Thunderbirds

The Mighty Atom - S1-E14

Factual error: An edition of the 'Melbourne Herald' newspaper can be seen in this episode, and appears to be dated Friday, December 24, 1964. Yet 'Thunderbirds' is supposed to be set in the 21st Century (2026 or 2065, depending on who you believe). This date is also seen on newspapers which appear in the episodes 'Edge of Impact', 'The Impostors' and 'Cry Wolf'. Also, to compound the error, December 24th, 1964 was actually a Thursday, not a Friday.

Vault of Death - S1-E13

Factual error: In the Tube, Virgin and Allan are seen going from Piccadilly Circus station to Bank station using the same tunnel. These two stations are not even on the same line.

Dr Wilson

Give or Take a Million - S2-E6

Factual error: Tin-Tin tears a page off a calendar which shows the date as 2026, but other calendars indicate that Christmas Day falls on a Sunday for this year. In fact, December 25th, 2026 will be a Friday.

City of Fire - S1-E15

Factual error: Although the Thompson Tower is situated in the United States, a sign on the wall of the Control Centre uses the British spelling of 'Centre' instead of the American 'Center'.

30 Minutes After Noon - S1-E7

Factual error: On the night of the Hudson Building fire, the Auto Date Fixer in Commissioner Garfield's office reads 12/7/65. The next day, it reads 13/7/65, illustrating attention to detail on the part of the set decorator. Unfortunately, this overlooks the American convention for the month numeral to appear first. In the US the convention is month/day/year, in the UK the convention is day/month/year. So, either the first date should read 7/12/65 (July 12th) with the next day as 7/13/65, or the second date should read 12/8/65 (December 8th).

The Mighty Atom - S1-E14

Factual error: The reactor controllers in both plants, and Brains, claim that cutting off the seawater intake would resolve the runaway reactor, and help bring it under control. In fact the opposite is the case - the plant's purpose is to purify and desalinate seawater by boiling, so processing more of it would soak up the excess heat the reaction is producing. Cutting off the intake would prevent adequate cooling, allowing the heat to build up and damage the plant further. We know the seawater isn't somehow used for fuel, because we see Scott and Virgil operating fuel rods in the reactor.

Voluble

Path of Destruction - S2-E2

Plot hole: In order to build up suspense, Virgil and Brains stand on the Crab Logger as its dangerous fuel is pumped out, despite the fact that it is hanging on the edge of a precipice. In fact they could have left as soon as they had plumbed in the pipes to empty the fuel tanks - the whole procedure is controlled by Scott in Thunderbird 1 and they make absolutely no contribution to the operation at all. They do not need to disconnect the pipes; they are left behind and dropped from Thunderbird 1 as planned. They just stand there chatting about how much danger they are in until jumping clear at the very last second. Silly buggers.

More mistakes in Thunderbirds

Trivia: Although he is the main villain, the Hood appears in only six episodes throughout the entire series.

More trivia for Thunderbirds

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.