Stingray (1964 TV series)

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

Stingray
File:Stingray-tvshow.jpg UK DVD release
Created by	Gerry Anderson
Starring	Don Mason Lois Maxwell Robert Easton Ray Barrett
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	39
Production
Running time	30 min.
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	October 4, 1964 – June 27, 1965

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.

Story and characters

"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. In the pilot episode Stingray is attacked by the forces of King Titan of Titanica (modelled on Laurence Olivier), 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 Two Zero (modelled on Claude Rains, but sounding like Peter Lorre).

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 Two 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.

Some feminists have complained about the inclusion of a mute and arguably subservient female character, though a contrary view maintains that in fact Marina is no shrinking violet- she is tough and resourceful and quite capable of making her own decisions, even if she cannot voice them.

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
• The Ghost of the Sea
• Emergency Marineville
• Subterranean Sea
• The Loch Ness Monster
• The Invaders
• Secret of the Giant Oyster
• Raptures of the Deep
• Stand by for Action
• The Disappearing Sea
• 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

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.

External links

• British Film Institute Screen Online
• Stingray at IMDb
• Invaders from the Deep at IMDb
• FANDERSON The official Gerry Anderson appreciation society site.
• BBC Cult Television - Stingray