CELEBRATION CHALLENGE - ANSWERS by PURUPUSS RATED FRC

Remember to score two points for every episode or movie reference, and one point for every bonus.

Chapter One:

Trapped In The Sky:

And then, almost five years ago, they'd launched themselves onto an unsuspecting world and saved the Fireflash on its maiden flight.

Bonus Point 1:

You're back from Mateo Island early.

Mateo Island was mentioned in the "Talons of the Eagle" comic strip.

Thunderbirds 2004:

Scott found Virgil on the beach skimming stones over the darkening waters. He watched as his brother spun one out over the Pacific Ocean. It skipped five times before sinking beneath the surface. "Not bad, but you haven't bettered my record."

Alan was skimming stones in the movie. And if you think my reference doesn't have much to do with the movie, it's because I didn't think the movie had much to do with Thunderbirds.

Bonus Point 2:

Her very design, while one of her strengths, was also one of her flaws. The detachable pods meant that the wings and side supports had to withstand greater forces than it was reasonable to expect. The hydraulic legs too, placed great strains on perhaps the weakest parts of the 'plane.

If you thought 'that's the same problem that they had with the models used in filming', then give yourself a point.

Terror In New York City:

Even that time when I was shot down by the Sentinel, she got me home, more or less in one piece. I don't know how, I think she flew herself."

"I remember," Scott reflected. "I felt so helpless. All I could do was watch and keep yelling for you to pull out of that dive."

"Yeah. I remember that. I remember thinking 'what do you think I'm trying to do!' Partially wishing that you'd shut up, but at the same time being glad that you were there."

Scott leant back on his arms and gazed out over the Pacific Ocean. "Yeah, I was glad she was built so strong that day."

Bonus Point 3:

"A cop was nosin' round. Said 'e was checking the tax discs," Parker said huffily. "H-I told the young scallywag to learn 'is road code. H-I 'ad great pleasure in reminding 'im that cars of that year are not required to pay tax.

An advertisement starring Lady Penelope, Parker and FAB1, reminding the English public to pay their road tax. Despite the fax that the original FAB1 Rolls Royce would have been exempt. Sorry to everyone who doesn't live in England.

Lord Parker's 'Oliday:

He'd failed miserably, but, Lady Penelope mused, at least he wasn't wearing the gaudy outfit he'd chosen when he was on holiday in Monte Bianco.

Trapped In The Sky:

'The Fireflash has had its share of setbacks, each of which has added to the mystic of this fabled craft. The most notable and well publicised being the dramatic events surrounding her maiden flight five years ago. As has been thoroughly documented in other publications, a bomb had been placed in the Fireflash's undercarriage, thereby preventing the lowering of the landing gear. If it were not for the heroic actions of International Rescue, the plane would have exploded, or her passengers and crew would have succumbed to radiation poisoning.'

Operation Crash Dive:

'Later events, such the sabotaging of subsequent models of Fireflash, have ensured that the current security measures are the most stringent in the world. Each passenger, each vehicle, each piece of luggage, and the aeroplane itself, is checked and re-checked many times by many means. It is now virtually impossible for a craft of the Fireflash fleet to be targeted by those who wish her harm.

End Of The Road:

As Virgil activated the VTOL jets and a burst of superheated flame shot out of Thunderbird Two's undercarriage, he briefly remembered previous times when the jets had been a hindrance, rather than a help. Such as the time they had to rescue Eddie Houseman from the side of that mountain. If it hadn't been for some slick flying on Scott's part, Eddie would have been a gonna for sure.

Atlantic Inferno:

"Extending grabs..." Two magnetic arms were extended from the front of Thunderbird Four and made fast on the research sub.

Vault Of Death:

I heard him say to Lil, my cook, that he wants to show your sons what a 'real' man dresses like."

Chapter Two:

City Of Fire:
"Do you remember when the Thompson Tower burnt down, and that family was trapped?"

"It is not something that one is likely to forget," Lady Penelope reminded her friend. "One of the tallest buildings in the world, destroyed by fire days after it was opened. The world's media were filled with nothing else for weeks!"

"They are making a movie about it, mainly about that family that was trapped. And I am playing the mother, Blanche Carter," Carole said proudly.

The Duchess Assignment:

"You could always talk to Deborah," Lady Penelope suggested. "I believe she had the misfortune to require their services."

Danger At Ocean Deep:

John ignored him. "Do you realise that the last time I was involved in a rescue was that time that we saved the crew of the 'Ocean Pioneer II'."

Gordon was chuckling to himself. "Who would've thought that dog food was so explosive?"

Brink Of Disaster:

Take that time that Father, Brains and Tin-Tin went to check out the Pacific-Atlantic monotrain. Not an engineer on board and what a mess they got into, and all because there wasn't a human in charge."

Thunderbird Six:

"He wasn't that mild mannered when Dad tried to get him to build a Thunderbird Six," Gordon remembered. "He was only just keeping his temper until he got back to his lab."

"It's not even as if Father knew what he wanted in a new Thunderbird," Virgil said. "I thought he should have let Brains go on 'Skyship One's' maiden voyage. The break away from the island might have got the creative juices flowing."

"True," John agreed. "But as they say every cloud has a silver lining. At least he wasn't hijacked with the others."

"Amazing, wasn't it?" Gordon said thoughtfully. "There we were, possessors of the most advanced equipment in the 21st Century, and we had to rely on a Tiger Moth bi-plane to rescue them."

Bonus Point 4:

"We could always paint the Mark II blue

An early Thunderbird Two toy was, for some strange reason, coloured blue rather than green.

Chapter Three:

Desperate Intruder:

"Or I could leave you buried up to your neck in the desert's sands and I could replace you as your lady's chauffeur."

Bonus Point 5:

"Calling, Elvis. Is anybody home?"

The Dire Straits song. The video starred members of International Rescue and their craft.

Day Of Disaster:

"Edible transmitters?" Virgil suggested. "At least they'd know we're still alive."

The Cham Cham:

"... And that was 'Dangerous Game' by the Cass Carnaby Five..."

Ricochet:

"...With Rick O'Shea..." the radio said.

"Sounds like Tin-Tin's boyfriend," Jeff commented dryly.

Martian Invasion:

Hampton, who rose to prominence in the Cy Goldheimer sci-fi blockbuster..."

City Of Fire:

"... Is currently filming 'Terror at Thompson Tower'

Bonus Point 6:

Chip Harrison, best known for his role as Paul Metcalfe in 'Winged Assassin'..."

This is, of course, nothing at all to do with Thunderbirds. Paul Metcalfe is Captain Scarlet's real name and 'Winged Assassin' is the name of one of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' episodes.

Sunprobe:

Virgil shivered. "And I thought it was cold on Mount Arkan," he said

Give Or Take A Million:

"If Brains offers to make it snow at home this Christmas I'm going to tell him 'no thanks'," Gordon said.

Chapter Four:

Cry Wolf:

Now, if I only had my guitar..." he mimed playing the instrument

Attack Of The Alligators:

"It's Alan's pygmy alligator.

The following bonus points relate to some of the novels that have been published.

Bonus Point 7:

"How on earth could I end up hypnotised, stranded on an asteroid, with a damaged rocket?" Virgil asked reasonably.

'Operation Asteroids' by John W. Jennison

Bonus Point 8:

'what would you do if Scott had his mind taken over by aliens' scenario."

'Thunderbirds' by John Theydon

Bonus Point 9:

'an eruption is set off by a Cobaltium 5 explosion which starts a volcanic rift the width of the Pacific Ocean, ending at Tracy Island', scenario sound almost plausible," John added.

"Until you added that 'Tracy Island was about to be destroyed by a World Navy commander who's been instructed to kick us off and use the island for explosives testing'," Virgil finished.

'Thunderbirds: Ring of Fire' by John Theydon

Bonus Point 10:

'what would you do if you're clinging to a log that's floating down a flooded river.'

'Thunderbirds: Lost World' by John W. Jennison

Bonus Point 11:

'earthquake traps a bore team building a monorail tunnel' scenario

'Lady Penelope: The Albanian Affair' by John Theydon

Bonus Point 12:

Lady Penelope kidnapped by South American natives' scenario?

'Calling Thunderbirds' by John Theydon

The Mighty Atom:

Lady Penelope's episode with the mouse.

The Man From M.I.5:

"Perfectly, Parker. I have no intentions of knocking my chair over this time. This floor looks much harder than the one in that boathouse."

The Perils Of Penelope:

I fear that any pleas that he release us because we are British, would fall on deaf ears."

Alias Mr. Hackenbacker:

"These bracelets are not exactly haute couture. Francois would not approve."

Give Or Take A Million:

She bypassed an out-of-date pictorial calendar

If you believe the 2060 timeline.

Chapter Five:

Bonus Point 13:

a chocolate bar. "Have a break.

A television advertisement for a certain brand of chocolate covered wafer had Scott refusing to take off until he'd had a break.

The Duchess Assignment:

bullet tore across the face of a leggy animal gambolling on the calendar.

Vault Of Death:

Parker was examining the lock. "Piece a cake," he said. "It'll be h-even h-easier than the Bank of H-England. H-And that was a doddle."

"Lord Silton would not be pleased to hear you say that, Parker," Lady Penelope admonished him.

"Well, 'e asked me for me professional h-opinion and I gave it to 'im," Parker said with dignity.

Pit Of Peril:

The resulting shower of gravel startled a snake and it slithered out from under a bush, away from the perceived danger, its winding sideways movement leaving a pattern of parallel J-shaped markings in the sand...

Move And You're Dead:

It's nearly as stressful as when you and I were on the San Miguel Bridge...

Path Of Destruction:

The dish I had last night wouldn't have looked out of place in a field of cows!" Alan screwed up his face. "It looked revolting!"

The Uninvited:

Otherwise it would be like looking for the lost pyramid of Kamandadees."

Bonus Point 14:

"I hear a crash of Thunder... and the Tracy Symphony."

Despite the obvious reference, this has no direct link to Thunderbirds. It's a line from the song 'S.O.S' as performed by 'Kate Kestrel' in the 'Terrahawks' episode 'Play it again, Sram'.

30 Minutes After Noon:

"Pity we don't have any dicetylene on board."

Chapter Six:

Bonus Point 15:

"Place your credit card in the slot and enter your password, Gordon," the computer intoned.

Gordon did as he was told. "To help you buy what you want to get... Use the last letter of the alphabet!" he chanted and punched the corresponding key.

I'm being really cruel here, but being a New Zealander I couldn't resist. A local bank launched a new type of credit card, billed as 'the card with brains'. Of course, with a tag line like that, there's only one 'person' who could advertise it. The name of the card was the 'Zed Card' and Zed is (of course) the last letter of the alphabet. (Sorry America)

Bonus Point 16:

We were going to pick up Roger Lyon too

A character from many of the Lady Penelope publications.

Edge Of Impact:

Thunderbird Three shot heavenwards in the dawn light - A Red Arrow shooting for what remained of the stars.

Security Hazard:

"Makes a change from entertaining stowaways, doesn't it?" Scott grinned.

Bonus Point 17:

He gave the multi-coloured ice cream a lick.

In 1965, there was an ice cream on a stick called 'Zoom', which used characters from Thunderbirds in its advertising.

Atlantic Inferno:

I found it more restful on your farm at Bonga Bonga than it has been planning all this," Jeff admitted.

Chapter Seven:

Thunderbirds are Go:

"Thunderbirds Are Go!"

Bonus Point 18:

"But it's the wrong shade!"

Another mean one. Derek Meddings was never happy with the colour of subsequent models of Thunderbird Two after the original became unusable.

The Mighty Atom:

And it's guaranteed vermin free.

The Impostors:

Down in the shade of some palm trees, Lady Penelope had met up with some old friends. "Jeremiah and... ah... Mrs Tuttle.

Bonus Point 19:

"I know that look, Gordon, and you've got a scheme brewing under that copper top of yours."

I don't really expect anyone to get this point, except Quiller. It comes from stories she wrote: 'Ordeal', 'Olympic Games' and 'Echo from the Past'. I include it in recognition of the help she's been to me with this story, and in honour of all those fan fiction authors who keep the Thunderbirds legend alive.

The Perils Of Penelope:

"Will you excuse me a moment?" he murmured to Sir Jeremy Hodge.

Thunderbirds are Go:

We might even see a Shooting Star."

Bonus Point 20:

"Stingray Seaweed," Gordon informed the gathering.

Stingray of course.

The Perils Of Penelope:

There was a whistle followed by a loud bang and a skyrocket burst into life above the villa.

Final Bonus Point:

blue, purple, yellow, orange, and white

Included to make the total number of points a round number. These colours are, of course, the colours of the Tracy brother's sashes.

Scoring

How well did you score?

0-1 Point:

You must have only had the opportunity to see the 2004 live action movie. My commiserations.

2-10 points:

Let me guess? You saw Thunderbirds when you were eight-years-old and fell in love with it. But you've never had the opportunity to watch an episode since?

11-30 points:

You're like Eddie Houseman. You've heard of International Rescue, and are probably keenly interested in them, but don't know who they really are, despite them being right under your nose.

31-50 points:

You are like Sir Jeremy Hodge. You have a good grasp of things to do with Thunderbirds, but probably don't know the day-to-day mundane events of the Tracy Family.

51-70 points:

You are like Grandma Tracy. You know the Tracys intimately, but aren't too clued up on the technical aspects of the operation.

70-90 points:

Are you sure your family name isn't Tracy, Kyrano, Creighton-Ward or Parker?

91-111 points:

Are you sure your surname isn't Anderson, Hill, Read, Bell, Meddings, Glanville, Turner, Pattilo, Gray, Seale, Fennell, Lane, Spooner, Crump, Elliot, Saunders, Robertson, Barwick, Dyneley, Rimmer, Holliday, Zimmerman, Graham, Finn, Barrett or Wilkin?

112+

Are you sure you don't go by the alias of 'The Hood'?

And if you think I've got a very good knowledge of "Thunderbirds", don't you believe it. I started writing this story two years ago, thinking the 40 year anniversary was in 2003!

Thanks for participating.

Purupuss