Stingray

Deb and I just picked up Gerry Anderson's "Stingray". If you love Gerry Anderson's "Thunderbirds" but don't know "Stingray, you're in for a treat.  I love "Thunderbirds", and sure,  it is Gerry Anderson's masterpiece, but "Stingray" is my favorite. It's light, it's corny, and it's tongue-in-cheek. Plus it's got a classic theme song--in the tradition of '50's pop crooning in the Jerry Vale/ Eddy Fisher mold--that you can't get out of your head. 

(Fireball XL5 has it's own classic theme song--a great, early 60's pop-tune that could've come straight from the Fabian songbook. check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed0jsVgIHu8)

"Stingray" features Troy Tempest, of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP). his shipmate "Phones" and love interests Atlanta Shore and Marina, a refugee from the Underwater worlds Stingray patrols. It's completely ridiculous, totally unbelievable, absurd and sexist in an early '60's way, but it never takes itself seriously for a second. The stories are silly fun, and the villains knowingly comic. Unlike Gerry Anderson's later programs, Captain Scarlet or Joe 90, the puppets look like puppets--instead of Barbie Dolls. Their heads are big and their movements awkward, like puppets should be! Anderson and crew don't try to hide the characters "puppet-ness", and they seem all the more believable for it. So if you're a fan of "Thunderbirds" but don't know Gerry Anderson's earlier work--check out "Stingray". You won't be sorry!