Kayo is on the maiden flight of the groundbreaking Fireflash, recently upgraded by Brains to achieve supersonic flight, when the plane is hijacked by none other than the Hood.
Tropes
- Abhorrent Admirer: Bernard Bottomsly certainly takes a shine to Kayo, not that she appreciates it.
- Big Damn Heroes: Scott orders Virgil, Alan and Gordon to stay at home in case nothing turns out to be wrong with the Fireflash after all. Fortunately, they don't listen.
- Broad Strokes: The episode is a straight adaptation of the Thunderbirds pilot episode Trapped In The Sky. That said, it heavily plays with a lot of the elements of the original episode:
- The Hood's original goal in the original series was to use the Fireflash as a distraction to get International Rescue's attention, in order to photograph and sell the information about their Thunderbirds for his own greed. in TAG, The Hood wants the plane for its engines for his own greed, and International Rescue is incidental to him as he's trying to stay under the radar with his hijacking.
- Tin-Tin in the original series was just another passenger, with very little involvement in the story despite her uncle sabotaging the plane. Here, Kayo is the main protagonist, and directly confronts The Hood and ultimately proactively tries to land the plane herself.
- The original ending was a demonstration of International Rescue's skills and capabilities to the world, with a dramatic and successful landing of the Fireflash onto a trio of elevator cars. A similar attempt is made in TAG, but fails due to the Elevator Cars in here being too small and Fireflash being too heavy, forcing them to achieve the safety of Fireflash in a different way.
- Cutting the Knot: The Hood explains that he decided to steal the plane directly instead of going through a bunch of tiresome corporate espionage.
- Episode on a Plane: The episode features the Tracy Villa living room as most episodes do but the majority of the episode's action takes place on Fireflash.
- Deadpan Snarker: As a Kayo-centric episode it was bound to have oodles of this, special mention to this gem:Bernard: I didn't catch your name.Kayo: I didn't throw it.
- If I Do Not Return: When Kayo thinks she isn't going to survive the flight she tells the boys how thankful she is to have them in her life; she may not have started life with five brother but she'll be going out of it with them. Thankfully averted.
- Instant Sedation:
- The Hood-as-Hansen uses a device to instantly knock out the real Hansen's suspicious co-pilot.
- As Hansen, the Hood also replaces the oxygen in the oxygen masks with a sedative and tells the passengers that the cabin is depressurizing. Kayo actually knows what a depressurizing cabin feels like, so she doesn't bite.
- Invisibility Cloak: In his hijacking, The Hood uses a wavelength disruptor which makes the Fireflash invisible to sight and radar, with the added benefit of blocking communications.
- Mythology Gag: As mentioned above, this is an adaptation of Trapped In The Sky from the original series. A notable example of this is the orchestral soundtrack from the classic series being used during the elevator car sequence.
- Silent Snarker: While she certainly snarks a little at Bottomsly Kayo also gives him a devastating eye roll.
- Spotting the Thread: Kayo realizes something's up when she notices the sun through the window changing position, indicating that the plane has changed course.
- Stealth Pun: When asked why he was delayed "Captain Hanson" replies that he got a "little tied up". Turns out the real Hansen was put out of action by the Hood who took his place.
- We Can Rule Together: As he does frequently, the Hood tries to encourage Kayo to leave the Tracys and come join him. She refuses.
