F.A.B.

For the love of money is the root of all evil

Matthew Delooze holds that the world is in thrall to trans-dimensional beings (trannies?) who feed on our spiritual energy. This energy is created via emotion and ‘respect’, AKA worship. The general idea being that these “reptilians” have bribed the elite with wealth and social position in order to facilitate the flow of this spiritual “spice”. The spice is created via spectacular public events (sports, concerts, religious festivals, disasters) and then siphoned off to these beings through symbols, the most powerful being monumental architecture - the spiritual milking machines of the human race.

That’s pretty wild, but no crazier than any other religion - and it would explain a lot. So lately I’m trying it on for size, and using it to analyze popular media. Which brings us to my latest victim: Thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds are GO!

Set in the 21st century, the show depicts the adventures of the Tracy family, which consists of millionaire former astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five sons: Scott (pilot of Thunderbird 1 and principal rescue co-ordinator), Virgil (pilot of Thunderbird 2), Alan (astronaut in Thunderbird 3), Gordon (aquanaut in Thunderbird 4) and John (principal duty astronaut on the space station Thunderbird 5) - each named after a Mercury astronaut - Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper and John Glenn, respectively.

Together with Jeff's elderly mother called Grandma Tracy, the scientific genius and engineer "Brains", the family's manservant Kyrano and his daughter TIN-TIN, the Tracy family live on a remote, uncharted Pacific island (Tracy Island). They are, in secret, the members of International Rescue, a private and highly-advanced emergency response organisation, which covers the globe and even reaches into space, rescuing people with their futuristic vehicles, the Thunderbirds. --Wikipedia

Thunderbirds is also one of my childhood favs. I loved Gerry Anderson’s “Supermarionation“ (a super-sync word evoking Superman, Mario Bros, Puppet Masters, Mary, and God knows what else) animating technique, and his vision of a high tech and high style tropical island populated by handsome young men and secret space ships was just the thing for a preadolescent gay boy.

I finally rented the 2004 live action film last week (directed by Star Trek’s Jonathan Frakes) which had my third sync eye's full attention from the very start: the production company logo spinning out of a stargate:

The opening credits are done in a computer animated cartoon 60’s style - probably the best part of this "workmanlike" movie. They prominently feature monuments from around the world (note the sun behind the Eiffel Tower), and we see that even little Seattle gets a nod with the Space Needle: long the focus of New Years Eve rituals - our own ”Chronos’ Square“.

All the sons are named after Mercury astronauts. Mercury is the Roman version of Thoth, Hermes. Getting our first good look at Tracy Island, we see the serpentine Caduceus design motif in the villa - a Hermetic ‘pied-a-terre’:

Frakes doesn’t leave us guessing regarding the secret identities of our heroes, he tells us straight out through the words of the movie’s chief antagonist - The Hood (Ben Kingsley):

”Ahhh, the chariot of the Gods. Having dabbled with the mortals, they return to Olympus.“

Chariots swinging low past the Golden (star)Gate.

The first action scene involves youngest son Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet) enviously watching his family’s rescuing exploits from a private boy’s school. The entire school (including staff) is totally focused on the drama unfolding on the TV screen, and they cheer like football fans after the rescue is made - showing us the desired form of ”worship“?

Alan is picked up from school by Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward (Sophia Miles), the London agent for International Rescue. Penny is an ”international socialite“ and fabulously wealthy, so the Gods are well connected to the British aristocracy, but we already knew that. Her butler/chauffeur Aloysius ”Nosey“ Parker ferries Lady Penelope across the sky in a 6-wheeled (like Cherubim) pink chariot of fire called FAB-1, which is both amphibious and rocket propelled - perhaps a Dagon model.

"You left me to die that day, you may have broken my body, but you have no idea how powerful my mind has become. Now you will suffer, as I suffered."

The Tracy's have a pretty good thing going until a certain malcontent upturns the applecart: The Hood. The Hood (who is never seen wearing an actual hood) seems to carry a personal grudge against the Tracy’s, along with a desire to rob all the banks of the world, starting with the Bank of London.

The Tracy’s, the Elite and the Gods are all conflated - being rich, gorgeous and satisfied - defenders of the status quo faith. The elite’s wealth is stored in a bank - the Bank of London. But what really IS wealth to a god/angel (trans-dimensional being)?

As above so below, and while the dollar is symbolically the currency of Hermes, I keep musing about the possibility of there being some heavenly form of currency - the energy postulated by Matthew Delooze.

We might theorize that this energy is somehow stored in the trans-dimensional equivalent of a (battery)bank. And somehow, this treasury is almost, but not quite, secure. Perhaps a thief is lurking about? Considering how all the wealth in the Bank of London is actually milked from the suffering of the colonies, and how the aristocracy are glorified pirates, and a pattern begins to emerge.

Interestingly, Sir Ben Kingsley’s greatest role (next to The Hood) was Gandhi - the Savior of India. India was the greatest diamond in the British Crown - and a classic colonial victim. Maybe The Hood's first name is Robin.

The Hood has a formidable octagonal/pyramidal submarine from which he fires a missile at T5 - the orbiting space station. This causes the Tracy's to fly up and attempt a rescue, but instead become trapped in the station, with life support running low. The Gods return to heaven, but become trapped in Hades (the lower 4th dimension). The end of the Golden Age.

The Gods are near death in their frozen tomb, awaiting rescue. They talk amongst themselves:

”Come on dad, the situation’s hopeless.“

”No it’s not. There’s still time. We’ve got people on the ground working for us.“

The Great Work? The Tracy’s are finally revived by ”Brains“ (knowledge), who awakens Jeff from near death by loudly swearing his name. Hmmm. Once revived, the family departs Hades in the triad signifying T3 - and head straight to the bank, overcoming The Hood and safeguarding the stash.

"Thanks for waking me!"

Yea. No problem, Herm.

Video: Thunderbirds TV Theme

NOTES:

Thunderbird (from wikipedia): The Thunderbird is a mythological creature common to Indigenous peoples of North America. It is a popular concept in northwestern coastal artwork of indigenous origin, often appearing on totem poles.

There is a story that in April 1890, two cowboys in Arizona killed a giant birdlike creature with an enormous wingspan. It was said it had smooth skin, and featherless wings like a bat. Its face resembled an alligator. This description has more than a cursory similarity to the prehistoric pterodactyl. They dragged the carcass back to town, and it was pinned, wings outstretched across the entire length of a barn. There is supposed to be a picture of this event, that may or may not have been published in the local newspaper, the 'Tombstone Epitaph'. Despite numerous people who have claimed to have seen this photograph recently, no one has ever been able to produce a copy of the picture nor make historic corroboration that this event ever occurred.

F.A.B.: The characters use the radio sign-off "F.A.B." rather than "Roger" or "Out". Anderson was often asked what F.A.B. stood for, but stated it in fact simply stood for "fab" (short for "fabulous"), a 1960s catchphrase.

Mullion & Transom: The Hood's two main assistants are named with architectural terms for vertical (Mullion) and horizontal (Transom) pieces used in the construction of doors or windows.

Thunderbirds March: A crucial element of the show's success was its thrilling music score, composed and conducted by Barry Gray, who provided all the music for the Anderson series up to and including Space: 1999 series one. His instantly recognizable "Thunderbirds March" is one of the best-known of all TV themes and has become a perennial favourite with brass and military bands around the world. [Much like the Star Wars march]

Level 42: The "Thunderbirds March" and the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown from the top of the show, were adopted by the British band Level 42 for its live shows, as captured in the video release of its 1987 performance at Wembley Stadium in London. An updated version, blended with the opening fanfare to the band's own hit "Heaven In My Hands," kicks off L42's concert gigs to this day.