In Thunderbirds‘ retrofuture world of 2065, many public and private organisations and initiatives inspired by the real world counterparts are in advanced stages of development. We’ve previously explored how Thunderbirds depicts rescue technology away from International Rescue and how the series showcases leaps forward in space exploration. Among the many other futuristic societal elements Thunderbirds’ speculates over, armed forces across the world remain dominant.
This Thunderbirds Thursday, we’re looking at how military powers of 2065 are portrayed throughout the series!
A Peaceful World?
Thunderbirds may well be celebrated for its positive moralistic message of performing acts of selfless heroism to save those in need, but that sense of altruism is at odds with just how many battle-ready military powers are in operation in the series’ world. From navies to air forces and ground-based units, these military powers, mostly American, are regularly shown to be prepared to launch acts of aggressive defence if required. Having a fully armed military force in action may not be a total surprise to include in a Gerry Anderson show, but such forces stick out in the world of Thunderbirds, particularly with the series’ embracement of unified and peaceful global governments.
The military forces seen throughout Thunderbirds, and indeed other Gerry Anderson productions, remain rooted in Anderson’s own desires for a globally connected community that supposedly leaves many of its isolating vices behind. Atlantic Inferno features the World Navy, while Pit of Peril and Terror in New York City explicitly feature American military and navy forces, suggesting a coexistence between national and international military powers.
Whether local or global, International Rescue endures a frosty relationship with these forces. Often, the military’s appearance either triggers a disaster into life that demands International Rescue’s response, or some military power is responsible for International Rescue suffering damage or danger in some fashion.
The later is best evidenced in Terror in New York City and The Imposters. The US Navy’s warship Sentinel mistakenly identifies Thunderbird 2, returning to Tracy Island following a rescue mission, as an unidentifiable vessel which therefore justifies its destruction. Too fast to be an aircraft but too slow for a missile, Thunderbird 2’s treatment as a possible enemy speaks volumes about the nervy state for which country’s military commands both the seas and the skies in the world of Thunderbirds. Less similar but still intrusive, in The Imposters, the American military is once again all too quick to jump to the conclusion that International Rescue is an enemy that must be neutralised. This is thanks to a gang of villainous rogues who impersonate I.R. to steal top secret air defence secrets.
Interestingly, both episodes sees the Thunderbirds and the military leave with their differences mostly resolved. In Terror in New York City, the Sentinel’s eventual discovery that it is in fact a Thunderbird machine they’ve attacked instantly sees the military regret their actions, even assisting International Rescue in its efforts to reach New York City without Thunderbird 2. Whilst in The Imposters, once International Rescue’s imposters are outed and captured, the military dispenses with their global track-down of I.R., awkwardly acknowledging that they were in fact in the wrong to have ever entertained the idea that International Rescue could turn into their enemies.
Military Decandece
Pit of Peril showcases how even the army isn’t immune to 2065’s rampant advancement of engineering technology at the expense of human safety. The American army’s latest jungle-clearing attack vehicle, the Sidewinder, able to penetrate the thicket jungle terrain, is still vulnerable to the landscape that it treads on. The mechanical folly of something so functionally ludicrous as the Sidewinder gives Thunderbirds one of its most memorable guest vehicles, but also offers up a visual commentary on the technological decadence that the military is able to enjoy in the series.
Antagonistic military forces are also very much in play in the world of Thunderbirds, perhaps justifying the attack-readiness of other military powers to intercept aircraft they don’t immediately recognise. The Uninvited, Edge of Impact and The Cham Cham all present foreign military powers as enemies to be wary of. The Uninvited in particular presents the villainous Zombites as a seemingly independent culture that’s armed to the teeth and hidden in secrecy, ready to strike as if from nowhere and disappear just as effectively.
It’s an unsubtle cliché of so many similar sci-fi/spy-fi fiction of the era to portray American powers as squeaky clean defenders of peace and vaguely-defined foreign forces as the ‘outsiders’ who cannot be trusted. Thunderbirds isn’t impervious to this, and doing so paints a subtle nudge of some retrofuture Cold War raging away in the series’ background, mostly unseen while Thunderbirds‘ buoyant heroics take centre-stage throughout the series.
The military forces seen in Thunderbirds deliver a sizeable chunk of the series’ gripping action and wondrous special effects, but they also provide some eye-opening commentary on how the global powers function within the series’ world.
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