John Tracy (Thunderbirds)

John Tracy is a fictional character from Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation television series Thunderbirds and the subsequent films Thunderbirds Are Go, Thunderbird 6 and the live-action film Thunderbirds.

John Tracy
Thunderbirds character
First appearance"Trapped in the Sky"
(30 September 1965)
Created byGerry and Sylvia Anderson
Portrayed byLex Shrapnel (2004 film)
Voiced byRay Barrett[1] (1965–1966)
Keith Alexander (1968)
Thomas Brodie-Sangster (2015–2020)
In-universe information
OccupationSpace Monitor
Astronaut
Astronomer
Writer
FamilyJeff Tracy (father)
Lucille Tracy (mother, deceased)
Scott Tracy (brother)
Virgil Tracy (brother)
Gordon Tracy (brother)
Alan Tracy (brother)
Grandma Tracy (grandmother)
NationalityAmerican

Thunderbirds (1965-66)

Background

John was originally intended to be play a larger role in Thunderbirds, but after creator Gerry Anderson took a dislike to the character he ended up appearing less often than planned.[2][3] He was the first of the Tracy brothers to be voice-cast. Actor Ray Barrett was so impressed with the marionette, whose face was modeled on singer Adam Faith and actor Charlton Heston, that he immediately advised co-producer Sylvia Anderson that he wanted to play the studious young astronaut with the boyish quiff.[4]

Character biography

The third son of Jeff Tracy (founder and financier of International Rescue), John was named after astronaut John Glenn.[2] Sources vary in the canon of the Thunderbirds series as to John's age and birth date, although one written source suggests that he was born on 28 October 2002 or 2041—this would make him the third son. The majority of sources and two decades of Thunderbirds calendars cite John's birthday as 8 October and he is 24 years of age. Chris Bentley, author of The Complete Book of Thunderbirds, erroneously cited Gerry Anderson as the source of the misinformation about the birth order of the Tracy brothers, but later admitted that he was using the order of the brothers as shown in the credits. Most sourcebooks on Thunderbirds prior to the Complete book noted that the birth order matches the number of the Thunderbirds ships, save that the third brother (John) and fifth brother (Alan) trade shifts aboard their respective crafts. Also, the novel Operation: Asteroids from 1965 clearly states that Scott and Virgil are "Jeff's eldest sons".

John is a noted scholar of astronomy, and has authored several popular astronomy textbooks. He is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in Advanced Telecommunications. [5] John's quiet intellectual nature and interest in astronomy make him the natural choice for the solitary life as the occupant of space station Thunderbird 5, monitoring for distress calls from around the world. He has only ever been seen physically involved in a rescue during the episode "Danger at Ocean Deep", although he reveals in a conversation with his father in that same episode that he has already been on a "dozen" rescues. According to Carlton Books' Lady Penelope's Secrets, John is known to be exceedingly patient, kindly and gracious and possessed of both great intelligence and poise as gifts inherited from his talented mother.

Thunderbirds (2004 film)

Lex Shrapnel portrayed John in the 2004 live-action film.[6] Owing to the film focusing on Alan Tracy, little is known about this version of John. A brief scene between him and his father Jeff Tracy shows that, like his 1960s counterpart, he is a kind and patient person, because he listens to and provides encouragement for Jeff who is concerned about Alan's behaviour.

Over the course of the film, John is nearly killed by the Hood, who launches a missile at Thunderbird 5, in order to lure International Rescue away from their base and allow him to steal their equipment.

Thunderbirds Are Go (TV series)

In the 2015 series, John is still the 'pilot' of Thunderbird 5, but his role is greatly expanded beyond simply receiving calls for help, often providing aid in coordinating the rescue missions via long-distance communication. He is voiced by Thomas Brodie-Sangster and is now a redhead, instead of being a blond (he and Gordon have traded hair colours).[7]

John is shown as being an emotional introvert, who prefers spending his spare time eating bagels, watching TV (his favourite show is Stingray) and stargazing. He is generally a loner, who doesn't like having to spend more time on Earth than he has to, as he's now the lone operator of TB5 until EOS comes, a program that he designed by himself.

Carolyn Percy of the Wales Arts Review comments that because he was disliked by Gerry Anderson, the original John was the least developed Tracy brother. She considers the new John to be "something of a breakout character", also noting that the series characterises him as a "slightly anti-social loner".[3]

gollark: Idea: undergo addition (mod 601512).
gollark: I MAY have to go back in time and erase "shingled magnetic recording" from existence.
gollark: They don't seem to have many WD disks in that.
gollark: Hmm. Perhaps seagate somewhat bad then.
gollark: ```ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 2 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 179 171 021 Pre-fail Always - 2033 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 168316 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 079 079 000 Old_age Always - 15354 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2564192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 320193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 336830194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 126 080 000 Old_age Always - 21196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 8931```Wow, this disk is in a great state.

References

  1. Bergan, Ronald (9 September 2009). "Ray Barrett | Actor | Obituary" via www.theguardian.com.
  2. "Thunderbirds - The Characters". www.fab1.co.nz.
  3. Percy, Carolyn (13 October 2017). "Thunderbirds Are Go: A Fan's Comparison". Wales Arts Review. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  4. Barrett, Ray (1995). Ray Barrett: An Autobiography. Milsons Point: Random House. ISBN 0 09 183074 5.
  5. Marriot, John; Anderson, Gerry (foreword) (1992). "29". Thunderbirds ARE GO!. London: Boxtree. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-85283-164-6.
  6. Ebert, Roger (5 February 2013). "Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007". Andrews McMeel Publishing via Google Books.
  7. "Thomas Brodie-Sangster: "Thunderbirds promotes simple values based on family"". The Big Issue. 21 September 2017.
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