"Tunnels Of Time" is the tenth episode of Thunderbirds Are Go!. It was first broadcast on Sunday 24 May, 2015.
Plot[]
The episode opens with Thunderbird 2 heading for a mine in the Quataca Mountains. Gordon disembarks from the pod with the Bulldozer. He moves some small rocks before Virgil grapples onto a bigger one, unblocking the mine and revealing a temple entrance. As Gordon looks at the entrance, John translates the message: it was from the Quataca tribe who ruled this area around 1100 before explaining that the pyramid belongs to Sapa Capanqui, 'the Laughing King': "Who dares disturb my peace will join me in my tomb".
Lady Penelope, as a member of the World Heritage society, arrives at the site with Parker and Professor Harold. Gordon also arrives with an all-terrain kit. He somehow responded to a message sent by Parker who needed someone to look after Lady Penelope as he was too terrified to go into the pyramid himself. As they enter the pyramid, Gordon pulls out an electromagnetic spectrum analyser before they proceed further into the pyramid, unveiling that there is gold somewhere in the ruins, which Prof. Harold seems far too excited about for Lady Penelope's liking. As they reach a dead end, Professor Harold activates a trap by mistake, which the others help him escape, leaving them trapped. Gordon contacts Thunderbird 5 but to no avail due to the gold causing electromagnetic interference. As toxic gas starts to rise from the floor, Gordon pulls out a rebreather. Parker sits on a stone block, unveiling another passage deeper into the ruins.
Outside the pyramid, John contacts Professor Harold who says that the others are fine before cutting off. Back inside the pyramid, Gordon, Penelope and Parker walk through a hallway before Parker clips a tripwire, causing several arrows to fly out of the walls. Gordon knocks Penelope down before the arrows hit them. A grumpy Penelope complains that Gordon broke her nose before walking off in a huff with Gordon following her. Parker is then seen pinned to the wall by a set of arrows. While Gordon complains about saving Penelope, he steps on a button in the floor. Penelope saves him before a stone block crashes into them. On Tracy Island, John tells Scott and Virgil about the electromagnetic interference as well as chlorine dioxide gas round the base of the pyramid before they take off in Thunderbirds 1 and 2. Meanwhile, Gordon and the others find a pool of water and Parker jokes that the Laughing King liked a morning dip. Gordon dives into the pool, where he finds a door. He pulls it open, draining the water before he and the others continue down the newly made tunnel.
At the camp, Professor Harold mourns for Lady Penelope’s loss before Scott enters the tent and demands some answers. The professor reveals that he prevented the rescue because he didn’t want the pyramid to be destroyed, leading to Scott furiously lashing out before Virgil pulls him back. He says that they have to focus on Gordon and not the professor. At the pyramid entrance, Virgil says that they can’t use the Mole: if they start digging, the mountain will crash on top of them. Scott explains that he should have taken Parker’s call not Gordon. Inside the pyramid, Gordon and the others hear a slithering sound which reveals to be a cable cam operated by Virgil and Scott who drove a small hole to send the cam and map the pyramid. They follow the camera to another entrance with an inscription that read “Point of No Return”. They enter a vast chamber with a massive altar topped with a giant golden statue at the centre before the entrance slams shut behind them, damaging the cable cam in the process. Penelope thinks that the statue is King Capanqui. Suddenly, the chamber floor starts to collapse. They stumble towards the altar, due to Penelope being the best hopscotch player in her school. As they climb the altar, a scary booming laugh echoes through the chamber. Penelope, Parker and Gordon fear that the Laughing King’s peace is disturbed and they share his tomb. At the top of the statue, Penelope asks Gordon what they can do now. Gordon holds her hand and says that is now or never. A grapple latches onto the ceiling above them. Gordon grapples onto the ceiling and with Penelope and Parker holding on, they reel upwards as the statue topples into the abyss.
Thunderbird 2 hoists them through the air back to the camp safe and sound. Professor Harold walks up to them with relief and Penelope explains that the treasure is gone when the chamber collapsed. When Harold says that World Heritage will fund a new dig, Penelope says that she will be making her recommendation when she says that the professor will only be digging his vegetable patch before he departs in shame. Gordon and Penelope agree that some things are best left buried before Parker realises he dropped his keys inside the temple.
Cast[]
Regular Cast[]
- Scott Tracy - Rasmus Hardiker
- Virgil Tracy, Gordon Tracy - David Menkin
- John Tracy - Thomas Brodie-Sangster
- Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward - Rosamund Pike
- Parker - David Graham
Guest Cast[]
- Professor Harold - Matt Zimmerman
- Laughing King - Nigel Heath
Crew[]
- Note: the following section is large. As such, it is hidden by default.
- Voice director: Dave Peacock
- Original dialogue record: Simon Capes, Soho Squares Studios
- Miniatures: WETA Workshop
- Design & miniature FX supervisor: Richard Taylor
- Lead model maker: Steven Saunders
- Workshop supervisor: Rob Gillies
- Production co-ordinator: Holly Beals
- Model makers: Sofia Pedersen, Mona Peters, David Duke, Joaquin Loyzaga, Laura Marie King, Abigail Smith, Masayuki Ohashi, Pietro Marson, Sourisak Chanpaseuth, Kim McAuslan
- Director of photography: Simon Godsiff
- 1st assistant director: Robin Wilson
- Production manager: Sadie Wilson
- Gaffer: Simon Oliver
- 1st assistant camera: Charles Edwards
- Key grip: Jan Kleinheins
- On set model technicians: Rob Chesney, Ben Fairless
- Lighting equipment: Portsmouth Lighting, NZFX SFX Equipment
- Catering: Deborah Logan
- Production designer: Ben Milsom
- Designer, Thunderbird Shadow: Shoji Kawamori
- Lead concept artist: Christian Pearce
- Concept artists: Aaron Beck, Gus Hunter, Rebekah Tisch
- Head of design: Richard Athorne
- Design studio co-ordinators: Tasha Guillot, Catherine Mitchell
- Asset supervisor: Sven Trotter
- CG modellers: Ben Hutchinson, Tom Robinson, Ben Picking, Che Thorpe
- 3D story supervisor: Tim Gaul
- Lead 3D story artists: Martin Haughey, Andrew McCully
- Matchmove: James Donald, Luke Swasbrook
- 3D story: Jason Campbell, Eduardo Gutierrez, Rhys Hanan, Nagaraju Kusama, Kai Ma, Ben van de Laar, Robin Wilson-Davey
CGCG
- Head of production: Sareana Sun
- Production executives: Ivan C, Alen Fang, Andy Tsao
- Production team: Sean Li, Lara Lin, Jing Zhang, Yao-Cheng Wang, Heyifang, Tan Tao, Xu Ding, Shiwei Yang, Aimee Zhang, Zhenhua Yao, Xuren Chen, Shamy Lai, Wei Lin
End CGCG
- Editor: Anthony Cox
- Assistant editors: Louise Pattinson, Adam Reynolds
- 3D artist: Rhys Clapcott
- Software engineer: Mike King
- Animation supervisor: Chad Moffitt
- CG supervisor: Andrew Harris, Park Road Post Production
- Data wranglers: Joyce Kamille Cristal, Wattana Moeung, Clare Brody
- Casting: Peacock Sound
- VFX line producer: Malcolm Angell
- Production co-ordinator: Sophie Gregory
- Production assistants: Brittany Connell, Jordan Harding
- Production secretary: Christine Healy
- Production runner: Nate Hinde
- Script co-ordinator: Patrick Rieger
- Post production co-ordinator: Dee Collier
- Legal and business affairs: Sally Perry, Sarah Cull
- Production accountants: Emily Stafford, Karen Kong
- Special advisor, International Rescue: David Tremont
- Branding and title design: ITV Creative
- Compositing: Milk VFX
- Online editor: Simon Brook
- Colourist: Paul Staples
- Picture post production: Encore London
- Sound effects editor: Darren Banks
- ADR recordist: Alexander Fielding
- Foley engineer: Keith Partridge
- Mix technician: Kiran Marshall
- Audio post production: Jules Zabbar
- Music composed by: Ben Foster, Nick Foster
- Original theme: Barry Gray
- Sound designer & re-recording mixer: Nigel Heath
- Audio post-production: Hackenbacker
- Producers: Sharon Lark, Stuart McAra
- Line & consulting animation producer: Teresa Reed
- CITV commissioning editor: Jamila Metran
- Executive producers: Estelle Hughes, Giles Ridge, Andrew Smith, Richard Taylor
- Based on the original series by: Gerry & Sylvia Anderson
Quotes[]
Parker: "See what you've done?"
Gordon: "I thought you weren't going in!"
Parker: "Exactly. Then you arrived. I had a five in six chance of it being one of the others."
Gordon: "There are only five of us."
Parker: "I was including your Gran."
Lady Penelope: "The spears didn't get me but you nearly broke my nose."
Gordon: "Oh, well, excuse me for saving you."
Lady Penelope: "I didn't need saving."
Gordon: "Next time I'll wait to see if you've been impaled before I..."
Lady Penelope: "The spears were nowhere near me."
Parker: (is seen pinned to the wall by arrows) "Um... m'lady, Gordon, could use a hand here."
Scott: (furiously) YOU RAT-FACED WEASEL!
Gordon: "It's okay. I came prepared."
Lady Penelope: "Yes, and you've only mentioned it a hundred times so far."
Gordon: "You're being dramatic. Seven or eight times at the most."
Equipment Used[]
- Thunderbird 1
- Thunderbird 2 (Module 2)
- Thunderbird 5
- FAB 1
- The Mole
- The Bulldozer
- Electromagnetic Pod Grabs
- Snake Cam
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Prior to broadcast, Tunnels Of Time was scheduled and promoted as the thirteenth episode of Season 1. For reasons unknown, it was pulled forward to tenth instead.
- The plot is a soft homage of the Indiana Jones film Raiders of The Lost Ark, such as Professor Harold's choice of Jones-inspired headwear and a golden statue in a booby trapped temple.
- Professor Harold is voiced by Matt Zimmerman, best known for voicing Alan Tracy in the original series.
- In one scene, Scott, disgusted by the professor’s obsession with history and wealth, and fearing for the lives of Gordon, Penelope and Parker, calls the Professor a ‘rat-faced weasel’, before attempting to punch him - only for Virgil to intervene at the last moment by holding him back. This marks one of the few instances in the franchise where a version of the character loses his temper onscreen.
Foreign titles[]
- Dutch: De tunnels van de tijd
- French: Les Tunnels du Temps
- Spanish: Túneles del tiempo
- Japanese: ピラミッドの呪い (Curse of the Pyramid)
- Arabic: أنـفـاق الزمن