After all, why should the Thunderbirds have all the fun?
The WASPs certainly were a gregarious bunch, weren't they? Every time you turned around, they were throwing another party. Any excuse to get out of those grey uniforms.
After seeing all of the episodes now, I think that Troy actually spent more "social" time with Atlanta than with Marina, closing credits notwithstanding. Considering that Marina got to spend all of her duty time in Troy's company, this was only fair.
Personally, I think that Troy's relationship with Atlanta was more "realistic" than the one with Marina. Also more interesting. Other opinions?
Who taught Marina to read? And having done so, why didn't they make better use of the fact?
Marina was the one and only underwater FEMALE that we ever saw. (Of course, with the Aquaphibians, it's a little hard to tell.) And notice that, the better the underwater race, the more "human" they looked. Compare Marina and the "Ghost" with the rest of the bunch. (Except for those ridiculously cute aliens from "A Nut for Marineville" and "Trapped in the Depths".) And was the Professor from "Trapped in the Depths" made up to look human? If so, Agent X20 should take lessons from him.
They kept going back to the island of Lemoy and it never, never dawned on anyone....
Gerry Anderson said that he had kids telling him that their favorite part of the show was the opening credits. With the scenes and the music, it really was well done; probably the best of the three that I've seen (Stingray, Captain Scarlet, and Thunderbirds). He also said that kids loved Agent X20's revolving room on Lemoy, which apparently was quite expensive to put together, but worth it.
Anderson also spoke of the "aquarium effect". The aquarium that they shot through was apparently built by the people that built public aquariums in England, so they assumed that the aquarium was sturdily built, but after shooting with it the first day, the whole crew (fortunately) left the room on a break and the darn thing exploded from the pressure, causing all the poor little fish to die. (He didn't say if the same people built their next one.)
They herded the fish around the aquarium with the use of low-level electrical charges. One of the men doing commentary on an episode said that if he'd known about it at the time, he would have protested, and of course, they'd never get away with such a thing these days.
Oddly enough, with explosions and bursting aquariums and big tanks of water, the Stingray production crew never had any serious accidents. Remarkable.
The Thunderbirds episode with the Alligators used real baby crocodiles, & these were also goaded with a small electric current. An RSPCA offical was consulted beforehand, & might have supervised as well. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this.
There's a funny story behind this. An RSPCA (for you, DK, that's the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) inspector was called to the studios after reports that the baby crocodiles were being shocked. However, it turned out that the inspector was a Thunderbirds fan, and he told the technicians that the voltage they were using was nowhere near high enough. In the end he took his annual leave and helped out with directing the crocs!
I'm thinking that I've heard somewhere (perhaps a commentary on one of my discs) that they actually used pygmy alligators (are there really such things?)
One good use of the fish on Stingray was (I think) "Emergency Marineville" where Troy and the others had been captured on a island. After escaping, they turned and fired missiles at the underwater entrance. There were a bunch of fish in the upper corner of the screen ("near" the cave) and when the explosion occurred, those fish scattered. Wonder if it was an electrical charge, the flash, or the bang that scared them?
The commentary made it sound as though they used just two types of fish--tiny and not-so-tiny--to achieve forced perspective, but really, they used all kinds of exotic types in the close-ups. Very pretty.
I've just purchased the Stingray set. I'm really enjoying the show because it's so utterly wacky. I love the fact that they have a "pet" (Oink) on the show. Too bad they didn't try something similar in Thunderbirds. I know that Oink wasn't the best puppet but I still have a soft spot for him in my animal-loving heart ;-)
Also, it was very interesting that they used feathers for hair. I thought that was rather novel. I suppose with "alien underwater people" one can get away with that sort of thing. Anyways, I was impressed with the creativity that went into the design of these characters, even though some of them are pretty cheesy.
Wasn't Lois Maxwell in Outer Limits or Twilight Zone? Gosh, her name seems so familiar to me.
Try "Miss Moneypenny" from the James Bond series.
I'm certain that she's been on other things, but Miss Moneypenny is probably her best-known role. (Suppose Atlanta comes in second?)
Glad that you're enjoying them. One of my books, Cult TV, said that Stingray had a penchant for spoofing everything that passed its periscope, including itself--wait until you see "Stand By for Action"!
I rather think that Oink was included simply because they had pets on the two previous series.
BTW, apparently another way that they got the fish to "act" was by the judicious use of fish food.
Another nifty trick that they used was to have an edge of the water tank lower than the opposite side. Water continually poured over the edge, giving it a more realistic "horizon line". Yet another of the myriad examples of Supermarionation's careful craftsmanship.