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The Best Episodes of Thunderbirds

Every episode of Thunderbirds ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Thunderbirds!

The Best Episodes of Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds is a 1960s British science-fiction television series which was produced using a mixed method of marionette puppetry and scale-model special effects termed "Supermarionation". The...
  1. 8.1/10(320 votes)

    #1 - Trapped in the Sky

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    S1:E1

    The Fireflash, on its maiden flight from London to Tokyo, is sabotaged by the Hood, a criminal who has learned of the formation of International Rescue, and is unable to land. The Hood's attack is intended to draw out International Rescue so he can record secrets of its machinery for sale to the highest bidder, an attempt thwarted by the intervention of the organization's London Agent.

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  2. 7.9/10(225 votes)

    #2 - Terror in New York City

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    S1:E4

    While returning from a mission, Thunderbird 2 is seriously damaged when it comes under attack from a new, high-speed U.S. Navy strike vessel, the U.S.N. Sentinel. After an operation to move the Empire State Building disastrously ends in the tower's complete collapse, Jeff asks that Thunderbird 4 be transported onboard the same ship to the mouth of an underground river to reach a reporter and his cameraman who are trapped beneath the wreckage.

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  3. 7.6/10(207 votes)

    #3 - The Perils of Penelope

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    S1:E3

    Lady Penelope goes on the trail of a kidnapped scientist, only to find herself in mortal danger at the hands of a megalomaniac determined to exploit the expert's work to his advantage.

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  4. 7.5/10(183 votes)

    #4 - The Uninvited

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    S1:E10

    While returning to base, Scott is attacked by mysterious fighter aircraft and shot down over the Sahara. He is discovered by two archaeologists, who send him on his way, only to find themselves entombed within the lost Pyramid of Khamandides.

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  5. 7.5/10(185 votes)

    #5 - Sun Probe

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    S1:E11

    The Sun Probe rocket and its crew are locked in a collision course with the Sun, prompting the launching of Thunderbird 3 – but International Rescue itself requires saving when Thunderbird 3 is unable to escape the Sun's gravitational pull.

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    Director:David Lane
  6. 7.5/10(168 votes)

    #6 - Attack of the Alligators!

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    S1:E23

    When a new growth hormone is accidentally released into a South American river, a house is besieged by alligators – now many times their normal size. International Rescue must subdue the reptiles and save the house's occupants.

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    Director:David Lane
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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Thunderbirds

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  8. 7.4/10(234 votes)

    #7 - Pit of Peril

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    S1:E2

    A 500-ton U.S. Army walker, Sidewinder, falls into a pit during testing and International Rescue are called to save the crew trapped inside.

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  9. 7.4/10(161 votes)

    #8 - Operation Crash-Dive

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    S1:E12

    A series of unexplained Fireflash airliner disappearances sees Thunderbird 4 being called to rescue a crew stranded on the ocean floor. International Rescue then volunteer its services in helping to diagnose the cause of the mechanical fault.

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  10. 7.4/10(165 votes)

    #9 - Vault of Death

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    S1:E13

    During the installation of a new, airtight security vault at the Bank of England, one of the employees is accidentally locked inside, and International Rescue must come to his rescue before the air is extracted.

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  11. 7.4/10(147 votes)

    #10 - The Man from M.I.5

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    S1:E17

    A criminal organisation steals classified plans. Working in conjunction with a British Secret Service agent, Lady Penelope must recover the material to save the world from total destruction.

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    Director:David Lane
  12. 7.4/10(144 votes)

    #11 - Brink of Disaster

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    S1:E22

    An unscrupulous investor attempts to recruit Lady Penelope into funding his automated, cross-country monorail building project. Jeff volunteers to ride the prototype, but he, Brains, and Tin-Tin find themselves trapped onboard, and with no possibility of escape, when it is discovered that the monorail train is speeding towards a stricken bridge.

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    Director:David Lane
  13. 7.3/10(180 votes)

    #12 - Day of Disaster

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    S1:E6

    The Allington Bridge collapses while a space rocket is being transported over it, trapping the rocket on the riverbed and inadvertently initiating its automatic countdown. International Rescue is called upon to save the crew before the rocket launches.

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  14. 7.3/10(176 votes)

    #13 - 30 Minutes After Noon

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    S1:E7

    The Erdman Gang has developed an ingenious technique of having their work carried out – an explosive bracelet that can be removed only at the designated target. A secret agent's attempt to infiltrate the organisation backfires as he is left trapped in a plutonium store. International Rescue face a race against time to prevent a massive nuclear explosion.

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  15. 7.3/10(142 votes)

    #14 - The Cham-Cham

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    S1:E25

    When aircraft are shot down during live broadcasts of a hit song, International Rescue suspects foul play. Tin-Tin and Lady Penelope (posing as the singer Wanda Lamour) investigate, but are left in mortal danger when a ski lift is sabotaged and speeds out of control down a mammoth mountain slide in the Alps.

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  16. 7.2/10(163 votes)

    #15 - End of the Road

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    S1:E9

    International Rescue's security is jeopardised when Tin-Tin's close friend Eddie Houseman, who recently visited Tracy Island, takes drastic action to save his road-construction company's threatened contract by planting explosives to tear open a jungle mountainside, and the ensuing chaos leaves him trapped on a cliffside in a truck with another case of explosives on board.

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    Director:David Lane
  17. 7.2/10(156 votes)

    #16 - City of Fire

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    S1:E15

    The world's tallest tower catches fire following an explosion in the car park and International Rescue are called to rescue a family trapped in the basement, which they can accomplish only with an experimental cutting gas ("Oxyhydnite") that previously rendered Scott and Virgil Tracy unconscious during testing.

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  18. 7.2/10(142 votes)

    #17 - The Imposters

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    S1:E16

    A gang of criminals masquerade as International Rescue to conceal their theft of top-secret military plans. The ensuing worldwide manhunt for International Rescue leaves the organisation powerless to operate in a rescue situation until its name is vindicated, just as a member of a manned reconnaissance satellite is suddenly trapped in space while trying to repair the station.

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  19. 7.1/10(179 votes)

    #18 - Edge of Impact

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    S1:E5

    The Hood sabotages the Red Arrow aircraft programme. One of the planes crashes into the TV Tower in England during a brutal rain storm, and International Rescue is summoned to save the engineers inside the tower before it collapses; making their job trickier apart from the driving rain and winds at the site is that the Red Arrow's director, a long time friend of Jeff, is fired from the project and stays at Tracy Island, forcing the Tracys to draw him away and thus remain oblivious to International Rescue's existence.

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  20. 7.1/10(142 votes)

    #19 - Move – And You're Dead

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    S1:E20

    After Alan Tracy returns to motor-racing, his rivals decide to remove the competition by rigging a bridge with a movement-sensitive bomb, which will explode the moment that Alan and Grandma Tracy try to escape. (Some of this episode is narrated in flashback.)

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  21. 7.0/10(161 votes)

    #20 - Desperate Intruder

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    S1:E8

    Brains and Tin-Tin set off on an expedition to retrieve sunken treasure from Lake Anasta. The Hood has also set his sights on the riches and plans to put both Brains and Tin-Tin in grave peril.

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  22. 7.0/10(154 votes)

    #21 - The Mighty Atom

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    S1:E14

    The Hood plans to corner the Thunderbirds vehicles by drawing them out to an emergency at an atomic irrigation plant in the Sahara, then photographing them with a miniature camera disguised as a mouse.

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    Director:David Lane
  23. 7.0/10(139 votes)

    #22 - Danger at Ocean Deep

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    S1:E19

    When the Ocean Pioneer tanker inexplicably explodes, Brains investigates the cause. With some help from Lady Penelope, he discovers it to be a chemical reaction between the cargo of liquid Alsterene and OD60, which is found in the sea. International Rescue set out to save the crew of the ill-fated Ocean Pioneer II.

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  24. 7.0/10(143 votes)

    #23 - Martian Invasion

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    S1:E24

    The Hood arranges for a mishap with explosives during a film shoot, leaving two of the actors sealed inside a cave. When International Rescue arrive the ensuing rescue is surreptitiously recorded by the Hood, and when the Tracys realize they've been set up a tense chase through the nearby desert ensues.

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  25. 6.8/10(146 votes)

    #24 - The Duchess Assignment

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    S1:E21

    The Duchess of Royston has fallen on hard times, leading her friend Lady Penelope to enlist Jeff's help. The Duchess and her one asset – the painting Portrait of a Gazelle, by Braquasso – fall into criminal hands and it is up to International Rescue to save both.

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  26. 6.7/10(144 votes)

    #25 - Cry Wolf

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    S1:E18

    Two Australian boys are playing their favourite game — "International Rescue" — when their "distress" call is picked up by John Tracy on Thunderbird 5. After a tour of Tracy Island, and a warning not to use their radio again, the brothers are returned home. The Hood then tricks the boys into an old mine shaft before stealing secret photographs from their government agent father. This time the brothers' SOS is real, but International Rescue refuses to believe them.

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Best Episodes Summary

"Trapped in the Sky" is the best rated episode of "Thunderbirds". It scored 8.1/10 based on 320 votes. Directed by Alan Pattillo and written by Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson, it aired on 9/30/1965. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Terror in New York City".