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Felt a bit of a darker or slightly more serious episode, with shades of I believe it was the "Impostors" (in the original series), with IR effectively banished by the military. Could've done with Jeff and his military contacts in this episode I think though Scott did alright. Good to see all the land-based brothers in action on the same craft.

As for TB2...she always did have her weak spots.

Some of these episodes to me have some hints of the original episodes, however obscure or maybe I'm reaching. The underwater train similar to Perils of Penelope/Monorail to Disaster, the underwater machine seemingly on the verge of being out of control the Crablogger in Path of Destruction, this latest episode like Day of Disaster and so on. Maybe we'll get a clapped out biplane coming to the rescue soon?

From what I can see we have at best 3-4 episodes left. Furthermore on Saturday we finally get to see the Thunderbird-S in action. If only Tin-Tin had that in the original we wouldn't have needed Thunderbird 6

I got out of sync watching the last 3 episodes (due to being away for the holidays), so today was my first watch of 'Designated Driver'. As Isabelle and Matt mentioned, a few moments of sheer delight, plus a few 'what the..?' moments; Alan learning to 'drive' being top of my list, although I'm finding him less annoying as the series progresses, possibly because he doesn't get to hog every episode.

Highlights for me: the antique FAB 0 of course, the strains of the TB anthem at the end, Aunt Sylvia's 'Mondrian' dress, the teapot, and Aunt Sylvia herself was a delight.
I confess to having a fit of the giggles at the robbers and their antics...well, I'd had a hard day....that's my excuse. Another slight plot hole: as to why Aunt Sylvia suddenly needed to have the 'T' in any case, is she an undercover agent on the sly?

I think the voice artists do a superb job in this series. Rasmus Hardiker voices both Alan and Scott in this episode, (as does David Menkin for Virgil and Gordon who normally appear together.) Must be hard work talking to yourself and not getting the accents mixed up!

This week, last episode before the last episodes of the season, which are a two-parter. Kayo finally gets her episode, and what an episode that is! TB are Go is getting edgier and darker, and better!

We found out this week that:

1 - Kayo can kick serious butt, and if IR doesn't want her anymore, she'd fit right in with Spectrum.
2 - She is way out of Alan's league (IMHO).
3 - The Hood flies around in what looks like a giant trash bin.
4 - Scott flirts on the job.

Now, I know I want to see nods to the other Anderson series in the TB are Go episodes, and that's probably why I thought Kayo's bike looked like a Stallion Raid bike, and sounded like a Rhino when in pursuit... but am I the only one to have noticed that?

I've not noticed the similiarity to the Rhino but the TB-S strikes me as a sleeker Angel jet.

Liked the launch sequence with TB-S mixing with TB-1 and TB-2 though the animation of the sonic boom or whatever it is, the cloud vapour, as the fighter raced away from the island made me think she had clinked the jet against the thing.

Sort of still annoyed at Virgil's apparatus when he's out of TB-2, the bionic man.

Carrie's note about the voice artists reminds me of I think it's the Complete Thunderbirds book by Chris Bentley where David Graham is talking about how he had been doing voices on radio for a while before Thunderbirds and people would be amazed how he would change voices in a moment, once or twice he was effectively talking to himself.

You know, I had no idea he's 90. What a legend.

This isn't a comment on this week's episode as I haven't seen it yet. But further to Matt's last post; David Graham is indeed over 90, although you wouldn't think it. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Fanderson convention in October and what a lovely man he is; a true gent. Good to see he's still working at what he loves and giving us all so much pleasure.

Well, I'll try not to give too many spoilers away, Skybase Girl!
Touch and Go was a great episode, thrills, spills, characterization. Kayo is certainly turning into a very interesting member of I.R. TB Shadow, indeed, the way she ninja'd around!
Writer Rob Hoegee was channeling Star Wars in the Hood's entreaties to Kayo.

Got to wonder how TB-S survived that close to a conflagration - some of Brain's super-heat-shielding tiles, maybe?
Scott's facial expressions are brilliant, just loving the way he's drawn, and Monument Valley was rendered well.

Minor gripe : Why didn't Scott use the grappling hook just a little earlier in the day???

Going into anorak mode : Easter eggs this week from Original TB: Alsterene - from 'Danger at Ocean Deep', Air Terranian from various episodes.

Gonna miss my weekly dose of TB when the series finishes, just as well my sis got me Vol 1 for Christmas - Yay!

Yesterday's "Undercover" wasn't too bad. Maybe it was the night setting but it had a proper feel to it, "The Man from MI5" almost. Good to see the Fireflash again but one moment that struck me was when Scott groans: "I knew we shouldn't have got involved!" -after he says that I thought of "Atlantic Inferno" where Scott takes the gamble to help the rig but picturing Jeff's stern face and a little from "Pit of Peril" when Jeff is leaving it to the military to sort things out, without IR going in uninvited. The whole thing was akin to the comics almost.

Nice also to see Penny in action of sorts, she really does care for ol' Nosey. I don't mean that she doesn't before but it showed her bond with him this episode, diving away to help him (with time to pick up a hard hat!).

And FAB 1 changing colours was not too shabby. I pine for FAB 2 in the next season. Or even FAB 3, Lady P's race horse (mentioned in a comic book or annual I think).

This was a good episode, I also appreciated the interaction between Lady P and Parker. He's more than a chauffeur to her and she will stop at nothing to save him, even if it means climbing up those debris with her high-heeled shoes!

Kayo had more airtime (yay!), and she is still as efficient and fearless as we expect her to be. I have a little problem with Thunderbird S though. Not with the plane itself, which is fine, but rather at the way it's animated. I often found it doesn't have "realistic" flight moves in the way it turns or avoid things, and I found it distracting. In last week's episode, when she's after that motorcycle baddie, she banks sharply and manoeuvres around, but in the sequence before, she was so low that had she turned at that moment, she would have crashed to the ground. And this week, dodging the missiles... I wish the animation team had looked at how the Falcons were animated for the dog fights. They had much more realistic flying/fighting moves.

Hopefully for the second season they'll have improved such effects for the TB-S and action sequences.

And reverse Gordon and John's hair. Failing that, stick John in TB4 and Gordon in TB5. Even at 30 my head spins with such details.

Final episode, sigh, but it was a FAB end to series one.
I decided to watch it with headphones so I could turn up the volume and the sound was amazing, especially the sounds of the TB craft, it was like listening in surround-sound. (My headphones have a four-foot long cable so I can relax on the sofa and still see the HD TV. Felt like I was watching it in the movies!)

Although Kayo-centric (following on from last week, but let's face it, she's so cool we really don't mind her moves, and well done Angel Coulby for great voice characterization) everyone got to do their part, even Grandma!
It all got a bit emotional at the end; and does anyone else think Virg looked like he was about to blub? Bless. Strong and tough but not afraid to show his sensitive side...what's not to like.

I know what you mean about TB Shadow, Isabelle, how on earth does it manage to stick sideways to a cliff? Spidey's web? That's sort of stretching my SoD a bit.
But hey, maybe by 2060 they actually will have such technology after all, since TB5's space elevator might be a distinct real possibility in the near future. They predict it could be as soon as 2025 to be able to send packages to an orbit of 600 miles using carbon nanotube technology, with larger cables reaching heights of 60000 miles a decade later. (Brains is big into nanotubes so it must be true...) It would probably be the biggest mega-project of all time, but Jeff must have worked out the cost/benefit ratio was worth it to build, rather than waste rocket fuel sending Alan up for John...

Ah well, in general I've loved watching the series and it has in fact re-kindled my love for the original series too, so that's a win-win in anyone's book. And we only probably have to wait till October till we see it again.

Excellent final episode, with everyone involved and working as a team. I loved how the boys reacted to Kayo's reveal. Sometimes, silence is louder than words.

The combined Thunderbird vehicles launch was interesting and exciting, and they even managed to include John in it. Poor Gordon, though. He didn't get much of a launch sequence compared to the others...


The thing I liked less was that I thought the dangerous situation brought by the Hood was quickly handled and taken care of. Plus, if Tracy Island was supposed to be secret, why didn't they have better detection and anti-invasion devices? This episode could have been a two-parter, I think.


Am I the only one who went "Uh?" when the girls mentionned the WASP? I expected battle stations to sound at some point!



Can't wait to see what's going to happen to the boys and girls of TB in the next season!

Not a bad end to the series though yes, a little uneven for one episode alone. Little bits I liked like the musical march that initially accompanies John's launch to TB5 -akin to the march that cropped up in most episodes of the original, memorably (for me) when Thunderbird 1 is approached in The Uninvited.
The brief glimpse anyway of TB4 launching from the island (the little pen was good. I assume TB4 tranverses a tunnel of sorts to launch from the island unlike the original and coming down TB2's runaway.
But best of all, Mateo Island even if we didn't see much. As a kid I'd peer for ages over the cross-ection of the island I got in my comic. I think Mateo was a little further away (I always assumed as such even though the comic cross-section mentions a monorail linking the two islands), it was a nice touch.

Look forward to series 2 and hopefully Jeff's fate revealed even if the writer is not altogether keen on revealing too much or even having Jeff back.

Well now I'll get to see what you are all talking about. As FINALLY the second half is going to be played on one of our TV stations. Looking forward to it.

Yeah, Marion and I managed to watch almost the entire lot of Series 1, comprising DVD volume one, six of Volume 2 that I still had on my Skybox and a couple from the internet. After that marathon my head was whirling and I have all the thrilling, resounding music, especially from the finale episode playing in my head constantly. (It's Tues and they're still going strong!) It was a lovely opportunity to watch them all again, we grinned and gasped all the way through, and it was fun to laugh together at all the in-jokes for the 'mature viewers' . Thanks for that, Marion! You must plan a return visit for Series 2!!!