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This scum Jeff Tracy is really bothering Kenshiro! IT MUST BE REWRITTEN OR ADDED TO!! So sayeth the great god of Earthrealm Raiden: or he will send lightning bolts to terminate you. |
| “ | Thunderbirds are GO! | „ |
| ~ Jeff Tracy |
Jeff Tracy is the overarching protagonist in the science-fiction franchise Thunderbirds, wherein he is the leader of the secretive International Rescue organization. He is also the father of its five main members: Scott Tracy, Virgil Tracy, Alan Tracy, Gordon Tracy and John Tracy.
In the series of Thunderbirds, as well as its two feature films from the 1960s Thunderbirds are GO! and Thunderbird 6, he is voiced by the late Peter Dyneley. In the panned 2004 film, he was played by the late Bill Paxton. In the 2015 series finale, he is voiced by Lee Majors.
Origins (original series)[]
Jeff Tracy was born to Grant and Cecilia Tracy, a pair of wheat farmers in Kansas, USA. Sources differ about Jeff's early life: some say that he was their only child, others that he was the oldest of three sons.
Whatever his origins, after a period of helping on the farm, Jeff joined the United States Air Force as a commissioned officer, quickly rising to the rank of full (i.e. 'bird') Colonel, before being transferred to the US Space Agency, where he became one of the first men to set foot on the Moon, when humanity decided to found its lunar colony.
Away from the military, Jeff married his wife, Lucille 'Lucy' Taylor, and the marriage produced five sons: Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan. Due to his space experience, Jeff named his sons after five of the Mercury 7 astronauts.
The happiness in the Tracy family was not to be continuous, though. Jeff would later lose both his father and his wife. Sources differ as to how they died. With Lucille, some say it was in an avalanche, in which Grant lost his life. Others, that her car plunged off the edge of a cliff. A few say that it was complications from giving birth to Alan.
Whatever the circumstances of the loss of his father and wife, Jeff resigned from the Space Agency and turned to raising his five sons, with help from his mother (or Grandma, as she was better known to his sons). He also founded a very successful business, incorporating aircraft manufacturing, agriculture and construction engineering; he quickly became one of the world's richest men.
However, what is arguably Jeff's greatest, albeit least-known, decision, was to found International Rescue. He was reminded of Lucille and Grant's deaths when he read of an air crash, in which eighty people died because of poor lifesaving equipment; vowing never to let it happen again, International Rescue was born. Due to his wealth, Jeff could easily construct his operation in total secrecy: a South Pacific island to serve as their base; a secret network of agents across the world; and the five machines that made International Rescue famous: the Thunderbirds.
In Thunderbirds Are Go![]
In the 2015 CGI revival series, Jeff is an unseen, yet often referenced character. As with his classic self, he became a multi-billionaire as an astronaut, and he took part in multiple outer space operations, such as the construction of lunar bases like Shadow Alpha 1. He is obviously, once again, the father of the Tracy brothers, and the man who created and led International Rescue, doing so after his retirement with the money he made. However, Jeff went missing whilst on a mission to find information on The Hood, for his ship TV-21 was attacked and sunk into the ocean by the villain. Whether or not Jeff is dead is unknown for much of the series, but The Hood likes to think he is.
Absence from Remake Series (2015)[]
Although Jeff is missing in action, he still has a huge presence. His mother, five sons, and all other residents on Tracy Island loved him and miss him terribly. As a shrine, his desk still stands untouched in the Tracy Villa lounge - though this does not stop the boys from hiding Grandma's foul cookies in its drawers.
During his time as an astronaut, Jeff became best friends with Captain Lee Taylor, who he worked with on Moonbase Shadow Alpha 1 and who later became an uncle-like figure to his sons. According to Taylor, the two got into a lot of problems and misadventures as they worked together on the moon, with Jeff being slightly more serious and calm, disapproving of the flames Taylor painted on the Lunar Transporter as they were "too much". Taylor would later help develop International Rescue.
Jeff Tracy also knew Brains, and decided that his brilliant mind would make I.R. possible. He gave Brains a home on Tracy Island, and commissioned him to create the Thunderbirds, the Pods, and all the other equipment needed for the organization to operate.
Jeff was a good friend of Colonel Casey, and during I.R.'s run, Jeff let Earth's security entity, the Global Defence Force (G.D.F.) know many otherwise-top secret details about it, such as the identities of its operators, but he kept some information hidden, such as the location of Tracy Island. After his disappearance, his sons also kept the island's location from the G.D.F. until the events of Legacy, where the defence corps discovered it after an invasion.
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward was friends with Jeff for a long time. Her chauffeur, Parker, would teach his sons how to drive. Jeff let Penelope and Parker join I.R. as secret agents, and created FAB 1 for them.
Another of Jeff's friends was Kyrano, who operated as International Rescue's head of security and covert operations. This friendship was so strong that Jeff, prior to the show's events, became the legal guardian of Kyrano's daughter, Kayo, letting her live on his island and was treated like family ever since. Jeff and his mother, Grandma Tracy, were the only people on Tracy Island aware of Kayo's connection to The Hood, but they both respected her desires to keep that information secret from the Tracy brothers, even if they never gave any impression that they doubted her loyalty to them due to her family ties to their adversary.
Episodes[]
Ring Of Fire: Part 1 revealed that Jeff is either dead or missing in action due to The Hood's actions, with his ship having apparently sunk while he was looking for more information on the villain. An aquatic mission in Thunderbird 4 is briefly interrupted by the detection of the same type of transponder beacon Jeff had on his ship. Gordon Tracy quickly investigates where the signal is coming from, only to be disappointed to find out that it is not from his fathers ship. In Slingshot, Alan told Kayo that Jeff insisted on teaching him and his brothers Morse code, even though the form of communication was phased out long before the Global Conflict of 2040.
Relic saw Scott and Alan Tracy rescuing his old lunar crew mate Captain Lee Taylor stranded on the moon inside Shadow Alpha One. Taylor repeatedly spoke about his career alongside Jeff with Scott, and after being rescued and taken to Tracy Island, Taylor told the residents more stories about himself and Jeff.
As the series progressed, it is revealed that Jeff had been aboard an experimental spaceship, the Zero-X, with FTL drive. This was activated by the Hood, causing Jeff to be launched to the other side of the galaxy, where he would remain for eight years, until his sons came to rescue him in another FTL-enabled spaceship, Zero-XL.
Thunderbirds (2004)[]
When disaster struck an off-shore Russian oil rig, Jeff led the charge piloting Thunderbird 2 into the danger zone. He handled the situation well, and helped his sons to successfully rescue the trapped workers. Shortly afterward, he took command of Thunderbird 3 in an attempt to rescue John from the damaged Thunderbird 5. Gordon acted as co-pilot, with Scott and Virgil providing support.
Due to an attack by the Hood, Jeff and his sons got stranded in space. They were saved at the last minute when Fermat (Brains' son) was able to restore control of Thunderbird 5 to them. Jeff then reluctantly allowed the kids to go after the Hood themselves, arriving in time to see them perform a rescue on their own. He then witnessed Alan's heroism and strength of character when he faced off with the Hood, the Tracy family's nemesis, and saved his life instead of letting him die.
After the threat was over, Jeff held a party on Tracy Island with his family and friends where he promoted Alan and his friends to full Thunderbird status. Moments later, they got a rescue call which the kids joined in on but Jeff himself stayed behind.
Personality & Traits[]
Jeff is intelligent, kind and has a sense of humour and shows great devotion to his sons and rest of his family, but on occasions he can be decisive and strict when the situation demands such as when in the episode, "Security Hazard", an unknown intruder stows away in Thunderbird 2, stating angrily that it should never have happened.
Gallery[]
