Security Hazard

"Security Hazard" is the 26th episode of '' Thunderbirds'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The final episode of Series One, it was written by Alan Pattillo, directed by Desmond Saunders, and first broadcast on 31 March 1966 on ATV Midlands. It had its first UKwide network transmission on 10 April 1992 on BBC2.

Set in the 2060s, ''Thunderbirds'' follows the missions of International Rescue, a secret organisation that uses technologicallyadvanced rescue vehicles to save human life. The lead characters are exastronaut Jeff Tracy, founder of International Rescue, and his five adult sons, who pilot the organisation's primary vehicles: the ''Thunderbird'' machines. In the clip show "Security Hazard", a young boy stows away on '' Thunderbird 2'' during a rescue operation and the Tracys unwittingly fly him back to base. While the family work out how to get the boy home, International Rescue's secrecy is further jeopardised as the boy coaxes his hosts into describing past missions, which are recounted as flashbacks.

"Security Hazard" was devised as a clip show for reasons of economy: as "Attack of the Alligators!" and "The Cham-Cham" had gone overbudget and overschedule, the writing team reworked the next episode to feature a large amount of recycled footage, thus limiting the need for new scenes and making up for the extra time and money spent on the previous two instalments. It was APF's second clip show, preceded by ''Stingray''s "Aquanaut of the Year". APF's next two series, '' Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and '' Joe 90'', also ended with clip shows (" The Inquisition" and "The Birthday").

Plot

At night in England, International Rescue are responding to a mine fire. A local man, Mr Morrison, puts his son Chip to bed before leaving their house to help with the blaze. Curious about International Rescue, Chip moves to a window and gazes out at the open pod door of '' Thunderbird 2'', which is parked unattended in a field.

After the fire is extinguished, Scott (voiced by Shane Rimmer) returns to Tracy Island in '' Thunderbird 1'' followed by Virgil and Alan ( David Holliday and Matt Zimmerman) in ''Thunderbird 2''. When Jeff's ( Peter Dyneley) control panel warns of a stowaway aboard ''Thunderbird 2'', the Tracys rush to the hangar to confront the intruder – Chip Morrison.

Furious at the security breach, Jeff holds an urgent meeting with his sons to decide what to do about Chip, but no one knows how to get the boy home without him revealing International Rescue's secrets to the wider world. Security is further compromised when Chip coaxes his hosts into describing past rescues: Virgil explains ''Thunderbird 2''s role in saving Eddie Houseman, who was trapped in a truck teetering on a cliff edge (as seen in " End of the Road"); Alan, pilot of ''Thunderbird 3'', talks about the rescue of the Sun Probe astronauts (" Sun Probe"); Scott remembers International Rescue's very first rescue operation – saving the '' Fireflash'' airliner from an autodetonating bomb (" Trapped in the Sky"); Gordon (voiced by David Graham), pilot of ''Thunderbird 4'', explains how he freed the technicians trapped inside the sunken Martian Space Probe ("Day of Disaster"); and Jeff himself gives a lecture on how rescues are coordinated.

Finally, Jeff comes up with a solution. Chip, who has been awake for hours, is allowed to fall asleep. He is then quietly flown home in ''Thunderbird 2'' and left in his bed. By dawn, International Rescue have departed and Mr Morrison returns home. Although Chip wakes up with vivid memories of his time on Tracy Island, his amused father assures him that it was all a dream.

Production

The 50-minute episode contains only 17 minutes of original footage (the frame story about Chip). Its other twothirds are made up of flashbacks to the episodes " End of the Road", " Sun Probe", " Trapped in the Sky" and "Day of Disaster".Bentley 2005, pp. 30–31. "Security Hazard" was devised as a clip show after the production of "Attack of the Alligators!" and "The Cham-Cham" finished behind schedule and over budget, forcing the series scriptwriters to come up with a way to make the next episode quickly and cheaply with only a limited number of new scenes. To simplify the production, the flashbacks were taken from early episodes that had first been filmed in ''Thunderbirds'' original 25-minute format (before ITC's Lew Grade ordered the running time doubled), as these episodes were easier to truncate.

The frame story re-used several puppets and scale models from earlier episodes. The puppet playing Chip previously appeared in " Cry Wolf" as Bob Williams, while Chip's father is also seen in the flashback to "Day of Disaster" as one of that episode's guest characters. The International Rescue fire truck was modified from the explosives truck seen in "End of the Road", while the Morrison house previously appeared as Grandma Tracy's cottage in " Moveand You're Dead" and the Williams residence in "Cry Wolf".

Reception

In her 1991 autobiography, Sylvia Anderson called the episode "lightweight but charming" and "refreshingly" different from most ''Thunderbirds'' episodes. She also wrote that doing the voice of Chip reminded her of her work on '' Supercar'' (in which she voiced the boy Jonathan Zero and other characters).

Rating "Security Hazard" one out of five, Tom Fox of ''Starburst'' magazine writes that the flashback format makes for a "boring" episode. However, he adds that the story is somewhat redeemed by Chip's mischief in getting the Tracys to divulge sensitive information, as well as by the way in which the family gets rid of him. Marcus Hearn points out that Jeff's coldness towards Chip is in stark contrast to his friendly welcome of young brothers Bob and Tony Williams in " Cry Wolf", and Nicky in " Give or Take a Million"; however, Hearn adds that this produces "intriguing tension" between Jeff and his sons. Hearn also notes that Chip is one of a "curiously large" number of Supermarionation child characters who appear to have been raised by single fathers, and lack mother figures in their lives.

Michael Coldwell calls the episode "highly entertaining" and likens it to a " greatest hits" with all the ''Thunderbird'' machines. He praises how Chip's behaviour turns the Tracys into figures of fun and expresses regret that his visit to Tracy Island was not made a full-length episode, as opposed to a framing device for a series of flashbacks. "Security Hazard" has also been praised by screenwriter Peter Briggs, who calls it one of his favourite ''Thunderbirds'' episodes. Briggs disagrees with the notion that the episode is weakened by being a clip show, stating that he actually likes it all the more for that reason. He believes that along with "Cry Wolf" and "Give or Take a Million", "Security Hazard" incorporates a theme of child wish fulfilment.''Thunderbirds – A Complete Guide to the Classic Series'', p. 16.

References

Works cited

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External links

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{{Thunderbirds

1966 British television episodes
Clip shows
Television episodes set in England
Thunderbirds (TV series) episodes