The Complete Book Of Thunderbirds 2086

12 - Eighteen

Thunderbirds 2086: Eighteen was the fifty-second fan fiction written and published by CaptainThunderWho Century 22 Productions. It was published on 1st August 2021 and was the first outing of 2086 among Century 22's vast catalogue of Gerry Anderson related programs. Having completed at least one work of the Anderson shows I had wanted to write, I had realised that I had not done a work of 2086. It was in May 2021 when I was rewatching the series, among other Anderson productions, that this struck me. I, therefore, decided to do a 2086, even if it was not officially a Gerry Anderson show. I would get around to doing writing it in July during the incredibly hot summer that year and only took me four days to write for the ten chapters. The cover came from a famous poster of the series, used in media formats such as the video range. 

The concept for the story I selected from one of my many arrays of ideas of Thunderbirds. The one I chose was linked to a very topical subject, or still is topical. It was based on some of the conflicts that are taking place in areas in the East. That was the stimulus to that work. I thought that, combined with a rescue situation caused as a result of the conflict, it would make a good scenario for a Thunderbirds story. The topic that was discussed in the episode was about the chaos and destruction war brings, and its theme is subtly sprinkled throughout the episode. There was a conflict in the story. Where it was and how long the fighting was on for remained unclear - as it should be to avoid any discrimination or stereotyping. We would see the fighting taking place before returning to the Arcology to see Thunderbird 18. We did in fact get a mention of Thunderbird 18 in the episode Starcrusher, being under construction for over a year. 

Deciding not to use any of the seventeen Thunderbird crafts seen in the series, mainly because they aren't as cool as the ones seen in the original, I thought about a way I could get around it. With Thunderbird 18 in the works, I thought this would be the answer. The entire episode would be dedicated to the revealment of TB18. Designed as my favourite Thunderbird from the original Gerry Anderson series, Thunderbird 1, I thought it could be a carrier craft that could contain all sixteen Thunderbirds inside (excluding Thunderbird 6). Not wanting to make the other Thunderbird crafts redundant, I thought that these vehicles inside TB18 could be clones to the other ships. It would therefore mean that Thunderbird 18 could be used on emergency calls when a large number of ships could be called at a moment's notice. Smaller rescues could simply just employ one or two Thunderbirds.

Other Thunderbird crafts were duplicated exactly in design to fit inside the ship. Much of the schematics and technical data was sourced from the Thunderbirds Cross-Sections book from 2015, where I used the Martian Space Probe to help describe its specifications. I wanted to use data and information about all the crafts that are seen in the GA universe, even ones that only appear in a single episode. Readers may have noticed this in my works, as well as the bios of the main characters. The information about the various crafts is as follows throughout Eighteen; 

Revealment - 

"Thunderbird Eighteen is essentially a far, far larger craft designed almost identically as the classic Thunderbird 1, even with the letters "TB1" on the sides and the "Thunderbird" title on the top of the craft, minus the exception of the "18" on the blue. To the view that we see the Thunderbird, to the right we see that there is an extension of the hanger – obviously leading to the launch site of the Thunderbird.

Simpson:

There we are. Fully complete and ready for launch, at last. It has taken the world's top scientists, engineers and an army of robots flat out around the clock to complete her.

JJ:

Yes. And within only a year. They have not only built a Thunderbird that can contain virtually all our craft but houses exact duplicates of all our Thunderbirds. And they can be deployed at record-breaking speeds. Maybe our other Thunderbirds in the Arcology might not be necessary anymore.