#hoverbikes

When the spaceship is grounded for a mechanical checkup that most of the crew helps with, but your knowledge of alien tech is limited to “That button means go, right?” then there’s not much to do. I’d been stuck with cleaning duty on other similar overhauls, which was fair enough. But it sucked. So I was delighted today to find that Mur was giving the hovercycle a once-over in the cargo bay, and didn’t mind letting me help.

“Is it hard to ride?” I asked while he shone a flashlight into the fuel tank, standing on the tips of his tentacles to get a good look. “I’ve never actually gotten to.”

“I wouldn’t say so,” he replied. “The balancing function is top-notch, and the brakes are reliable.”

Paint sorted through the toolbox, organizing wrenches and whatever. “It’s a little high off the ground for my taste.” She craned her lizardy neck to look up at me. “But that may not bother you.”

“Probably not,” I said with a smile. “Can I try it? There’s never been a good chance before. It’s always in storage unless we need it for some rush delivery on the far side of a space station.”

Mur sighed and clicked off the light. “Yeah, and that’s usually my job these days. Mimi is a great rider, but he’s usually busy, and Coals is respectable but doesn’t like to…”

“I don’t like to either!” Paint exclaimed, holding a scaly hand to her chest. “He always has a better excuse!”

“Why don’t you like to?” I asked.

Outtie

Just a quick note to say, I know I am super behind on replying to everyone! I will aim to go and do that now! Thank you all so so much though, I really do appreciate it. Hopefully work will slow down in a bit and I can be a little more active here.

Anyhow, let’s move onto how awesome this little house is!

Of course International Rescue have a training zone. The Gecko Gloves sound pretty useful as well. Gordon could have done with them in ‘Weather or Not’.

“Maybe I should take the lead for a change?”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

“Hey- What are you doing? That’s not what I had in mind!”

“Me next!”

Of course they’re the sort of brother’s that work together to throw each other around. That little look between Scott and Virgil was priceless. They really are a dream team.

“MAX, go and shake things up a little bit.”

Key word there MAX being “little”, not deathly. Seriously, you nearly took out three brothers!

“I can’t! He’s out of control!”

And that is the harbinger of doom for this episode.

Virgil saving Scott like a good brother.

And I love how Gordon somehow managed to make it all the way to the top!

Also, maneuver 17? We haven’t heard of it before, but they know what it means, and good for it too or we might have been spending a full twenty-two minutes looking at this wall of death.

“What a lovely place! I can see why you come here every year.”

“Nice hof your Father, to build this little ‘ome haway from ‘ome.”

A perfect sentence to give to Parker.

“Actually the Ranch belonged to the boys Mother. It’s been in her family for generations.”

A hint of Lucille! How lovely.

You know when you turn the TV on and you’re sorely disappointed? Yeah, Gordon was the epitome of that!

“Uhh, it’s her again! How many times do they have to play this thing?”

Her being Kat Cavanough - reporter from ‘Falling Skies’.

And more hints of Lucille!

“Do you remember when Mom used to take us all horseback riding?”

“Especially when Gordon was facing the wrong way. I think there’s a picture here somewhere.”

“I don’t really have much to add to the conversation.”

This is such a sweet moment! Of course Alan is younger and doesn’t have the same memories. Must be hard though, to be surrounded by brother’s who can have a conversation you can’t join in with.

Alan going out to watch Shadows take off was adorable! I mean, this episode really felt like they were trying to push Kayo and Alan, but then... I don’t really know what happened with TAG love interest story lines, save Penelope and Gordon.

“Sherbet, wait here and... guard FAB One.”

I love how the guarding idea was an afterthought, but Bertie takes it seriously! Parker and Lady Penelope having hard hats as well was genius.

“Seems hare hintruder ‘as vanished hinto thin hair.”

And sit on a rock Parker... anyone else getting flashbacks to ‘Tunnels of Time’? Just don’t touch anything, Parker. Although he did help them to find Kat! Really, what was she trying to achieve, silly woman.

A full family team up! Here we go.

“Thunderbirds are- Oh come on!”

Best launch ever. Just putting it out there.

P.S. Don’t look so down Scott.

“So, if all our ships are grounded, how are we going to get to the rescue site?”

“Fortunately, we still have some vehicles that are completely self-contained.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! We’re actually taking Dad’s old hoverbikes?”

“They’re like the oldest things in here.”

“If these get us where we need to go then they’re gonna be our new favourite rides.”

They took a bit of ‘Jeff Tracy Fixing’ but they did actually work!

“Thunderbirds are go.”

Sort of.

It’s the old hoverbikes! The original get-around vehicles of TOS, seen in a great many episodes! They look a bit worse for wear here though, but hey.

“Since EOS isn’t affected by the malfunctions, I’ve downloaded her to a local memory bank.”

John’s coding is superior! That is what this episode teaches us! He really could take over the world...

“Hello John. You’ll be pleased to know all systems on Thunderbird Five are operating normally.”

“That’s a relief. Now, I need you to do a full system sweep. Look for anything unusual in the Z-Band Network.”

“One anomaly detected.”

“Looks like one of the transmitter nodes has been modified.”

Brains telling John to stay put was one of the best calls anyone could have made. They could have really ended up with everything stuck.

Their jet packs work on tech? I thought they were self-contained, but okay, Virgil is the expert and I bow to his superior knowledge.

“You know who I am, don’t you?”

“Yeah I do. And we know what you’ve been saying about us.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t just leave me here to rot.”

“Right now, you’re someone in a tough spot who needs help. Who you are and what you’ve done doesn’t matter.”

Brilliant attitude Scott! Many people struggle to do that.

“The Mechanic! Wait, it could be a holographic drone.”

No such luck.

Parker actually taking apart FAB One! I never thought I’d see the day.

“You’re risking your life to save mine. All of you.”

“You know that’s what we do, right? It’s the Rescue part in International Rescue.”

“Even when I was out to ruin you?”

“I’ll try not to take that personally.”

No one would blame you if you did, Scott. Gordon (and probably Alan) would have if he was down there. And that rockfall must have hurt! It was a really good improvised rescue though considering they couldn’t get their proper equipment there.

“See that wasn’t too bad.”

“Easy for you to say little brother.”

“It’s a glitch in the security log.”

“Someone was covering their tracks!”

“And that someone is still here in the compound. Grandma went looking for Brains. They could both be walking into a trap. I have to warn them!”

“John, wait! Then you might get caught in it as well. Let me try something. There. I now have a subroutine nested in the transmitter room server.”

“Is Brains in the room?”

“Yes, but so is The Mechanic.”

“The Mechanic?”

We really should be worried by how easy that was for EOS (and John) to do.

“You’re trying to build a laser.”

“Not trying. I already have.

EOS’ message was a classic! That little Scooby-Do moment was hilarious.

“Short version, The Mechanic is here.”

Those faces! Well, I suppose that’s equal to or worse in a way than The Hood breaking into Tracy Island. It also means that both of their homes have been broken into. I thought Kayo was meant to be doing all the security stuff.

“Your former employer tried a similar tactic once. It didn’t work out very well for him either.”

This confrontation was one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen.

“You need to work on your intimidation techniques, Grandma.”

“First of all, only family get to call her that. And second, EOS we need to separate the machine from the man.”

“With pleasure.”

John going in with a super back-up plan was completely awesome. EOS is super dangerous. In ‘Earthbreaker’, The Mechanic got the better of her, but she’s definitely evolved in order to be able to put a stop to him in this episode. So, that begs the question, is there anything she cannot overcome? I really loved this episodes use of John and EOS tech, as well as Brains and MAX’s relationship, and the ever continuing Brains and Mechanic battle. Even Grandma got her moments!

“You’re not welcome here.”

“Oh MAX, you’re a hero!”

Question: how did they not realise The Mechanic’s ship was in there?

Moving on.

“If there’s anything you want to know about us, all you’ve got to do is ask.”

“Really? Anything?”

“Well there are somethings we have to keep secret. Otherwise people like The Hood and The Mechanic will use them in bad ways. There may be a lot of mystery around International Rescue, but really we’re just a regular family.”

“Hey, that’s my chair!”

“No it’s not! I was here first.”

Yeah, definitely just a regular family.

“You want to hear a real story? Let me tell you some of the things Gordon says in his sleep.”

“Oh no you don’t!”

“Watch the hair.”

“Come here!”

“Oh, you’re a lot stronger than you look, Fish-boy!”

And you know what, I agree that that’s as good as place to leave it as anything.  This is an absolutely amazing episode, definitely the peak of Series 2.