"Sun Probe" is an episode of '' Thunderbirds'', a British

Supermarionation Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and " animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet T ...

television series created by

Gerry Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

and

Sylvia Anderson Sylvia Beatrice Anderson (; 25 March 1927 – 15 March 2016) was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with Gerry Anderson, her husband between 1960 and 1981. In a ...

and filmed by their production company

AP Films AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...

(APF) for

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

. Written by

Alan Fennell Alan Leslie Fennell (10 December 1936 – 10 December 2001) was a British writer and editor best known for work on series produced by Gerry Anderson, and for having created the magazines ''TV Century 21'' and '' Look-in''. Fennell wrote episod ...

and directed by David Lane, it was first broadcast on 9 December 1965 on

ATV Midlands Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and t ...

as the 11th episode of Series One. It is the fourth episode in the official running order. Set in the 2060s, the series follows the exploits of International Rescue, an organisation that uses technologically-advanced rescue vehicles to save human life. The main characters are ex-astronaut

Jeff Tracy Jeff Tracy is a fictional character from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation television show '' Thunderbirds'' and the subsequent films '' Thunderbirds Are GO'' and ''Thunderbird 6''. The voice for the character in these shows was suppl ...

, founder of International Rescue, and his five adult sons, who pilot the organisation's main vehicles: the ''Thunderbird'' machines. In "Sun Probe", '' Thunderbirds 2'' and '' 3'' are launched to save a crew of astronauts whose spacecraft is locked on a collision course with the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

Plot

Cape Kennedy , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

in Florida, Colonel Benson oversees the launch of ''Sun Probe'', a three-man spacecraft designed to extract matter from the

. ''Sun Probe'' lifts off safely and its journey to the Sun passes without incident. A week later, as ''Sun Probe'' nears its target, International Rescue watch live TV coverage of the mission from

Tracy Island Tracy Island is the secret headquarters of the International Rescue organisation in the 1960s British Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'' and its adaptations. In the original series, the heavily-camouflaged island is located in th ...

Brains A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

(voiced by David Graham) is absent from the proceedings as he is busy working on his latest invention, an artificially-intelligent

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other pur ...

called Braman. In space, solarnauts Harris, Asher and Camp fire a smaller probe through a

solar prominence A prominence, sometimes referred to as a filament, is a large plasma and magnetic field structure extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere, and extend outw ...

and succeed in capturing fragments of matter. However, by the time the probe returns to the main spacecraft, the intensifying radiation has caused ''Sun Probe''s

retro-rocket A retrorocket (short for ''retrograde rocket'') is a rocket engine providing thrust opposing the motion of a vehicle, thereby causing it to decelerate. They have mostly been used in spacecraft, with more limited use in short-runway aircraft land ...

s to fail, locking it on a

collision course {{wiktionary A collision course, also known as a ''kamikaze run'', is the deliberate maneuver by the operator of a moving object (or often in Sci-Fi a spaceship) to collide with another object. It is a desperate maneuver since it often damages ...

with the Sun. On TV, Benson implores International Rescue to save the crew.

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

and Scott (voiced by Matt Zimmerman and

Shane Rimmer Shane Rimmer (born Shane Lance Deacon; May 28, 1929 – March 29, 2019) was a Canadian actor and screenwriter who spent the majority of his career in the United Kingdom. The self-proclaimed "Rent-A-Yank" of the British entertainment industry, he ...

) suggest remote-firing ''Sun Probe''s rockets by radio beam from ''

Thunderbird 3 The Thunderbird machines are a series of vehicles imagined for the mid-1960s film and television '' Thunderbirds'' series developed by Gerry Anderson. The released work began with the Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'' and w ...

''.

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

(voiced by

David Holliday David Holliday (August 4, 1937March 26, 1999) was an American Broadway actor and television voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Virgil Tracy, pilot of ''Thunderbird 2'', in the first series (26 episodes) of '' Thunderbirds'' (1965&nda ...

) points out that ''

Thunderbird 2 The Thunderbird machines are a series of vehicles imagined for the mid-1960s film and television '' Thunderbirds'' series developed by Gerry Anderson. The released work began with the Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'' and w ...

'' is more powerful and that it would be easier to transmit the signal from Earth. The team finally agree to launch a two-pronged rescue attempt. Alan, Scott and Tin-Tin (voiced by

Christine Finn Christine L. T. Finn (1929 – 5 December 2007) was an English actress, known primarily for her role in the 1950s TV serial ''Quatermass and the Pit'', and, after that, her voice work for the 1960s '' Thunderbirds'' television series. She also ...

) blast off in ''Thunderbird 3'' but their radio beam falls short of ''Sun Probe'', forcing them to travel closer to the Sun than anticipated. Having determined the optimal Earth-bound transmitting position to be in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, Virgil and Brains take off in ''Thunderbird 2'' carrying the Transmitter Truck. Landing on Mount Arkan, they align the truck's dish with ''Sun Probe'' but their transmission fails to reach the spacecraft. Further attempts to transmit from ''Thunderbird 3'' fail. With the crews of both ''Sun Probe'' and ''Thunderbird 3'' growing delirious from the heat, Alan suggests that Tin-Tin overrun the power and the beam finally makes contact, successfully firing ''Sun Probe''s retros. ''Sun Probe'' reverses course for Earth but the crew of ''Thunderbird 3'' pass out before they can switch off the beam, draining the ship's power and preventing its own retros from firing. With the news media now reporting that ''Thunderbird 3'' is heading for the Sun,

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

(voiced by

Peter Dyneley Peter Dyneley (13 April 1921 – 19 August 1977) was a British actor. Although he appeared in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for supplying the voice of Jeff Tracy for the 1960s "Supermarionation" TV series ...

) alerts Virgil and Brains, who hurry back to ''Thunderbird 2'' to calculate the frequency needed to fire ''Thunderbird 3''s retros. Opening a storage box meant for International Rescue's portable computer, they are dismayed to find that they have accidentally packed Braman instead. However, Braman is able to calculate the frequency on his own and Virgil and Brains succeed in firing ''Thunderbird 3''s retros. Back on Tracy Island, the International Rescue team thank Brains and Braman for their efforts.

Production

"Sun Probe" was the fourth episode of ''Thunderbirds'' to enter production. The story was devised by Gerry Anderson as a means of introducing ''Thunderbird 3'', which had not been featured in any of the early scripts for the series. "Sun Probe" marks the first vocal contributions of Matt Zimmerman (the voice of Alan Tracy) to the series. Originally filmed as a 25-minute episode in late 1964, "Sun Probe" was lengthened to 50 minutes in January 1965 to satisfy APF's sponsor

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...

, who had been impressed with the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

and ordered that all episodes of ''Thunderbirds'' be extended to fill a one-hour timeslot. Anderson,

Alan Pattillo Alan Huchison Pattillo (17 July 1929 – 16 January 2020) was a British writer and director who worked on ''Supercar'', ''Fireball XL5'', ''Stingray'', and '' Thunderbirds'' television series. He won an Emmy in 1979 alongside Bill Blunden for hi ...

and

Tony Barwick Anthony Clive "Tony" Barwick (10 July 1934 – 18 August 1993)https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10182/biographical-summaries-of-notable-people?itemId=447240&action=showRecord was a British television scriptwriter who worked ex ...

expanded

's original storyline by adding the subplot of ''Thunderbird 2''s mission to Mount Arkan and the plot twists involving the failure of ''Thunderbird 3''s retro-rockets and Virgil and Brains' discovery that they have taken Braman with them. The newly-written material also included a scene in which Brains and Braman play chess on Tracy Island and another that sees Harris, Asher and Camp preparing for blast-off at Cape Kennedy. The new scenes were shot between the filming of "

30 Minutes After Noon "30 Minutes After Noon" is an 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. Written by Alan Fennell ...

" and "The Impostors" and alongside that of " The Uninvited"; "Sun Probe" and "The Uninvited" were the first episodes of ''Thunderbirds'' to be extended. The re-shoots required the ''Thunderbird 3'' and Cape Kennedy control room sets to be re-built from scratch. The chess scene was filmed in the Tracy Villa lounge instead of Brains' laboratory as the latter set was considered too detailed to re-create accurately. The Transmitter Truck model is a modified version of the explosives tractor seen in " End of the Road". Anderson was displeased with the scenes of ''Sun Probe'' approaching the Sun and instructed the episode's sound editor to amplify the accompanying sound effects. He believed that

Barry Gray Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson. Life and career Born into a musical family in Blackburn ...

's musical score, composed partly of material originally recorded for ''

Fireball XL5 ''Fireball XL5'' is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of ''Fireball XL5'', a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, ''XL5' ...

'', compensated for the lack of action and greatly improved the episode. Some shots of the ''Sun Probe'' launch were duplicated for the opening scenes of "

The Perils of Penelope "The Perils of Penelope" is an episode of '' Thunderbirds'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films (APF, later Century 21 Productions) for ITC Entertainm ...

", whose extending material was recorded back-to-back with "Sun Probe". The ''Thunderbird 3'' launch sequence, devised by special effects director

Derek Meddings Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the " Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the ...

, was recycled for "The Uninvited", "The Impostors", "Danger at Ocean Deep" and the series finale, "

Give or Take a Million "Give or Take a Million" is the 32nd and final episode of '' Thunderbirds'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films for ITC Entertainment. Written by Alan Pa ...

". The Braman puppet also appears in " Edge of Impact" and "30 Minutes After Noon" (in the latter episode, as the plutonium store guards). The 1969 film ''

Doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

'', which Gerry and Sylvia Anderson produced and co-wrote, also features a spacecraft called ''Sun Probe''.

Broadcast and reception

"Sun Probe" was broadcast as the 11th episode of ''Thunderbirds'' for both the series' original run and most of its 1960s re-runs. Over five million people watched the episode on 11 October 1991 when it had its first network broadcast on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

, making it the channel's fourth most-watched programme of the week.Bentley 2005, p. 67.

Critical response

praised the special effects but characterised the episode in general as "too much space and too many machines for my taste" and a "

boys' own ''Boys' Own'' or ''Boy's Own'' or ''Boys Own'', is the title of a varying series of similarly titled magazines, story papers, and newsletters published at various times and by various publishers, in the United Kingdom and the United States, fro ...

adventure" lacking femininity. Chris Bentley, author of ''The Complete Book of Thunderbirds'' responds positively to the episode, writing that it "successfully" showcases ''Thunderbird 3''; John Marriott, author of ''Thunderbirds Are Go!'', considers it melodramatic and "one of the most edge-of-the-sofa" episodes of the series. Marcus Hearn, author of ''Thunderbirds: The Vault'', describes it as "nerve-wracking ... skilfully extended from its original 25-minute running time" and praises the substantial roles given to the "sometimes neglected" characters of Brains and Tin-Tin; he also compliments the mildly comic relationship between Brains and Braman. Nevertheless, he calls the Sun itself "probably the series' weakest special effect". Tom Fox of '' Starburst'' magazine also gives a favourable review, writing that although "Sun Probe" features the series' "most drawn-out conclusion ever", it remains a "very busy" episode. Praising the roles of Brains, Alan and Tin-Tin, the portrayal of the astronauts' deliriousness and the "novel twist" of the malfunction on ''Thunderbird 3'', he sums up the episode as a "good, slow-burning one" and awards a rating of four out of five stars. Matthew Dennis of the website CultBox describes "Sun Probe" as "terrific stuff" and ranks it as one of the best episodes of ''Thunderbirds'', noting its drama and suspense. David Gutierrez of

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...

gives a rating of 85 out of 100.

Adaptations

The

clip show A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicte ...

episode "

Security Hazard "Security Hazard" is the 26th episode of ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) for ITC En ...

" features a flashback to "Sun Probe". In 1966, an adaptation of the soundtrack, featuring newly-recorded narration by Matt Zimmerman as Alan, was released by Century 21 Records on the vinyl EP ''Thunderbird 3'' (code MA 112). In 1981, the New York offices of

combined "Sun Probe" with another space adventure – Series Two's "

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

" – to create ''Thunderbirds In Outer Space'', one of three ''Thunderbirds''

compilation film A compilation film, or compilation movie is a film composed of scenes and shots taken from two or more prior films and edited together so as to make a new film, whether on the same or a different subject. The most common example would be a docum ...

s that were sold to the American cable TV market in the early 1980s under the promotional banner "Super Space Theater". In 1991, the episode was serialised by Alan Fennell and Malcolm Stokes over three issues of ''Thunderbirds: The Comic''. The following year, a novelisation by Dave Morris was published by Young Corgi. In 1994, "Sun Probe" was broadcast on

Fox Network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

in the United States as an episode of ''

Thunderbirds Are Go! Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds k ...

'' – a series comprising re-edited versions of 13 of the original episodes, complete with new soundtracks. After further modifications, the re-edit aired on

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which prod ...

in 1995 as an episode of ''Turbocharged Thunderbirds''. "Sun Probe" was later remade as "Slingshot", an episode of the remake series '' Thunderbirds Are Go''.

References

Works cited

External links

* {{Thunderbirds 1965 British television episodes Fiction about the Sun Himalayas in fiction Television episodes about robots Television episodes set in Florida Television episodes set in outer space Thunderbirds (TV series) episodes Works about astronauts