When I first began to explore the s"Supermarionation" universe I did it rather in reverse order. I began with Captain Scarlet and worked my way back through Thunderbirds, then Stingray, then Fireball XL5, until I finally struck Supercar. It was rather like spelunking, going ever deeper into ever more primitive environments. But it was fun. This time I'm going to do it properly and watch the shows in proper chronological order and that means beginning with the adventures of Mike Mercury and the Supercar.
Supercar though impresses much more than I expected. It's rather infamous for not including a female character, and that might be strange for Anderson shows, but not for adventure TV. I am much reminded of Jonny Quest and how we are presented with no regular women save the guest-star showings of Jade. In Supercar it's even more extreme with women showing up even more irregularly and only one that I'm aware of who repeats. Instead, we have two oddball scientists - Professor Popkiss and Doctor Beaker. Popkiss is the credited creator of Supercar and the somewhat more sensible of the two. Beaker is a great character, smart and bold, but incredibly absent-minded. Mike Mercury is the pilot of the Supercar and the nominal hero of the show, and he's helped by the kid Jimmy and his monkey Mitch. The villains too were quite good. Masterspy (based on Sydney Greenstreet I assume) and Prince Zarin (Peter Lorre) were broadly done but quite fun.
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| (Doctor Beaker, Mike Mercury, Jimmy Gibson, and Professor Popkiss) |
Supercar though impresses much more than I expected. It's rather infamous for not including a female character, and that might be strange for Anderson shows, but not for adventure TV. I am much reminded of Jonny Quest and how we are presented with no regular women save the guest-star showings of Jade. In Supercar it's even more extreme with women showing up even more irregularly and only one that I'm aware of who repeats. Instead, we have two oddball scientists - Professor Popkiss and Doctor Beaker. Popkiss is the credited creator of Supercar and the somewhat more sensible of the two. Beaker is a great character, smart and bold, but incredibly absent-minded. Mike Mercury is the pilot of the Supercar and the nominal hero of the show, and he's helped by the kid Jimmy and his monkey Mitch. The villains too were quite good. Masterspy (based on Sydney Greenstreet I assume) and Prince Zarin (Peter Lorre) were broadly done but quite fun.
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| (Zarin and Masterspy) |
While much is made of the show being more primitive in technique than its descendants, I found the mixture of puppetry on this show as deft as any and while the characters are more cartoonish in design they worked quite well in the stories they were put into. Mike Mercury was downright gargoylish for a hero but fit in with the bug-eyed Beaker and bubble-headed Popkiss. Mitch was my favorite of the critters the Andersons seem to fit into stories from time to time, much less annoying than Zoonie from Fireball. (Loved the dream episode where the monkey talked by the way -- hilarious.)
All in all, I found the show quite entertaining, and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it. Below are the comic book covers from Gold Key which tied into the show, aside from one issue of Fireball XL5, the only Gold Key comics dedicated to an Anderson show.
And this Golden Book looks like a hoot.
NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post.
All in all, I found the show quite entertaining, and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it. Below are the comic book covers from Gold Key which tied into the show, aside from one issue of Fireball XL5, the only Gold Key comics dedicated to an Anderson show.
And this Golden Book looks like a hoot.
NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post.
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One of my very earliest memories is of a Supercar model I was given as a present whwn i was about 4 or 5 years old . I seem to recall seeing the TV show although I think it must have been a repeat after the original series in 1961 /62 as i would only have been 2 years old... and yet I do have that memory of watching the show ( repeats weren't common from at that time, I think) . The show had a spin off comic strip in the weekly UK "TV comic" and then 'TV Century 21" that i vaguley remember reading. I wasn't aware it was shown in the US or indeed had a spin off comic. GM
ReplyDeleteI actually saw the comic book before I ever saw the show which was only a few years ago for the first time. The Anderson shows have become available at great prices in recent years, much to my delight.
DeleteYou still haven't reached the start. The first Anderson show in Supermarionation was Four Feather Falls, a comedy fantasy western from 1960. I think it's delightful, but that might be because I have fond memories of it from my childhood. You can read about it, and watch at least some of it on Youtube, at http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/tv/children/gerrya/fff.htm
ReplyDeleteI have sampled some Four Feather Falls on YouTube. Unfortunately, I've not seen it available in these United States, at least not when compatible with my machine.
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