| "Project 90" | |||
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| Joe 90 episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 3 |
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| Directed by | Peter Anderson | ||
| Written by | Tony Barwick | ||
| Production code | 17 | ||
| Original air date | October 13, 1968 | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Joe 90 episodes | |||
"Project 90" is the third episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 17th episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was October 13, 1968 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Peter Anderson.
Contents |
Criminal masterminds decide to uncover the secret behind WIN's File 90, which contains the BIG RAT project and details of Joe's involvement as Most Special Agent. When Mac is kidnapped for information, it is up to Joe to rescue him from the alpine clinic where he is being held – but how will he do it?
The existence of WIN's "File 90" – relating to the BIG RAT and Joe McClaine's status as "Most Special Agent" – has become known to Dr Conrad Darota, who uses his mountain-top clinic in the Swiss Alps as a front for his criminal organisation. His deputy, Kurson, is assigned to uncover the secrets in a mission titled "Project 90". Arriving outside WIN Headquarters in London, Kurson's first step is to fire a listening device through an open window into the ceiling of Shane Weston's office; later, claiming to be an acquaintance of Professor McClaine, he approaches Joe outside his Dorset school and questions the boy about his father's work. Joe immediately tells Mac and the Professor calls Weston to pass on the information.
Seemingly unaware that the telephone conversation is being recorded by Kurson's subordinate, Weston arranges to visit the McClaine cottage with Sam Loover. Kurson suspects that something hidden there is of vital importance to File 90 and has the cottage heavily bugged for the appointment. Monitoring the listening devices from a speedboat, Kurson and his associate hear a reference to the BIG RAT and discover that Joe is leaving for a caravan holiday in Continental Europe with Weston and Loover. Darota, receiving the latest reports from Kurson, is fascinated by the mention of a "Big Rat" and deduces that the term is an acronym for one of Professor McClaine's inventions – the second part, given Mac's electronics background, probably standing for "Record And Transfer".
With the secret of File 90 in plain sight, Darota finally orders that the Professor be brought to him. Deceived into opening his front door, Mac is knocked unconscious by a tranquiliser dart from Kurson's rifle and flown to Switzerland as a "patient" of the Darota Clinic. Curiously, he is perfectly willing to give Darota and Kurson the information that they require – even disclosing that File 90 is named after his son, codenamed Joe 90 – but his captors do not believe his explanation, nor his claim that Joe will shortly arrive to rescue him. Mac is shackled to a wall in front of a large drill, which stands poised to pulverise his head.
Unknown to Darota and Kurson, however, WIN has been one step ahead of their organisation from the start. Weston immediately recognised the listening device in his office and turned Kurson's attention on the McClaine cottage deliberately. The "holiday" was a cover-up for a pre-emptively planned mission to rescue Mac: the caravan stored a hot-air balloon, which Joe - equipped with the brain pattern of his father, who is an expert balloonist – lands silently on the roof of the clinic, having evaded Darota and Kurson's sound-sensitive security alarms and taking Mac's kidnappers completely by surprise. Joe trades gunfire with Kurson and deactivates the drill just before Mac is killed. Darota and Kurson escape down the mountain in a cable car, only to find Weston and Loover waiting to arrest them at the terminus. Weston reveals that Kurson's passport was wired with a listening device at Swiss customs, giving WIN the evidence necessary to see both criminals receive long prison sentences. The episode ends on a comic note as a faint-hearted Weston reluctantly joins Mac and Joe for a ride in the balloon.
In speaking order:
Reviewing "Project 90" for the Gerry Anderson-related fanzine Andersonic, Vincent Law praises Tony Barwick's writing, conveying his satisfaction with the "witty" and "over-the-top" dialogue given to the characters of Darota and Kurson ("some of the most memorable villains - if not the only memorable villains - in [Joe 90]").[1] On the subject of special effects, despite acknowledging that Joe's flight in the hot-air balloon "is unlikely to get many young viewers' pulses racing", he argues that the episode does not come off worse for rejecting "high-tech hardware" in favour of a character-driven plot that emphasises family ties: "'Project 90' is one of a handful of vehicle-free episodes that stand out ... all benefitting from the family setting; having Joe rescue his own father in this instalment emphasises that bond."[1] Laws also holds composer Barry Gray's contributions to the episode in very high regard, stating that the incidental music accompanying the balloon scenes represents some of his finest work.[1]