The Investigator

John and Julie, two miniaturised special agents working for 'The Investigator' (a disembodied extragalactic voice) attempt to stop the theft of a priceless Raphael painting from a Maltese cathedral. This was the pilot for a proposed series from Gerry Anderson and is the swan song of his supermarionation oeuvre. While the marionettes are undoubtedly technically sophisticated (they are closer to the uncanny valley (and therefore creeper) than the Thunderbirds or the Captain Scarlet puppets), the two 24-inch characters just look ridiculous when sneaking around a full size world. Typical of an Anderson production there are some hi-tech vehicles (in this case an 8-wheeled sports car and a speed-boat) but the designs were constrained by the need for the vehicles to actually function (they were RC-controlled) so they just look (and move) like oversized toys. John and Julie (voiced by Shane Rimmer and Sylvia Anderson) are not particularly interesting characters and this, their opening adventure, is simplistic and marred by an insipid resolution. Apparently no one, including Anderson, was impressed by the film and there was no interest in developing the premise into a series. The classic retro-quaint supermarionation shows from the 1960s remain entertaining and have legions of fans but this goofy kid's show didn't inherit any of the magic that made Thunderbirds et al so memorable. Available along with other Anderson obscurities on the 'The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson' DVD.

This mix of Joe 90 type special agents being shrunk to six inch high puppets in the real world and fighting crime is not of one Gerry Andersons finest hours. A not disiimilar idea had been tried out in the US TV show 'Land of the Giants' a few years previously, of which this feels like a pale variation. This has a hurried feel to it and the idea is not just silly but also makes almost no sense. Fortunately Anderson abandoned the idea after this pilot as I suspect the scriptwiters would have run out of ideas quite quickly. I think Anderson dodged a bullet here when this didn't go beyond this expensively made pilot episode.