We’re delighted to report that FAB Express 106 was posted today to all Fanderson members!
We also had so many contributions to this issue’s FlashBack that we couldn’t fit them all in. We don’t want to leave anyone out, so here are our regular contributors Pat and Doug’s thoughts on Thunderbirds Ricochet…
Pat Gardner, Lancing, West Sussex
I have mixed feelings about the extra six episodes. Thunderbirds was, for me, about Scott and Virgil undertaking a rescue with the use of whatever exciting new vehicle was in the pod. The other characters were an ensemble cast to provide variety and some light relief. By the time the extra episodes were made the focus was more on these subsidiary characters, there were no pod vehicles apart from a dull cherry picker (Path Of Destruction), and in two of the episodes no rescue (the Christmas story and also Lord Parker’s ‘Oliday, the latter also contradicting what we are told in Atlantic Inferno that International Rescue is there to save people – Monte Bianco could have been evacuated and no-one would have died)! And the episodes that did have rescues had rather lame ones, mostly involving cutting gear. Ricochet is a good example – Loman is rescued by simply being picked up, and the rescue of O’Shea is consists of cutting through a door (OK, the black eye is an added extra).
There are other changes for these episodes. When I was a child, my favourite character was Virgil, with his steady calm voice in total contrast to Scott. I don’t like the replacement voice. I recall my sister commenting on the different hidden microphone on Jeff’s desk. Children notice these things. In some episodes Tracy Island looks different, and there are variations in the design of the craft. As a child I felt things should be a fixed way and I did not like the changes at all (I am less bothered now). Some of the puppets seem to be a half-way house between the caricatures and those of later series, particularly Prof Marshall.
I was a bit puzzled by the second stage separation fault in the rocket, since it continued firing in the atmosphere when presumably it would have no fuel left. However, by the time it reached space it has stopped firing. The rocket launch scenes are rather long-winded, giving the impression of padding to increase the running time. Also puzzled as to why Thunderbird 2 was launched when the obvious thing would have been to only launch Thunderbird 3 – the eventual need for Thunderbird 2 was not obvious at the start of the rescue. Jeff clearly takes a belt and braces approach.
This is the second episode in which Alan exhibits jealousy (the other being End Of The Road). Tin-Tin, don’t go out with him, he will be a nightmare in the future!
Pirate station KLA is presumably inspired by the pirate radio stations of the 60s. It is rather prescient, written long before satellite television or MTV. And using the broadcast to issue a call for help really did eventually happen, at Radio NorthSea International in the early 70s when a naughty rival set fire to their ship. There are some oddities though. KLA is not in geostationary orbit so a viewer would only receive the station for a short time (if at all, given the lack of a dish on Tin-Tin’s set). And although O’Shea is on screen to introduce the tracks, these appear to be on audio tape – so what is shown on screen while the music plays? We may never know.
I like the special effects sequence when Thunderbird 2 tries to divert the space station from the refinery, especially the way in which KLA disintegrates. But I don’t like the sequence when Thunderbird 2 reverses into its hanger. The smoke reverses into the pipes! Anyone would think they’d run the film backwards instead of creating a new scene…
Ricochet has a novel story and it was great that more Thunderbirds episodes were made (my memory of the first screening in the London area was that the new episodes were shown every second week, interleaved with repeats). If only there had been fewer changes between the first 26 episodes and the extra six.
Doug Pelton, Mississauga, Canada
Just got watching Ricochet once more. Graeme Walker passed on his old A&E sets to me so I viewed it again. Loved these things. How despicable Rick was throughout/putting the show ahead of the well-being of the station and scaredie-catting his refusal to be saved by Alan.
I loved the newer interior look of the Sentinel Base and the ICS interior all looking like one to come in the C21 shows. The circular ICS control desk and much of the electronics flat against the wall. The rocket is the best one of the series, all smooth and minus the earlier fins etc of Sun Probe and Mars Probe ones. Most likely this was one of Mike Trim’s earliest conceptions. Like it foreshadowed the ones he did for C21 and UFO. And the silo it was housed in. Also the mid section shots of TB3 as Alan exits and then returns with Loman, plus TB2 return to base landing on the strip then backwarding into the hangar. And the angst exhibited by Virgil and Brains thinking that rick died with the KLA desert crash. Plus the good work done to paint on the bruise on Rick’s face.
In FABruary we dropped the price of all back issues of FAB and FAB Express, so there’s never been a better time to catch up on any missing issues. And don’t forget that we still have limited stock of FAB Annual 2023 if you missed that, or want a second copy.
Once again, we’re mailing FAB magazine in a 100% compostable bag, made from potato and maize starch. 
