Supercar (TV series)
| Supercar | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre |
Action Adventure Children's Science fiction |
| Created by |
Gerry Anderson Hugh Woodhouse Martin Woodhouse |
| Written by | Gerry Anderson Sylvia Anderson Reg Hill Hugh Woodhouse Martin Woodhouse |
| Directed by |
David Elliott Bill Harris Alan Pattillo Desmond Saunders |
| Voices of | Sylvia Anderson Graydon Gould David Graham George Murcell Cyril Shaps |
| Composer(s) | Barry Gray |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 39 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Gerry Anderson |
| Cinematography | John Read |
| Editor(s) | Gordon Davie |
| Camera setup | Single |
| Running time | 25 mins approx. per episode (excluding advertisements) |
| Production company(s) | AP Films |
| Distributor | ITC Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | ATV |
| Picture format |
Black and white Film (35 mm) |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | 28 January 1961 – 29 April 1962 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Four Feather Falls |
| Followed by | Fireball XL5 |
Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. Thirty-nine episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962, and it was Anderson's first half-hour series. In the UK it was seen on ITV and in the US in syndication (the first Anderson series to be shown overseas) debuting in January 1962. The series uses Supermarionation, based on the complex and difficult Czech style of marionette puppetry. The creation of the show was credited to Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill, but it incorporates elements of "Beaker's Bureau", a series proposed to the BBC by Hugh Woodhouse that was never produced. Anderson would later claim that the whole point of having a series based on a vehicle was to minimize having to show the marionettes walking, an action which he felt never looked convincing.
The plot of the show consisted of Supercar, a vertical takeoff and landing craft invented by Prof. Rudolph Popkiss and Dr. Horatio Beaker, and piloted by Mike Mercury. On land it rode on a cushion of air rather than wheels. Jets in the rear allowed it to fly like a jet and retractable wings were incorporated in the back of the car. Retrorockets on the side of the car slowed the vehicle. The car used "Clear-Vu", which included an inside television monitor allowing the occupant to see through fog and smoke. The vehicle was housed in a laboratory and living facility at Black Rock, Nevada, U.S.A. In the show's first episode, "Rescue", the Supercar crew's first mission is to save the passengers of a downed private plane. Two of the rescued, young Jimmy Gibson and his pet monkey, Mitch, are invited to live at the facility and share in the adventures.
The series inaugurated what would become an Anderson trademark, the launch sequence. Every one of his series up until Space: 1999 would include these – in Supercar's case, the charging and firing of port and starboard engines, the activation of an interlock, the opening of (overhead) hangar doors, and finally the vertical take-off.
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