Martian
Invasion

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For a detailed overview of this episode, click here.

The Hood comes up with a plan to film the Thunderbirds.
Original UK broadcast date: March 17th, 1966

Contents
1) Synopsis
2) Notes
3) Errors


Synopsis

The Hood, under the alias of Mr. Stutt, gives some money to the production of a new movie being directed by Goldheimer. It is part of a plan he has to film International Rescue's machines, and then sell said film to someone known as General X. In order to carry out his plan, he contacts Kyrano and tells him to disable Thunderbird 1's automatic camera detector. Tin-Tin and Jeff find Kyrano collapsed in a garden, but he assures them he is fine.

The movie shoot begins, but the Hood has tampered with some explosives used to destroy part of a cave that some actors are inside. The explosion is much more powerful than intended, trapping the actors inside the cave and causing it to start flooding. Back on Tracy Island, Kyrano goes to Thunderbird 1, and sees Tin-Tin performing system checks on it. He asks her about Thunderbird 1's systems, and she eventually points out the automatic camera detector. Kyrano then hears the Hood's voice in his head again, and when Tin-Tin leaves, he sabotages the detector. Meanwhile, Goldheimer is told by the Hood's partner in crime, Bletcher, to contact International Rescue.

As Bletcher leaves, the Hood operates a camera and films Thunderbird 1 landing. Thunderbird 2 then arrives, and Virgil uses a machine called the Excavator to remove the rubble at the cave's entrance. Once enough rubble has been removed, Scott contacts the actors via radio and tells them to dive. They do so, and they are carried out of the cave and to safety via a powerful current.

International Rescue leave, but as Scott is about to take off, he notices Goldheimer about to take a picture. He asks him not to do that, but Goldheimer asks about the pictures he's already taken. Realizing Thunderbird 1's camera detector isn't working, Scott and Goldheimer check the footage filmed on the camera, and come across film of Thunderbird 1 landing. They then see someone speed away in a truck, and Goldheimer says he's never seen the driver before. Scott takes off in Thunderbird 1 and goes after the Hood.

The Hood manages to hide in a tunnel and contacts General X. The General is annoyed and threatens to end their agreement if the Hood doesn't get to him within an hour. As Scott heads to the other end of the tunnel, the Hood drives back out the way he came, only for Thunderbird 2 to show up. Virgil fires two missiles at a cliff, causing a landslide which blocks off the road. The Hood grabs the film and abandons his truck. Virgil lands Thunderbird 2 and enters the forest he saw the Hood enter, but sees that the Hood has made it to an airfield, and has stolen a plane. The Hood heads towards the General's mansion.

However the plane he stole is in a state of disrepair, and he quickly loses control of it. He ends up crashing into the mansion, and whilst he survives, the film doesn't. Scott has seen the crash, and believes that's the end of that. He and Virgil later return to the place where the movie is being filmed, and the cave explosion is shot again. This time, the right explosives are used, and the scene is filmed successfully. Virgil wonders if that Stutt guy could be the agent who's been after their plans ever since they went into the rescue business. Scott says he was wondering the same thing himself, but says whatever disguise that guy wears, they'll get him one day.

Notes

-This episode is another one that was originally film as a half hour episode, then was later extended. However I don't know what scenes were added to extend it.

-The script has General X's name as "Strond" but he is always referred to as General X or just General in the episode.

-The Hood is referred to as "Agent 7-9" -the first time he actually gives a name in the series. Nobody ever refers to him in the series as "The Hood", but that is his name.

-Scott mentions to Jeff that he wants to know who tampered with the automatic camera detector, Jeff says they can worry about it later. Unfortunately this is never touched on again in the episode, so it goes unknown if anyone ever found out Kyrano was the one who did it.

Errors

-It goes without saying that Goldheimer should have had the actors vacate the cave before blowing it up! But maybe he's such a bad director this didn't occur to him.
-When water starts pouring into the cave during this shot, if you look to the right of the hole you can briefly see a human hand.
-The camera operator is initially voiced by Shane Rimmer, but then later his voice is provided by David Graham.
-Thunderbird 2 is seen collecting pod 5, but when the hangar door opens, pod 2 can be seen next to it instead of pod 4.
-When the Hood nearly crashes into the communications tower, the top part of the tower changes design between shots.