The members of International Rescue dedicate their lives to helping those in need of saving. But what *else* do the valiant Tracy brothers get up to? What were their careers prior to International Rescue’s formation? This Thunderbirds Thursday, we’re investigating the non-IR lives of the Tracy brothers!
Racing, painting and piano playing
As we explored last week, Jeff Tracy had a lengthy career across construction, engineering and space exploration before becoming inspired to form International Rescue. Using his vast wealth of experience and contacts from his various industries became integral to securing the organisation’s success. By comparison, the details surrounding how his five sons lived their lives before joining their father’s humanitarian efforts are rather more scattershot. We come to know varyingly little about how the Tracy boys enjoy themselves away from their Thunderbird machines or what their interests and pursuits were prior to the series, whereas the series delights in drip-feeding us intriguing pieces of information regarding Jeff’s background.
Alan Tracy is the sibling with perhaps the most fully formed backstory and personality on display during the course of Thunderbirds. In the episode Move – And You’re Dead, we learn of his pre-Thunderbirds life as a world renowned race car driver, a thrilling career that he eventually dispensed with, joining his family in helping to bring International Rescue to life. Perhaps it’s details such as these that’ve helped to inspire future incarnations of Thunderbirds fixate on Alan. The ill-fated live action movie from 2004, directed by Star Trek’s Jonathan Frakes, positions Alan as the main character, but so too did the earlier incarnations of this cinematic remake of Thunderbirds when it was in active development throughout the 1990s.
Beyond Alan, Virgil’s artistic and creative talents in music and painting are much-loved defining features of the Thunderbird 2 pilot. His creative interest suggests a gentler, calmer side to his chief role in piloting International Rescue’s juggernaut transporter machine. Virgil’s artistic side would remain intact in 2015’s semi-CGI remake of the classic series Thunderbirds Are Go.
Thunderbirds rarely divulges much else for the remaining Tracy boys. As we’ve been discovering on our journeying through the world of Thunderbirds, it once again falls to the series’ spin-off media to colour in these absorbing details.
Annual adventures
The first Thunderbirds annual was released for the 1966 Christmas market and remains a high point of Thunderbirds‘ extensive merchandise operation. Jam-packed with stories, comics and in-universe features detailing various aspects of Thunderbirds‘ world, it comes with a detailed biographical spread of Thunderbirds‘ characters. These biographies were commonplace for Gerry Anderson annuals and took advantage of diving into backstory details that each series’ respective TV series may not have made room to fully explore.
In this Thunderbirds annual, we come to learn about the Tracy family on a wonderfully well-written and individual basis. Most of the Tracy brothers received a university education. Some are renowned authors, some have gained well-regarded military expertise, and some served in other Gerry Anderson shows…
A common factor of these character biographies from many Anderson annuals is the educational history of their characters. Scott Tracy was educated at Yale and Oxford Universities, though what he majored in is left surprisingly unspoken. Scott also found time during his educational life to undertake military service in the U.S. Air Force, which instilled the steady mentality needed to command rescue operations. Virgil attended Denver School of Advanced Technology, a delightful way of tying in his connections to piloting the heaviest of the Thunderbird machines. John studied laser communications at Harvard University, equipping him with the knowledge and skills to eventually man Thunderbird 5. However, his passions for astronomy have resulted in him becoming a celebrated author on the subject – so much for the strict secrecy of the Tracy family’s lives!
It’s neither confirmed nor denied whether Gordon and Alan attended university. Alan’s biography suggests his youthful exuberance distracted him from calls in higher education, but an interest in space travel inspired Jeff to train him as an astronaut to instill in his son a sense of responsibility. Gordon’s pre-International Rescue life is perhaps the most tantalising. Prior to becoming the outfit’s aquanaut, he spent time in both the Submarine Service (presumably meant to be the World Navy) and none other than the World Aquanaut Security Patrol!
During his time in both outfits, he developed a much valued expertise in oceanography as well as developing cutting edge underwater breathing technologies, all of which found great use in International Rescue. As part of his service in the WASPs, Gordon spent a year commanding a deep-sea bathyscape beneath the ocean to investigate marine farming methods. Gordon also exhibits a passion for water sports. This interest in intense water activities led to the incident involving a hydrofoil crash, which led to him being in hospital for four months. Still, this incident instilled a newfound respect for the seas, a vital trait to have when you’re piloting International Rescue’s submarine vessel.
The Tracy brothers having their own individual hobbies, careers and passions outside of International Rescue help to make them stand out as memorable characters in their own right. Whilst it’s perhaps frustrating that the original series gives us little to go on compared to Jeff’s background, both the classic series and its accompanying spin-off media work together to create compelling profiles of just who the Tracy brothers are outside of their duties as the heroes of the International Rescue organisation.
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