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Some time later , Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are summoned to Minneapolis by Moe Bocks , an FBI field agent who is investigating the exhumation and desecration of a body in a local cemetery . Mulder discounts Bocks ' theory that this act is a variation of extraterrestrial cattle mutilation , and suggests they search fo... |
Pfaster , who was behind the exhumations , proves Mulder 's prediction correct when he brings a prostitute to his apartment . When the prostitute discovers a collection of funerary wreaths in Pfaster 's bedroom , he kills her and removes her fingers . Later , Pfaster — having been hired as a frozen food delivery man t... |
Scully is deeply troubled by Pfaster 's crimes , and has unsettling dreams and hallucinations about the case . In Washington , she has a counseling session with a social worker , during which she shares her anxiety about the investigation . After the session , Scully learns that someone from Minnesota had called for h... |
Mulder and Bocks discover that Pfaster 's mother had owned a car which matches paint found on Scully 's abandoned car , tracking down her former residence . Meanwhile , Scully escapes from Pfaster as he prepares a cold bath for her , resulting in a pursuit through the house . Scully and Pfaster have a struggle that se... |
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The episode 's initial script where Pfaster was a necrophiliac was rejected by the Fox Broadcasting Company for being " unacceptable for broadcast standards " . As series creator Chris Carter described it , " When I handed the script in , it was really for a necrophiliac episode , and that just didn 't fly . You canno... |
The episode is one of the few in the series that has no paranormal elements to it . Carter said of the episode 's conception , " My first chance to work with David Nutter in a long time , and I wanted to give him something he could sink his teeth into . It 's a little bit different for us . It doesn 't really have a p... |
Carter said of the casting of Nick Chinlund as Pfaster , " I thought it was a wonderfully creepy villain . The casting of that show was very difficult . We saw many actors , but there was a quality I was looking for and I couldn 't put a name on that quality . I finally figured out what it was when Nick came in and he... |
Nutter said of the episode " I really worked hard to make it a special show , because I thought it was special . It was Gillian 's post @-@ traumatic stress episode , because she had not really had the opportunity to vent her feelings about the whole Duane Barry situation . This was an opportunity to sit back and let ... |
= = Reception = =
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= = = Ratings = = =
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" Irresistible " premiered on the Fox network on January 13 , 1995 . This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9 @.@ 2 , with a 15 share , meaning that roughly 9 @.@ 2 percent of all television @-@ equipped households , and 15 percent of households watching television , were tuned in to the episode . It was viewed by 8 ... |
= = = Reviews = = =
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" Irresistible " received largely positive reviews from critics . Entertainment Weekly rated " Irresistible " a B + , saying it was based on " an unsettling concept to begin with " that was reinforced by " Chinlund 's skin @-@ crawling one @-@ man show " . Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club rated the episode A , praisi... |
Chris Carter said " Irresistible " was effective for " being really scary " , and that not only it was one of his favorites but inspired him to create the television series Millennium later .
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= Thunderbirds ( TV series ) =
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Thunderbirds is a British science @-@ fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson , filmed by their production company AP Films ( APF ) and distributed by ITC Entertainment . It was produced between 1964 and 1966 using a form of electronic marionette puppetry ( dubbed " Supermarionation " ) combined... |
Set in the mid @-@ 2060s , Thunderbirds is a follow @-@ up to the earlier Supermarionation productions Four Feather Falls , Supercar , Fireball XL5 and Stingray . It follows the exploits of International Rescue ( IR ) , a life @-@ saving organisation equipped with technologically @-@ advanced land , sea , air and spac... |
Thunderbirds began its first run in the United Kingdom on the ITV network in 1965 and has since been broadcast in at least 66 other countries . Periodically repeated , it was adapted for radio in the early 1990s and has influenced many TV programmes and other media . As well as inspiring various merchandising campaign... |
Widely considered to be the Andersons ' most popular and commercially successful series , Thunderbirds has received particular praise for its effects ( directed by Derek Meddings ) and musical score ( composed by Barry Gray ) . It is also well remembered for its title sequence , which opens with an often @-@ quoted co... |
= = Storyline = =
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Set between 2065 and 2067 , Thunderbirds follows the exploits of the Tracy family , headed by American ex @-@ astronaut turned multi @-@ millionaire philanthropist Jeff Tracy . He is a widower with five adult sons : Scott , John , Virgil , Gordon and Alan . The Tracys form International Rescue ( IR ) , a secret organi... |
Thunderbird 1 : a hypersonic rocket plane used for fast response and accident zone reconnaissance . Piloted by primary rescue co @-@ ordinator Scott Tracy .
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Thunderbird 2 : a supersonic carrier aircraft that transports rescue vehicles and equipment to accident zones in detachable capsules known as " Pods " . Piloted by Virgil .
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Thunderbird 3 : a single @-@ stage @-@ to @-@ orbit spacecraft . Piloted alternately by Alan and John , with Scott as co @-@ pilot .
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Thunderbird 4 : a utility submersible . Piloted by Gordon and normally launched from Thunderbird 2 .
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Thunderbird 5 : a space station that relays distress calls from around the world . Manned alternately by " Space Monitors " John and Alan .
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With the engineer Brains and Jeff 's elderly mother , as well as the Malaysian manservant Kyrano and his daughter Tin @-@ Tin , the family reside in a luxurious villa on Tracy Island , their hidden base in the South Pacific Ocean . In this location , IR is safe from criminals and spies who envy the organisation 's tec... |
Despite its humanitarian principles , some of IR 's operations are necessitated not by misadventure but deliberate sabotage motivated by greed for power and wealth . For missions that require criminal investigation , the organisation incorporates a network of undercover agents headed by English aristocrat Lady Penelop... |
= = Production = =
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Thunderbirds was the fourth Supermarionation puppet TV series to be produced by APF , which was founded by the husband @-@ and @-@ wife duo of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson with their business partners Reg Hill and John Read . Pitched in late 1963 , the series was commissioned by Lew Grade of ITC , APF 's parent company ,... |
Gerry Anderson drew inspiration for the series ' underlying concept from the West German mining disaster known as the Wunder von Lengede ( " Miracle of Lengede " ) . In October 1963 , the collapse of a nearby dam flooded an iron mine in the municipality of Lengede , killing 29 miners and trapping 21 others underground... |
Seeking to distinguish his 26 @-@ episode proposal from APF 's earlier productions , Anderson attempted to pitch stories at a level that would appeal to both adults and children . Whereas previous series had been shown during the late afternoon , Anderson wanted Thunderbirds to be broadcast in a family @-@ friendly pr... |
The series ' title was derived from a letter written by Gerry 's brother , Lionel , while he had been serving overseas as an RAF flight sergeant during World War II . While stationed in Arizona , Lionel had made reference to Thunderbird Field , a nearby United States Army Air Forces base . Drawn to the " punchiness " ... |
In the DVD documentary The Thunderbirds Companion , Anderson explained how a rise in filming costs had made overseas distribution revenue even more important and essentially caused Thunderbirds to be made " as an American show " . During the character development and voice casting process , the Andersons ' main priori... |
= = = Filming = = =
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Thunderbirds was filmed at APF 's studios on the Slough Trading Estate between 1964 and 1966 . In preparation , the number of full @-@ time crew was expanded to 100 . Shooting began in September 1964 after five months of pre @-@ production . Due to the new series ' technical complexity , this was a period longer than ... |
Alan Pattillo , a veteran scriptwriter and director for APF , was appointed the company 's first official script editor in late 1964 . This move was aimed to reduce the burden on Gerry Anderson who , while reserving his producer 's right to overall creative control , had grown weary of revising scripts himself . Direc... |
After viewing the completed 25 @-@ minute pilot , " Trapped in the Sky " , Lew Grade was so impressed by APF 's work that he instructed Anderson to double the episode length and increased the series ' budget per episode from £ 25 @,@ 000 to £ 38 @,@ 000 . As a result , Thunderbirds became not only the company 's longe... |
Tony Barwick , who had impressed Pattillo and the Andersons with an unsubmitted script that he had written for Danger Man , was recruited to assist in the writing of subplots and filler material . He found that the longer format created opportunities to strengthen the characterisation . Science @-@ fiction writer John... |
Filming of Series One was completed in December 1965 . A second series was also commissioned late that year and entered production in March 1966 . Barwick became a full @-@ time member of the writing staff and took over the role of script editor from the outgoing Pattillo . The main puppet cast and vehicles were rebui... |
Production of Thunderbirds ended in August 1966 with the completion of the sixth episode of Series Two . In February that year , it had been reported that Grade had been unable to sell the series in the United States due to disagreements over timeslots . In July , he cancelled Thunderbirds after failing in his second ... |
By the time of its cancellation , Thunderbirds had become widely popular in the UK and was being distributed extensively overseas . Grade , however , believed that without the financial boost of an American network sale , a full second series would fail to recover its production costs . He therefore asked Anderson to ... |
= = = Casting and characters = = =
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Voice @-@ recording sessions were supervised by Pattillo and the Andersons , with Sylvia Anderson in charge of casting . Dialogue was recorded once per month at a rate of two scripts per session . Supporting parts were not pre @-@ assigned , but negotiated by the cast among themselves . Two recordings would be made at... |
In the interest of transatlantic appeal , it was decided that the main characters would be mostly American and therefore actors capable of producing an appropriate accent were used . British , Canadian and Australian actors formed most of the voice cast ; the only American involved was stage actor David Holliday , who... |
British actor David Graham was among the first to be cast . He had previously voiced characters in Four Feather Falls , Supercar , Fireball XL5 and Stingray . Beyond the APF productions , he had supplied one of the original Dalek voices on Doctor Who . Cast alongside Graham was Australian actor Ray Barrett . Like Grah... |
Although Lady Penelope and Parker ( the latter voiced by Graham ) were among the first characters developed , neither was conceived as a major role . Parker 's Cockney manner was based on a waiter at a pub in Cookham that was sometimes visited by the crew . On Gerry Anderson 's recommendation , Graham dined there regu... |
As well as Jeff Tracy , English @-@ Canadian actor Peter Dyneley voiced the recurring character of Commander Norman , chief of air traffic control at London International Airport . His supporting character voices were typically those of upper @-@ class Englishmen . Shane Rimmer , the voice of Scott , was cast on the s... |
Christine Finn , known for her role in the TV serial Quatermass and the Pit , provided the voices of Tin @-@ Tin Kyrano and Grandma Tracy . With Sylvia Anderson , she was also responsible for voicing most of the female and child supporting characters . Other minor parts were voiced by Charles Tingwell , Paul Maxwell a... |
= = = Design and effects = = =
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The puppet stages used for the filming of Thunderbirds were only one @-@ fifth the size of those used for a standard live @-@ action production , typically measuring 12 by 14 by 3 metres ( 39 @.@ 4 by 45 @.@ 9 by 9 @.@ 8 ft ) in length , width and height . Bob Bell , assisted by Keith Wilson and Grenville Nott , heade... |
Since it was necessary for the art department 's interior sets to conform to the effects department 's exterior plans , each team closely monitored the other 's work . According to Sylvia Anderson , Bell 's challenge was to produce complex interiors on a limited budget while resisting the effects department 's push fo... |
While designing the Creighton @-@ Ward Mansion sets , Bell and his staff strove for authenticity , ordering miniature Tudor paintings , 1 ⁄ 3 @-@ scale Georgian- and Regency @-@ style furniture and carpeting in the shape of a polar bear skin . This realism was enhanced by adding scrap items acquired from household was... |
= = = = Puppets = = = =
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The head puppet sculptor was Christine Glanville , who also served as the lead puppeteer . Glanville 's four @-@ person team built the 13 members of the main cast in six months at a cost of between £ 250 and £ 300 per puppet ( approximately £ 4 @,@ 569 and £ 5 @,@ 483 today ) . Since pairs of episodes were being filme... |
The puppets were made up of more than 30 individual components , the most important of which was the solenoid that synchronised lip movements with the characters ' pre @-@ recorded dialogue . This device was positioned inside the head unit ; consequently , torsos and limbs appeared relatively small . The puppets ' lik... |
The appearances of the main characters were inspired by those of actors and other entertainers , who were typically selected from the show business directory Spotlight . According to Glanville , as part of a trend away from the strong caricature of previous series , APF was seeking " more natural faces " for the puppe... |
Main character heads were initially sculpted in either Plasticine or clay . Once the general aspect had been finalised , this served as the template for a silicone rubber mould . This was coated with Bondaglass ( fibreglass mixed with resin ) and enhanced with Bondapaste , a putty @-@ like substance , to accentuate co... |
Wigs were made of mohair or , in the case of the Penelope puppet , human hair . Puppet bodies were built in three sizes : " large male " ( specifically for the Tracys and the Hood ) , " small male " and " small female " . Sylvia Anderson , the head costume designer , devised the main characters ' attire . To give the ... |
Each puppet 's head was fitted with about 10 thin tungsten steel wires . During the filming , dialogue was played into the studio using modified tape recorders that converted the feed into electronic pulses . Two of the wires relayed these pulses to the internal solenoid , completing the Supermarionation process . The... |
Due to their low weight and the fact that they had only one control wire per leg , the puppets were unable to walk convincingly . Therefore , scenes involving movement were filmed from the waist up , with a puppeteer holding the legs below the level of the camera and using a " bobbing " action to simulate motion . Alt... |
= = = = Special effects = = = =
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The effects for all the APF series from Supercar to UFO were directed by Derek Meddings , who later worked on the James Bond and Superman films . Knowing that Thunderbirds would be the " biggest project [ APF ] had worked on " , Meddings found himself struggling to manage his workload with the single filming unit that... |
An addition to the effects department was Mike Trim , who served as Meddings ' assistant in designing vehicles and buildings . Meddings and Trim jointly pioneered an " organic " design technique in which the exteriors of models and sets were customised with parts from model kits and children 's toys . Models and sets ... |
One of Meddings ' first tasks was to shoot stock footage of the Thunderbird machines and the series ' main locations , Tracy Island and Creighton @-@ Ward Mansion . The finished island model was a composite of more than a dozen smaller sets that could be detached from the whole and filmed separately . The architecture... |
During the designing and filming process , Meddings ' first priorities were realism and credibility . With the exception of Thunderbird 5 , each vehicle was built in three or four scales . Meddings ' swing @-@ wing concept for Thunderbird 1 was inspired by his wish to create something " more dynamic " than a fixed @-@... |
The largest model of Thunderbird 3 , whose design was based on the Soviet Soyuz rocket , was six feet ( 1 @.@ 8 m ) tall . Thunderbird 4 was particularly difficult to film : as the scale of the model did not correspond to the water inside the shooting tank , creative camera angles and rapid editing were used to produc... |
As the puppets of Lady Penelope and Parker needed to fit inside , the largest of all the models was the seven @-@ foot FAB 1 , which cost £ 2 @,@ 500 ( approximately £ 46 @,@ 000 today ) to build . The Rolls @-@ Royce 's name and colour were both chosen by Sylvia Anderson . Rolls @-@ Royce Ltd. supervised the construc... |
Scale explosions were created using substances such as fuller 's earth , petrol gel , magnesium strips and Cordtex explosive . Originally filmed at up to 120 frames per second ( f.p.s. ) , they were slowed down to 24 f.p.s. during post @-@ production to increase their apparent magnitude and length . Gunpowder canister... |
By 1966 , Meddings ' commitments were split between Series Two and Thunderbirds Are Go . While Meddings worked on the film , camera operator Jimmy Elliott assumed the responsibility of directing the TV effects . By this stage , the basic frame of Thunderbird 2 had been damaged so many times that the model had needed t... |
Critic David Garland suggests that the challenge facing the Thunderbirds effects department was to strike a balance between the " conventional science @-@ fiction imperative of the ' futuristic ' " and the " seeping hyper @-@ realist concerns mandated by the Andersons ' approach to the puppets " . Thunderbirds has bee... |
= = = = Title sequence = = = =
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