguise...

Part 2, Issue 46, week ending 01 January 1972
Near Cape Horn, the Merchant Vessel Orion encounters heavy seas and sends out a mayday. Responding, Thunderbirds 1 and 2 find themselves beaten to the rescue by U.N.Rescue ships. And this only proves to be the beginning, as UNR beat International Rescue many times in the coming months. For Scott, it proves too much and he confronts Jeff with the news he has been offered a post with UNR. International Rescue are no more! Rejoicing, the Hood begins the next phase of his plan - the destruction of the World President...

Part 3, Issue 47, week ending 08 January 1972
Disguised as Cytak, the Hood leaves for the U.N.Rescue Spaceport outside Washington and takes one of the shuttles to the orbital station. There, he calls an emergency meeting of personnel and declares that the World Army is planning a military coup to overthrow the President - and only U.N.Rescue can stop it! Among the personnel is the newly recruited Scott Tracy, who is suspicious as Cytak reminds him of someone. U.N.Rescue forces are quickly mobilised, and Scott's detail is to protect the White House itself...

Part 4, Issue 48, week ending 15 January 1972
The World President is awoken by the return of Cytak's helijet, but when he tries to repremand him, the Hood overpowers him and uses a disguise to take his place. The ceremonial guard are told to stand down when the U.N.Rescue forces arrive. Among the U.N.R. troops is Scott, who on seeing the president's eyes realises what has happened, and steals away onto an upper floor to investigate. But the disguised Hood is waiting, and Scott is forced to flee - branded an assassin...

Part 5, Issue 49, week ending 22 January 1972
Wounded, Scott steals a truck, and with gunfire bouncing off the bullet-proof shield, smashes through the gates with U.N.R forces in pursuit. A chase through Washington ensues, as Scott accelerates and tries to keep control. It comes to a dramatic end as Scott's truck careens out of control into the river, and troops open fire on the oil-stained waters...

Part 6, Issue 50, week ending 29 January 1972
Lungs bursting, Scott swims underwater to the shadow of the bridge, where the troops believe he must have been killed in the crash or by their fire. On the shore, Scott struggles to nearby weekend bungalows as a curfew is enforced. Using a bluff, he calls on one home and is allowed to use the phone to warn Jeff Tracy, who flies Thunderbird 1 himself on a desperate rescue mission...

Part 7, Issue 51, week ending 05 February 1972
Jeff picks up Scott and returns him to Tracy Island, where an urgent meeting is called. The Tracy family, Brains, Lady Penelope and Parker listen as Scott outlines what has happened. As the only Tracy to know the inside of U.N.Rescue, it is Scott who evolves a desperate plan. Modifications are made to the craft, and the first to leave is Thunderbird 2 carrying Thunderbird 4 and the Mole, which are dropped near the American east coast. Penelope and Parker leave in Fab 2 for Washington. Virgil returns as Jeff, Scott, Alan and John depart in disguised Thunderbirds 1 and 3 on the final phase of the plan...

Part 8, Issue 52, week ending 12 February 1972
Thunderbird 1 tows a supposedly crippled Thunderbird 3 to the UNRO Space Station, giving Jeff, Scott, Alan and John access and allowing them to add knockout gas to the air supply. On Earth, Parker and Lady Penelope use Fab 1 to collect the Russian and British ambassadors at gunpoint. In Thunderbird 2, Virgil transports Gordon in Thunderbird 4, and Brains in the Mole, to the Potomac River. As the Mole burrows to its destination, Gordon arrives upriver at the UNRO Earth Control Centre and fires two missiles at its base...

Part 9, Issue 53, week ending 19 February 1972
The Hood, disguised as Cytak, is alerted to the attack, and he calls on the U.N.R. space station to launch a rescue. Scott and Alan take on of the U.N.R craft, as Penelope and Parker rendezvous with Gordon and Thunderbird 4. Parker stays back to give covering fire in FAB 1, and Brains in the Mole bursts up into the grounds of the White House. Staying calm, Cytak takes the hypnotised President to the roof to be picked up by a U.N.R craft, but it is Alan and Scott who pilot, and the Hood is foiled but escapes. From Thunderbird 2, the now safe World President is reunited with the ambassadors to make a broadcast, disbanding U.N.Rescue for once and for all.


Notes:
• In the opening frames, Scott and Gordon are clearly snapped by a press photographer, in seeming contradiction to the television series format. Yet the organisation is still referred to as secret, with a U.N. delegate speculating that the strong Tracys are '...obviously from my native Russia!'
• Interestingly, the World President in this story is depiced as coloured, which sets this story apart from the universe of TV21.
• Only part 2 gives an actual title for the story.
• In part 8, one frame caption states 'Scott' but it is clearly Alan who is shown.
• This story also marks Lady Penelope's sole appearance in a Thunderbirds strip for this run, she being absent from Countdown since early the previous year.


The Crexus Creature (Story Eight)
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Don Harley. 2 pages, b/w.

Part 1, Issue 54, week ending 25 February 1972
Returning to Earth after a long, exploratory mission to the planet Crexus, in another galaxy, is the manned probe 'Goodwill'...
But there is concern at Earth Space Control in California, as the probe does not respond to messages, and at a speed of 100,000 miles per hour, hits the upper stratosphere. Control cannot fire the directional rockets, and the probe will burn up in about three hours. There is further concern on Thunderbird 5 when John reports on its sixteenth orbit, the probe will hit the space station. Alan and Scott are immediately launched in Thunderbird 3 to prevent disaster, with a race against time as the probe accelerates. With one more orbit left, Thunderbird 3 nets the probe and brings it in parallel flight. A transfer tube snakes between the vehicles, and Alan and Scott cross over to cut through the hull. But inside, Scott sees something unbelieveable...

Part 2, Issue 55, week ending 03 March 1972
The crew are unconscious and the power seems dead from a blow-out, cutting the oxygen and lights. Scott is puzzled, as any of the crew could have turned on the spare power unit, but Alan notices strange circular marks on the crew's faces - as if gripped by a mighty octopus. Thunderbird 3 brings the probe down for a landing at the Control Centre, and emergency crews rush to assist the stricken crew. Scott and Alan also touch down, to be thanked by the Chief Controller, and find the mission was to collect dust samples. An urgent call alerts them to one of the astronauts regaining consciousness - and going crazy, shouting about a creature which attacked them...

Part 3, Issue 56, week ending 10 March 1972
The doctors confirm the marks were made by nothing on Earth, almost caustic-like burns caused by a powerful grip. Crews move in to investigate the probe itself, and the dust samples are taken to a brightly lit air-tight compartment. Scott requests to stay but after several hours there is still no answer. But the lights inadvertantly left on in the sample area cause the dust to stir, and grow! A guard outside sees the door wheel turn, and a huge mass smothers him! Hearing his scream, Scott and Alan race down the corridor and face...

Part 4, Issue 57, week ending 17 March 1972
...a writhing creature of suckered tentacles coming towards them. Their laser pistols prove useless against it, and the two only escape by smashing through a window. The Controller and his guards open fire on the emerging tentacles, to similarly futile effect. Scott asks for an atomiser grenade, and scales a drainpipe to try and drop it through a skylight, but a tentacle snakes up and he falls in just as he times the fuse. A desperate bid to get clear, and the side of the building blows out, freeing the unharmed creature. Alan scrambles through the debris to find Scott, miraculously unhurt. But now the creature is loose, and still growing...

Part 5, Issue 58, week ending 24 March 1972

The creature heads for the rocket pads - and notably Thunderbird 3 - and Scott and Alan race to their craft to lift off just in time. Back on Tracy Island, they consult with Jeff and Brains on a plan of action. John reports the army have failed to stop it, and it now threatens Space Town. As Scott is despatched in Thunderbird 1 in the hope of stopping it, Brains checks with the Space Centre for more information on Crexus, where the creature originated. The absense of 'local' moons and heavy dust clouds shrouds the planet in darkness. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Space Town, the World Army continue to fire on the creature, surrounded by a protective magnetic field. Scott tries his own missiles, futilely, on the indestructible menace...

Part 6, Issue 59, week ending 31 March 1972
Jeff tells Scott to stay on patrol and checks with Brains, whose only clue is the absense of light on Crexus. Dusk is beginning to fall as the army continues to fight the creature, giving the population time to evacuate. But then... the creature begins to shrink, and as night falls, disappears! There is no trace, and as Jeff comments, 'It's just too crazy for words.', but to Brains things are now making sense. John reports new information that the scientist who locked the dust samples away forgot to tun the lights off. Brains is now certain he knows the answer, and through the night, International Rescue prepare the Firefly and extinguisher units. As dawn breaks, Thunderbird 2 unloads its cargo at the Space Centre, flanked by World Army fire units, and as Brains has predicted, the creature starts to appear and grow from where it disappeared. As one, all the vehicles open fire with a barrage of fire-fighting foam...

Part 7, Issue 60, week ending 07 April 1972
Covered in foam, the creature begins to shrink, and disappears in the liquid. Landing once again, Thunderbird 2 unloads Brains, driving a small vehicle called a 'Vacuumtrack'. Detecting the 'creature' under the foam, Brains sucks up the traces into a container, and the drum is flown back to Tracy Island. Later in Brains' laboratory, the scientist explains the creature was activated by light, and the dust samples were in fact spores - as Crexus only getslight every three years it was the way the creature survived. The artificial light on the probe caused the creature to grow, until it short-circuited the lights, leaving only dust again. The drum containing the dust is taken by Virgil and Alan in the Mole twenty miles below the Earth's crust, where it can do no more harm.

Reprinted:
Thunderbirds Special 1983 as Creature From Crexus.

Notes:
• As with Pressure Point, the reprints in the 1983 Special returned to Don Harley's original artboards, and removed the mastheads and captions to reveal the whole of the first frame in full. However, not all were available, and these appear to have been reproduced (rather badly) from printed versions - notably the second page of part 2 (the curvature and shadow of a bound copy is visible on the left), all of part 3, and the second page of part 5.

Countdown Annual 1973

The Collector
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Ron Turner.
7 pages, duotone.
After a pleasant weekend, Jef Tracy heads for the airfield where Scott has arranged to meet him and fly him back to Tracy Island...
However, instead of Scott, three men step from the shadows and abduct him. Coming round, Jeff finds the leader - an eccentric collector of 'extraordinary transport' called Hatton - has Scott a prisoner, and wants Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3 and 4 for his safe return. Back on Tracy Island, waiting for details of the first exchange, Jeff confers with Brains and his other sons and conclude Hatton is a criminal, a master thief. The crook arrives by helicopter and relays the co-ordinates where Thunderbird 1 is to be flown to within the next two hours. Virgil flies out, and is directed to a large ship, but an attempt to use force is quickly countered, and he is also taken prisoner. Suspecting treachery, Jeff despatched Gordon in Thunderbird 4 to rescue them. Climbing aboard, he frees Scott and Virgil as Brains arrives in Thunderbird 2 - and grabs Thunderbird 1 right off the deck. The final Tracy blow comes from Thunderbird 3, flying low over the ocean, Alan delivering a massive electrical charge which lays the crew out but also overloads the circuits. The Thunderbirds fly clear as the ship explodes.

Notes:
• When Gordon leaves the Tracy lounge for Thunderbird 4, he departs using Scott's usual method by grasping wall lamps and being rotated.
• Ron Turner gives the Tracy lounge an oriental make-over, with dragons and pictograms, and Virgil has a particularly funky shirt with large flashes over it - which Scott seems to borrow for the final frame.

One curious addition to some strips a slight educational slant. Both The New System and Pressure Point have a frame explaining a scientific explanation of what is going on - decaying orbits in the former, the Moho layer in the latter. With interest in the lunar landings at a probable peak - Apollo 14 returned from the Moon days before issue 1 appeared, and Apollo 15 followed in the summer - the Countdown editorial team took the view their readers now liked a large dollop of scientific reality mixed into their sci-fi, apparent in the features which ran in the title as well.



After the opening strip, the Hood makes his first Countdown appearance. The plot is straight-forward, almost a comedown after some of the more grandiose plans seen in TV21, but its complexity was no doubt dictated by page count, and is more typical of the series. Like The New System, Pressure Point tries to be a nail-biter of a plot with another literal countdown to disaster, and does a quite admirable job. The Amazon Affair comes over as a vague reworking of an early Supercar strip, concerning a fake dinosaur in the Amazon, and one has to ponder if Alan Fennell was responsible for this script as he was that one. The unnamed fifth strip, about giant mutant rats on a gigantic future rubbish tip, as also untypical in terms of plot, and does not seem to know if it should be making a political or ecological statement. In many ways, Higher The Tide is a reworking of the main plot elements of The New System - a member of International Rescue trapped in a vehicle which could cause a greater disaster - but comes off as the superior version. At this point, Harley - who had better scripts to work from than his TV21 outing (reprinted in a Thunderbirds Holiday Special a few weeks earlier) - was doing well without coming off badly in comparison to Frank Bellamy. But costs dictated a reprinting strips from that title, and Bellamy's Mission To Africa was trundled to the printers for a second UK outing, though the trimming of each instalment (see box-out above) does not do the artwork justice.

After this, Thunderbirds was given a rest until the very end of the year, when it returned for two further stories. U.N. Rescue Ltd is a classic strip, giving almost everyone something to do and providing a real threat to International Rescue - that of replacement! If there are any flaws, it is that the resolution is a little sudden, and one has to wonder why U.N.Rescue has to be disbanded when they would still have made a valuable contribution to disasters and the like. But this is the undoubted high point of the Thunderbirds strips in Countdown, tightly written to near perfection.

In some ways The Crexus Creature is almost a throwback to the TV21 era, a la Visitor From Space, with a seemingly unstoppable alien life-form on the rampage. But it is told with more style, although it couldn't flag the denouement any harder if it tried, that it stands out as a deserving finale to the era.

Version 1.1 - 01.10.06

Any comments or notes about any of the strips, please contact technodelic@blueyonder.co.uk.

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