Supercar

I was 11 when SUPERCAR debuted on American TV. That cool car, which looked like something any kid could build out of paper and tape and gray paint, could fly and dive under water, and it even made coffee. More importantly, the opening to the theme song haunts me to this day "Supercahhhhhh..." the veddy British singer intones over and over again. I have no memory of THUNDERBIRDS, which came after. I was probably busy with girls by then. However, I do remember GIGANTOR aka the Space Age Robot. That limited animation cartoon series, from Japan, also had a heckuva catchy theme song. "Gi-gan-tor, Gi-gan-tor, Gi-gan-an-tor..." intoned the deeply baritone chorus. Gigantor looked a little like a flying version of the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz." Ah, those were the days.

I used to watch Supercar in 1963/64 when we were living in a one bedroom apartment in Canyon, Texas. I was around 6 at the time. I can't picture all of the characters anymore. I remember the lead character and an old man. I think I remember the basic sound of the theme song. But, I remember I was quite taken in by the show and really watched it intently and regularly. There was something about being that age and seeing that show. It was really entertaining for a six year old, if not mesmerizing. I think it came on Saturday or possibly Sunday between morning and noon. It was quite a sight in 1964. I remember the "strings". I'm glad to find that people remember the show. Our family moved to California in the summer 64 and I never saw the show again. I've never met anyone in California (in the Sacramento area)who has seen it. But, we did have The Mighty Hercules!

Supercar was my absolute favorite show when I was around eight or nine years of age in 1962-63. I had enough knowledge to understand even at that age, exactly what this vehicle was. It was the first anti gravity aircraft. I knew what turbines were, and I loved the sound of them, and Supercar Had them! But what made Supercar levitate was NOT jet propulsion (as a Harrier jet uses now), but you could hear another certain sound it made like a bunch of gyros all spinning in hyper-unison velocity or something along with the turbines, and in my young mind that produced this anti-gravity. And that music throughout each episode was so perfect! Every time the spacey sounding organ music started as they slowly opened the roof doors and the clouds above came into view in anticipation of another flight, my eyes were as big as saucers, and you could'nt have pulled me away from the t.v. for ANYTHING! And even to this day..true anti gravity is elusive. And there has'nt been anything like it since (Thunderbirds, Stingray, Fireball XL5 was good, but of a different caliber as was other Sci-fi's).

I had thought about Supercar at times all my life afterwards, and never got to see it again for decades until around 1998, when I found Gerry Anderson in the library book of "Who's Who", and after a little detective work, I found the first English PAL VHS video versions of the first 16 episodes, and had them converted to NTFS so they could play in U.S. VHS players, and once again even now at age 57...am still fascinated at what Supercar is, and the adventures & characters that surround it, and was stunned when the entire series of 39 episodes finally came out on DVD, and was so clear and sharp that you could see the strings on the puppets even better than before! Ha! (love it, LOVE IT!). You should hear Supercar fire up it's engines on a 200 watt 12 inch woofer tower speaker stereo system cranked up enough to rattle the windows and vibrate right through your gut! (I guess i'm a big kid at heart, ha!)

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.

Supercar is among the best sci-fi TV shows ever produced, with the ability to create a lifetime impression on those fortunate enough to experience it. The characters compliment each other perfectly, and of course, Supercar is an amazing machine! The sound effects and theme music make my scalp tingle.

The first 16 episodes are available on video tape, and we at Black_Rock_1 (a Yahoo egroup dedicated to Supercar) hope that not only are DVDs in the works, but that the series will make a big-screen debut soon. Supercar has a strong, dedicated following, and would certainly be a success at the box office! Be sure to watch for the upcoming Supercar comic and T-shirt!

Rob Haeuser [-----]