[I haven't read any of the comic books - any suggestions of which series is the best? Don't know if they sell them in Australia but I suppose there are plenty on the web.]
The best series was "The Complete Thunderbirds Story" which appeared in the 1990s comics, though the story did rearrange some of the details evident in the series. The 1990s comics often come up for sale on eBay and other auction sites. For action-related stories, the best are the ones which appeared in TVCentury21 magazine. Many of those have been reprinted in hardback and soft cover editions over the years.
[t sorta looks like John gets left out because of his stints on TB3. But John is older than Virgil, isn't he? All the fanbooks from the 70s say so (John is 25, and Virgil is 24).]
No, it's just the opposite: All of the source books, the biographies featured in the comics, the calendars and even one of the 1960s novels stated that Virgil is older than John. Virgil was originally supposed to be 27 and John 25 (they were later de-aged to 25 and 24, for some silly reason). The more recent calendars (I think beginning with the UK 1999 calendar) misprinted John's birth year as "2034," making him four years older than Scott, who we know to be the eldest. Even the 2001 annual (Carlton's first) had the correct birth order (Scott, Virgil, John, Gordon and Alan), and Jeff's photo album as shown in "Thunderbirds Are Go" definitively tells us that John is the third son. However, for some very odd reason, the person who runs the international fan club thinks that John is older than Virgil and his book "The Complete Book Of Thunderbirds" switched the birth order accordingly. Hopefully Sylvia Anderson's upcoming book will help to clear up this mess once and for all.
[I love the episode Danger at Ocean Deep, especially when Scott cuts open the door and tells John to 'quick help me get them out' because the ship is about to blow. John responds by turning around and make a comment about the sea bubbling and doesn't make a move to help. And their little 'argument' at the end is cute indeed, but you'll notice Jeff comes down on Scott's side. I too wondered why they didn't try and toe the ship out of harm's way.]
What's bizarre about John's "rescue" adventure is that he's really not allowed to do anything more than he normally does: he maintains contact between the rescue vehicles. He can't do much of anything with that radio in hand all of the time he's on the OP2, so he never gets to prove that he's just as capable of helping out as his brothers. As for the "argument," Jeff was just plain rude to dress John down in that manner by suggesting that his opinion was of less value because he'd not been on as many rescues as Scott. Jeff is the one who decides who gets to go on missions and there are a number of situations presented during the series in which John is both at home AND the was better person to send to the rescue site based on his expertise, yet Jeff doesn't send him along. For example, in "Operation: Crashdive," it would have made far more sense for Jeff to send along John on the test flight, since he has more expertise with wiring, communications and aeronautics than Gordon does. Instead, goofy little Gordon goes along and nearly talks Scott's ear off while he's supposed to be mending the junction! Silly Jeff---rescues aren't for kids! (And yeah, we know this is all Gerry Anderson's fault, but within the story it makes Jeff look pretty awful).
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chibimax
18 years ago
O.o never knew that Virgil was older then John...Mmmm i radder keep Virgil younge then John. Oh well, you could choose how you see it.
Chibi Max
~* The howl of a lonely wolf*~
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johntracytb5
18 years ago
[O.o never knew that Virgil was older then John...Mmmm i radder keep Virgil younge then John. Oh well, you could choose how you see it.]
Yeah, but it doesn't make any sense for Virgil to be older than John, and, as mentioned, this is only a recent and unsupported notion. If you look at Virgil's relationship with Scott, it's obvious how close they are, both in age (look at those mature faces) and mannerism. For example, Virgil and Scott call the rest of their brothers "boy" throughout the series; you never hear the other three call their older brothers that. (I don't think they'd dare)! And there's a level of maturity that both Virgil and Scott have that the others don't. You don't see Virgil bopping to rock tunes (he likes classical and jazz music), but John, Gordon and Alan are all crazy about the Cass Carnaby Five instead. (And I'm not touching the fact that we see Virgil with an electric guitar)...! Plus, there's the element of the hair: Virgil's got a staid, neatly combed style (and an "after five" shadow at times), while John has that cute, boyish, pop singer quiff throughout most of the series (and he never appears to need a shave, no matter what time we see him). All of that is there to support the character development which dialog wasn't used to convey. But the episode "Atlantic Inferno" was one of the few times wherein the pecking order was reinforced within the series. The novels and comics did a far better job of this and confirmed the correct birth order on numerous occasions. So yeah, John is indeed the classic middle child...!
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