‘BRINK OF DISASTER’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This ‘Thunderbirds’ episode has two plots going on in it. I like how they balance out with each other and how they’re interconnected. They involve the activities of the crooked investor Warren Grafton.
Grafton (voiced by David Graham) – who almost looks like Wilbur Dandridge III from ‘The Duchess Assignment’, except his hair is darker – wants money from Lady Penelope for a new monorail system.
Lady Penelope is delayed in meeting up with Grafton as she’s in FAB 1 being chased by a couple of criminals who want to gun her down. Not sure why they want to do that, but this is part of a mission.
That is a mission Lady Penelope carries out. Thankfully, she sorts the two criminals out by gunning down their car which goes over the road. I imagine those crooks got killed in that ensuing explosion.
When Lady Penelope does meet up with Grafton, he explains what his scheme is in building his new cross-country monorail. Apparently it’s meant to be automatic and it won’t have any staff on board.
Understandably, Penelope is reluctant to part with her money, but she recommends contacting Jeff Tracy who might be interested. Grafton agrees, looking forward to meeting Jeff on his new monorail.
Parker points out to Penelope that the chauffeur driving Grafton around in his car happens to be a former crook called Malloy (voiced by David Graham – or is it Ray Barrett? I’m not entirely with this).
Anyway, Penelope involves Jeff about Grafton’s new monorail system and Jeff agrees to investigate. He has Brains and Tin-Tin accompanying him to meet Mr. Grafton whilst on board his new monorail.
Grafton assures Jeff and party that the new monorail is safe, but Jeff and Brains aren’t convinced. It also becomes clear to Jeff that Grafton is more interested in the profits side instead of people’s lives.
Trouble soon ensues for Jeff, Brains, Tin-Tin and Grafton. They find themselves trapped on board the fully-automated monorail train that’s speeding its way towards a stricken bridge about to collapse. 😐
This was caused when a patrol helijet, piloted by Joe (voiced by Ray Barrett), crashed into the bridge during a thunderstorm. Thankfully Joe is okay since he parachuted out of his helijet before the crash.
He’s rescued by Stan (voiced by Matt Zimmerman), the pilot of another patrol helijet who came along to find him. Joe and Stan observe the collapsing bridge knowing the monotrain is on its way. 😐
Grafton is panic-stricken once he hears news of the collapsing bridge they’re about to come across whilst Jeff keeps a cool head. Brains and Tin-Tin also try to find a solution to manually stop the train.
Jeff also contacts International Rescue without Grafton knowing he, Brains and Tin-Tin are a part of it. John aboard Thunderbird 5 relays the message to Scott and Virgil who head out to rescue them. 🙂
Scott pilots Thunderbird 1 whilst Virgil pilots Thunderbird 2. There are instances where Brains does try to stop the train, pressing a button on a control panel, but both attempts do not seem to work. 😐
Meanwhile, Lady Penelope and Parker receive unwelcome visitors who try to burgle their house at night. They’re Malloy, Grafton’s chauffeur and Selsden (voiced by Ray Barrett…or is it David Graham).
They managed to get into the Creighton-Ward Mansion when Grafton disabled the alarm systems. But they didn’t expect the alarm system for the safe containing Penelope’s jewels to be going off. 😀
Penelope and Parker wake up to the alarm going off and they soon get to gun down the tyres of Malloy and Selsden’s car. Malloy and Selsden try to escape once they steal FAB 1 from the garage. 😐
But Lady Penelope is able to control FAB 1 and cause Malloy and Selsden to go round and round in circles. It was funny to see FAB 1 go round and round the circular driveway with the crooks inside. 😀
Back with Jeff, Brains, Tin-Tin and Grafton, it gets tense when they’re getting closer to the stricken bridge. Thankfully Brains manages to stop the train in time before going over the bridge. Very tense!
Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 2 also manage to get Jeff, Brains, Tin-Tin and Grafton to safety before the bridge collapses. Grafton ends up in prison with the other crooks who worked with him. 🙂
‘Brink of Disaster’ rating – 8/10
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