Thunderbirds (TV series)

Thunderbirds is a British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) and distributed by ITC Entertainment. It was produced between 1964 and 1966 using a form of electronic marionette puppetry (dubbed "Supermarionation") combined with scale model special effects sequences. Two series were filmed, comprising a total of 32 episodes. Production ceased after Lew Grade, the Andersons' financial backer, failed in his efforts to sell the programme to American network television.

Set in the mid-2060s, Thunderbirds is a follow-up to the earlier Supermarionation productions Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. It follows the exploits of International Rescue (IR), a life-saving organisation equipped with technologically-advanced land, sea, air and space rescue craft; these are headed by a fleet of five vehicles named the Thunderbirds and launched from IR's secret base in the Pacific Ocean. The main characters are ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, the founder of IR, and his five adult sons, who pilot the Thunderbird machines.

Thunderbirds (film)

Thunderbirds is a 2004 science-fiction comedy action-adventure film based on the 1960s television series of the same name, directed by Jonathan Frakes. The film, written by William Osborne and Michael McCullers, was released on 24 July 2004 in the United Kingdom and 30 July 2004 in the United States, with later opening dates in other countries. Whereas the original TV series used a form of puppetry termed "Supermarionation", the film's characters are portrayed by live-action actors. Thunderbirds received mainly negative reviews, and was a box office bomb. The creator of the original series Gerry Anderson disliked the film calling it "the biggest load of crap I've seen in my entire life" However the film's soundtrack includes the song "Thunderbirds are Go" by pop rock band Busted, which peaked at number one in the UK charts and later won the 2004 UK Record of the Year award.

Plot

The Tracy family, led by former astronaut Jeff Tracy, operate International Rescue, a secret organization that aids those in need using the technologically advanced machines called Thunderbirds. The youngest son Alan lives at a boarding school on the mainland dreaming of being a Thunderbird pilot. He and his friend Fermat Hackenbacker, son of the Thunderbirds’ engineer Brains, are picked up by Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and her butler Aloysius Parker. Lady Penelope is an International Rescue agent, travelling to Tracy Island in the South Pacific in her limo FAB 1. The Thunderbirds return from an oil rig fire, but Alan and Fermat play around in Thunderbird 1, discovering a strange compound splattered on the side. Unbeknownst to them, the compound is a tracking beacon being used by the Hood, a psychic criminal mastermind who has a vendetta against Jeff for not saving him in a collapsing diamond mine while his brother Kyrano was rescued.

Thunderbirds merchandise

This is a list of tie-in merchandise and non-televisual media associated with Thunderbirds, a British science-fiction series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, filmed by their production company AP Films between 1964 and 1966, and distributed by ITC Entertainment.

Since the series' first appearance in 1965, more than 3,000 Thunderbirds tie-in products – including children's toys, print media and audio episodes – have been marketed.

Books

Between 1966 and 1967, eight original Thunderbirds novels were written by John William Jennison (four under the pseudonym "John Theydon") and Kevin McGarry; three focus on the character of Lady Penelope. In 1992, Corgi Books published four children's novelisations, all written by Dave Morris. In 2008, Minnesota-based FTL Publications, in association with Diamond Comic Distributors, launched a new series of original novels written by Joan Marie Verba with artwork by Steve Kyte. Verba had attempted to obtain the licence as early as 2004, while Carlton Television was in the process of merging with ITV Granada. After waiting several months, she contacted Granada, and after three years of discussions FTL Publications was finally granted the licence in 2007. It was the first licence for Thunderbirds titles to be given to an American publisher, and the books constitute the first new, official series of Thunderbirds novels to be written since the 1960s.Countdown to Action, published in June 2008, reveals the founding of International Rescue, exploring the establishment of the organisation and the construction of its machines. The other books highlight the individual Tracy brothers, as well as Brains.

Kit

Kit may refer to:

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Pál Kitaibel

Pál Kitaibel (3 February 1757– 13 December 1817) was a Hungarian botanist and chemist.

He was born at Mattersburg and studied botany and chemistry at the University of Buda. In 1794 he became Professor and taught these subjects at Pest. As well as studying the flora and hydrography of Hungary, in 1789 he discovered the element tellurium, but later gave the credit to Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein (1740–1825) who had actually discovered it in 1782.

Together with Franz de Paula Adam von Waldstein (1759–1823), he wrote Descriptiones et icones plantarum rariorum Hungariae ("Descriptions and pictures of the rare plants of Hungary"; M. A. Schmidt, Vienna, three volumes, 1802–1812). In this work he made the first description of Nymphaea lotus f. thermalis.

He died in 1817 at Pest.

The genus Kitaibelia of mallows was named after him by Carl Ludwig von Willdenow.

Species named after him:

KITT

KITT is the short name of two fictional characters from the adventure TV series Knight Rider. While having the same acronym, the KITTs are two different entities: one known as the Knight Industries Two Thousand, which appeared in the original TV series Knight Rider, and the other as the Knight Industries Three Thousand, which appeared first in the two-hour 2008 pilot film for a new Knight Rider TV series and then the new series itself. In both instances, KITT is an artificially intelligent electronic computer module in the body of a highly advanced, very mobile, robotic automobile: the original KITT as a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, and the second KITT as a 2008/2009 Ford Shelby GT500KR. KITT was voiced by William Daniels in the original series, and by Val Kilmer in the 2008 series.

History

In the television show's history, the first KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) was designed by the late Wilton Knight, a brilliant but eccentric billionaire and founder of the Foundation for Law And Government (FLAG) and its parent Knight Industries. The 2008 pilot movie later implied that Charles Graiman, creator of the Knight Industries Three Thousand, also had a hand in designing the first KITT.

Kat

Kat is a common nickname for the feminine given name Katherine, Kathleen, Katarina, Katrina, Kathryn, and variations.

Kat or KAT may also refer to:

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