Impact

ImpactSeason 2, Episode 9
Air date	December 10, 2016 (ITV) January 1, 2017 (AUS)
Written by	Len Uhley
Directed by	Theo Baynton
Episode Guide
previous	Lost Kingdom
next	High Strung

"Impact" is the ninth episode of the second series of Thunderbirds Are Go!, broadcast on the 10th of December, 2016.

Plot

Using a remote controlled rocket booster Langstrom Fischler tries to bring a comet into Earth's orbit so he can mine it. As the rocket doesn't fire correctly, the comet ends up on a collision course with both the Earth and Global One, a GDF space station with Captain Ridley O'Bannon aboard. While Alan and Virgil take Thunderbird 3 up to the comet and find a way to destroy it John and EOS use Thunderbird 5 to help O'Bannon to move Global One out of the comet's path.

Cast

Regular Cast

• Scott Tracy, Alan Tracy: Rasmus Hardiker
• Virgil Tracy: David Menkin
• John Tracy: Thomas Brodie-Sangster
• Kayo: Angel Coulby
• Brains: Kayvan Novak
• EOS: Teresa Gallagher

Guest Cast

• Langstrom Fischler: Rhys Darby
• Captain Ridley O'Bannon: Rosamund Pike
• Kinnear: Kayvan Novak

International Rescue Equipment Used

• Thunderbird 3
• Thunderbird 5
  • Space Elevator
• Thunderbird Shadow
• Exopod

Non-International Rescue Equipment Used

• Fischler's rocket
• Global One

Quotes

Captain O'Bannon: "Same time next week?"
John: "Sure. Only next time I won't go so easy on you."
Captain O'Bannon: "Said the man who's down four games to one."

Virgil: "I go down a tube backwards and you get a comfy chair?"
Alan: "Nobody said gear-ups were fair, Virgil."

Virgil: "Any luck tracking down Fischler?"
Scott: "Not yet. That guy changes addresses more often than I change socks."

Brains: "That comet isn't going to orbit Earth, it's going to bash right into it!"
Fischler: "Oh, nonsense. I've calculated its trajectory to the last millimetre. In fact, I was just about to make one final, tinsy course correction."
Brains: "I can't b-begin to describe how much that worries me."
Fischler: "Of course it would, Mr. Worry-Pants. Alright, and 3, 2, 1..."
[Nothing happens]
Brains: "Impressive."
Fischler: "Oh well, uh, I'm sure it's nothing. Probably actually just a minor fractalisation of the... uh, turbo encarbulator... system."
Alan: "Did he just make that up?"
Virgil: "Yes, he did."

Virgil: "I've loaded up enough demolition charges to do the job."
Alan: "Wait, you put explosives on my ship?"
Virgil: "Alan, you fly a rocket. It's already an explosive."
Alan: "Point taken."

Scott: "Better you two stay on task and blow up the comet."
Brains: "And Fischler's rocket."
Scott: "Especially Fischler's rocket."

[Knock on door]
Fischler: "Ooh, get that will you? That'll be my yummy lunch I ordered."
Kayo: "It's okay, I'll let myself in."
Fischler: "Uh, pay for that will you, uh, Kitteritch."
Kinnear: [sigh] "It's..."
Kayo: "Kinnear." [inserts device]
Kinnear: "You know my name?"
Kayo: "I know lots of things." [removes device] "Bye-bye." [chuckes and waves as she leaves]
Fischler: "Where's my food?"
Kinnear: "Uh, wrong address."
Fischler: "Ugh, well, I hope you didn't give a tip."

Gallery

"Lucky shot"
"That wasn't luck that was skill. But then, you're a good teacher"

"I have detected an anomaly in space that will acquire your attention, assuming you've finished exercising with Captain O'Bannon"

"I'll leave you two alone. Same time next week?"

"Sure. Only next time I won't go so easy on you"

"Said the man who's down four games to one"

O'Bannon leaves Thunderbird 5

"It's supposed to miss earth by millions of miles"

"It apparently changed trajectory and the probability of a collision with earth is now 100%"

"What could knock a comet that far off course?"

"There's a comet heading right for earth and it shouldn't be"

"Something the Mechanic cooked up?"

"Good guess, but no"

"Langstrom Fischler"

"Any luck tracking down Fischler?"
"Not yet"

"That guy changes addresses more often than I change socks"

Langstrom Fischler's new base of operations

"Hello, This is Langstrom Fischler -"

"- Inventor and visionary!"

"And this is International Rescue!"

"Ah yes, so it is"

"Fischler, didn't the GDF tear up your space operations permit?"

"Nothing there to stop me operating something remotely"

"So you stuck a rocket on a comet?"

"I'll be helping countless people!"

"And making a tiny profit too!"

"No y-you won't"

"Because that c-comet isn't going to orbit the earth, it's going to b-bash right into it!"

"Oh nonsense. I've calculated the trajectory to the last millimeter"

"Oh of course it would, Mr. Worry-pants"

"Alright, and three, two, one"

"Probably actually just a minor fractalisation of the..uh..turbo and carbulator system"

"Did he just make that up?"

"Yes, he did"

"Oh, anyway it's not like it can do any harm. It's just a little ball of water and rock"

"No, it's a really b-big ball of water and rock"

"I'll..get back to you on that"

"John is right, we do have a situation"

"Ah yes, point taken"

"I say we blast it to bits, any dust that's left will just burn up in the atmosphere"

"Wait, you put explosives on my ship?"

"Alan, you fly a rocket. It's already an explosive"

"Agreed. Let's blow the thing up"

"Here's how it will work"

First, Thunderbird 3 grabs the comet's nucleus with the grappling arms and drills a hole all the way to the comet's core"

"Next I stick an explosive charge into the center of it"

"Then it's Kaboom! Bye-bye comet"

"Closer, almost got it"

"Good work, now start drilling"

"Ah no wonder the rocket didn't fire"

"These wires were all higgledy - piggledy"

"Fischler's started his rocket again!"

"Thunderbird 3, what's your status?"

"It was a rough ride"
"But thanks to Alan, we're ok"

"Which is more than Fischler's going to be when I'm done with him"

"Yeah we would have finished the job by now if he hadn't butted in"

"Fischler, what have you done?"

"I decided to give the comet another push. Now it will just bounce off the atmosphere and fly away into space"

"No, it won't. That comet is still going to enter earth's atmposhere, but now it will crash into Global 1 on its way"

"Ah right yes.. Global 1. Ha.. which is?"

"Something m-must be done about that man!"

"Better you two stay on task and blow up the comet"
"And Fischler's rocket"

"Especally Fischler's rocket"

"So what do you say we go grab that comet by the tail?"

"Meanwhile I'll break the news to Global 1"
"Ok John, keep us informed"

"Global 1, this is International Rescue"

"And voila game set and match"

"We'll get back to you on that"

"We have to stop meeting like this"

"First one back to Thunderbird 5 wins"

Trivia

• This is the first time Virgil has flown in Thunderbird 3 as Alan's co-pilot.
• This is the second time that Thunderbird 5's mooring claw has been used to assist in a rescue. The first was in Skyhook, another Langstrom Fischler misadventure.
  • One could consider it the third, if you count destroying the Hood's ship in Legacy.
• Thunderbird 3 launches without the traditional voice-over countdown.
• Some scenes of the evacuation on Global One reuse the bulkhead walkway sets of the Estrella Grand from Falling Skies.
• The detonation for the explosives is controlled from Thunderbird 3's "Navigation" panel.
• Mining a comet for water, while scientifically interesting, is an astronomically inefficient way of obtaining water. Earth is covered 70% with water which can be economically desalinated. Any water obtained from the comet would need to be purified anyway.

Goofs

• Virgil's laser cutter is missing in some shots.
• Fischler says at one point, "That will be my yummy lunch I ordered." However, it is night time at his location.