Stingray

Well, it was set 100 years in the future, to those of us who were kids growing up in the sixties. We had no internet, no digital technology, no VCR's or DVD's. Man hadn't even been to the moon. We had something much better. We had imaginations! Instead of playing games where the intention is to destroy the opposition, we watched shows about heroes and rescues. This was one such show, as were Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Joe 90. Watch them with the innocence of 60's youth and you will understand why they are so timeless. Ignore (and enjoy) the mistakes made obvious by passage of time into the real 21st Century. For this step you will need to tap the imagination I mentioned before. As a kid living in Slough, Bucks. (as it was then) I would go to APF studios with my friends. We would watch through door cracks, when we could, and we would hunt through their dumpsters. This was NOT garbage. It was a treasure trove, and we were on a treasure hunt! How I could kick myself in the ass for giving away a script, that I had once found, for the Thunderbirds episode "Give Or Take A Million" when I grew up! Besides anything else, these shows had the best explosions and the bad guys never won, even if they went on to fight another day! Damn you X2-0, the War Lord Titan, The Hood and, of course, the dreaded Mysterons! Thank you Gerry Anderson et al, your imagination fuelled my childhood dreams, and continues to entertain me today.

Having already investigated toys, westerns and space, the time came for the Anderson's to plumb the seven seas with 'Stingray'. Garish and simplistic, it epitomises the in-full-swing 60's in all it's tie-and-dye, maisonette-dwelling, lava lamp, pop-art, Quant and Nutter glory.

'Stingray' has the most thrilling title sequence ever filmed for a TV series - sea defence installations disappear underground, oil rigs crumple, mechanical fish leap from the fume, missiles pitilessly detonate, noisy warplanes raze the sky - with the always first-rate Barry Gray's smashing theme rattling away for it's life, solid excitement is underway.

Hero Troy Tempest of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol - WASPS for short - takes on giant clams, ghost-ships, unruly oil despots and slippery subterraneans, making short work of the lot.

If, like me, you absolutely believe hostile races inhabit the ocean depths, waiting for their chance to attack us and take over, 'Stingray' is right up your stream.

Fun is had identifying which real life folk the 'Stingray' puppets are based on .. Tempest is James Garner; Commander Shaw - Spencer Tracy; Marina - Ursula Andress; evil King Titan - Laurence Olivier, and dastardly Agent Ex-Two-Zero obviously Peter Lorre .. Of course, both Marina and Shaw's daughter, Atlanta - voiced dreamily by Lois Maxwell - are both enamoured of Tempest, but instead of filling his boots, he's so coy and gallant, he gets neither.

And on the un-pc front, it's a hoot. As peace-keepers of the oceans, the WASPs have an admirable shoot-on-sight policy : "I'm picking up a craft on the sonar, Troy" "Prepare sting missiles!" The Loch Ness episode is BRILLIANTLY offensive, and there's a prison called Aquatraz which makes Guantanamo Bay look like the Holiday Inn.

Our heroes are realistically presented: they smoke, drink and wear trendy clothes while listening to jazz music. Those Andersons were subversive and way ahead of their time.

Inadvertently, probably, but it still counts.

The four Supermarionation shows, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds, were strange but cool. And often they showed some real creativity. One of my favorite bits was the alarm system in Stingray. As their base went on alert, they didn't use horns or sirens, but drum beats over the PA. As they went to higher stages of alert different rhythms would superimpose themselves over the previous rhythms. It sounded neat and was a really effective way to build up the tension. Someday I'm going to find an excuse to steal the idea.

I did enjoy Stingray when I was younger, and still do, but not as much as some of the other Supermarionation shows. The show was simply about a submarine, and the stories weren't as varied. However, it did have its good points.

The stories were entertaining, and divided into three sections; an investigation into a situation, a plan to kill Troy Tempest or to destroy Marineville. The best episodes were in the category of the latter two, the investigation episodes weren't as exciting. There were a few 'it was all a dream' episodes which did nothing for me.

The series ended with a flashback episode based on 'This is Your Life' which worked really well, and had the best ending of all the Stingray episodes; after being called out on a mission near the end of the episode Commander Shore remarks to the presenter, 'Thanks for a great show, but I'm afraid, whether you like it or not, this has got to be the end'. You couldn't have asked for a better closure.

Not my favourite of the Supermarionation puppet shows, but the entertaining scripts made up for it.

Stingray is my favorite Supermarionation show by far! The themes are often strangely adult, we're shown Troy Tempest's dreams in some of the episodes, and there's a lot of unrequited desire between the puppets. Not surprisingly, the puppets drink pretty often.

This is not to dismiss the technical aspects of the show usually harped on. The look of the show is amazing, representing a larger, color version of the outlandish production design of the nifty Fireball XL-5. The Stingray itself is as mod-looking as the Batmobile. In fact, I'd say Stingray had to have been a major influence of the TV incarnation of Batman (1966.) (Kids could watch it for the action, adults could watch it for the humor and weird sexual tension.) And the music of Barry Gray is excellent as always.

I'm 35 and never saw Stingray as a child. But, despite the lack of a personal nostalgia factor, I must make room for it among my all-time favorite shows. It's pure escapism, but with a caricatured sense of human nature. For me, Thunderbirds and the other Anderson shows just became increasingly flat, with the puppets looking more and more like mannequins.

When it comes to marionettes, I get my kicks under water!