The Hood (Thunderbirds)
| The Hood | |
|---|---|
| Thunderbirds character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | "Trapped in the Sky" (30 September 1965) |
| Created by | Gerry and Sylvia Anderson |
| Portrayed by | Ben Kingsley (2004) |
| Voiced by |
Ray Barrett (1965–66) Malachi Throne (1994) Andres Williams (2015-) |
| Information | |
| Full name | Bela Gaat (Highway To Disaster – Thunderbids The Comic #65) Bela Ghat (Countdown To Action!) Trangh Belagant (Thunderbirds) |
| Aliases | Agent 79 ("Martian Invasion") 671 ("Edge of Impact") |
| Occupation | Criminal and terrorist |
| Family |
Kyrano (half-brother) Tin-Tin Kyrano (half-niece) |
| Nationality | Malaysian |
The Hood is the main villain and adversary of International Rescue in the Thunderbirds TV series.
The name "Hood" was derived from the term ""; Gerry Anderson also observed that the character was frequently masked, and that a mask "could be described as a 'hood'."Sylvia Anderson acknowledges that the Hood's appearances became less regular towards the end of the series (the character is absent from the six episodes of Series Two), explaining that, like Kyrano, the character "turned out to be less viable on the screen than on the page." To strengthen the character's antagonistic appearance, the Supermarionation puppet was fitted with an over-sized head and hands.
The Hood's precise origins are unknown. While it is known that he is the half-brother of Kyrano, the precise details of their relationship – such as which parent they share or which of them is the elder – remain a mystery, as does the origin of his mysterious hypnotic powers. Even his real name remains a mystery; throughout the TV series, he is only ever referred to as "Agent Seven-Nine" and "671", and each codename is used on one occasion only ("Agent Seven-Nine" when he is working for "General X", a military officer from an unspecified eastern European country, and "671" when he is working for General Bron). The name "The Hood" is only used once used in the TV episodes; at the end of the episode Edge of impact the General can be heard uttering the word Hood through the speaker of the Hood's vehicle underwater (hence why it is never mentioned in Thunderbirds books or on fan websites). Instead, the name was revealed in spin-off media and tie-in promotional materials.
What is known for certain about the Hood is that he possesses a significant reputation among the less ethical groups of the world, as he has been shown to be in contact with spy agencies and militaries seeking information or for a target to be eliminated, such as in the episode "Edge of Impact", in which when he is hired by a general to sabotage the Red Arrow program as it was a threat to his work. He regularly spends his time in an Aztec-themed temple in the heart of a Malaysian jungle, which features a statue of Kyrano in front of which he regularly stands when communicating with his brother, as well as other high-tech equipment that he uses to monitor his enemies and prepare his plans.
However, his driving goal is to discover the secrets of the Thunderbirds machines and use them for his own goals. To this end he has been known to create several disasters in an attempt to photograph their machines in action, such as sabotaging the Fireflash's maiden flight by planting a bomb, causing actors for a film to be trapped in a cave, or attempting to sneak a miniature camera in the form of a mouse into Thunderbird 2 after triggering a nuclear reactor meltdown. However, these plans invariably failed, either through direct intervention on the part of International Rescue and their agents or through his own mistakes; for example, when he sent the mouse-like camera into Thunderbird 2, its program (to photograph movement) caused it to instead photograph the screaming Lady Penelope, who had wanted to see the Tracy brothers in action and thus accompanied Virgil, rather than Thunderbird 2's controls.
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Wikipedia