Thunderbirds Are Go! (2015) s02e25 Episode Script

Hyperspeed

Shh.
[WHISPERS.]
Listen, hear that? [CHUCKLES.]
Me neither.
My HyperTube is so quiet you'd never know we were going more than seven times the speed of sound! And because our HyperCar floats on magnets inside the tube, there's no wind to slow us down.
We can travel from Tokyo to London in under an hour.
That's even faster than Fireflash.
But enough of me rambling on about my own invention, let's hear from my very first passengers! Our two lucky contest winners, Keiko and Toshi Murakami.
- How's the ride back there? - It's wonderful.
Right, Grandpa? Oh, this thing needs cup-holders.
Hm.
Well, there you have it, Gertie.
The HyperTube, miracle of modern engineering, needs cup-holders.
Well, I guess there's always room for improvement.
I'm speaking to billionaire inventor Tycho Reeves as he delivers the very first passengers in his newest creation.
I'm Gertie Bunson, reporting live from HyperTube Control here in London, where technicians are making sure everything runs smoothly.
And an excited crowd awaits the arrival of the very first HyperCar, which should be here any minute now.
Isn't that right, Tycho? Er, less than a minute.
In fact, we'll be pulling into Knightsbridge Station in 16 seconds.
Huh, it's two seconds early.
Here they come now! This is where Tycho and his guests will be arriv Whoa! Wasn't it supposed to stop? [MUSIC.]
Control, initiate full diagnostics.
[ALARMS BEEPING.]
Clearly we've got a little bug to work out.
Well, actually, this would be a fairly large bug.
Like a dragonfly, or one of those great prehistoric Er, I think we missed our stop.
What's wrong? Why aren't we slowing down? The fact we're not slowing down isn't what worries me.
It's the fact that we're still speeding up.
[BEEPING.]
[WHIRRING.]
[MUSIC.]
ANNOUNCER: Five Four Three Two One! [THRUSTERS.]
[TITLE MUSIC.]
Thunderbirds Are Go.
My techs at HyperTube Control have tried everything, - but we continue to pick up speed.
- OK.
Any chance something's wrong with the HyperCar itself? Well, possibly.
It's hard to examine at 27,000 metres per second.
If anybody can catch up to you, it's us.
Boys, sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep with an early-morning emergency but these people need help, pronto.
[YAWNS.]
F-A-B.
Time to fly.
And I'll try to determine precisely what's gone wrong with this amazingly brilliant design.
[MUSIC.]
MAN: Five, four, three, two, one! [THRUSTERS.]
SCOTT: Thunderbird 1 is go.
[MUSIC.]
Closing in on the HyperTube now.
Matching speed with the HyperCar.
Any luck figuring out what's gone wrong, Brains? Brains? I think your friend may be a tad star-struck.
I'm your number-one fan.
Well, Brains, if you ever want to meet Tycho in person, - we'd better figure out how to stop his car.
- Of course.
It's hard to imagine anything could go wrong with this elegant design.
Floating on a magnetic cushion inside an airless tube, the HyperCar is perfectly safe.
- For now.
- But if it keeps speeding up? Well, it won't take long before the car takes a turn too fast - .
.
touches the tube wall and - Not so elegant.
Grandpa, look! Whoa! Thunderbird 1! [MUSIC.]
You'll be crossing the Sea of Japan soon.
If I take out a section of the tube over water, I'll be able to rescue you after the HyperCar makes a water landing.
- No! - Absolutely not.
We're travelling in a vacuum.
Hitting the atmosphere at Mach 8 would be like BOTH: .
.
slamming into a brick wall! We'll have to find a way to stop the car without breaking the tube.
I could probably fix it myself if I had the right tools.
Tycho, it looks like you three won't be the only ones taking a ride in the HyperTube today.
We've been told to evacuate the platform as Thunderbird 1 lands, but we're not gonna miss a chance to bring you this thrilling live shot of Whoa! Let's move back a bit, shall we? Glad you're here, International Rescue.
- I've got Tycho's tools.
- Load up another car.
I'm going in.
[MUSIC.]
- Are you certain this is a good idea, Scott? - Got a better one? Tycho needs tools.
I'm gonna get them to him.
If you check your sash, you'll find a new tool of your own.
Thanks, Brains, but what does it Whoa! Meet MiniMax.
Mini's petite proportions should come in handy in the HyperCar's cramped spaces.
Brains, you always surprise me.
Ready to launch.
[MUSIC.]
Just one question.
How do you expect your HyperCar to catch up with Tycho's? I don't expect to catch him.
I expect them to catch me.
Ooh! [EXCLAIMS.]
I've begun to question the merits of this plan.
Pushing this thing as fast as possible.
Let's hope it's fast enough.
[WHIRRING.]
[CLICKING.]
You must go faster, Scott! Kinda already knew that, Brains.
Come on.
Come on.
[ALARM BEEPING.]
[LOUDER BEEPING.]
Oh! Phew.
I bet you didn't know you'd be getting a demonstration of our collision-protection system, eh? Ooh.
I feel like a balloon animal.
BRAINS: Good job.
How did you make it go faster? I'm not exactly sure.
Well, I'll try to figure out what you and MiniMax did.
It may lead us to the problem.
Hi there! I believe you requested these? Thanks! Tycho, so nice to finally meet you.
Virtually, at least.
Oh, impressive invention! Is its A.
I.
integrated or running server-side? Oh, it's completely self-contained.
Fascinating! You used memristors to achieve the miniaturisation? A spintronic neural net, actually.
By giving each electron 16 possible states Er, guys, sorry to interrupt, but, er, imminent doom? - Oh, right.
- R-A-D.
Well, Tycho's design appears to be perfect, so the problem must be a manufacturing error.
- A mistake made when the car was built.
- I've been thinking the same thing.
Probably just a metallurgical flaw in the primary throttle matrix.
- Well, looks fine to me.
- Right.
If the throttle is working, one of the plasma plugs must have been machined improperly.
Oh, no.
Aw, a couple of bad plasma plugs should be easy enough to fix.
Fixing them is the easy part.
But reaching them is next to impossible.
Tycho is right.
The plasma-plug assembly can only be accessed from outside the car specifically, underneath it.
Gotcha.
Looks like a fun place to hang out.
BRAINS: Now, remember, if anything touches the tube at these speeds, it will burn up like a meteor.
Dropping even a single bolt would be catastrophic.
Yeah, I don't think that's gonna be hard to remember, Brains.
The access panel for the plasma plugs is just ahead on your left.
I guess you're getting a bit more adventure than you bargained for when you entered my contest, huh? Oh, I didn't enter us.
Grandpa did.
He loves to go fast.
I do! [LAUGHS.]
- And you don't? - Honestly, we're just lucky I haven't thrown up yet.
Oh.
SCOTT: All right, I'm in position.
[MUSIC.]
Hey, won't the car just stop if I pull all these plugs? Oh, it'll stop, all right.
The plasma plugs power both the engines and the magnets.
If you unplug them all, the car would drop with you under it.
So I probably wanna replace these one at a time, then, huh? Erm, yes.
And very carefully.
Whoa! Come on, come on, come on! Three down, one to go.
Agh! This last one doesn't wanna Whoa! Ah.
Nice catch.
OK, installing the last plug.
Just one more twist and we'll finally be able to - slow down! - KEIKO: Whoa! I didn't touch the controls.
We're going even faster! Ugh.
I don't feel so good.
[WHIMPERS, LAUGHS.]
Why would the speed increase at random like that? - None of this makes sense.
- Don't give up, Brains.
Try taking the whole problem again from the top.
If the controls aren't making the car go faster, then the only way it could be accelerating is if - Oh, no.
- Talk to me, Brains.
It's no use.
Go back inside, Scott.
Tycho, I'm afraid I've found the problem.
One of your formulas has a small error.
Impossible.
- My calculations were perfect.
- I thought so, too.
- But I've double-, triple-, and quadruple-checked it.
- No! No, that should be metres per second squared! Oh! How could I be so foolish? Even geniuses make mistakes.
Yes, but my mistake is going to destroy us all! If the problem is in my design, then every car has the same flaw! Even the one you came here in.
There's no way for us to stop.
OK, there's gotta be a way to fix this.
I really don't think so.
We're doomed.
And it's all my fault.
I'm sorry I entered the contest.
I'm sorry I made you come with me.
[WHISPERS.]
And I'm sorry I got sick on your shoes.
Let's not say our goodbyes just yet.
We will figure out how to stop this car.
Tycho, could we reverse the engines? - Not without them exploding.
- What about the magnets? - Could we reconfigure them to create drag? - No! It's hopeless.
I may have been too daft to spot my mistake, but I'm smart enough to know it can't be fixed.
There is nothing we can do to stop the inevitable.
Respectfully, sir, you may be a genius, but there's nothing smarter than hard work.
As long as we have time to work the problem, that's exactly what we're gonna do.
Let's just take a breath and slow down so we can think this through.
- Slow down - Yup, that's the idea.
No, "slow down!" We don't have to stop the car.
We just need to be in a slower vehicle that won't vaporise when it hits the atmosphere.
[LAUGHS.]
You're a genius! Right, the vehicle would need to be fast enough to reach us, with enough thrust to slow down in time.
Brains, we need Thunderbird 4 inside the HyperTube ASAP.
And put it in there backwards.
Exciting developments here as Thunderbird 2 arrives! I'm in position.
Lowering Thunderbird 4.
BRAINS: I've modified Thunderbird 4's turbines to work as afterburners.
We just need to time the launch so the vehicles meet at the right moment.
I'll be launching you up remotely, Gordon, so buckle up.
Erm, are we sure this is a good idea? Bad idea! Bad idea! I have visual on the cars.
BRAINS: You're losing speed, Thunderbird 4.
Don't worry, Brains.
If I can see it, I can catch it.
Careful, now.
TOSHI: We'll go together.
Ichi, ni, san.
All right, Virgil, they're loading into Thunderbird 4.
Get ready to show them a way out.
F-A-B.
[GRUNTS.]
Welcome aboard.
SCOTT: We're in.
Do it.
Harpoon detached.
Afterburners on! It's working.
We're slowing down.
But will it be enough? The cars are gone.
Let's hope you guys make a slower, gentler exit.
Hey, I'm nothing if not gentle.
Brace for impact! We made it! We didn't burn up.
- Did you guys have a plan for how to land this thing? - Erm, kinda.
[GRUNTS.]
Ah! Everybody OK? Can we do that again? No, thanks.
Not just yet.
[MUSIC.]
My deepest thanks to International Rescue for saving our lives.
And for the thrill of a lifetime.
- Arigatou gozaimasu.
- All in a day's work.
- So, you plan to rebuild? - Of course! I just needed a little reminder that it's not intelligence that makes a great inventor, it's persistence.
Or, as a wise friend once said, "There's nothing smarter than hard work.
" But this time I'll be sure to get a second opinion on all my designs.
That is if Brains is willing to lend a hand.
Erm, let me just think about that for a moment.
Double high-fives with an R-A-D on the side! Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
[LAUGHING.]
My.
I didn't know you had it in you.
I'd be happy to help.
Well, it took a bit longer than I promised, but I did finally get you to London.
Thanks, but, erm how are we getting back to Tokyo? Eh Yes.
Erm - Scott? - Wanna go for a ride? - Wow! - Oh, that'd be great - I-I guess.
- Now, tell me about those engines.
[MUSIC.]
GERTIE: Scott Tracy! Any chance we can get a quick interview? You know what? Never mind.
Another time maybe.
[MUSIC CONTINUES.]

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