Stingray (TV series)

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This article is about the ITV television series. For the NBC action-adventure series starring Nick Mancuso, see Stingray (NBC TV series).
Stingray

UK DVD release
Genre Supermarionation science fiction adventure
Running time 30 min.
Creator(s) Gerry Anderson
Starring Don Mason
Lois Maxwell
Robert Easton
Ray Barrett
Country of origin UK
Original channel ITV
Original run October 4, 1964–June 27, 1965
No. of episodes 39

Stingray (1964 – 1965) is a children's marionette television show, made by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson and produced by AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. Its 39 half-hour episodes were originally screened on ITV in the UK and syndication in the US. The scriptwriters included Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, Alan Fennell (who went on to write Thunderbirds), and Dennis Spooner. Barry Gray composed the music, and Derek Meddings was the special effects director.

Stingray was the first Supermarionation show to be filmed in colour, and also the first in which marionettes had interchangeable heads with different facial expressions. It was also the first British television programme to be filmed entirely in colour (the earlier The Adventures of Sir Lancelot having only been made in colour from halfway through its run). At the time the US networks were gearing up for full-time colour broadcasting, although Independent Television in Britain did not begin colour transmission until November 1969.

Supercar had featured a vehicle that could travel on land, sea and air, and Fireball XL5 featured a spaceship. The next logical step was a series about a submarine, which presented a number of technical challenges.

Scenes featuring model submarines or marionettes underwater were actually filmed on a dry set, with the camera looking through a narrow water tank containing air bubbles and fish of different sizes to simulate different distances from the camera, thereby creating a convincing illusion that the models or puppets were underwater. This was enhanced with lighting effects that gave the impression of shafts of light refracted through the surface of the sea.

Scenes on the ocean's surface were filmed using a large tank filled with water dyed blue. To prevent the edges of the tank from showing it was deliberately overfilled so that the water would constantly spill over the edges and conceal them. These techniques were so successful that they were also used in Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.

Contents

[edit] Story and characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

"Stand by for action! We are about to launch Stingray! Anything can happen in the next half-hour!" These words, accompanied by a montage of action scenes, get each episode off to a rousing start.

Stingray, a highly sophisticated submarine built for speed and manouevrability, is the flagship of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP), a 21st century security organisation based at Marineville in the year 2065, located somewhere near the west coast of the United States. In case of an attack the entire city can be lowered into the ground on hydraulic jacks. Marineville is 20 miles (32 km) inland, and Stingray is launched through a tunnel leading to the Pacific Ocean. "Action Stations", "Launch Stations" and "Battle Stations" are sounded not by sirens but by recordings of Native American-style drumming (composed and recorded by series composer Barry Gray).

The pilot of Stingray is the square-jawed Captain Troy Tempest (modelled on James Garner), accompanied by Dixie navigator "Phones", so called because of his skill at interpreting hydrophone bleeps. (His real name, George Sheridan, is referred to in the show's publicity but never spoken on-screen). Troy and Phones board Stingray by sitting in their command chairs which are lowered into the submarine on long poles. They take their orders from the crusty wheelchair-bound Commander Sam Shore, whose daughter Atlanta Shore is also a WASP operative and enamoured of Troy.

During the course of the series Stingray encounters lots of underwater races, hostile and otherwise. The "Aquaphibians", a submarine warrior race, appear frequently, often under the command of King Titan of Titanica (modelled on Laurence Olivier). In the pilot episode, Stingray is attacked by Titan's forces and Troy and Phones are captured. They are rescued by Titan's slave girl Marina (modelled on Brigitte Bardot), a beautiful mute young woman who can breathe underwater. Troy is immediately smitten with Marina, and Atlanta becomes jealous. Meanwhile Titan swears revenge for Marina's betrayal. Marina becomes a regular member of Stingray's crew, and later acquires a seal cub called Oink, who features in a number of episodes.

Many subsequent episodes involve Titan's schemes to destroy Stingray and Marineville. These often fail due to the incompetence of Titan's surface spy, Agent X-2-Zero (modelled on Claude Rains, but sounding like Peter Lorre).

[edit] Voice actors

  • Troy Tempest: Don Mason (speaking), Gary Miller (singing)
  • Phones: Robert Easton
  • Commander Shore: Ray Barrett
  • Atlanta Shore: Lois Maxwell
  • King Titan: Ray Barrett
  • Agent X-2-Zero: Robert Easton
  • Oink: David Graham

The character of Marina is unique among Supermarionation characters in that she never speaks, with the exception of the episode "Raptures of the Deep", when she speaks to Troy Tempest in a dream. However, the character's lips do not move, probably because the puppet had no speech mechanism.

In addition to the 39 television episodes, three original "audio adventures" featuring the original voice cast were released on EPs during the show's British run. These were later reissued on tape, and are included on the British DVD box set of the series.

One of these audio episodes reveals that Marina is not actually mute at all. She and her people have been cursed by Titan; if any of them speaks another will die. They are not certain if this is true, but none of them dares find out, and so for years they have lived in complicit silence.

Stingray represented a major breakthrough from Fireball XL5 both in terms of special effects techniques and storytelling. This was the first Supermarionation series in which the puppets had interchangeable heads, allowing each character to express a number of emotions. The love triangle between Atlanta, Troy and Marina is a surprisingly mature development for a children's show, and is even reflected in the closing credits where Troy sings "Aqua Marina" while Atlanta gazes wistfully at Troy's photograph.

[edit] Episode list

  • "Stingray"
  • "Plant Of Doom"
  • "Sea Of Oil"
  • "Hostages of the Deep"
  • "Treasure Down Below"
  • "The Big Gun"
  • "The Golden Sea"
  • "The Ghost Ship"
  • "Countdown" - Agent X-2-Zero masquerades as a teacher for mute people in a plot to destroy Marineville, leaving Marina in mortal danger.
  • "The Ghost of the Sea" - Commander Shore relives the ordeal that left him paralysed when construction on a new mining rig is completed.
  • "Emergency Marineville" - A series of unsuccessful missile attacks against Marineville leads to the Stingray crew having to sabotage the culprits' attempt to evade WASP's interceptor rockets.
  • "Subterranean Sea" - The Stingray crew brave the perils of a newly-discovered underground sea when their leave is cancelled.
  • "The Loch Ness Monster" - Troy, Phones and Atlanta are sent to Scotland to solve the mystery of Nessie once and for all.
  • "The Invaders" - The Stingray crew is captured by undersea villains and interrogated for information on Marineville's defence systems.
  • "Secret of the Giant Oyster" - Troy is assigned to recover a beautiful pearl from the seabed, but the task is not as straightforward as it seems.
  • "Raptures of the Deep" - Troy's dwindling air supply causes him to black out while on a rescue mission. Delirious, he dreams about life in a fantasy world where his friends are his loyal servants.
  • "Stand by for Action"
  • "The Disappearing Ships"
  • "Man from the Navy"
  • "Marineville Traitor"
  • "Tom Thumb Tempest"
  • "Pink Ice"
  • "The Master Plan"
  • "Star of the East"
  • "An Echo of Danger"
  • "Invisible Enemy"
  • "Deep Heat"
  • "In Search of the Tajmanon"
  • "Titan Goes Pop"
  • "Set Sail for Adventure"
  • "Tune of Danger"
  • "Rescue from the Skies"
  • "The Cool Caveman"
  • "A Nut for Marineville"
  • "Trapped in the Depths"
  • "Eastern Eclipse"
  • "A Christmas to Remember"
  • "The Lighthouse Dwellers"
  • "Aquanaut of the Year"

[edit] Reappearances

In 1981, four episodes of Stingray (apparently "Hostages of the Deep", "The Big Gun", "Emergency Marineville", and "Deep Heat") were edited together to form a feature-length film version of the series titled Invaders from the Deep. On Thanksgiving Day (November 24) in 1988, this film version was featured as the first broadcast episode of movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.

[edit] External links


Gerry Anderson
Television
The Adventures of Twizzle | Torchy the Battery Boy | Four Feather Falls | Supercar | Fireball XL5 | Stingray | Thunderbirds | Captain Scarlet | Joe 90 | The Secret Service | UFO | The Protectors | Space: 1999 | Terrahawks | Dick Spanner, P.I. | Space Precinct | Lavender Castle | New Captain Scarlet
Feature Films
Crossroads to Crime | Thunderbirds Are GO | Thunderbird 6 | Doppelgänger
Companies/Techniques
AP Films | Century 21 Productions | Supermarionation
Notable Collaborators
Sylvia Anderson | David Lane | Barry Gray | Reg Hill | Derek Meddings | John Read | Shane Rimmer
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