Thunderbirds (TV series)/Recap/S1/E25 The Cham Cham

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The US military is growing increasingly impatient at the repeated loss of his missile-transport aircraft. Despite rigid security, every flight is gunned down by mysterious fighter aircraft. International Rescue attempt their own investigation, and their attention is rapidly drawn to the Cas Carnaby Five, a caberet group currently performing from the Paradise Peaks Hotel, high in the Alps. The group's smash hit, "Dangerous Game", has been playing each time the transport craft have been shot down.

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward travels to the hotel under the pseudonym "Wanda Lamour", along with Tin Tin Kyrano as her assistant. Parker disguises himself as a barman, and the trio attempt to find out if there's a connection between the musical group and the transporters. They discover than Olsen, the band's musical manager, has a nearby chalet, in which a vast computer translates words into music. This machine - a Cham-Cham - is how Olsen uses the Cas Carnaby Five to transmit the locations of the transporters to the enemy airfield.

Armed with this discovery, International Rescue call the USAF and warn them. Sadly, the general in charge is disinclined to listen to some crackpot shouting about "Music! It's encoded in the music!" and orders the operation to go ahead. Without options, International Rescue work out the code and Wanda Lamour takes the stage. By shifting the pattern of the song, the interceptor fighters are redirected over the USAF airbase, where they are taken apart by the base's defences.