Martian Invasion

First Thoughts: The first time I saw this episode, the opening shot of the UFO just made me think "oh god, they haven't..." But they hadn't, it was okay.

Pretty: I like the Martians' sparkly costumes.

Space Podules: The way the gas cylinders thump into the ground is very satisfying. And then they spurt out the white gas, and deserve to be sniggered at.

It's Art: I know they're only acting, but note it's the guy with the Irish accent who faints first. Bloody americanised movie, in an americanised show.

Imité: The Hood's disguise in this episode is cooler than most - he's a movie guy! Yey! That's totally what you'd do if you were a master of disguise. (So I don't know why the Hood's doing it. Pause for laugh) Even if the actual disguise was just a wig, glasses and a moustache, all of which made him look like a bit of a geek. Ah, well.

Temple and Arch: I don't know how they got away with those damn statues... Although the one with smoke coming out of it's mouth was very cool.

Conspiracy Time: Hmmm, General X sounds a lot like Alan. I told you he'd be the first to crack...

Dude!: My heavens, the Hood used his mysterious power over Kyrano to do something useful! I'm quite shocked.

Whipped: Alan's fanning Tin-Tin. Wrapped round her little finger, bless 'im.

Fountain of Knowledge: I'm impressed by the Hood's knowledge of the TBs. He knows what the Automatic Camera Detector is called (although that's not difficult. Kyrano, I'm looking at you. More of that later), he knows which TB it's in... Sounds like he's been doing his homework. Or maybe just using Kyrano to get information when we weren't looking. Or not. After all, it is Kyrano...

Concern: "That's what I was afraid of, Kyrano. You're overdoing it." So do your own damn housework if you're that broken up about it.

Smokin': A Martian smoking a fag. I love it.

Gaga: I'm not altogether clear about this radio. Although I can just about buy them having it there to do direction, I still don't know how they managed to keep it from shorting out when the cave got flooded.

Mobile Smoke Unit: This is one of the coolest things in the world. I so need one...

Badda Boom: It's a bloody impressive explosion. If I were the director I'd have kept that footage, instead of the piddling little explosion they film later.

Maintenance: Tin-Tin's doing work. Unusual on Tracy Island.

Kyrano: "Automatic, camera, detector. What does it do?" Now, I appreiciate English as a second language and everything, but he seems fairly fluent, and it's not that difficult... 'Sides, he lives on a tiny island with all these pilots and astronauts and aquanauts and scientific geniuses and stuff. Surely some technical stuff would seep in by osmosis?

Agghhhh!: They're sending TBs 1 and 2 off at the same time again. And in this case, deciding on what equipment TB2'll take solely from John's fifteen seconds summation of the situation.

Pretty 2: Almost full launch sequences for TBs 1 and 2.

Dodgy: The water is also unnecessarily spurty, I feel.

Dodgy 2: "Okay, get some guys over here to help me with my equipment."

Pretty 3: TB2 landing next to TB1. I love all those shots where you get the sudden 'my god, it's tiny' moment.

Down Down: The digging machine's a bit front heavy. It almost falls over forward when it exits the pod.

Deeper and Down: But it's immensely cool, so it's forgiven.

Death by Rocks: Bit of a bad idea about swimming out. Scott, man, tell them to grab hold of something while you let the water out, and try to keep out of the way of the current. That way they don't get smacked to death on the rocks. Oh, but wait, the ceiling was about to fall in, so it's just as well you had them dive through a tiny hole, through which the water was gushing with enough pressure to make it spurt out like a giant hosepipe... (Say after me, 'it's a puppet...')

Dodgy 3: Spurty mud, now. This is a bloody spurty episode. Or maybe it's just me...

Dodgy 4: "Withdrawing equipment now..."

Huh? Why are there floating rocks?

Goldheimer: Are they just gonna trust him to destroy his photos and his copy of the footage? He's a movie producer, or whatever, he'll be desperate for money...

X Pad: I like General X's villa. Why do all the villians in Thunderbirds have huge mansions? What's their motivation?

Driver: The Hood outwits Scott by steering. Not encouraging.

Standards. Two of Them: TB1 has a front-mounted machine gun. No, wait, International Rescue's supposed to preserve life, not destroy it...

Dodgy 5: "This guy means buisness. I'm really going to have to give it to him." I love this episode...

Tunneller: That was a good idea, going into the tunnel to avoid TB1.

Blinky: General X's communication thing has a very hypnotic green light.

Fools!: They should have sent Virg off to help Scott as soon as they realised there was a problem. That way he would have been in time to block off the tunnel. Also they could land TB2 in front of the car. Instant roadblock.

Again: "Use any means you like, but we've got to get that roll of film from him." ANY means? But International Rescue is supposed to preserve life...

Okay, Maybe They Shouldn't Have Sent Him: "I'm going to try to create a landslide." Man, the Highways Agency (or whatever) must love them...

And Again: TB2 has a missile launcher. But International Rescue...

Pretty 4: Cool floaty things again.

And the Moral of the Story is: Always check with the maintenance guys before you thief an aircraft.

Huh?: The comedy music seems a little inappropriate as the Hood narrowly avoids certain death.

Simple Mechanical Failure: Don't think much of the fuel ejection system. Instead of having a tankful of a highly explosive substance, you just have said explosive substance plastered all over the side of your plane.

Happy End: Oh, it's okay, he survived the crash. They should make planes out of those puppets, they're obviously indestructable. (Dammit, want to watch Captain Scarlet now...)

Reassurance: They never check to see if the film has really been destroyed. All the Hood has to do is put the film in a fire-proof, bullet-proof anything else-proof case as soon as he pinches it, let himself get shot down, them sell the film. Sorted.

Huh? 2: Scott and Virg on the film set. How? Why? Have they run away? Jeff isn't going to happy...