Following on from ILT’s look back at Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds, we countdown the show’s top five episodes…Follow ILT on twitter @iltfilm
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Trapped in the Sky

The original and arguably still the best, Gerry Anderson’s 1965 Thunderbirds pilot established many of the series’ classic elements. The “Hood” makes his first hypnotic appearance prior to implementing his now traditional dastardly scheme. His debut effort consists of attaching a bomb to the new Fireflash, an atomic passenger jet (that’s right, multiple stages of planning and likely millions of dollars’ worth of research still failed to muster up enough common sense to stop someone using a live nuclear reactor to power a commercial airliner) capable of flying six times the speed of sound. If it touches down using its landing gear…boom!

Cue Thunderbird 5 intercepting a distress call, Thunderbird 1 launching through the pool at Tracy Island, Lady Penelope pursuing the “Hood” in a high-speed chase up the M1, and Thunderbird 2 unleashing its first set of pod vehicles. What follows is one of the most well-executed rescue sequences of the series, with Barry Gray’s main theme sending a shiver down the spine as it kicks in during Fireflash’s final approach.

Sun Probe

Whereas ‘Trapped in the Sky’ features the archetypal rescue-action scene, ‘Sun Probe’ showcases Thunderbirds’ ability to keep things engaging when nothing of note is actually happening. Case in point: the opening four-minute launch of the Sun Probe mission – a manned rocket tasked with collecting a “piece” of the sun. A consequence of the original 25-minute episode being extended to 50 minutes despite already being in the can, the lengthy launch site preparation, ongoing countdown, and eventual lift off have no bearing on the plot and no right to work as well as they do.

Once the episode gets going, the Sun Probe inevitably gets into trouble by failing to turn away from a collision course with, you guessed it, the sun. What follows is a wonderfully hammy tech-fest of a space rescue, spearheaded by Brains and his hilarious robot, Braman. Tracy Island mainstay Tin-Tin also gets her moment in the, er, sun, when she demands to be part of crew set to hurtle after the doomed spacecraft aboard Thunderbird 3.

Operation Crash-Dive

The sole “sequel” episode, ‘Operation Crash-Dive’ once again puts the Fireflash in harms way due to a renewed bout of sabotage. When flights start disappearing without trace over the Atlantic Ocean, the aircraft is grounded until both a cause and solution are found. A test flight quickly suffers the same fate, though this time International Rescue is able to intervene as Gordon takes Thunderbird 4 down to the seabed and pulls off the sort of engineering feat that would blow minds around the world if such a “rescue” occurred today.

The second half of the episode sees Scott co-pilot a second Fireflash test flight, as for some reason International Rescue feels the need to get directly involved in the process of helping a privately owned, clearly dangerous and already grounded for-profit commercial airliner get back in the air. Makes you wonder what their game is? Of course, the damn thing goes down regardless, only for Gordon to pull off yet another feat of engineering lunacy to once again save the day.

Move – And You’re Dead

This distinctive, character-driven episode, in which the “rescue” plays a minimal role, recounts, by way of flashback, Alan Tracy’s civilian side gig as a professional racing driver on some sort of Mad Max-style death circuit. When his outrageous car (of course designed by Brains) helps him do the business, his rivals plot his demise by leaving him and Grandma Tracy atop a ravine-spanning bridge in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a bomb and an accompanying sensor for company. Should either one of them move, the bomb will blow, taking them and the bridge with it.

A welcome change of pace to the more traditional disaster-rescue episodes, ‘Move – And You’re Dead’ plays like a classic gradual-reveal thriller. The use of flashback works well as a device to keep Alan occupied as the bomb ticks away at his feet, while overall the episode depicts a rare personal angle reserved only for a few characters throughout the series.

Attack of the Alligators!

The ultimate big-budget addition to the series, Attack of the Alligators! is well-known for the controversial inclusion on set of real-life juvenile crocodiles, which apparently received electric shocks to induce movement (though no animal cruelty charges were filed). When a new growth chemical and potential antidote to world famine, Theramine, is accidentally released into a South American swamp, the local alligators rapidly double in size and proceed to attack the isolated house in which the Theramine laboratory is located.

A special effects masterpiece of mid-60s television, the episode is worth watching from a technical standpoint alone. However, though the crocs steal the show, ‘Attack of the Alligators!’ is memorable also for its nightmarish jungle setting and haunted house-vibe, with night-time thunder storms, old wooden doors slowly creaking open and a collection of odd, altogether creepy characters taking centre stage long before the crocs come out to play.

This article originally appeared on SetTheTape.com