Unfortunate because a little of the miniature magic is now lost. This painting on the glass is fortunately or unfortunately made very apparent when watching in high definition. In this shot of Stingray setting sail, the air line inside the tank has been covered up with a painting of the rock-work to match perfectly with the set and render the air line invisible. If bubbles had to appear in a particular position at a particular moment to match the action going on behind the water tank, air lines were rigged inside the aquarium, the camera was lined up, and the fish were directed accordingly.
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In a tradition going back to Supercar, an aquarium full of fish was placed in front of the camera with the vehicles and characters remaining dry and whizzing around behind that tank on wires. Anyone who knows anything about Stingray will know that for underwater shooting, the models and puppets didn’t actually get wet that often.
As Stingray exits the ocean door, it exudes a lovely jet of bubbles.
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Many of the shots from the opening titles appear later in the episode or the series so I won’t spend too much time analysing them at the moment, but I wanted to flag this one now because it’s my review and I’ll do what I like. The design is elegant and sleek, yet colourful and full of energy. But Stingray gives me a special fizz inside when I see it. Yeah the Eagle Transporter is… well to be honest I think the Eagle is a bit meh, so moving on. Yeah the SPV is the toughest toughball in the west. Yeah Thunderbird 2 is a big, fun, loveable, green giant. Designed by Reg Hill and built by Mastermodels, it is, in my vastly overrated opinion, the most gorgeous Anderson vehicle ever to grace the screen. Here’s the other star of the show, the eponymous super submarine, Stingray. Troy was sculpted by Mary Turner to look like the actor, James Garner, and quite frankly she nailed it. The Stingray puppets are beautiful creations. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some ugly-looking guest characters in Stingray, but when you compare the main cast of Marineville residents to the bunch of hideous trogladytes inhabiting Space City, the difference is like night and day. The Stingray puppets look so, so, so much better than the Fireball ones. Throughout these reviews I will likely draw many comparisons between the two shows and here is the first. In anticipation for the arrival of this boxset, I watched a handful of later Fireball XL5 episodes to take a look at what had come immediately before Stingray. Like Tex Tucker, Mike Mercury, and Steve Zodiac before him, the star of the show, Captain Troy Tempest, receives top billing. It really is the best that Stingray has ever looked. And boy do they make full use of that colour from here on out, as showcased beautifully on this Blu-ray release. Yes, Stingray was famously the first British television series to be produced entirely in colour (as long as you don’t count those first three shots of the title sequence). In Videcolor? But so far everything has been… I always thought the dashes of black paint behind the logo looked a bit fishy so it works well.
The ‘An APF Television Production’ card introduced for the opening of the previous Supermarionation series, Fireball XL5, is re-used once again for Stingray. Anyone else having trouble convincing family members it isn’t just an elegantly decorated shoebox?
How’s about some serious high definition action courtesy of the 2022 release of Stingray on Blu-ray? I got the super deluxe version. Oh yeah, I’m standing by for action alright.
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