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Thunderbirds (60s novels) #3
Thunderbirds: Operation Asteroids
What starts out as a simple rescue mission to save a trapped miner on the Moon, soon turns out to be one of International Rescue’s greatest catastrophes. After The Hood takes members of International Rescue hostage during the rescue, a chase across space and an altercation among the asteroids only worsens the situation. With The Hood hijacking Thunderbird Three along with Brains, Lady Penelope and Tin-Tin, it is up to the Tracy brothers to stage a daring rescue in the mountain tops of his hidden lair. But can they rescue Brains before his engineering genius is used for the destructive forces of evil?
The third release in the Thunderbirds series. Written by John Theydon under the name John W Jennison and originally published in 1966.
The third release in the Thunderbirds series. Written by John Theydon under the name John W Jennison and originally published in 1966.
150 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1966
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21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 16, 2025
I enjoyed this play. You can imagine it playing out. Hopefully, Geoff and Brains can finally get to the bottom of poor Kyrano's problem in a future story.
February 21, 2025
Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog
For those who love the adventure TV series Thunderbirds, this is F.A.B.
Combining marionettes with scale models, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's filming process called Supermarionation excited kids with danger, heroics, and ingenuity. I love the whole process as well as the product. John W. Jennison wrote two original novels around the characters (Operation Asteroids and Lost World) for young adults and fans of the series, and I was lucky enough to find them together.
It's assumed you know these characters, known to the world of the twenty-first century as International Rescue. Ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy has built a secret base for his family on a private Pacific island. His four sons run the rescue operation with state of the art rockets, and every other device needed when disaster strikes.
John Tracy signals a distress call from their orbiting station Thunderbird 5. A granite mine has collapsed on the lunar base Mare Imbrium, with no air they have 3 hours to save the workers. Brothers Alan and Scott blast off with TinTin in Thunderbird 1, while Virgil, Brains and Gordon deliver The Mole in Thunderbird 2 to Australia where a Moon Base freighter is ready to launch. Lady Penelope and Parker also head to the Australian base, but are met by their evil nemesis The Hood, always ready to steal the Thunderbirds secrets and become Master of the World. Mid-flight to the moon, Virgil and Brains discover The Hood aboard. They are put under hypnosis, and the robot-piloted freighter veers past the moon into an asteroid belt a million miles beyond Mars. Scott and Alan take Thunderbird 3 to rescue them in an exciting sequence that leaves Virgil, Scott, and Alan marooned in space!
The second half of the novel gives fans a treat, taking place in the Tibetan mountain lair of The Hood, which we have seen little of in the series. Golden idol-filled shrines and ultra modern laboratories are built into the caverns of the summit, populated by android workers. Penelope and TinTin are The Hood's prisoners, and it is up to the gang (including a heroic Parker climbing through the jungles) to rescue them.
This is actually a solid adventure with excitement and surprises. For Thunderbirds fans, this reads better than a new episode, as every character is involved, including Grandma and Kyrano. TinTin and Lady Penelope do some heroics - especially when Penelope is hung by a wire over the bubbling lava pool of an active volcano!
The writing is much better than you would think, aimed at the young adult market rather than children. As a fan, I am thrilled to have found these novels by chance, and recommend this to anyone who remembers Thunderbirds. You will find this a treat.
John W. Jennison wrote six other Thunderbirds novels under different names, published by World Distributors.
This and other Thunderbirds novels are available free at Internet Archive
For those who love the adventure TV series Thunderbirds, this is F.A.B.
Combining marionettes with scale models, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's filming process called Supermarionation excited kids with danger, heroics, and ingenuity. I love the whole process as well as the product. John W. Jennison wrote two original novels around the characters (Operation Asteroids and Lost World) for young adults and fans of the series, and I was lucky enough to find them together.
It's assumed you know these characters, known to the world of the twenty-first century as International Rescue. Ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy has built a secret base for his family on a private Pacific island. His four sons run the rescue operation with state of the art rockets, and every other device needed when disaster strikes.
John Tracy signals a distress call from their orbiting station Thunderbird 5. A granite mine has collapsed on the lunar base Mare Imbrium, with no air they have 3 hours to save the workers. Brothers Alan and Scott blast off with TinTin in Thunderbird 1, while Virgil, Brains and Gordon deliver The Mole in Thunderbird 2 to Australia where a Moon Base freighter is ready to launch. Lady Penelope and Parker also head to the Australian base, but are met by their evil nemesis The Hood, always ready to steal the Thunderbirds secrets and become Master of the World. Mid-flight to the moon, Virgil and Brains discover The Hood aboard. They are put under hypnosis, and the robot-piloted freighter veers past the moon into an asteroid belt a million miles beyond Mars. Scott and Alan take Thunderbird 3 to rescue them in an exciting sequence that leaves Virgil, Scott, and Alan marooned in space!
The second half of the novel gives fans a treat, taking place in the Tibetan mountain lair of The Hood, which we have seen little of in the series. Golden idol-filled shrines and ultra modern laboratories are built into the caverns of the summit, populated by android workers. Penelope and TinTin are The Hood's prisoners, and it is up to the gang (including a heroic Parker climbing through the jungles) to rescue them.
This is actually a solid adventure with excitement and surprises. For Thunderbirds fans, this reads better than a new episode, as every character is involved, including Grandma and Kyrano. TinTin and Lady Penelope do some heroics - especially when Penelope is hung by a wire over the bubbling lava pool of an active volcano!
The writing is much better than you would think, aimed at the young adult market rather than children. As a fan, I am thrilled to have found these novels by chance, and recommend this to anyone who remembers Thunderbirds. You will find this a treat.
John W. Jennison wrote six other Thunderbirds novels under different names, published by World Distributors.
This and other Thunderbirds novels are available free at Internet Archive
August 8, 2022
For those of a certain age, just mentioning Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds offers an exciting whiff of nostalgia. For this reviewer, it takes one back to my teenage years nearly two decades ago when re-runs of the series on TechTV (as it then was) introduced me to the series as part of my discovering what my British colleagues would call Cult TV. It was with great excitement that Big Finish, teaming up with Anderson Entertainment, began producing audiobooks based on the series of tie-in novels published in the 1960s. Perhaps none has been on the scale of April's release of Operation Asteroids.
It's worth a mention that, like Terror From the Stars and Stingray's Operation Ice Cap before it, this release isn't the standard sort of audio drama listeners might expect going into it. Operation Asteroids is more in the vein of the enhanced audiobook format that Big Finish employed in their Doctor Who - The Lost Stories releases featuring the first three Doctors. On the one hand, it features narration and description to fill in more visual moments. On the other hand, it has dramatized scenes featuring both sound effects and a score. The result is a cross between the audiobook and audio drama formats, offering a best of both worlds approach to bringing the story to life.
Adapted by Ross Arrowsmith from the novel by John Theydon (which the internet tells me was a pseudonym for the prolific John William Jennison), it's a story both in keeping with the TV series while also far grander in scope than it ever achieved. With a storyline involving International Rescue operating off-world and the Hood getting involved (as he is wont to do, of course, being the Hood!), it's a plot with a range that takes it from the Australian outback to Tibet and literally out of this world. It's an action-packed tale full of chases, fights, and scenes of peril that would have been intriguing to see realized in Supermarionation and with Derek Meddings's legendary model work. Arrowsmith and director Samuel Clemens strike a nice balance between prose and dramatized sequences, suiting the action and narrative alike.
It's also neatly realized as a production. After two previous Thunderbirds audiobooks, much of the cast has nicely settled into their roles by now, showing respect for the original and capturing their spirit. They include ever-reliable Jon Culshaw as Tracy family patriarch Jeff and burglar turned butler Parker, Genevieve Gaunt as Lady Penelope and Grandma Tracy (the latter offering her some delightful comedic moments), Justin T Lee as Scott Tracy and the Hood, and Wayne Forester as Brains. Beyond the cast, the sounds of the series are there, too, with Joe Kraemer's music magnificently pastiching the scores of the original series and the sound design of Toby Hrycek-Robinson bringing the worlds of the piece to life.
Operation Asteroids is a joyus listen. Indeed, the highest compliment I can pay this release as a reviewer is to say that there were times I could close my eyes and imagine it unfolding in Supermarionation. High praise, indeed.
It's worth a mention that, like Terror From the Stars and Stingray's Operation Ice Cap before it, this release isn't the standard sort of audio drama listeners might expect going into it. Operation Asteroids is more in the vein of the enhanced audiobook format that Big Finish employed in their Doctor Who - The Lost Stories releases featuring the first three Doctors. On the one hand, it features narration and description to fill in more visual moments. On the other hand, it has dramatized scenes featuring both sound effects and a score. The result is a cross between the audiobook and audio drama formats, offering a best of both worlds approach to bringing the story to life.
Adapted by Ross Arrowsmith from the novel by John Theydon (which the internet tells me was a pseudonym for the prolific John William Jennison), it's a story both in keeping with the TV series while also far grander in scope than it ever achieved. With a storyline involving International Rescue operating off-world and the Hood getting involved (as he is wont to do, of course, being the Hood!), it's a plot with a range that takes it from the Australian outback to Tibet and literally out of this world. It's an action-packed tale full of chases, fights, and scenes of peril that would have been intriguing to see realized in Supermarionation and with Derek Meddings's legendary model work. Arrowsmith and director Samuel Clemens strike a nice balance between prose and dramatized sequences, suiting the action and narrative alike.
It's also neatly realized as a production. After two previous Thunderbirds audiobooks, much of the cast has nicely settled into their roles by now, showing respect for the original and capturing their spirit. They include ever-reliable Jon Culshaw as Tracy family patriarch Jeff and burglar turned butler Parker, Genevieve Gaunt as Lady Penelope and Grandma Tracy (the latter offering her some delightful comedic moments), Justin T Lee as Scott Tracy and the Hood, and Wayne Forester as Brains. Beyond the cast, the sounds of the series are there, too, with Joe Kraemer's music magnificently pastiching the scores of the original series and the sound design of Toby Hrycek-Robinson bringing the worlds of the piece to life.
Operation Asteroids is a joyus listen. Indeed, the highest compliment I can pay this release as a reviewer is to say that there were times I could close my eyes and imagine it unfolding in Supermarionation. High praise, indeed.
December 19, 2024
When Thunderbirds were king--when the original "Supermarionation" show was on TV in 1965 and 1966--there was a slew of paperback novels featuring original Thunderbirds stories. This was, of course, inherently awesome. A half-dozen of these books were written by John W. Jennison, sometimes under his own name and sometimes using the pen name John Theydon. Jennison was a prolific author during the 1950s and 1960s, turning out over 100 books under various pen names. Because he often did use other names, I had a bit of trouble finding a complete list of his work. He did do a lot of media tie-in work, especially for Gerry Anderson shows such as Thunderbirds, and I think that tie-ins might represent the bulk of his work.
The third Thunderbirds novel, published in 1966, was one of Jennison's best. There's a disaster at a moon base, with a worker buried alive with a limited oxygen supply. Thunderbird 3--the craft capable of space travel--takes off with Alan and Scott Tracy to mount a rescue.
It turns out the trapped guy managed to find his own way out, which is a good thing because the Thunderbirds crew never get around to mounting a rescue. Their arch enemy--a power mad villain called The Hood--uses his hypnotic powers to hijack a space freighter carrying special equipment to the moon to help with the rescue. He also captures another of the Tracy brothers, the scientist "Brains" and superspy Lady Penelope.
Thunderbird 3 gives chase. The action moves to the asteroid belt. Several of the Tracy brothers end up stranded on the asteroid Ceres while the Hood escapes with three hostages after taking over Thunderbird 3. Back on Earth, Jeff Tracy--the father of the group--gets some time in the air taking over Thunderbird 2 as they search for the Hood.
Eventually, the action moves to a secret base in Tibet, with the Tracy brothers planning a raid to rescue the hostages and stop the Hood from carrying out a plan to take over the world.
It's all great fun. In the show, Jeff Tracy is a strong character (in one episode, giving a speech about the whole point of their operation being to simply save lives that is absolutely wonderful), but its great to see the former astronaut in a pilot's seat. Several of the Thunderbird vehicles play a part in the action. Parker, the reformed burglar who works as a chauffer to Lady Penelope, gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome when he volunteers to parachute into the Tibetan mountains to find the Hood's base. Lady Penelope herself pulls off a daring escape from that base.
The ending, I think, was a little abrupt, but the novel as a whole is glorious. It accurately captures the personality of the various characters; and it is fast-paced, with the action moving from Earth to deep space and back to Earth in a way that makes sense in context. If you are a fan of Thunderbirds (and if you aren't, there's something wrong with you*), then this is a must-read novel.
*just kidding, of course. differences in personal tastes should always be respected.
The third Thunderbirds novel, published in 1966, was one of Jennison's best. There's a disaster at a moon base, with a worker buried alive with a limited oxygen supply. Thunderbird 3--the craft capable of space travel--takes off with Alan and Scott Tracy to mount a rescue.
It turns out the trapped guy managed to find his own way out, which is a good thing because the Thunderbirds crew never get around to mounting a rescue. Their arch enemy--a power mad villain called The Hood--uses his hypnotic powers to hijack a space freighter carrying special equipment to the moon to help with the rescue. He also captures another of the Tracy brothers, the scientist "Brains" and superspy Lady Penelope.
Thunderbird 3 gives chase. The action moves to the asteroid belt. Several of the Tracy brothers end up stranded on the asteroid Ceres while the Hood escapes with three hostages after taking over Thunderbird 3. Back on Earth, Jeff Tracy--the father of the group--gets some time in the air taking over Thunderbird 2 as they search for the Hood.
Eventually, the action moves to a secret base in Tibet, with the Tracy brothers planning a raid to rescue the hostages and stop the Hood from carrying out a plan to take over the world.
It's all great fun. In the show, Jeff Tracy is a strong character (in one episode, giving a speech about the whole point of their operation being to simply save lives that is absolutely wonderful), but its great to see the former astronaut in a pilot's seat. Several of the Thunderbird vehicles play a part in the action. Parker, the reformed burglar who works as a chauffer to Lady Penelope, gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome when he volunteers to parachute into the Tibetan mountains to find the Hood's base. Lady Penelope herself pulls off a daring escape from that base.
The ending, I think, was a little abrupt, but the novel as a whole is glorious. It accurately captures the personality of the various characters; and it is fast-paced, with the action moving from Earth to deep space and back to Earth in a way that makes sense in context. If you are a fan of Thunderbirds (and if you aren't, there's something wrong with you*), then this is a must-read novel.
*just kidding, of course. differences in personal tastes should always be respected.
November 14, 2022
Huge fun for Thunderbirds fans. John W. Jennison ("John Theydon") was always the best writer for the Gerry Anderson tie-ins, and he outdid himself on this one. International Rescue attempts to save scientists caught in a cave-in on the Moon, but the Hood plots to steal Thunderbird 3 and force a captive Brains to build him more machines for his reign of terror. With three of the Tracy brothers stranded on the asteroid Ceres, can International Rescue stop him? Everyone gets in on the action in this story - even Grandma!
January 15, 2024
I have always been a fan of Gerry Anderson and his tv shows, especially Thunderbirds and reading this took me back to my childhood. The book feels like a movie than an episode and covers a lot from an incident on the moon to an asteroid belt when the Hood gets involved and back to a monastery in Tibet. The action is all there. John Theydon has written a few Thunderbirds book that were released back in the 60's but these editions are new from Anderson Entertainment. If you are a fan, then definitely worth reading.
August 5, 2022
Okay so...I appreciated the fact that we finally got to explore the Hood's hideout in more detail and it was cool that Jeff got to go out a mission. But dear God, the monologuing. I know it's the Hood's thing but I was slowly losing my mind every time it happened. And if I never hear the words "my cerebral friend" again it will be too soon. Even fans will find this audiobook a bit of a slog.
May 12, 2022
A decent book. Lively and full of the Thunderbirds characters. A bit hurried and definitely written as a kids book.
August 11, 2024
Another great adventure
Even though you know the hood isn't going to win it's still exciting, being along for the ride with the boys of international rescue. Being an adult it took me right back to my childhood.
Even though you know the hood isn't going to win it's still exciting, being along for the ride with the boys of international rescue. Being an adult it took me right back to my childhood.
October 5, 2016
Fantastic read. This story utilises every character, and sets the stakes high when the Hood starts implementing his plan. My only complaint is that it ends quite abruptly. However, I can excuse this because it is a amazing read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews