The Impostors
Episode writer Dennis Spooner, who also wrote "The Mighty Atom" and "End Of The Road" had a real feel for the relationships within the Tracy family and how important that aspect was to the series. Just as with his view of the mischievous side of the Tracy brothers in his earlier episodes, this one reveals how devastated these young heroes are when they are denied a chance to save a life.
Blanche Carter, the wife from "City Of Fire" just happens to be present at the time of the fake rescue effort; she can be seen standing in the background.
The Indonesian statue from The Hood's temple turns up in World TV reporter Eddie Kerr's office, as does Alan's racing trophy from the episode "Move...And You're Dead!"
Strangely enough, though this episode sets it up that Jeremiah Tuttle and his ma are hillbillies who live in rural Kentucky (based on the lighted map in Jeff's command center/lounge), the area of the US he points to as being covered by "Agent 47" and the likely location of the impostors' hideout (and Jeremiah's home) is...UTAH!
Though a lot of hard work and effort went into all of the vibrant costuming and set designs, everyone in Britain and the vast majority of people throughout the world watched "Thunderbirds" in black and white.
The first nine episodes of "Thunderbirds" had already been filmed when the order came to extend them to an hour's length.
Shane Rimmer, the voice of Scott Tracy, wrote scripts for the Gerry Anderson series "Joe 90" and "The Protectors."
As Scott announces "Switching to horizontal flight," he is voicing his actions to his father. Jeff handles the talk-back for the pilots on all International Rescue missions, unless he directs one of the boys to do so.
The bombastic General Lambert must be secretly British! "25 thousand million dollars" is how 25 billion would be described in the UK.
Thunderbird 3 is equipped with an Earth-bound escape pod for dangerous space missions.
Like the Tracy brothers, Tin-Tin was raised by her father from the time she was a small child. Neither mother is mentioned during the series.
To illustrate the massive search for the Red Arrow 1 (in the episode "Edge Of Impact," scenes of launches of various crafts from other episodes are used in quick succession.
Seriously bluffing, General Lambert states that International Rescue's "seagoing equipment suggests an island" as a hideout, which makes no sense since Thunderbird 4 is only one of a large number of rescue vehicles known to have been observed by outsiders. He then begins to claim that the weather is a clue to IR's location but wisely stops!
Chairs and a table from the Cafe Atalante in Paris turn up on the Tracy Villa balcony; they turn up pretty much everywhere during the series!
The secrecy of International Rescue plays against the plot device: How could the crooks manage to copy the IR uniforms so exactly when there have never been published pictures of them?
It's two, actually: "'International Rescue' is certainly a dirty word around here!" --- Eddie Kerr
Curiouser and curiouser: Reporters recognized the impostors' jet as an EJ2, which doesn't clue them into the fact that this must be a fraudulent event, even though they are aware that all of the known "fantastic" IR craft are unique to their organization.
Jeremiah consistently pronounces Her Ladyship's name "Pen-e-lope" despite having heard Jeff pronounce it correctly and having never seen it written down. (It's a common dialog trick to make characters sound clueless).
And still curiouser: If there's no "wind" in space, why is Elliott continually blown backward after the initial rocket-pack boost?
Lucky for John that he apparently wasn't due to be relieved by Alan anytime soon in this episode, since they could have gone on for quite a while in search of the impostors and unable to launch Thunderbird 3!
Repeat blooper: That stock footage of the Thunderbird 3 launch causes trouble again as Alan and Scott curiously change casual clothing as soon as they enter the rocket.
Well known for keeping her cool in the face of danger, Lady Penelope loses it all and has a nervous breakdown over...mud!
Scott's lips don't move for his last line, "You can say that again!" (Apparently, he can't even say it once)!