ALL SCI-FI

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Stingray was a thirty-minute marionette science fiction television series created by the legendary Gerry & Sylvia Anderson which ran from 1964~1965 for a total of 39 episodes.

Format: In the mid-2060s, the World Security Patrol is entrusted with protecting and maintaining world peace from its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The World Aquanaut Security Patrol is a sub-section of the W.S.P. with the responsibility for the security of Earth's oceans.

Based at Marineville, a self-contained town situated 10 miles inland from the Pacific coast of North America, operations are centered in the Main Control Room in Marineville Tower under the command of crippled former naval officer Commander Samuel Shore.

The entire Marineville complex is constructed on hydraulic supports which enable it to be submerged into an underground emplacement during emergencies.

The flagship of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol is Stingray, an advanced super~submarine capable of speeds of up to 600 knots.

65 feet long and 20 feet wide and powered by an atomic generator, Stingray can travel on the surface of the sea as well as underwater, leap from the water in salmon-fashion and withstand immense water pressure.

Equipped with Surface Video Scan and automatic boatswain apparatus and a compliment of 16 sting missiles, Stingray also houses a variety of extra-vehicular equipment: Sea Bug one-man motorized sleds, a pair of Aquasprite two-man mini submarines and three monocopter personal anti-gravity chairs for ship-to-shore transport.

Although Stingray requires a crew of just two W.A.S.P. personnel, the super-sub is normally manned by a team of three: Captain troy Tempest and hydrophones operator 'Phones" Sheriden are often joined by Marina, a native of the undersea city of Pacifica who can breathe underwater but is unable to speak.

On patrol in the Pacific Ocean, the Stingray crew explore uncharted territories, investigate unusual occurrences and defend the land masses from hostile undersea races, primarily the forces of Titan, ruler of Titanica, who has sworn the destruction of all terraineans. Titan is assisted by his surface agent X20, a master of disguise based at Primrose Cottage on the remote island of Lemoy, where the lounge hides a complex control room.

From the book The Complete Gerry Anderson by Chris Bentley.

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More from the Chris Bentley book

Production.

In the spring of 1963, Stingray became the first production to go before the cameras at AP Films' brand new studio complex on Stirling Road in the Slough Trading Estate.

Equipped with three shooting stages (two for puppet filming and one for special effects), production offices, preview theater and 12 cutting rooms with additional offices for the art department nearby in Edinburgh Avenue, the new studios were a considerable improvement over the company's former studios in Ipswich Road where Gerry & Sylvia Andersons' previous puppet TV shows Supercar & Fireball XL5 were shot.

The special effects stage housed two interior tanks fitted with an artificial horizon system which constantly pumped water over one slightly lower side into an overflow trough. These tanks were used for filming the many water surface sequences required for the series.

Underwater sequences were created by 'flying' dry models on wires over a model sea-bed landscape and filming through a long narrow aquarium filled with hundreds of tiny live tropical fish.

The two puppet stages enabled two different episodes to be shot simultaneously by separate film crews using twin puppets of the main characters: although each episode took 11 days to film (as well as an additional 5&1/2 days for visual effects), the whole series of 39 episodes was shot within 10 months.

For the first time, the puppets were filmed with 'glass' eyes specially made by an optician, and each main puppet was given a variety of interchangeable heads to simulate changed expressions.

[Bud Brewster]

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Wow, this looks great! It has a slam-bang opening that dazzled me! I don't think I ever watched this series!

_____ Stingray 1964 - S01E01 [Full Episode]


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)