F.A.B.? - Thunderbirds (1965) Discussion

Yes - like "Roger"

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[–] nic20286 19 years ago

it was there code names. FAB actually stood for fabulous which was a catchy 60's slang word or so im told.

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Sylvia Anderson said what nic20286 just said - "FAB... stood for fabulous which was a catchy 60's slang word". It's also listed in the Collins dicitonary, and I think the meaning is "a code of acknowledgement" or something like that

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[–] sun_hill_85 19 years ago

I also remember reading an article in an Australian TV magazine that FAB stood for "absolutely nothing", so Sylvia Anderson said.

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[–] Patricia_Arvantes 19 years ago

F.A.B. actually stood for "Filed, Actioned, Banked." In other words, Mission Completed.

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[–] dead_man_inc131 19 years ago

It was a shortened version of "fabulous" if it stood for anything.
Sylvia Anderson (Lady Penelope) says on the dvd. it wasn't an acronym for anything.

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[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Emi-lin 19 years ago

"The Thunderbirds' radio code "F-A-B", meaning "message received and understood", didn't stand for anything, it was just supposed to sound "hip". In fact, when asked what it stood for, Gerry Anderson once replied, with some bemusement, "Fab," as though it were obvious. Later, due in part to fan-submitted stories, F-A-B came to mean Fully Advised and Briefed, in keeping with P-W-O-R (Proceeding With Orders Received), a similar radio confirmation code in the series Stingray."

Taken right from imdb.

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[–] tinkerbellem 18 years ago

yeah like in captain scarlet its SIG meaning spectrum is green

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[–] johntracytb5 18 years ago

re: [Later, due in part to fan-submitted stories, F-A-B came to mean Fully Advised and Briefed]

There are so many uses for "FAB" in Thunderbirds that it makes no sense for fans to keep trying to assign a specific meaning to it. Scott and Virgil often say "FAB" and then keep right on talking (so it's not a final signing-out phrase), and it often comes at a time when the person who has said it is actually giving the advisement or instruction, not the other way around. Therefore, it can't possibly mean "fully advised and briefed" either. The only universal meaning that it can have is as a basic acknowledgement, such as "A-OK" or "Roger."

Frankly, I like the voice actors' idea; they decided that it means "Five: All Brothers." It's adorable, and, since there's no reason that the initials have to stand for anything in aeronautical terms, it works, too.

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[–] robert_hunter-1 18 years ago

It stands for funderbirds are brill.

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[–] johntracytb5 18 years ago

[It stands for funderbirds are brill.]

Ladies and gentlemen, the comic stylings of...Billy Bragg! Yeaaaa!

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[–] THX--1138 18 years ago

LOL!

Why is Duck Tape like The Force?

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[–] puffdavey63 18 years ago

I always thought it stood for Fully Acknowledged Broadcast

That kid is on the escalator again

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[–] shootertwit 8 years ago

Fab means 'forward all birds".
Gerry 1st heard the the term while he was in the Royal Air Force during the mid 50s, he was told it was a code word used by the USAF during WW2, it was sent to hundreds of American bombers at the same time to send them on their way to bomb Germany, this was once all the planes from up to a dozen different airfields had met up in the sky. The idea was for so many was safety in numbers, ie more dificult for German fighters to shoot the down.

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