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Thunderbirds Thursday: Brains’ Ingenious Evolution

International Rescue’s chief engineer is the scientific genius behind the invention of the Thunderbird machines. Without Brains’ expert knowhow, so many of International Rescue’s trickiest missions would surely have ended in disaster. Brains is also one of the sadly recently departed David Graham’s most memorable roles in Thunderbirds, alongside Parker. Compared to Lady Penelope’s faithful chauffer, however, Brains’ character undergoes an intriguing growth over the course of the series, from the retiring scientific boffin to something of a daredevil adventurer.

This Thunderbirds Thursday, we’re examining Brains’ ingenious character development!

“Well Brains, your phenomenal mind made all this possible”

Brains has his roots in many of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s preceding Supermarionation series. Like many other elements of Thunderbirds, the series’ ensemble cast evolves from character stereotypes built up across Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. Each of these series comes with a heroic, dashingly handsome protagonist who’s in charge of piloting the star vehicle of which the series tends to be named after. In Brains’ case, nearly each of these pre-Thunderbirds productions comes with some similar scientifically-minded personality, someone who can act as a comedic foil to the action-ready heroics of Mike Mercury, Steve Zodiac or Troy Tempest.

Brains clearly then takes the characteristics of Doctor Beaker and Professor Mat Mattic and applies them to being Thunderbirds‘ equivalent of being, quite literally, the ‘brains’ behind the technology. Compared to the comically scatter-brained Beaker and significantly older Matic, Brains is initially presented as a far shyer, retiring sort of character. His lack of any dialogue in Trapped in the Sky oddly crystalises his predominately background role.

Throughout Thunderbirds‘ earlier episodes, Brains often joins the Tracy boys in blasting off to the danger zone and providing what assistance he can. The jeopardous heroics are generally left to the likes of Scott or Virgil, however, with Brains often acting in much more of a supporting role. Compared to the heroically stimulated Doctor Beaker, who often accompanies Mike Mercury aboard Supercar, Brains’ ability to apply himself to rescue operations takes its time, gradually unfolding during the course of the series.

Day of Disaster is a prime example of this reserved character forced to push himself to a more extroverted manner. David Graham’s wonderfully heartfelt performance adds to the empathy you feel for Brains. He’s forced to muster up the courage to try and assist in the collapse of the Martian Space Probe rocket when it collapses off of the poorly maintained Allington Suspension Bridge. Brains may lack the rescue readiness of his I.R. colleagues, but that doesn’t stop him at least trying. Brains’ attempts to assert himself highlight his abundant nervousness and socially awkward persona that defines much of the character.

Desperate Intruder captures the scientist at his most vulnerable. His, Tin Tin’s and the accompanying Professor Blakely’s investigations into Lake Anasta seizes the attention of the Hood, who tortures Brains into finding out what treasures they’ve discovered. In one of Thunderbirds‘ most visually shocking moments, the Hood succeeds in burying Brains up to his neck in the unforgiving desert sands. Although it’s never seen, the remarkably bruised state of the unconscious of Professor Blakely at least implies that he put up a fight against the Hood. This was never an option for the non-violent Brains.

Hiram K. Hackenbacker

Whether through intentional design or happy accident, Brains undergoes a sudden but welcome evolution between Thunderbirds‘ two series. The Brains we come to know and appreciate during Thunderbirds‘ first series is mostly scrubbed away by the time we reach Give or Take a Million. Despite series 2′ relatively short run, an altogether different take on Brains emerges. Not different, but rather renewed.

Brains’ most significant upgrade comes in Alias Mr. Hackenbacker. Brains’ pseudonym used in the real-world now being used in episode titles highlights Brains’ reinvigorated significance within Thunderbirds‘ cast. Only he and Lady Penelope, that other character who’s popularity blossoms away from the series’ trappings, have episodes named after them. Just as the series’ creative teams came to recognise how popular Lady Penelope and Parker had become, outstripping the main Tracy cast, it seems Brains was also caught up in this reenergised approach to characterisation.

The Brains in Alias Mr. Hackenbacker is suave, cocksure, utterly confident of his surroundings and mannerisms. His entrance in cool-tinted shades at London Airport and his coy attitude towards showcasing his latest aerodynamic invention, the Skythrust, gives him a cool, slick swagger. During the events of the episode, in which Skythrust’s maiden voyage is hijacked by criminals, it’s Brains himself who plays a commanding role in this espionage-flavoured rescue operation. The rescue’s eventual success can be attributed almost entirely to the mechanical ingenuity with which Brains gifts the Skythrust (the craft’s detachable fuel pod plays a crucial role in outwitting the hijackers), and the sight of him leaving with Tin Tin on his arm surely would surely have Alan in a state of fits!

It’s perhaps no surprise then to discover that Alias Mr. Hackenbacker was penned by Thunderbirds‘ script editor Alan Patillo, who undoubtedly had a firm eye over how the series maintained its creative identity and could find opportunities for novel characterisations. The Perils of Penelope and The Cham Cham, two other episodes that have an abundance of fun investing in their characters, were also from Patillo.

Elsewhere, in Lord Parker’s ‘Oliday, another side of Brains emerges. Compared to past danger zone situations, Brains take a far more proactive and altogether dangerous level of involvement in the rescue operation, disregarding the Tracy boy’s insistence for maintaining his own safety. International Rescue scrambles into action to save the town of Monte Bianco when a solar generator that’s collapsed down a mountainside risks burning the town to a cinder. It falls to Brains to be the one to enable Thunderbird 2 to shift the fallen solar dish away from its smouldering position.

This attitude is sustained across the two Thunderbirds movies as well – Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968). Brains’ piloting of the titular Thunderbird 6 Tiger Moth biplane allows for a daredevil attempt to rescue the trapped passengers and villains off of the top of Skyship 1 as it dangles severely atop a relay tower with a colossal missile base waiting below. Brains’ very own International Rescue uniform feels like a resoundingly clear acknowledgement that in this final onscreen adventure for Thunderbirds, Brains transcends his initial role as the quietly reserved scientific boffin and is absolutely as much a valiant rescuer as any of the Tracy brothers.

The Brains who appears in Alias Mr. Hackenbacker is resoundingly not the Brains who appears in Day of Disaster or Desperate Intruder. The Brains of the Lake Anasta expedition is all puppy-dog enthusiasm that’s sadly all too easy to exploit by the Hood’s violent and villainous methods. Meanwhile, the Brains in Day of Disaster is rather stricken by his social awkwardness. But the Brains of the Skythrust saga is far closer to a James Bond persona, an almost relaxed demeanour that captures him totally in control of the situation around him. If anything, this later incarnation of Brains is very much what if Q had the cool-headed slickness of Bond!

Away from the techno-disaster worldbuilding and ground-breaking special effects, the evolution that Brains undergoes during Thunderbirds is fascinating evidence at the amount of detail paid to the characters in this series.

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Written by
Fred McNamara

Atomic-powered writer/editor. Website editor at Official Gerry Anderson. Author of Flaming Thunderbolts: The Definitive Story of Terrahawks. Also runs Gerry Anderson comic book blog Sequential 21.

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