Thunderbirds (TV series)/Headscratchers

• The Automatic Camera Dectector seems to cause more problems than it solves. Why is it an issue if people take pictures of the outside of the Thunderbirds? It's not like there's a big sign on the back of TB1 going "Look! Secret technology here =>". Further, if people had been able to take pictures of the Thunderbirds, the entire problem highlighted in "The Impostors" never would have come up - it's clearly not a Thunderbird the bank robbers are flying around in. FURTHER! In "The Uninvited", the two Saharan explorers drive by a crashed TB1. One of them goes, "Look, the markings! It's a Thunderbird!" How did he know what the Thunderbird looked like since there are no photographs, ever. Grr.
  • In regards to that last bit, they do all have 'Thunderbird [Number]' or just TBx written on them, like they said, they saw the markings on it, and that's presumably what they meant (and from the angle it was lying at they probably only saw the TB1 markings and correctly concluded that it meant Thunderbird 1).
    • Presumably there have been descriptions in news articles of the day (hence how they'd know what to look for) and people can recognise technology (or the general idea) from photographs.
    • Artist's impressions perhaps?
• A classic You Fail Physics Forever moment in both the series and Thunderbirds Are Go is the sonic boom at Mach 1 -- and only at Mach 1. Fireflash or Zero X is accelerating to supersonic speed and the captain announces, "Mach 1", at which point there's a dull boom -- which can be heard in the cockpit -- and then nothing. No more boom as the air/spacecraft goes on up to Mach 6 or escape velocity. Okay, you can argue that the thing is way, way up in the air by that time, but that bang at Mach 1 is annoying.
  • No, they do not fail physics in this case; that's how acoustic physics really works. If you're flying faster than Mach 1, you're flying faster than the speed of sound, while your sonic boom travels at the speed of sound. It can't catch up to you and you can't hear it. People sitting in one place can hear it just fine... but the Thunderbirds aren't sitting in one place when they're supersonic.
• Can anyone explain how Thunderbirds 1 & 2 and Fireflash are supposed to move? They are explicitly stated to be nuclear atomic powered. Thing is, nuclear reactors aren't much good for propulsion unless said propulsion is an electric motor (see: submarines and ships). How the heck does a nuclear reactor power what are clearly rockets? More to the point, if your nuclear reactor is behaving like a rocket then something is very very badly wrong indeed.
  • It can be done. But not, perhaps, something you really want on a vehicle that's meant to rescue people at its destination. Kill them, sure...
• And Another Thing, paraphrased from somewhere else but I can't remember where I put it: Fireflash can travel at Mach 6, approximately 4,500mph. It is a super-aerodynamic plane. Thunderbird 2 can travel at at least 5,000mph. It is a freaking brick. What.
  • Both points above: say hello to the Applied Phlebotinum (which, in this case, is "atomic power". Works for me). And the MST3K Mantra.
• A practical issue. I have no idea whether to file this show under "Western Animation" or "Live Action TV". It seems a bit of a hassle to add the "Puppet Show" tab every time.
  • MOD: It's a puppet show. File it under "Puppet Shows", please.
• While I thought that Danger at ocean deep was a great episode, there was one.huge.plot.hole that annoyed me, how is that Jeff couldn't communicate with his sons and yet he could communicate with Penny
• How does the Hood know about International Rescue before the Fireflash incident, their first ever rescue? And if he found out about it through his mental link with Kyrano, how does he not know about Tracy Island?
  • It's possible that Kyrano has built up resistance to the Hood's mental link, able to keep the really important secrets away from him.

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