Supercar

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.

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.

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.

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!