The Mighty Atom (Thunderbirds)  "The Mighty Atom" is the sixth episode of the first series of "Thunderbirds", a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by their company AP Films. Written by Dennis Spooner and directed by David Lane, it was first broadcast on ATV Midlands on 30 December 1965. In this episode, the Hood attacks atomic irrigation plants in Australia and the Sahara. Some time before the creation of International Rescue, the Hood (voiced by Ray Barrett) is spying on a nuclear-powered irrigation plant in an Australian desert when he is discovered and challenged by a security guard. A gunfight ensues and one of the Hood's bullets hits a gas cylinder, starting a fire that quickly consumes the facility. Unable to shut down the atomic reactor, Controller Wade and his staff are airlifted to safety before the plant is destroyed in a nuclear explosion. The resulting radioactive cloud seems poised to engulf Melbourne but is dispersed by high winds. One year later, the disguised Hood hypnotises delegates at a science conference and steals the "Mighty Atom" – an artificially-intelligent roaming surveillance device that looks like a mouse. Travelling to the Sahara, he uses the Mighty Atom to photograph the interior of a new, automated irrigation plant maintained by Wade and his assistant Collins. He then decides to exploit the situation further by creating a disaster to which the newly-formed International Rescue will respond, giving him an opportunity to use the device to steal the secrets of the "Thunderbird" machines. To this end, he detonates explosive devices around the plant's reactor, fatally de-stabilising it. With a second nuclear explosion inevitable and rescue by the wind unlikely, Wade realises that the consequences for the region will be devastating. He calls International Rescue for help and Jeff Tracy (voiced by Peter Dyneley) dispatches Scott (voiced by Shane Rimmer) in "Thunderbird 1". Lady Penelope (voiced by Sylvia Anderson), who is visiting Tracy Island with Parker (voiced by David Graham) and is eager to accompany the Tracy brothers on a mission, leaves with Virgil and Gordon (voiced by David Holliday and David Graham) in "Thunderbird 2" carrying Pod 4. When "Thunderbird 2" reaches the North African coast, Gordon launches in "Thunderbird 4" and proceeds to the plant's seawater inlet. "Thunderbird 2" continues to the plant, where Scott and Virgil don protective suits and enter the reactor room to re-align the control rods and stabilise the reactor.