Supercar

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!

Maybe you got here after seeing "Team America" and couldn't help but trace the geneology of these puppets back to their earliest roots. As for me, I recall sitting on my living room floor at age 7 watching this on WPIX TV (New York) in total fascination. My parents looked down at me and asked; "Why do you watch this garbage? Turn it off". I couldn't, I was transfixed. I didn't care if they couldn't walk right, talk right, or that you could see the strings as plain as day. I was hooked. The Supercar looked like a deluxe Monogram kit with a sparkler stuck in the back. Thank you Trey and Matt for bringing em' back alive. Well, maybe not alive, but at least kickin'. I haven't laughed like that in years. Hans Brick - Oh No!

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.

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!