Welcome to our Thunderbirds Deep Dives! As we surge towards International Rescue's 60th anniversary, we asked you to pick your favourite episodes of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's classic 1965 sci-fi adventure series that should receive in-depth, analytical retrospectives. Based on your picks, we've collated a top 10 selection of Thunderbirds greatest episodes to receive a review - as voted for by you!

We're continuing our Thunderbirds Deep Dives with a trip to South America and a runaway vehicle that gives International Rescue one of its most explosive rescues ever!

Spectacular Disasters

One of Thunderbirds' most evergreen elements is its depiction of large-scale disaster and its heroic resolution thanks to the efforts of International Rescue. In universe, this spectacle of destruction injects Thunderbirds with full-throttle adventure, while behind-the-scenes, the imaginative scope of just how much could go wrong in the world of 2065 continually compelled Derek Meddings' special effects department to advance their capabilities in bringing these scenarios to life. That sense of enlivened confidence in producing Thunderbirds' demanding practical effects can be most keenly felt in Path of Destruction, surely the 'biggest' episode of series 2, if not the most narratively impressive.

Path of Destruction taps into the reliable territory of runaway mega-mechs demanding the intervention of International Rescue. While it's not the most narratively complex adventure Thunderbirds would ever tell, Path of Destruction's memorably huge guest mech, exotic location, comical character depictions and devastating threat that blends atomic anarchy and tidal terrors elevates the episode into classic Thunderbirds territory.

Crablogger Catastrophes

Path of Destruction is the last of Donald Robertson's four screenplays that he wrote for Thunderbirds across its two series, following on from Edge of Impact, Desperate Intruder, and Danger at Ocean Deep. It's notably strange then to consider that Path of Destruction wasn't Robertson's first effort in depicting International Rescue's attempts to stop a rampaging super machine whose crew fall unconscious from coming into contact dangerous foodstuffs! 

Path of Destruction holds extra significance for a sadder reason. The episode was the last to be directed by David Elliott, a key colleague and friend to Gerry Anderson stretching right back to the early days of AP Films' history. Elliott's friendship with Gerry had deteriorated as the company grew and came under Lew Grade's ownership. Halfway through filming Path of Destruction, Elliot handed in a week's notice and wasn't to be convinced by Reg Hill or John Reed to remain with the company. 

At the heart of Path of Destruction's driving drama is the Crablogger, the colossal deforestation machine whose gargantuan mechanical might neatly encapsulates Thunderbirds' attitude in depicting how its technologically advanced world functions - and that subsequent pitfalls of that technology going unchecked. The Crablogger itself is one of Derek Meddings' most absurdly inspired designs. That such a huge machine (atomically powered, of course) is the responsibility of a two-man crew is the kind of foolish disaster set-up that the series excels at. The Crablogger's mission of tearing down South American forestry recalls the functionality of such past vehicles as the Sidewinder (Path of Destruction even reuses the Sidewinder theme music) and the Gray & Houseman Construction Vehicle. These machines' purpose to destroy nature for mankind's advancement reminds us that Thunderbirds occurred when climate change was a less universally regarded topic, but the subsequent disasters which nearly each of these machines run into reads like a comment on humanity's consumption and destruction of the natural world it otherwise relies on.

Much of Robertson's screenplay feels like a challenge thrown down to the special effects department. It demands an abundance of lingering sequences of the Crablogger in action - it proves difficult to capture the entirety of the vehicle in a single frame. Part of the Crablogger's functionality means that its atomic reactor requires regular refuelling and the wood pulp it produces must be offloaded while the vehicle is in motion. Otherwise, an unstoppable build-up of debris will trigger its atomic reactor and level everything within a 50 mile radius. In its design and internal workings, this is Thunderbirds operating at its most classically disastrous. As well as the Crablogger filming model, its protruding arms were brought to life by being operated by Meddings himself. 

Robertson's straight-forward script may prioritise visual effects, but he weaves in plenty of comedic flourishes, enlivened by Elliot's direction. The simple act of food poisoning of the Crablogger crew is disarmingly straight-forward, and the set design of Sanchos' kitchen remains an unparalleled example of wonderfully grotty art design from Bob Bell. That same state of decay is keenly felt in the police station of San Martino, which the Crablogger spectacularly levels to the ground.

Despite the destructive excitement that the Crablogger brings, Robertson doesn't entirely neglect amusing character interactions. Lady Penelope and Parker are given modest but sustained screentime in acquiring the Crablogger's shutdown sequence from its England-based inventor, Jim Lucas. Their efforts are a pleasing reminder of just how deftly capable Thunderbirds is in dovetailing hard-edged sci-fi disaster with the eccentric yet coolly elegant spy-fi adventure enabled by Penelope and Parker. As we've explored in Brains' depiction in Alias Mr. Hackenbacker, Thunderbirds resoundingly knew which characters were the most popular by the making of this second series, and the pair are regularly featured throughout these episodes.

Scott, Virgil and Brains' rescue operation of the Crablogger crew and subsequent shutdown of the unstoppable machine is a tensely prolonged operation that quickly dispenses with the unconscious crew and shifts focus to stopping the machine before it collides with the San Martino Dam. Once again, the sheer scale of the Crablogger is paramount to these climactic scenes. With the crew safely airlifted to hospital and the town of San Martino evacuated, the human jeopardy of the situation becomes rather diluted in favour of witnessing the awesome sight of the Crablogger's inevitable destruction. 

Brilliantly edited shots of the unstable ledge on which the Crablogger thunders along crumbling under its monumental weight add to the inescapable heaviness that this machine brings. Once International Rescue succeed in shutting down the Crablogger's atomic reactor, the only way left is down. The Crablogger's tumbling is superb, but it's curiously composed. The Crablogger is framed in such tightly enclosed shots throughout the episode that it's not until the parting shot of the machine's destruction that we see just how close the Crablogger came to the dam. An appropriately catastrophic end for one of Thunderbirds' most recognisable machines.

End of an era

Path of Destruction would be the last of the big-scale techno-disasters so atypical of Thunderbirds. Much of series two would pursue increasingly stranger story topics: fashion espionage, pirate radio, and festive thieves. Path of Destruction therefore marks the end of an era for Thunderbirds, making it all the more suitable that something with such mesmerising heft as the Crablogger should cap off this particular story style for Thunderbirds. Both the name Path of Destruction and the Crablogger itself would go onto reappear in the semi-CGI remake Thunderbirds Are Go, some 50 years after this episode's debut.

Path of Destruction bypasses much focus on character danger in favour of the all-encompassing shock and awe spectacle that the Crablogger brings. Even Penelope and Parker's assistance in a roadside accident, while a touching reminder of their life-saving dispositions, reads more like a means of padding out the script to meet the acquired runtime. Still, when traditionally epic disasters would prove to be in short supply for Thunderbirds' second series, Path of Destruction easily justifies the thrills of its runaway rampaging star. 

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