Supercar

Supercar for me has been a TV program that has had to wait. Way back in the 1960's in the UK many people had TV sets that only could receive BBC programs, in other words a single TV tuner. Many of my friends could watch ITV programs which Supercar was featured on at the time. I spent part of my childhood trying to understand what my friends were on about when they mentioned Mike Mercury and Mitch the Monkey. A long time had to pass, in fact I was in my mid 50s before the thought came to me to buy the DVD box set. WOW what a surprise that was. I was expecting something quite childish and on a par with maybe Torchy the Battery Boy, but no this was of a high standard in deed. Each episode has an excellent story the best ones feature the arch villain Master Spy. Check out as the episodes progress how the special effects get better. I think that's due to the introduction of Derrick Meddings.

This is the program my friends and I would watch in the evening; then spend our days cutting up cardboard boxes to make our own "Supercars" (and, of course, each of us was Mike Mercury).

Supercar could do absolutely anything, go absolutely anywhere and get out of absolutely any nail-biting jam. What was great about Supercar was that it didn't rely on any previous-show precedent for design or capabilities...if Supercar needed new features, good ol' Doctor Beaker and Professor Popkiss just added them!

Comic relief came in the form of Mitch (some sort of anthropomorphic monkey), and the Dr. and the Professor (who tended to bumble). I never really understood why Jimmy was there, but I figured he was the luckiest kid on earth. So my friends and I would watch each episode, living vicariously through Jimmy, then construct our banana-box Supercars, complete with all of the most recent episode's modifications.

Now, that was truly TV for a kid's imagination! Just think what would happen if it played in 2005, with Dr. James Dobson watching like a hawk -- three men, a boy and a monkey living together!

I used to really enjoy watching this show as a youngster. I think some of the children's shows today are okay, but in general they just are not of the same caliber as Supercar and some of the other shows and cartoons that were around in 1961.

Maybe some of the cable stations should consider airing Supercar again. Even today in 2006, Supercar would still be futuristic. Maybe some of today's auto manufacturers should take notes.

Incredibly talented puppeteers made this a one-of-a-kind classic.

I hope Supercar used some fuel other than gasoline. They couldn't afford to run it at today's prices.

Mike Mercury, Dr. Beaker, Professor Popkiss, Jimmy, and Mitch, long time no see. Hope you are all well.

Supercar was the first of the many Gerry Anderson puppet series and while the stories were simpler, and not as exciting compared to the later shows, it was a good series in its own right and a good start to Supermarionation as a whole.

Another of Supercar's plus points was that the stories were versatile; the title vehicle could travel on land, sea, air and space, so you had a good range of stories. And all the characters were likable, although Mitch the Monkey could be decidedly irritating at times.

Well worth watching if you are curious as to how Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation productions started.

I guess following TV's "Howdy Doody Show" from the 1950's - 1961's "Supercar" was the next in line as the absolute best puppet show that early-television had to offer the wee kiddies as entertainment.

Of course with Supercar now being 55 years old it would be totally unfair to compare it to today's standards of television-amusement for the youngsters.

But, regardless of its primitive visual effects and almost snail-paced action, Supercar does have a certain quirky and laughable charm that's all of its own.

Created by Gerry Anderson (who 4 years later produced "The Thunderbirds" TV Series, yet another elaborate puppet show), the "supercar" featured in this program was actually quite impressive, especially since this vehicle could be used (with but a few flips of the control-panel switches) on land, under water and up in the air.

Filmed in b&w - This TV show (whose episodes were a half-hour in length) had an unintentionally hilarious theme song which was played (along with visuals) at the start of every episode.

Anyway - Because of Supercar's position in the history of TV's time-line, I certainly cut it some well-deserved slack and, with that, give it a 6-star rating.