Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 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). The format uses puppets in a technique called supermarionation, a name that was first seen in the closing titles of the last 13 episodes.
Supercar was a vertical takeoff and landing craft. 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 car. Retrorockets on the side of the car slowed the vehicle. The car used "Clear-Vu" which had an inside television monitor that allowed the occupant to see through fog and smoke.
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 Supercars case, the charging of port and starboard engines, the activation of an interlock, the opening of (overhead) hangar doors, and finally the vertical take-off.
Episodes
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Series history
After Granada Television failed to renew Four Feather Falls, Anderson approached Lew Grade of ATV. Grade asked Anderson to reduce the budget by a third. After working through the night, Anderson returned the next morning, with the budget reduced only by half. Grade commissioned the series immediately.
Many of the first 26 scripts for Supercar were written by brothers Martin and Hugh Woodhouse, at the rate of one complete 'shooting (camera-ready) script' per week, in order to fit Anderson and Grade's cost and production schedule.
Anderson always claimed that he invented a futuristic vehicle as an excuse to reduce the amount of walking the puppets had to do, which could never be made to look realistic. This was finally taken to its conclusion in Captain Scarlet, in which the puppets are almost never seen walking.
The complete series is available on DVD in the United Kingdom, Australia and North America.
The series name was used in Italy in the Eighties for the local airing of Knight Rider, as the original Supercar series was practically unknown.
Big Bang Comics paid tribute to the show with their character Mike Merlin, in honour of Supercars' leading hero, Mike Mercury.
Stations
Alphabetized by city.
External links
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