So... I have the 40th anniversary box-set pictured here on the IMDB profile page for THUNDERBIRDS.... but the episode order on IMDB plays out quite a bit differently from what's presented on my disks.
The order is completely different in each case.
I realise that IMDB provides an "air date" for each episode... but whay isn't that "time-code" standard in place on the box-set?
Anyone?
What it could be is that the order you have is the actual production order than the "airing" order. I had a book on Thunderbirds which listed all the Thunderbirds episodes in the order they were produced and that was the order I kept it to. However the DVD set I have is in the airing order which I feel isn't the order I'd respect it as.
The production order was:
1. Trapped in the Sky
2. Pit of Peril
3. City of Fire
4. Sunprobe
5. The Uninvited
6. The Mighty Atom
7. Vault of Death
8. Operation Crash-Dive
9. Move - and You're Dead
10. Martian Invasion
11. Brink of Disaster
12. The Perils of Penelope
13. Terror in New York City
14. End of the Road
15. Day of Disaster
16. Edge of Impact
17. Desperate Intruder
18. 30 Minutes After Noon
19. The Imposters
20. The Man from MI.5
21. Cry Wolf
22. Danger at Ocean Deep
23. The Duchess Assignment
24. Attack of the Alligators
25. The Cham Cham
26. Security Hazard
Season 2
27. Atlanic Inferno
28. Path of Destruction
29. Alias Mr. Hackenbacker
30. Lord Parker's 'Oliday
31. Ricochet
32. Give or Take A Million
The only part that remains consistent is the Season 2 episodes but otherwise you can see the episodes are in different order to how they're made.
Is this the order on your DVD?
There's conflicting sources as to what the actual production order is. Some sources give as the same as the ITC broadcast order (the one listed above) while others give an order similar to the original broadcast order - except that the first ten episodes or so, probably the ones that were originally 30 minutes long, are in a different order.
shareAs said, I was merely quoting the order from an official Thunderbirds booklet I received as a child. Though you know some episodes do have continuity, such as in Edge of Impact, Jeff notes that they weren't expecting unless it's "Another one of TinTin's admirers", this was referencing End of the Road, which when aired took place after Edge of Impact but was made before it.
But agreed, it's always going to be inconsistent as to whether the order is correct. Though the book I had was made under supervision of Gerry Anderson's company, so I would believe that is the correct source. Will double check it.
There is no official correct order for the episodes, in regards to continuity. But you can work it out to a degree:
As already mentioned, "End of the Road" is before "Edge of Impact".
"The Duchess Assingment" is before "Terror in New York City", because the Empire State Building is still standing in the former.
"The Perils of Penelope" takes place immediately before "Sun Probe", only a few days before, in fact. The rocket launch at the beginning of both episodes is the same event, but the former focuses on Sir Jeremy and Borender, while the latter focuses on the Solarnauts.
At least two episodes involving Thunderbird 4 in a rescue situation take place before "The Perils of
Penelope", if Jeff's comments regarding Gordon are anything to go by. So at least some of the likes of "Terror in New York City", "Day of Disaster", "The Mighty Atom", "Desperate Intruder" and "Operation Crash Dive" take place before.
"Move: and Your Dead" takes place before any other episode in which Grandma appears, or is implied to be living on Tracy Island. This applies to "Sun Probe", "The Uninvited", "The Mighty Atom", "Vault of Death", "Operation Crash Dive", "Day of Disaster" and "Cry Wolf", among others.
"Vault of Death" is before "Brink of Disaster", as Penelope had clearly been taking driving lessons inbetween!
"Danger at Ocean Deep" is before "The Perils of Penelope", as in the former Scott claims to have taken part in every rescue, but he didn't do so in the latter.
"There is no official correct order for the episodes, in regards to continuity. But you can work it out to a degree"
Here is my own possible continuity episode guide:-
1) Trapped In The Sky
2) Move and Your Dead! (This is an early episode as Grandma gets ready and packs her suitcases to live on Tracey Island.)
3) The Mighty Atom (This is an early episode as Virgil says Lady Penelope has had more adventures than International Rescue.)
4) Operation Crash Dive (A newsreader voiced by Matt Zimmerman references International Rescue saving the first Fireflash from the Hood's undercarriage bomb in "Trapped In The Sky" early that same year.)
5) Pit of Peril
6) City of Fire
7) The Uninvited
8) Vault of Death
9) End of The Road
10) Day of Disaster
11) Edge of Impact (This takes place after "End of The Road" as Jeff Tracey says the unidentified aircraft could be "some more of Tin-Tin's admirers" like Eddie Houseman.)
12) Desperate Intruder
13) 30 Minutes After Noon
14) Martian Invasion (This takes place after Hood episodes like "Trapped In The Sky", "The Mighty Atom" and "Desperate Intruder" as Virgil says "I've been wondering whether that Mr Stutt could be the guy who's been after our secrets ever since we went into the rescue business" yet takes place before a lot of other episodes including "Cry Wolf" and "Thunderbird 6" as Jeff Tracey references the Doctor who visited Kyrano at the end of "Trapped In The Sky". In effect this is a middle episode in International Rescue's lives.)
15) The Impostors
16) The Man From M.I.5
17) Cry Wolf
18) Danger At Ocean Deep
19) Brink of Disaster
20) The Perils of Penelope (This takes place after "Danger At Ocean Deep" as Scott said he's been involved in every rescue at the end of that episode and yet he does not take part in rescuing Lady Penelope, Sir Jeremy and Professor Borender from Doctor Godber.)
21) Sun Probe (This takes place after "The Perils of Penelope" as the Sun Probe's launch is a flashback to the start of that episode and also because the process to convert seawater into Sun Probe's Hydrogen rocket fuel is the back story of "The Perils of Penelope".)
22) The Duchess Assignment (This episode takes place before "Terror In New York City" as the Empire State Building is still standing intact.)
23) Attack of The Alligators!
24) The Cham-Cham
25) Security Hazard
26) Thunderbird 6 The Movie (This movie takes place before "Terror In New York City" as the Empire State Building is still standing intact.)
27) Terror In New York City
28) Atlantic Inferno (This episode and "Path of Destruction" takes place just a few weeks after "Terror In New York City" as the metal walls (especially in and near the passenger elevator cage) in Thunderbird 2's cockpit still look smeared with soot from Thunderbird 2's fiery crash in that episode.)
29) Path of Destruction
30) Alias Mr. Hackenbacker
31) Lord Parker's 'Oliday
32) Ricochet
33) Give or Take A Million
34) Thunderbirds Are Go The Movie
like u.f.o. there was never a season 2....all the episodes (32) were a single season.
shareThat order looks quite good, but while "Move And You're Dead" of course is Grandma's first episode, I don't think it should be episode 2. I'd be inclined to keep "Pit Of Peril" and "City Of Fire" as episodes 2-3 - for one thing, Alan is absent from both, and then MYAD can explain his absence, and for another, the new gas in COF marks it as an early episode.
Correction - I forgot about Alan in COF. OK, have episodes 1-5 as:
1. Trapped In The Sky
2. Pit Of Peril
3. Move And You're Dead
4. City Of Fire
5. Operation Crash-Dive
"There is no official correct order for the episodes, in regards to continuity. But you can work it out to a degree"
Indeed. I've taken all the notes listed here and used it to come up with my own revised continuity guide, see my new thread.
Sunprobe is Tin Tin's first mission, therefore it comes before The Uninvited and any other episode where Tin Tin goes on a mission.
shareOK, I've just got the DVD, and I've been watching the episodes with a view to continuity points, and I have a few notes to add to this:
"City Of Fire" is not as early as we thought. Because of the gas, it should occur after any and all episodes in which the team are seen to use laser equipment to cut through metal etc - so it occurs after "Vault Of Death", "Operation Crash-Dive", "Danger At Ocean Deep" and "Thirty Minutes After Noon".
"Terror In New York City" should come before "Martian Invasion", because we need to see Scott's camera-wiping facilities in action before we can have him saying he can't do it. Similarly, "Desperate Intruder" should also come before "Martian Invasion", because of the Hood's further attempts in the former to take photos without immobilising the ACD.
Also, regarding the whole thing about Alan and John alternating on Thunderbird 5, it's probably good to put episodes with John on the island (Operation Crash-Dive, Desperate Intruder) immediately after episodes with Alan relieving John (City Of Fire, The Uninvited, Danger At Ocean Deep etc), and "The Mighty Atom", in which John relieves Alan, should be immediately after one such episode - likewise "The Cham Cham".
One other point - it's probably best to have "Brink Of Disaster" before "End Of The Road", as the magnetic grabs are stuffed at the end of the latter, and the subsequent design was changed.
*****
"The Duchess Assingment" is before "Terror in New York City", because the Empire State Building is still standing in the former.
*****
I think we're going to have to just ignore the Empire State Building issue, because otherwise it traps us in a continuity loop. "The Duchess Assignment" doesn't matter, but Thunderbird 6 does - and here's why:
"Terror In New York City" comes before "Martian Invasion" becuase it establishes Thunderbird 1's film-wiping capabilities.
"Martian Invasion" comes before Thunderbirds Are Go because the Hood is killed in the latter.
Thunderbirds Are Go comes before Thunderbird 6 because the former as already mentioned has the Hood being killed, and the latter features a villain described as "son of the Hood" by Sylvia Anderson (he certainly looks a bit like the Hood but clearly not him). It's not unreasonable to assume he is taking up the Hood's mantle, and he's only there because the Hood was killed.
So if Thunderbird 6 has to come before Terror In New York City, which in turn comes before Martian Invasion, which itself is earlier than Thunderbirds Are Go, which also precedes Thunderbird 6, we have a problem!
I think we should just let them off the Empire State Building issue, because the options of either airbrushing the building out or just making a model of the skyline would probably have been a little tricky at the time.
I remember watching these episodes when I was a little lad.
shareSo... as someone who is just about to watch this show for the first time which order do you recommend watching the episodes in!?
shareAside from the fact that Trapped in the Sky comes first, it doesn't really matter that much. Whatever source you're watching them from probably lists them in either broadcast or production order.
Either way, you'll notice some continuity issues, that some episodes must have logically taken place before others even though you're watching them afterwards. But since the series is episodic with no story arcs, its not an issue.
You are the disease, and Mr. Zurkon is the cure!