Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's Stingray TV Series Summary

There were 39 half hour episodes of this first colour Supermarionation series. Indeed, it was the first British TV show to be filmed entirely in colour - a nice piece of foresight, as British TV viewers had to wait until the late '60s before they could see the show in all its glory.

Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, 'Stingray' was set in the 21st Century, and featured a submarine, whose captain and hero was Troy Tempest. Together with his sidekick Phones, the duo represented the good guys of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP), who are based in Marineville. Their boss is tough-talking Commander Shore, whose attractive daughter Atlanta is smitten by Troy, which is interesting, as Troy is in love with the beautiful mute Marina! Marina had saved Troy and Phones from WASP's deadliest foe, King Titan of Titanica. Titan is bent on revenge, and we see a lot of his main spy, and the nastiest villain in the series, Peter Lorre look-alike and sound-alike, Agent X Two Zero. And we mustn't forget Marina's pet seal cub, Oink - who was appropriately named!

Made between 1962 and 1964, 'Stingray' was very sophisticated for its time, and was part of the Andersons graph which was going onwards and upwards for the next decade - in terms of innovation, and just good entertainment. Earlier shows such as 'Supercar' and 'Fireball XL5' gave an inkling of what was to follow. "Anything can happen in the next half hour", boomed Commander Shore at the beginning of each episode, and, on hearing that, any child (or adult) was immediately hooked.

- Paul Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com.

STINGRAY DVDs

Available from Amazon.co.uk

Stingray - Vol. 1 - Stingray / Plant Of Doom / Sea Of Oil / Hostages / Treasure / Big Gun / Golden Sea [1964]

Stingray - Complete Series [1964]