Terrahawks: The Home Video Range

PART 6 - Terrahawks at Century 22

This section of the book analyses the stories Century 22 has released of Terrahawks stories. No major spoilers will be revealed in any of the works in this chapter. As of the 40th Anniversary of the series, Century 22 has published 4 Terrahawks related works. The intention of doing Terrahawks so far ahead in advance of its 40th Anniversary (October 2023) was because of the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who prioritising Century 22 to focus primarily on Doctor Who for 2023. After Century 22 completed work on the 60th Anniversary of Fireball XL5, Terrahawks' Anniversary celebrations would begin. 

Although work finished on the Fireball XL5 stories by September 2022, through to the remainder of the Anniversary of the series in October, Century 22 worked on Doctor Who: The Complete History Of The BBC VHS Range. After 28th October, the Anniversary date of Fireball XL5, work commenced on Terrahawks. Due to an unprecedented amount of work, progress was slow on producing the Terrahawks stories. I thought carefully about story plans for at least two Terrahawks stories. The structure of my Anniversary stories follows the same tradition followed for previous Anniversary events of a Gerry Anderson production; a new episodic story, a factfile about the series, and a feature length adventure of the series. The factfile about the series I decided to complete first, being the easiest to complete as I finalise ideas.

But as plans were underway for my celebrations of Terrahawks, I cast my thoughts back to my only previous Terrahawks story from Century 22 Productions published back in late January 2020. My 28th production was Terrahawks: Slime Time! Written in November time of 2019, I specifically saved writing a Terrahawks story for the time of publishing in the year the show was set. Using the cover of the 2017 Complete Series DVD/Blu Ray cover, this new episode was set at an earlier point in time with the battle between the android martians and the Terrahawks. Influenced by the episode Thunder Path, I set up a story of a massive tanker under Sram's guidance to destroy a complex North of London that will release a poisonous sludge that will begin to engulf the City southbound. It was made in order to fit into the modern reality that we lived through in 2020 by using real London suburban sites such as Radlett and the M25. 

The story also aimed to emphasise ecological concerns at the destructive capabilities of man's waste and pollution. The silly pantomime humour between the antagonists was a definite strong point in the story, and is perfectly captured throughout. The rhyming title Slime Time! was decided to fit the witty names of the original series. Beginning the scene on Mars, we are introduced to Yung-Star and his granite crunchies, Cy-Star, and Zelda, creating another hilarious sequence where Yung-Star is once again humiliated for his dim-witted behaviour. Colonel Johnson is seen briefing with Dr. Ninestein about further developments about counteracting the Martian menace. Once Sram is released from captivity, Zelda instructs Sram to launch an attack on the Radlett establishment and to begin creating havoc. Sram growls at Yung-Star, who cowers at his mighty rage and power. At London Luton Airport, the monster-like android breaks into an XP2 tanker stored at the airport and charges uncontrollably in order to destroy the complex at Radlett. Soon, the Terrahawks are on their way.

The Battlehawk and Hawkwing are launched to London, carrying Ninestein, Mary, Kate, Hawkeye, Sergeant Major Zero, and Zeroid 99 in their respective crafts. Zeriod 99 is charismatic yet often sarky and cheeky, which often leads him resulting in getting a lesson in discipline for overstepping his authority. As the XP2 passes over the motorway to the power plant, the efforts to shoot down the tanker fail because of Sram's powerful roar. With the Terrahawks failing to stop Sram who escapes moments before impact, the craft crashes into the plant and the sludge is released, spewing it up and running towards the city. By the end of the adventure, Zelda remains certain that victory shall be hers. Terrahawks: Slime Time! was the only Terrahawks story to be released until January 2023. In between then however, a cameo from the series was featured in Thunderbirds Are Go!: The Movie (September 2021), where a wanted poster's list of Sherriff Tucker featured many antagnoists from the Anderson universe - including Zelda and Yung Star! The posters read, "Wanted, found dead or alive - preferably dead!