10 Times Thunderbirds Was Way Too Dark For Kids TV

7. Thunderbirds Predicted Chernobyl

Thunderbirds Thunderbird 1
AP Films/ITC Entertainment

Just like Fireflash seemed to predict the eventual problems encountered by Concorde, Thunderbirds predicted the kind of damage that could be done by the explosion of a nuclear power plant.

Just like Chernobyl it showed the possible consequences of an atomic cloud bearing down on a city, in this case Melbourne. Albeit this leak was caused by a stray bullet fired by The Hood, rather than a series of catastrophic safety failures and human errors.

Luckily the city was saved by Mother Nature, a change in wind direction ensuring that the good city of Melbourne didn’t become the setting for Fallout 4.

Thunderbirds wasn't above preying on the fears of its audience. During its original run in 1965, people were living in constant fear of nuclear war and the dreaded clouds of nuclear fallout. It's something which people living today have experienced in film, games and literature time after time until we're almost immune to it but at the height of the Cold War this episode will have given a lot of children (and adults) sleepless nights.

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Freelance writer and Web Editor. | Once won a Cosmopolitan Award. No idea why. | @MichaelJayPark