Thunderbird 6 (1968)

Director:

David Lane

Writers:

Gerry Anderson (writer)
Sylvia Anderson (writer)

Release Date:

20 November 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The International Rescue team is faced with one of its toughest challenges yet, as the revolutionary...

Plot Keywords:

Puppet | Supermarionation | Number In Title

Cast

Peter Dyneley	...	Jeff Tracy (voice)
Sylvia Anderson	...	Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward (voice)
Shane Rimmer	...	Scott Tracy (voice)
Jeremy Wilkin	...	Virgil Tracy / Hogarth (voice)
Matt Zimmerman	...	Alan Tracy / Carter (voice)
David Graham	...	Gordon Tracy / Brains / Aloysius Parker (voice)
Keith Alexander	...	John Tracy / Narrator (voice)
Gary Files	...	The Hood (Black Phantom) / Captain Foster (I) / Lane (voice)
Christine Finn	...	Tin-Tin / Indian Fortune-teller (voice)
John Carson	...	Captain Foster (II) (voice)
Geoffrey Keen	...	James Glenn (voice)

Directed by
David Lane

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gerry Anderson		writer
Sylvia Anderson		writer

Produced by
Sylvia Anderson	....	producer
Gerry Anderson	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Barry Gray

Cinematography by
Harry Oakes

Film Editing by
Len Walter

Art Direction by
Bob Bell

Production Management
Norman Foster	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peter Anderson	....	assistant director

Art Department
Tony Dunsterville	....	property maker
Peter Holmes	....	property master
John Lageu	....	set designer
Keith Wilson	....	set designer

Sound Department
Brian Hickin	....	sound editor
Peter Pennell	....	sound editor
John Peverill	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
Peter Ashton	....	model maker
Eric Backman	....	model maker
Ray Brown	....	model maker
Tim Cooksey	....	puppet workshop
Terry Curtis	....	puppet workshop
Sheena McGregor	....	assistant puppeteer
Derek Meddings	....	visual effects director
Linda Rutter	....	assistant puppeteer
Plugg Shutt	....	puppet workshop
Brian Smithies	....	model workshop
Ian Spurrier	....	lip sync
Wanda Webb	....	puppeteer
Ian Wingrove	....	visual effects assistant
Charmaine Wood	....	assistant puppeteer

Camera and Electrical Department
Derek Black	....	camera operator: location unit
Tommy Fletcher	....	camera operator: location unit
Ted Fowler	....	camera operator: location team
Peter Nash	....	camera operator
Ian Vinson	....	camera focus operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Kim Martin	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Len Cleal	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Eric Faulkner	....	pilot: models
Joan Hughes	....	pilot: Tiger Moth
Mary Turner	....	puppet coordinator

Production Companies

• Associated Television (Overseas) Limited
• Century 21 Television

Distributors

• Chapel Distribution (2002) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print Techniscope Technicolor re-issue)
• United Artists Corporation (1968) (UK) (theatrical)
• Carlton Video
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• United Artists

Other Companies

• Anvil Films  sound recording

Also Known As:

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:6

Company:

Associated Television (Overseas) Limited

Trivia:

In the first scene when all the men in the meeting room are laughing (which is the only time in any of Gerry Anderson's puppet series that this happens), you can see fillings in the teeth of one of the puppets.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The sign for the motorway under construction is the M104. As the action is taking place near Dover, the motorway number would start with a "2"

Quotes:

Brains:I thought it would be a good idea, in this day and age of speed and... thing like that, to build an... airship.
New World Aircraft President James Glenn:An airship? An *airship*?
[laughter erupts in the meeting room]

Movie Connections:

Follows Thunderbirds Are GO (1966)

Soundtrack:

The Man in his Flying Machine

The Best Of The Thunderbirds Movies

Thunderbirds had made a major impact in British TV, leading to the 1966 theatrical release Thunderbirds Are Go, but disappointing box office returns and lack of interest from major US networks (the show was syndicated in the US instead of picked up by one of the three big broadcasters) caused cancellation of the series. Despite this, one more theatrical film was prepared, and the resulting film has proven to be a highlight of the Thunderbirds epic despite once again suffering from disappointing box office returns.

Thunderbird Six is a vast improvement over Thunderbirds Are Go thanks to a more coherent plot and more plausible action scenes; also adding to the film's quality was the decision to tone down the action scenes in favor of more character interplay.

Most of the cast returned for this final go at the Thunderbirds epic; notably missing aside from David Holliday (replaced by Jeremy Wilken after the first season of the show wrapped up) was Ray Barrett; added to the voice cast was Geoffrey Keen, later to win fame as HM's Defence Minister Sir Frederick Grey in the James Bond series.

"Brains" Hackenbacker (David Graham) has been brought to New World Aircraft, his identity hidden, to make a proposal for a new machine of flight to the company's board of directors. Brains' proposal is to go back to the future - to the era of the passenger dirigible.

Brains' idea is laughed out of the company, but they turn around and build it anyway - Sky Ship One. NWA has invited members of International Rescue for an exclusive round-the-world maiden voyage before the ship enters full commerical service, but Brains is put in charge of creating a Thunderbird Six for Jeff Tracy - an assignment that begins to stress his relationship with the Tracy family.

Much of the film makes use of a reallife Tiger biplane in flight, the Tiger being a special retro project created by Alan and TinTin. With very heavy security, the four IR members invited to the flight of Sky Ship One - Lady Penelope, Parker, Alan, and TinTin - are escorted to NWA's flight base and board the ship.

But unknown to the members of IR as well as to NWA, the crew of the fully-automated jet-powered dirigible have been assassinated and replaced by a band of killers led by a man named Foster, working for a kingpin known as Black Phantom - in reality The Hood wearing a bad hairpiece.

The film then follows the voyage of Sky Ship One as the killers work to position a perfect trap for their passengers as well as International Rescue itself. Along the way Penny, Parker, Alan, and TinTin overfly and visit numerous locations visited by IR in previous rescues - the Atlantic Ocean, New York City, the Grand Canyon, Africa, the pyramids of Egypt, and the Swiss Alps. Here we for once get to see the members of IR able to relax and enjoy each other's company, unaware of any danger to their safety - or are they?

The visits to varied international locales add nicely to the film's atmosphere and allow the buildup not only of suspence but also allow appreciation of the interplay between the characters; this makes the inevitable action scenes and rescue mission all the more gripping and suspenseful as disaster strikes and Scott and Virgil Tracy launch into action.

Without question this is a zenith in the International rescue epic and ends its initial run on a high note.